Automated Attack Monkeys, Scalpel Mines, & Acid

I don't want to jinx it, but the news that MI6 are saying they didn't do any renditions without ministerial approval could be absolutely huge. This is the relevant passage:

British officials have not sought to deny the involvement of MI6 in either rendition. Instead, they have stressed that each resulted from what they describe as "ministerially authorised government policy", raising the possibility that the new Yard inquiry will require the questioning of ministers of the last Labour government.

I guess it's time to dig out this old picture again...



Of course, the likelihood is that it'll all get swept under the carpet, but we can hope, right?

The shennanigans in the Labour party today, followed by the smug sense of relief that they got a woman (and a black one too!) on the ballot paper for the leadership is nauseating in the extreme. It feels like there is an unspoken We've got a token diversity candidate now, so now we can all relax and vote for the nice white middle class boy we want to in the Labour blogosphere.

Is it just me that finds this utterly infuriating?

I hope she wins. That'll piss the buggers off. And yet... I really hope she doesn't. Because any one of the other three* would be a disaster for the Labour party, and then I could point and laugh. Diane is the only candidate who would actually make a credible leader in my view, which means she is a danger from the PoV of a Lib Dem.

For comedy value, and for partisan reasons as a Lib Dem, I am going to endorse as my candidate for the Labour leadership Ed Balls. Snotty, ill of grace, unable to see beyond his own nose, aggressive and intellectually stunted? The Labour party couldn't give us a bigger gift.

* I can't really think of the Millibland brothers as separate people, sorry

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Not the election - that's old news - but their collective marbles. The mindset seems to be that our members will desert us in droves for the real saviour now that we've shown our true colours in coalescing with the Tories, and the coalition will collapse and Labour will be back in their rightful place.

I've got news for you guys.

The public is pig sick of tribal politics. The only accusation of selling out I had from a customer at the pub yesterday was from a green; loads and loads of others were very positive about it. They approve of the grown up nature of what is going on.

Yes, there will be some defections from the few tribalists we have. But we are also getting a flood of new members - both principled people and careerists.

Yes, the coalition COULD collapse and if that happens we will probably suffer the worse damage. But it's showing no signs of doing so yet, and as a poly person I saw the creation of a coalition maintenance committee as a very positive move. In all relationships, keeping talking about the relationship is important.

But, from the point of view of Labour, even if it DOES all go horribly wrong for us, do you really think the pendulum will automatically swing your way?

You have 13 years of disgrace to wipe from the public's mind.
You have no leader, and you don't have a credible leadership candidate. Not ONE.
You have screwed over your core vote and your activists so hard that they all blame YOU for what happened on election day.
You scuppered any possiblity of a coalition deal with us yourselves, and are now playing sour grapes.

This does not look, to me, like a party that will be ready to come back into government at any time in the next decade. Why don't you crawl back under your stones, and come out when you are ready to act like grown ups?