I posted the following comments to the Newham Labour Party FB page:

A month ago AGM’s were held in the 10 East Ham BLPs. When is the East Ham CLP AGM?

In February 2019 it will be a full two years since the East Ham CLP has had a general meeting. A full two year since the last AGM. It is not my natural instinct to blame others for a bad outcome or situation, even institutions rather than individuals, my first instinct is to take unfavourable circumstances into account. But after two years the argument from unfavourable circumstances wears very thin and the options that remain are indifference, incompetence or intent. This must reflect on ALL position holders who are at all involved in this including all constituency councillors and the constituency MP.

I chose Diane Abbott as ‘a woman who makes London great’. I wrote:

Diane has been the brunt of incredible racism. She has been the subject of sickening comments and the fact that she has survived and continues to serve her constituency is in itself heroic. While not everything she says is well spoken it is a characteristic of the brave that they often say things that controversial or even incorrect, not out of malice but out of their sense of justice. If the size of our valor is to be measured by the size and viciousness of our enemies then Diane Abbott must be judged amongst the most valourous.

Support her here:

https://www.london.gov.uk/hidden-credits/tl=true

Not understanding the widespread hatred of Diane Abbott I look for videos of her speaking. I find a few. In some she does not come across as brilliant but she is clear and reasonable. In one an unpleasant interviewer whose name escapes me keeps banging on about a bad interview she did with Nick Ferrari on LBC. I may share some of these videos on my blog if I can maintain my interest … no I’m not going to be able to maintain interest. Just one then, of Diane versus the Media.

In December 2016 Diane Abbott is talking to Nick Robinson who says of her articulation of the Labour position that “many people may think that’s a perfectly sensible position but it sure ain’t simple.” I think it is both sensible and simple, it just isn’t stupidly binary. Nick Robinson’s position that you are either for Brexit (at any cost) or against it (at all costs) is simplistic to the point of stupidity. Robinson asks Diane about Labour’s poor polling and poor performance in the recent local elections and she replies that it’s going to get better “within twelve months it’s going to get better.” Within six months Labour had taken away the Tory’s majority.

The comments under the video are vile.

“Oh god, not her again, I’ve got more chance of having a dump on the moon as Labour has of winning election, they really are comedy gold.”

“Is this person actually female …”

“How did this thick as whale spunk, imbecile ever get a stage to preach her vile bigoted divisive hatred.”

And so it goes on and on … excrementally. On a BBC News YouTube channel. I’m no lover of censorship but I’d be embarrassed to have this shit on my channel and would either delete or at minimum disown such comments.

But who, honestly, is being the idiot here and who is making the more reasonable case? Abbott or Robinson?

Although I voted Remain and would almost certainly vote against a Tory led Brexit, one of the things that has put me off the ‘People’s Vote’ campaign is the dishonest characterisation of Jeremy Corbyn as a poor leader because he is not leading a campaign to overturn a choice made by more than half the voters in the referendum and supported by about half of the people of theis country.

The Labour position is to push for a Brexit that works and oppose a Brexit that is likely to be harmful as May’s deal is, or disasterous as a No Deal Brexit would be. If these options remain the only ones on offer then Corbyn and the Labour party are, as I understand it, obliged by Conference decision to oppose Brexit.

The following was posted to FB and purports to be a motion moved and passed at the Labour Party Conference in summer. It’s badly written (no one can support ‘all options left on the table’ especially when they don’t know what those options are) but if this is the Labour Party conference position then JC has been faithful to it so far.

Claims that Corbyn is out of step with the mood of Labour voters and members appear to be false:

“As a means of keeping together an unpromising electoral coalition that includes the constituencies of Doncaster North (72 per cent Leave) and Bristol West (80 per cent Remain), Corbyn and Keir Starmer’s Brexit strategy has been jaw-droppingly successful. Making every effort to reach a workable Brexit settlement before countenancing switching to Remain if impossible, is also arguably the only moral and democratic response to the referendum result. Voters agree. “
Guardian 3 January 2019

” A leaked poll commissioned by the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign suggests that voters would be less likely to back Labour if the party was committed to stopping Brexit.”
Guardian 19 January 2019