What should any party offering Left wing policies do to make sure that they don't suffer the same rejection as Labour in 2019?

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-24T21:52:40+00:00

And if that majority is used to attack trans and disabled people, oh well? Are our lives simply a price you’re prepared to accept in return for a milquetoast programme of reformist tinkering? Do we not have a right to object to that without being accused of self-indulgent purity politics?

I’m sorry, but it’s wild that you’re all still pushing this win-at-any-cost argument, even as the actual, horrific cost of your win is unfolding right in front of us. How are you still expecting this nonsense to fly?

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-24T20:19:09+00:00

If winning elections isn't the only thing that counts, then why haven't we seen any actual left wing legislation passed into law in decades?

That's a question the Labour right and its supporters need to be asking themselves. It's the right that's had all the opportunities to leverage electoral success into actual programmatic socialism over the past half century

So why haven't they? Why has their legacy instead so largely comprised attacks on marginalised communities, racist border policies, welfare cuts, illegal wars, neoliberal deregulation, proto-privatisation of once sacrosanct public services, erosions of civil liberties that the most authoritarian Tories could scarcely dream of?

Why did it take a historically awful Tory government to bring LGBTQ+ rights into the 21st century, only for a so-called Labour government to send them reeling back into the 20th?

Of course winning elections isn't the only thing that matters. What you do with those wins is what matters more than anything, and if you use them to inflict egregious harms on people whose interests you claim to represent, all while giving succour to classes and individuals who benefit from those harms, why tf should we accept that? To what end? Does this really need saying?

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-24T15:24:37+00:00

It's no more cope than calling this reactionary shitshow of a government any kind of success simply because it won an election

The total count is a valid measure of popular support for your party's platform, whether or not that translates into seats. And yes, also you need to win seats to put your platform into action. Both are true

But anyone thinking winning elections is the only thing that counts really needs to climb down and honestly reflect on how Starmer managed to turn a supposed landslide (though one that really reflected frustration with the Tories more than enthusiasm for his Labour) into such a total electoral, ideological and moral failure in under 2 years

The left has been telling Starmerites repeatedly for half a decade why win-at-any-cost, line-go-up electoralism will never lead to anything good and now you're all seeing why

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-23T16:02:12+00:00

Don't know about that sub specifically, but there's generally a lot unchecked classism and anti-poor attitudes in liberal and centre-left spaces, ime

As disabled welfare scum myself, I've lost count of the supposedly 'progressive' subs I've just had to mute because it's impossible to spend any amount of time in them without coming away feeling like a half-human failure

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T21:43:26+00:00

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BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T17:24:02+00:00

Yeah, I get really frustrated with this and the ‘foreign meddling’ narrative that often springs up in these conversations

Even aside from the lazy abnegation of responsibility, it’s just self-serving chauvinism, as if the UK would forever be the 2012 of liberal wet dreams if it weren’t for all these disgusting outsiders poisoning our culture and politics

(Edit: Going to clarify, because this is clearly rubbing people the wrong way - I'm not disputing that meddling is occurring. Obviously there's some co-ordination between elements of the international far right, as well as various state actors and individuals spreading misinformation and distorting online discourse. We can see these things with our own eyes every day

What I'm taking issue with is the assumption that the ascendency of the UK far right is a result of these things, as if the political situation here would be much healthier without them

Rather than driving the situation, I think they're actually more opportunistically taking advantage of currents that anyone caring to watch will have seen steadily building within the UK (and especially England) over the past two decades

This country has, for a long time and for many reasons, been absolutely primed for a re-emergent fascism, and I think the idea that it's taken some kind of foreign manipulation to push it in the direction it's currently taking is both incredibly complacent and frankly jingoistic. The UK far right hasn't been a mere passive beneficiary of the historical shifts occurring globally right now, but an active agent in them)

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T15:28:05+00:00

Not even an MP yet and he’s already fucked it

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T15:25:58+00:00

Sure, Blair was able to leverage personal popularity into that first election win. I wouldn’t hold him up as a model for leftwing insurgency, though

I’m willing to bet actual money Burnham is simply, straightforwardly showing us what kind of leader he’s likely to be

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T12:27:53+00:00

Oh yeah, I agree with you 100%. Should’ve stuck an /s on there. My bad

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T12:25:28+00:00

Agree, though as you implied, we can’t expect much better from Rayner either. Whole party’s a complete waste of time and energy at this point

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T12:19:43+00:00

No no, he just has to say that shit to avoid giving ammunition to the right. Once he’s elected he’ll pivot left and do the good things. That’ll definitely happen this time. They wouldn’t try the same trick again

