I don’t usually watch the party political broadcasts. I find them too boring, depressing and, in the case of the Tories, infuriating. But I caught a bit of the Greens’ broadcast last night, and was impressed. They stated that as part of their platform of policies they would renationalise the NHS, end its outsourcing and make social care free at the point of use as with the health service. Excellent! This is what the Labour party should be doing, and should have done 16 years ago when Blair won his landslide victory in 1997. But I’m afraid Starmer won’t. Everything he’s said has raised warning signs that he means to privatise more of the health service following Blair’s precedent, starting with using private healthcare providers to clear the backlog of cases. This is exactly what the Tories have been saying. Or course, Jeremy Corbyn wanted to renationalise the NHS, along with the public utilities and restore and revitalise the welfare state. Which is why they smeared him, first as a Communist, then as an anti-Semite, enthusiastically aided by Starmer’s allies in the Labour party.
I’ve very mixed feelings about the Greens. They’re very woke. There was a controversy a few years ago about the schools in Brighton, which I think is a Green council or their MP is Green, teaching Critical Race Theory and White Privilege. In Scotland the Greens are behind the SNP’s wretched Gender Recognition Act, which would lower the age people can legally declare themselves trans to 16 amongst other reforms. I don’t doubt that it’s meant well, but I strongly feel it will do much harm by encouraging confused young people to pursue medical treatment that may be totally inappropriate for them and could lead to lasting harm.
But I entirely support their demand for a properly nationalised and funded NHS.
I am just annoyed that it’s the Greens, who are regarded as an extreme, fringe party, demanding this and not Labour.
Well, a few years ago the Greens took a number of local seats from Labour in the council elections in Bristol until they were only one or two behind them on the council. I would therefore not blame anyone if, in the forthcoming council elections, they turned their votes away from Starmer’s Labour and voted Green instead.
Tags: Anti-Semitism Smears, Brighton, Bristol, Conservatives, Council Elections, Critical Race Theory, Elections, Green Party, Jeremy Corbyn, Kier Starmer, Labour Party, Nationalisation, NHS, NHS Privatisation, Outsourcing, Public Utilities, Schools, SNP, Social Care, tony blair, Transgendered People, Welfare State, White Privilege
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
January 27, 2023 at 10:11 am |
I would have thought being very aware of racial and social problems was a good thing?
January 27, 2023 at 10:15 am |
You beat me to it. Yes, being aware of injustice is a good thing. Not sure the beast fully understands that
January 27, 2023 at 10:28 am |
I do, it just that it really winds up me up to the point where I’m absolutely furious for much of the rest of the evening. Some people are good at looking at these things coolly and not letting them get to them. I’m not so good at this.
January 27, 2023 at 10:15 am |
Brilliant. Re Labour’s supposed stance on trans issues, I am surprised you never mentioned Lisa Nandy proposing that the age for changing gender should be lowered to *13*. So she’s more progressive than Sturgeon, never mind Starmer then! Aside from that, were I a Wiganer, I’d still vote for her. She’s a well-respected MP up here in the North West.
January 27, 2023 at 10:31 am |
I wasn’t aware that she was in favour of lowering the trans age to 13. Whatever else she has in her favour, that looks like a recipe for disaster. One of the scandals surrounding the trans issue is that doctors and surgeons in America have performed mastectomies on 12 year old girls, which is way too young.
January 27, 2023 at 10:43 am
It’s in the Torygraph, I know (not the most reliable source)- but I was convinced I’d heard of it on the BBC red button as well.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/19/labours-lisa-nandy-suggests-13-year-olds-should-able-change/
As for Rosie Duffield- does she even have any other policies? Or is criticising trans issues her entire stick? Not that there was any excuse from Lloyd Russell Moyle to go berserk at her recently.
January 27, 2023 at 10:54 am
Thanks, Mark. As for Rosie Duffield, I have no idea if she does have any other policies apart from opposition to the trans ideology. As for Moyle, the gender critical people have been tearing into him because of his rant.
January 27, 2023 at 11:02 am
Darn. It was Miriam Kates (Con) who Russell-Moyle screeched at, not Ms Duffield. He’s not helping himself, he’s only helping the Tory grifters w/ that attitude.
January 27, 2023 at 12:23 pm
Totally agree.