Ed Milliband

Woebot

Well-known member
Well it was a bad day for big brothers everywhere. But sheriously.

What a toad! He seems to suddenly decide he wants the crown for himself - and appears to hijack the union vote to achieve his ends. How weird to have a party leader seemingly against the party's wishes?

He scuppers his brother's hopes and I suppose effectively divides the party in two in the process creating a load of bad feeling.

And call me old-fashioned but two children and he's not man enough to marry his wife.

This guy is a disaster for Labour. I thought David was a reasonably attractive proposition! I really feel for the poor guy - he looks utterly humiliated.
 

routes

we can delay.ay.ay...
haha... last night i saw some of the 'highlights' from his first speech as Labour leader and he is a surprisingly weak public speaker. good luck to the guy...
re David Milliband, i'm sure ole Tone can find him a nice cushty lil job at the IMF or something...
 
D

droid

Guest
Isn't D. Milliband a slimy Blairite creep?

 
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hucks

Your Message Here
Stalks his older brother then knifes him -what an utter bastard. And I speak as a middle child so I understand both sides.

I saw EdMilli speak at a Compass conference a couple of years ago and thought he was pretty good, in a young up and coming kind of way, but he's no leader, and his speech yesterday was guff. The new generation is a terrible, excluding theme, and in any case he isn't. He wrote the Labour manifesto for the general election. And it was terrible, meaningless rubbish, with a scary conflation of crime and immigration in there somewere too.

I might be alone in the whole world here, but I want someone experienced enough to forensically take this coalition down. I don't want visions, values and new generation hopey changey bollocks, I want policies, and a proper articulation of an alternative the forthcoming economic death spiral.

I voted for Ed Balls, tho, so what do I know etc

PS woebot yes you are old-fashioned.
 

scottdisco

rip this joint please
hopefully Balls will be shadow chancellor as he has both the street-fighting tenacity and Keynesian intellectual chops to nip at the heels of this slash and burn coalition, who would be cutting fast regardless of circumstances as it's in their blood.

as for Ed, he'll do as a placeholder. his speech yesterday tacked a bit right in places, tried to discard the 'red' label, and was a plea for Labour party unity. i did note one or two Blairite voices moaning against him yday mind, which really REALLY fucking winds me up. unity is the most important thing for Labour right now.

though i totally agree w what Hucks said about crime and immigration.

my younger brother is far more dazzling and successful than me, so i'm pleased to see the theme continue on the wider stage ;)
 

scottdisco

rip this joint please
also to be fair to Milli Junior, his rhetorical question about why should a banker earn more in a day than a care worker in a year (or whatever the phrasing was, but it was something like that) is a far more eloquent and just intervention to place in the minds of Britons than anything Osborne, Clegg, Cameron or Baroness sodding Warsi have come up with all year.

Warsi w her recent scaremongering about the guy has been just what you'd expect: tired, disingenuous, predictable neo-Thatcherite garbage.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Well it was a bad day for big brothers everywhere. But sheriously.

What a toad! He seems to suddenly decide he wants the crown for himself - and appears to hijack the union vote to achieve his ends. How weird to have a party leader seemingly against the party's wishes?

He scuppers his brother's hopes and I suppose effectively divides the party in two in the process creating a load of bad feeling.

And call me old-fashioned but two children and he's not man enough to marry his wife.

This guy is a disaster for Labour. I thought David was a reasonably attractive proposition! I really feel for the poor guy - he looks utterly humiliated.

I honestly don't know where to start with this.

Did he "hijak" the union vote or did union members support him because of his policies?

Is it not the case that he is man enough to have a relationship with a woman without needing it sanctioned by the church (which he doesn't believe in) and the state - i.e. like an increasingly large number of people, including me?

Do we have democracy in this country and in our poltiical parties or is it some kind of heriditary feudal system where all the rights go to the first born?

Why is David "apologist for torture" Miliband a better bet?

I'm not fan of either of them, but come on.
 

scottdisco

rip this joint please
as long as he isn't under the impression Norman Hunter still actually plays for them he'll do better than Tony 'Die-hard Mag' Blair
 

Woebot

Well-known member
I honestly don't know where to start with this.

