There’s a remarkable story on the BBC News website today about the latest findings of the British Election Study, last seen destroying the myth that fear of the SNP damaged Labour in England. The piece focuses on the discovery that being seen as “too left-wing” does NOT, in fact, cost Labour votes, despite the hysterical warnings of supposedly leftist pundits.
But there’s a more startling fact buried right at the end.
I’m writing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Labour Party members; some new, and some, like me, who have been loyal party members throughout our adult lives. I’m not writing to any one of you in particular.
Here’s Atul Hatwal, editor of the influential Labour website Labour Uncut, speaking first in July and then reviewing his position with the benefit of hindsight in August.
Corbyn just won the leadership election in the first round with 60% of the vote. Don’t give up the day job, Atul. Well, actually, maybe you should.
Social media is alive today with tales of people being refused a vote in the Labour leadership election on the grounds that they don’t support Labour values (if anyone even knows what those are any more). We suspect you’ll be hearing quite a bit about it in the press over the coming days.
The prevailing reaction seems to be slack-jawed astonishment at the planetary-scale car-crash the party has allowed to develop around the issue, with another “coup” story thrown in for good measure in the Telegraph.
We can only think of one way the farce could become even worse.
An update, then: as we write, our anti-poverty fundraiser (which set out to gather just £500 for a young woman in Kidderminster fined almost £330 for stealing a 75p pack of Mars bars out of desperate hunger after her benefits were sanctioned) stands at a phenomenal £14,395.
Earlier today Gordon Brown gave a speech in London, on a subject and for reasons which are unclear. It was widely trailed in the press, however, as an intervention in the Labour leadership campaign, with the particular goal of stopping Jeremy Corbyn from winning. It was – naturally – broadcast live and in full by the BBC News channel.
Corbyn wasn’t mentioned by name so far as we noticed, but to tell the truth we drifted in and out of the rambling, 49-minute, 30-page monologue full of celebrity namedrops and unconnected anecdotes, hypnotised as we were by Brown’s relentless pacing up and down the room like a caged animal.
Nobody who isn’t getting paid should have to endure the entire grimness of it, so using the magic of technology we’ve compressed it all down to a mere fraction of its length (just 20%) for you, but without losing any of the tone, content or intellectual nuance.
We offer it to you as an elegy. It marks the day that Labour reanimated the walking corpse of the only person left in the party that it considers to have any gravitas – not to win an election, but to try to crush the first man in living memory to enthuse tens of thousands of new members to join a political party in the hope of restoring the values it was created to uphold.
It is the day the soul of the Labour Party finally died.
There’s another rather bizarre Kenny Farquharson column in today’s Times. Under the headline “Holyrood wasn’t built for a one-party state”, it asserts that “the Scottish Parliament is no longer fit for purpose” on the grounds that the opposition parties are useless, as if that were the fault of the electoral system rather than their leaders.
After that, though, it just gets flat-out insulting.
This debate between John “Mental Mad” McTernan and Owen Jones from the BBC News channel this morning doesn’t need a lot of commentary from us, to be honest.
It’s like watching someone try to reason with voicemail.
Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “Care to share a link from a reputable news source for this story? Ru**ian propaganda is typical for accusing their…” Nov 10, 17:03
James on Vibecoding A Better World: “DaveL; Well, ye ken what they say; “once a Prick….”” Nov 10, 16:17
James on Vibecoding A Better World: “Way to go, Hatey! Site Prick Supreme! Last Monday, news broke about an underground torture chamber in a private house…” Nov 10, 16:16
DaveL on Vibecoding A Better World: “Walking a mile in your shoes we’d all be wearing SS uniforms and on our way to a party celebrating…” Nov 10, 15:27
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Ah, c’moan noo, James. Everything you read on here is telling you more than you can know. Be honest with…” Nov 10, 13:44
James on Vibecoding A Better World: “Ah – the Yoon pile-on. Tells you everything you need to know. Keep going, Alf; you’ve got the twats rattled.” Nov 10, 13:27
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “On the subject of shoes, I’ve strived to live my life by the following words of wisdom: Never criticise someone…” Nov 10, 13:23
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “I guess, Alf, if you can replace the very real political and economic union between England and Scotland with a…” Nov 10, 13:17
Minceheid on Vibecoding A Better World: “Hatey McHateface says: 10 November, 2026 at 9:15 am In a just world, where karma rules, the building burners would…” Nov 10, 12:10
Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: “Robin and others on the left are coming ever closer to realising that the key issue Scots face is not…” Nov 10, 11:32
Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “You are absolutely right Northcode – if you respond to a specific, evidenced-based argument quoting relevant facts and statistics with…” Nov 10, 11:31
Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “Here’s an argument framed almost entirely in quoted text. “Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not…” Nov 10, 10:51
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “McAlpine has been writing about the pointlessness of the SNP for some time now, so it’s not quite breaking news.…” Nov 10, 09:15
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Every True Scot’s worst nightmare, MH. I mind like it was yesterday losing a fiver in 1986. May 27th it…” Nov 10, 08:23
Minceheid on Vibecoding A Better World: “Minds me of the time when a younger Minceheid discovered that the clappit-oot work jeans which he was wearing had…” Nov 10, 07:14
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “And Robin McAlpine has finally caught up with the Rev i.e. the SNP isn’t worth saving.” Nov 9, 21:43
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “The big, bad English barsturts may have thieved our wind, but somewhere in Bonny Scotia tonight, oor very ain world’s…” Nov 9, 19:14
James on Vibecoding A Better World: “Aye, Dan; it’s one sad bastart of a bot. Quite an achievement, though, to be on the wrang side of…” Nov 9, 18:59
Neil Waugh on Vibecoding A Better World: “Hey Rev Looks like you got a shout-out in the Herald today. Without getting a mention, of course. With her…” Nov 9, 16:03
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““understand that your population and its inevitable and longstanding ‘demographic manipulation’ and ‘perishing culture’ under colonial rule is a matter…” Nov 9, 14:00
Captain Caveman on Vibecoding A Better World: “Heh! Spot the luddite philistine eh – there’s me going on about “leather effect” watch straps and dials when OF…” Nov 9, 13:41
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Liking it, CC. What about a moby app, monitoring your speech and texts in real time? Analysing for key indications…” Nov 9, 13:24
Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: ““Many Scots just need to look at the strangers hanging around their High Streets” ….and the need to better understand…” Nov 9, 13:16
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““discrediting just about everyone on Wings” Some on here seem unable to distinguish between Wings and Wings BTL. I feel…” Nov 9, 13:12
Spartan 117 on Vibecoding A Better World: “A bizarre statement from Alf. Many of us don’t need to look to the media, state or “culture” for intellectual…” Nov 9, 13:04
Captain Caveman on Vibecoding A Better World: ““Jeezo, one day I’m the colonised, the next I’m the coloniser.” Maybe we could each wear a large “colonis-o-meter” dial…” Nov 9, 13:03
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “@ Aidan says: 9 November, 2026 at 11:05 am Excellent post. Many Scots just need to look at the strangers…” Nov 9, 12:51
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “““endless questions” posed by the colonizer” Jeezo, one day I’m the colonised, the next I’m the coloniser. Any chance of…” Nov 9, 12:41
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Prick and twat, eh, Dan? Sounds like you’re one confused individual. Nae wonder ye hae tae mak all yer ain…” Nov 9, 12:35
