Breaking: Kezia Dugdale steps down as Scottish Labour leader

[Denzil_DC]

32. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that you don't actually read what I write,

or if you do, you have the memory retention of a gnat.

Somebody on this thread spent far too much time on DU over the last year or so defending Corbyn against smears of being anti-Semitic, against the undemocratic antics of the Labour hierarchy, against shameful propaganda levelled at Momentum supporters, against accusations of being unelectable etc. etc. (OK, the last one I may be wrong on - time alone will tell).

That somebody was me.

It's nothing to do with "liking" Corbyn. I'm not looking for a pal or a boyfriend.

I have criticized Corbyn because he's consistently either lied about the Scottish Government and the political situation in Scotland, or he simply can't be bothered to research what's actually happening up here. Either is inexcusable, and I have every right to be angry about it. I also feel he's been lamentably weak in his opposition to the Tories' utterly predictable Brexit power grab and very conveniently vague and contradictory on too many issues that will come back to haunt Labour at the next election. I don't give a stuff if that rattles your cage as a slavish Corbyn supporter.

I'm hard pressed at the moment to think of anyone in a position of influence within Labour who'd take a less sympathetic position towards Scotland (he has a publicly available voting record as an MP, and his stance and votes have never been favourable to Scottish devolution, let alone independence). He apparently doesn't even pay us the respect of finding out what's actually going on, he just wants our votes. That's very Old Labour.

Labour didn't generously "grant" Scotland a Scottish Executive (only later, under the SNP, did it become a parliament), it had to be dragged into doing it against its will under UN pressure and the threat of severe sanctions from the Council of Europe after some canny behind-the-scenes politicking. If it takes that sort of hard-nosed move to disentangle us from this almighty mess, I guess we'll have to find a way to do it, no matter what May, Corbyn or any other politico thinks about it.

I added a few posts with up-to-date information and analysis to this thread because the Scottish Labour leadership election's going to be a tiresomely long haul and I doubt many are going to be that interested in a string of whole new threads when something else comes up. That wasn't an invitation to go over the same old tired ground again and again.

I'm really, really tired of you lecturing me about the situation in my own country, and I'm within a hair of placing you on ignore, because I think these endless exchanges benefit nobody, and risk sucking the air out of the group.