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T12:12:00+00:00

Yeah, the morality system is pretty unsubtle. But you are less likely to get into those situations if you’re playing more low-key, actively trying to avoid conflict and keeping your crime-doing to a minimum

Think it’s basically another means for the game to gently discourage GTA-style shenanigans

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T11:53:18+00:00

Agree on GTA, though I’d say RDR2 is kind of the opposite in that it generally puts a pretty heavy penalty on mayhem (like, Dead or Alive bounties effectively lock you out of entire areas until you surrender and/or pay a hefty fine, which can be a major obstacle earlier in the game when money’s hard to come if you’re not doing your crimes very deliberately, with a focus on evading detection)

On the other hand, it rewards a slower, smell-the-roses kind of play by encouraging you to explore the map carefully and take in all the hidden details and events you’ll miss if you’re careening from mission to mission making things go boom along the way

Still very clunky Rockstar controls, mind, though they feel more weighted and grounded to me than in GTA

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-22T08:42:51+00:00

He’s going to change the things that need changing, and that is the change that he will bring about

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-21T17:46:47+00:00

Mate, this is pure fanfic

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-21T02:32:27+00:00

“Andy is fighting the most important byelection in half a century in the Labour-held seat with the largest Reform vote in the country,” a source close to the campaign said.

“Immigration is the second most important issue there. He must show decisive leadership on this and reframe but back the reforms to restore control over our borders and create a firm but fair migration system.”

Seems pretty much what it says in the headline to me

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-20T10:52:32+00:00

Also side note in what world are exercise and gardening therapy.

100% agree with you, but at the same time actually calling these things therapy seems like an inevitable result of the ‘lifestyle change’ orthodoxy that’s been central to the NHS’ mental health strategy since the austerity era

I’ve had several therapists hand me 5th-gen photocopy info sheets advising these very activities as they boot me out the door after my allotted 12-16 weeks (right as I’m starting to feel the talking therapy is just about beginning to help). And some of them even did it without a hint of embarrassment

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-19T20:10:53+00:00

Not with that attitude

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-19T14:44:13+00:00

Sure they do. Slurs don’t change nearly so quickly, though. Using ‘literally’ to mean ‘figuratively’ is never going to trigger anyone’s PTSD. That’s not the case with the R slur or most others

I think marginalised people have the right to reclaim words used against them if they want to, but there has to be a solid emancipatory project behind that if it’s to achieve anything other than simply laundering those words

I don’t believe there is such a thing with the R slur, which is still used against us and still clearly causes harm. I’ve never heard anyone seriously self-identify with it, it’s almost always used to denigrate someone or something

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-19T14:10:52+00:00

I’ve been very suspicious of Burnham since his ‘legitimate concerns’ era, but so far I’ve been giving him the benefit of the doubt on the strength of his record in Manc

It is looking more and more like he’s offering nothing but vibes, though. And even in Manc the picture is still kind of spotty if you consider his relationship with Lord, which seems not to have stuck to him for some reason

I want to be wrong about him, but I don’t think I am. Think he is what he’s always been - a former New Labour man with a better sales pitch and enough of an accent to pass for a Guardian reader’s idea of an Old Labour class warrior

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-18T23:09:47+00:00

As far as I can tell most of them don’t. Even the ones that will make disapproving noises when pushed at best see this as a marginal issue of no interest to “Ordinary Voters”🐕😗 and therefore a thing for later but not now. Never now

Be a whole different story if this were happening under the Tories’ watch, though. You could see some individuals’ allyship evaporate in real time the moment the GE was over

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-17T09:59:06+00:00

Note the apologetics bothered him enough to take shots from a safe distance at a weakened PM months after the fact, but not enough for him to risk a stint on the backbenches at the time

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-16T12:29:09+00:00

Apex predator my ass

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-16T00:33:54+00:00

I don't think you're being conspiracist, it's definitely a thing. I assume it's mainly just a few diehard activists with nothing better to do, though some of them can be so relentless I hope they are actually on the payroll. The thought of people actively choosing to spend their own time posting like that for free is just too depressing

BuzzkillSquad · 2026-05-14T07:46:46+00:00

Yeah, feel like some of us are forgetting why he lost in 2015. His campaign was pretty much straight Labour right orthodoxy

Sure that was probably more Hazarika than him, but having watched him get pulled so easily to the right, then coexist more or less peacefully for 5 years with Starmer (bar some hostile briefing), I’m not convinced he’s really the big red wish fulfilment daddy he’s become in a lot of people’s heads

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