Barry

Mostly talking nonsense with occasional history/politics | Newham Council hate account | All views my own

[Barry @Maz__95]

At approximately this time in 632, the Muslims fought Musailama at the battle of Yamamah. On a cold morning in the third week of December, the battle began. Here’s a (long) thread on the battle and surrounding events and tangents. It is surreal.

[Barry @Maz__95]

This is a Chinese song I heard in a museum. It's about the Japanese invasion of China. A 13 year old boy leads the Japenese troops into an ambush and is himself killed.

Might not understand a word of it but it's mesmerising: https://t.co/jUBkcjoWLG

[Barry @Maz__95]

Judge creates political headache for the Government.

What Farage done is clearly contempt of court. Attorney General shoots himself and the government in the foot if he wants it prosecuted. Looks awful.

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: A judge referred Nigel Farage to the Attorney General for potential prosecution after he branded the Manchester Airport assault trial "two tier justice"

"The observation made by Farage was potentially a contempt of court as it implied the guilt of the defendants"

[Barry @Maz__95]

Done some quick digging. It isn’t Barking & Dagenham council @lbbdcouncil. It’s TfL who manage that roundabout. And they do not want to give out any information about enforcements and how much they’re making.

https://t.co/kTxUg9oPm5

[Barry @Maz__95]

Which idiot decided that box junctions was the way to fix Barking roundabout? Clearly the people who decided that have no idea what that roundabout is like.

Rather than trying to sort the traffic, they’ve just seen an opportunity to create a cash cow. @lbbdcouncil

[Barry @Maz__95]

The obvious way to fix the issue is traffic lights. But the Council weren’t going to give up an opportunity to make themselves millions, possibly tens of millions, from fines.

[Barry @Maz__95]

Funnily enough, I think the presence of a Muslim population has influenced where Burnham has chosen to stand. Not a significant Muslim population in this constituency. Will be a straight shootout between Burnham and Reform.

[Barry @Maz__95]

He has to let Burnham stand. He has no other option. If he blocks him, that will immediately trigger a move to remove him as leader.

That being said, if he blocks Burnham, and Starmer’s only opponent is Streeting…Starmer might actually win that in a vote of the membership

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

BREAKING:

***Andy Burnham has a potential path back to Westminster***

Josh Simons announces that he is standing down as Labour MP for Makerfield to make way for Andy Burnham

There is also no guarantee - even now - that Starmer will allow Burnham to stand. He blocked him before and could try to do so again, even in his weakened position

And there is no guarantee that Burnham will win it. Labour won it with a majority of 5,399 at the last election, with Reform in second place. There has been a tectonic shift since then. Reform almost swept the board there at the local elections

But it is a big, big moment. Huge pressure on Starmer to allow Burnham to stand

[Barry @Maz__95]

The Prime Minister’s speech is falling flat right now. The cheers aren’t as loud as they ought to be. He’s speaking without much conviction.

[Sonia Sodha @soniasodha]

Seems to me if you’re Wes Streeting you’ve now got two options. 1. Challenge now and try and beat Ed Miliband (or similar soft left candidate) in a contest. 2. Don’t challenge now and try and strike a deal with Burnham to be his chancellor (don’t think Burnham is beatable).

[Barry @Maz__95]

Streeting/Rayner and their allies will be looking at that and thinking they have a better chance with Burnham not around. But then there’s an asterisk beside any winner because they won when their strongest opposition wasn’t around.

[Barry @Maz__95]

So, Labour lose 1496. It’s the borderline of whether they remove Starmer. So far, none of the big names have made a move.

Everyone is waiting for Starmer’s speech on Monday. A lot of other people are waiting for Burnham to get back into Parliament before starting a challenge.

[Barry @Maz__95]

With local elections on Thursday, everyone is expecting Labour to take huge losses. They will absolutely lose plenty of seats, but it’s the size that matters.

Under 1000 losses is a win.

Over 1500 is serious trouble. Talk of leadership challenges become real.

[…]

[Barry @Maz__95]

The next 24-48 hours are crucial. His speech didn’t cut it. The key question that Starmer’s opponents will be asking is how and when.

Burnham needs to get back into Parliament first. If they trigger this leadership challenge now, he’s not there to win.

[Barry @Maz__95]

That being said, it depends on your local candidates too. E.g if you’re in Tower Hamlets, I think you should absolutely vote for Aspire.

[Barry @Maz__95]

At the risk of antagonising people, I plan to vote for Labour tomorrow in the local elections. There’s a general drive amongst Muslims to vote Labour out, which is understandable. But my logic is fairly straightforward.

[Barry @Maz__95]

Objectively, a Reform-involved government is worse for Muslims in this country and abroad than a Labour government. Therefore, I think it’s in our interests to protect Labour.

[Barry @Maz__95]

2000 or more is a collapse. The Labour Party is dead in the water and the next election will be a huge swing.

This set of local elections sets the tone for the next election.

[Barry @Maz__95]

With local elections on Thursday, everyone is expecting Labour to take huge losses. They will absolutely lose plenty of seats, but it’s the size that matters.

Under 1000 losses is a win.

Over 1500 is serious trouble. Talk of leadership challenges become real.

[…]

[Barry @Maz__95]

The problem with freshies is that they think they’re in a Bollywood movie 24/7