So, the latest closure of the single permitted UK Politics thread has happened due, once again, to the Trolling activities, ad hominem attacks, and insulting language of one contributor. However, it cannot be denied that the apparent inability of a number of otherwise-sensible posters to ignore the Troll undoubtedly encouraged his behaviour, and contributed to the closure of the thread.

Hopefully, the Mods will allow this thread to run but, if it is to be a success, it is absolutely essential that everyone ignores the Troll. Do not respond to him, don’t talk to him, don’t talk about him or about his posts.

Now, on to business. I watched the Andrew Neil interviews with Kier Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey last night, and I couldn’t help but wish their respective political stances were reversed. RLB is undoubtedly the more driven, and immediately ‘likeable’ of the two. She’s unafraid of the bullying tactics of interviewers like Neil, and fights back when he tries to beat her down, but I fear her continuing support of policies rejected by the electorate in the 2019 GE will continue to render the LP unelectable. KS, on the other hand, always comes over as ‘stodgy’ and slightly ‘shifty’, and seems very discomfitted by aggressive interview-techniques. Yet he and his policies are, IMHO, very much more likely to give the LP a chance at election-time and, of course, before the LP can begin to rebuild the country from the disasters of the past ten years and the coming five years under Tory mis-rule, it has to get itself elected.

I’m not a member of the LP, I’m not even a natural Labour-voter, but since the 2010 election/coalition debacle, I’ve regarded Labour as the best party to run the country for the benefit of the vast majority of the population. However, I’m very doubtful about either of the leading candidates being able to take the LP to victory in 2024 or even the GE after that - one because her policies won’t suit the voting public, the other because he lacks the personality. For once, I hope I’m wrong, but I fear I’m right. What says everyone else?