Did he "hijak" the union vote or did union members support him because of his policies?

Is it not the case that he is man enough to have a relationship with a woman without needing it sanctioned by the church (which he doesn't believe in) and the state - i.e. like an increasingly large number of people, including me?

Do we have democracy in this country and in our poltiical parties or is it some kind of heriditary feudal system where all the rights go to the first born?

Why is David "apologist for torture" Miliband a better bet?

I'm not fan of either of them, but come on.

i didnt know you weren't married john. tsk - shame on you. ;)

no i don't mind the marriage thing too much - i just think in this case its symptomatic of him being a selfish little twit.
he didn't say he didn't see a place for it in society - he said he was too busy.
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
no i don't mind the marriage thing too much - i just think in this case its symptomatic of him being a selfish little twit.

:slanted:


Matt, you seem to be reflecting the media's reaction incredible reaction to this- David was the leader in waiting, looked nice, had policies that fitted into the centre ground, no values or beliefs to speak. And he was robbed of his rightful crown by the evil unions.

Is that how broken political discourse is in this country? David now flounces off because he didn't get want he wanted and is portrayed as the injured party?

Ed's fimly centrised anyway. The Mail, Times etc hate him because he wants the rich to pay more of their fair share for the shitstorm they put us in, which of course is unacceptable.
 
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Woebot

Well-known member
Do we have democracy in this country and in our poltiical parties or is it some kind of heriditary feudal system where all the rights go to the first born?

Why is David "apologist for torture" Miliband a better bet?

I'm not fan of either of them, but come on.

come to think of it john i don't quite know where to begin with this either!

it would have equally unpleasant if the older brother had done to the same thing to the younger brother.

furthermore to call milliband senior an apologist for torture is farcical. he's being a mite more honest that any other politician in his place (like the clapping harriet harman). what a delightful opportunity for little ed to say "ok its a clean slate"
 

john eden

male pale and stale
I need to find out what the brothers think about Heaven 17 before I say more.

I love calling them "the brothers" though, it makes us all sound like we're in Harlem in the sixties. :D
 

grizzleb

Well-known member
I don't want any misunderstandings when I say I can't stand the brothers though...

I can't see how Ed Miliband owed anything to his brother. It was a fair contest and he won, I'm glad I don't have to offer up everything to my older brothers if I want them first. The point about his own party not voting for them is nonsense. The unions have a say in the electoral system of the labour party, and they (and many others) elected him. I think he's easily the best choice for Labour from an outsiders perspective. Miliband D, whilst smooth and charming and all the rest was far too much like Tony Blair mk 3 (after DC) and I think this country has probably grown sick of robotic non-people leading their political parties. Ed has the right amount of un-charm and ugliness whilst still conveying the slightly mechanised action that is required to run a party these days to do what's needed. Ed Balls is probably the most intelligent and forward about what he would rather do as leader than any other, but he has literally no PR skills and is wholly unmarketable and the way he comes across in public is so aggressive and aloof. It will be interesting times for sure. David must be well gutted, harsh for the boey.
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
I also voted for The Other Ed, who played a blinder throughout the campaign and has been by far the most impressive critic of the ConDems (tis a pity the guy could start a fight in an empty room and would be a terrible leader).

I (reluctantly) put David M second, purely because I think he'd win us more votes and because I've found Ed slightly opportunist in this election. Making such a big play of Iraq was unnecessary. That said, much of the criticism is hyperbolic. He's no public speaker, but yesterday's speech contained a lot of good stuff, especially on wages.

He was perfectly entitled to stand. He and his brother come from different places – not massively in historical terms, but significant enough in the modern Labour party and the centre-left needed a candidate who wasn't Balls, frankly. Labour needs reminding what it's about and until Yvette Cooper learns her some panache I can't see anyone better placed.

And Scott and Hucks, people who read party manifestos are weird.
 
D

droid

Guest
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Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Is there a decent rundown anywhere of what he's actually likely to do?

All the news reports that I've seen since he won have said that a) he made a speech with a bunch of platitudes b) his brother was in the running too c) he isn't married yet omg and d) he thought Iraq was a bad idea. And before that I never managed to learn which candidate was which...
 
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