KEVIN McKenna ("Labour spectacularly failing to halt this Tory Brexit mess", The Herald, December 8) sounds like one of those political commentators who has got himself confused with Winston Smith in 1984. Like Orwell's doomed hero he seems to assume that the Proles are all thick and have to be told what is going on under their noses.
"Mr Corbyn's task was a simple one..." he writes of the Labour leader's latest performance at Prime Minister's Questions, "...to point out that what remained of the Prime Minister's political credibility was in tatters; that Homer Simpson could have done a better job than her Brexit negotiating team and that she was now morally bound to resign or to call a General Election" but poor hapless old Jeremy just chuntered on about the iniquities of Universal Credit and let May off scot-free. As if his failure to point out the bleeding obvious was some kind of major political victory for the Tory Government.
Does Mr McKenna seriously believe that the majority of British voters blame Mr Corbyn for Brexit because he hasn't come up with a better policy? This man has spent 33 years on the back benches because he believes that principles are more important than power – which is why many voters (myself included) think that he's a rotten politician. But his Tory enemies believe that power is the only principle – which is why many voters (myself included) think that they are rotten people. Mr Mckenna, and all the other Corbyn-haters on the liberal left, really should stop moaning about the marrow-growing old hippy and just accept that he is a new breed of politician who spurns the petty point-scoring, mindless soundbites, empty posturing and intellectual snobbery of his condescending shabby predecessors. Mr Corbyn doesn't tell people what to think, he simply tells people what he thinks and doesn't seem to give a damn if they agree with him or not (far and away his most endearing quality). He has too much humility, integrity, ideological commitment, and simple honesty to qualify as an outstanding snake-oil salesman. Which is why, ironically, he is so close to getting the top job.
Mr Corbyn has already said that he will not move into Downing Street if elected and it will be refreshing to see a Prime Minister so disinterested in the trappings of office that he cycles to work from his semi in Islington every day. As for Mr McKenna's Brexit whinge alI I can say is that Mr Corbyn can no more stop Brexit than Clement Attlee could stop Appeasement. Just like his woefully underestimated predecessor, Mr Corbyn doesn't have the faintest idea what to do about the mess the Tories have created, but is perfectly placed to benefit from their mismanagement and change Britain into the bargain.
Sean Pigott,
Flat 2/L,13 Wilson Street, Largs.
IN 1918 the Labour Party in Ireland (which was a branch of the UK Labour Party, like today’s Labour Party in Scotland) stood aside at the election in Ireland to allow the independence parties a clear run. That clear run produced a huge majority for independence across most of Ireland.
Any chance of the Scottish branch office doing the same for Scotland or – better still – joining the pro independence movement in Scotland? The socialist movement in Scotland was brought into being by people like Keir Hardie, James Connolly (shot in 1916 in Dublin, longtime member of the Labour Party), Jimmy Maxton, John Maclean and RB Cunningham Graham (Labour member who went on to lead the new SNP) who all believed in Scottish home rule and I know exactly where they would be today. After the festive season perhaps we should set up search parties to see if we can actually find the Labour Party in Scotland and get them onto the right track.
David McEwan Hill,
Dalinlongart, Sandbank, Argyll.
IN his criticism of the Labour Party in relation to Brexit, Kevin McKenna makes reference to Harold Macmillan "cashing in" on Anthony Eden's catastrophic handling of the Suez Crisis in 1957.
Such a statement underplays the role played by Macmillan in relation to the Suez affair. The planning at the UK end of the attack on Egypt was controlled by Macmillan, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Eden, as Prime Minister. In fact Macmillan threatened to resign if force was not adopted. Macmillan , responsible as much as anyone for Suez, which ended in humiliation for the UK, with a run on sterling, gained from it and secured the prize of becoming Prime Minister. At that time, before the Conservatives adopted a system for electing a leader in 1965, the position of leader was determined by "consultations", described once as the "magic circle", and these resulted in Macmillan entering 10 Downing Street in spite of his significant involvement in the Suez debacle.
Ian W Thomson,
38 Kirkintilloch Road, Lenzie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here