A response to Owen Jones

Unless you've been living under an apolitical rock for the past few days, you will have heard about the infamous blog post written by fellow left-winger Owen Jones (if you haven't read it, I suggest giving it a quick read or this post may be a little bit confusing). I'm a big, big fan of Owen and have had the pleasure of meeting him and engaging him in conversation on Twitter a few times, he is someone who I have the utmost respect for. In concordance with this view, I also agree with a lot of the points he addressed in his blog post. There are questions that need to be answered in order to reassure people that they can trust Labour.

Owen makes the assumption that Corbyn will definitely win and that a snap election is very likely, this is how he defends the timing of his blog post. Indeed, it is looking extremely likely that Corbyn will win the leadership again but having voted for the losing team in the 2015 General Election and the EU Referendum, I have learned we should not become complacent.  I think he made a mistake in targeting his questions at Corbyn supporters, I understand why he did as he believes a Corbyn win is near inevitable, but I think he underestimated the influence he has. I think a more apt blog title would've been 'questions all Labour members need to answer' or something akin to that, aiming the post at Corbyn supporters makes it look on the outset like he endorses Smith - I don't believe he does as he reiterates time and time again his investment in the left's future, but I think he made it way too easy for the right to exploit this, even if unintentionally. I don't believe you should blindly support anything ever, which is why I support Owen's right to critique the left's current strategy, and I think he is right in saying that any criticisms he has would've been exploited by the right regardless of the time. However, I think addressing those concerns now when there are people being taken in by Smith could prove to be disastrous. I also think Owen's assumption that a snap election is very likely is a little bit naive, I think the PLP will only support a snap election if Jeremy wins this leadership again because they know Labour is likely to lose and then they'll definitely be able to oust Jeremy and the left. I have no doubts that the PLP would prefer a Tory government over a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn (as eloquently said by Tony Blair..).

Anyway, criticisms of the post aside. I think now what the left need to do is answer the questions Owen has put forward, if we can't answer these questions, we will never be able to bring anyone back to the left. Instead of hurling abuse at Owen for being an establishment stooge, a Blairite, a traitor, or whatever word takes your fancy, let's just answer the questions. We can't afford to let the right trip us up on any of these issues.

Questions and answers:

1. How can the disastrous polling be turned around?
Before answering this, I think we need to look at why the polling has been so disastrous in the first place. I acknowledge that Labour were lagging behind a little bit pre-coup but post-coup Labour has really taken a beating in the polls, shifting the blame for Brexit onto Jeremy united anti-Corbyn Remain voters, and the resignations in the Shadow Cabinet on top of the 172 MPs supporting a vote of no confidence in Corbyn re-ignited the fear of Labour being unelectable because a divided party does not inspire people or win elections. In addition to all of this, we are in post-Brexit limbo. Once Article 50 is triggered and the British public realise what Brexit will actually mean for the UK, they will no longer back the Tories. Furthermore, Brexit brought about a whole array of divisions amongst Tories - rehashing this debate will divide them further, and as I aforementioned a divided party does not inspire people or win elections.

In regards to turning the disastrous polling around, the trick is to refine Labour's political motives, which Jeremy has already seemed to be doing as he announced his 10 pledges today. Then from here, to publicise them. Once CLP meetings are allowed again, more canvassing and phone banks can be organised to make sure the general public are aware of these pledges.

2. Where is the clear vision?
I believe the clear vision is to try and restore faith in the apathetic and disillusioned by not being a standard career politician basing a campaign on sophistry. This could be shown in various ways, for example Jeremy has said that all Labour MPs may undergo the re-selection process in the run-up to the next election, this is evidence of democratising the party in the process of ousting corrupt MPs and it shows the importance of the Labour Party members, the importance of people, in Corbyn's movement.

3. How are the policies significantly different from the last general election? 
There are some overlapping policies, such as the banning of zero-hour contracts and a pledge to remove the bedroom tax. However, to suggest that Jeremy shares Ed Miliband's centre-left ideology is an outright lie. Ed Miliband wanted to clamp down on immigration (perhaps this was an attempt of political point scoring against UKIP), Miliband failed to offer a real alternative to austerity (he did the talk of claiming he was an anti-austerity candidate, he just failed to suggest many policies besides the Mansion tax that would help in achieving this), he abstained on Iain Duncan Smith's retroactive workfare legislation, he also appointed Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer who supported an austerity-lite agenda, austerity-lite is not a real alternative to austerity.

This is where Jeremy offers change. Jeremy has not prioritised immigration as an issue, why? Because it's not anywhere near as big an issue as the Tories would have you believe. The Tories have managed to convince people to direct their anger over unemployment and housing at the immigrants rather than where it should be directed, the top. Jeremy has time and time again reiterated that he is anti-austerity, for example, he has stated that he doesn't want to cut public expenditure. You can trust that Jeremy wouldn't whip MPs into abstaining on Tory legislations, for example Jeremy Corbyn voted against the 2016 Welfare Reform and Work Bill (whereas Owen Smith did not, funny that..), you can also trust that Jeremy Corbyn wouldn't appoint a Blairite type as his Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer - John McDonnell shares Corbyn's anti-austerity agenda, you can check his voting record.

4. What’s the media strategy? 
I agree with Owen's point here that the media is never going to support a left-wing anti-establishment candidate. However, I like Another Angry Voice's suggestion that we should mobilise Labour members in a letter-writing campaign to the BBC - they are publicly owned, they should represent the public. I also agree with Owen's point that social media is very useful, and people with bigger platforms should make use of them by outwardly supporting Corbyn.

5. What’s the strategy to win over the over-44s? 
Owen mentioned that Corbyn had said he would fight for respect for older people, he would deal with pensioner poverty, and social care, but this was the first he had heard of it. What we need to do with these ideas is publicise them, we have so many members, if we all went canvassing and took part in phone banks we could get these ideas out there. It may even be worth getting Labour members to do talks at Retirement homes to publicise these ideas.

6. What’s the strategy to win over Scotland? 
It is my view that we lost Scotland because Labour weren't offering a genuine alternative to austerity, whereas the SNP were. If we offer a genuine alternative to austerity and distance ourselves from the Tories as much as possible, we may be able to win them back. That being said, I acknowledge this will not be an easy feat as Scotland were taken for granted for years with Blairism.

7. What’s the strategy to win over Conservative voters? 
I want to say right off the bat that this should not be our priority. We do not need a move to 'radical centrism', if we make winning over the centre ground and the Tories one of our priorities, we will fall into the same patterns as Blair and Brown (it also didn't work too well for Clegg if my memory serves me well). However, 52% of Tories in this YouGov poll support renationalisation of energy and the rails which suggests that there is a unifying goal here that we can capitalise on and publicise without sacrificing the integrity and values of the Labour Party under Jeremy.

8. How would we deal with people’s concerns about immigration?
This is a question that I've thought about many times before and found it hard to reach a solid conclusion, mostly because any talk about immigration in the mainstream media seems to be based on fearmongering and lies and I think in order to address concerns about immigration, it is vital to bring this to people's attention and point out that the Tories have deliberately placed the blame on immigrants to direct the blame from the top - it's no more than a convenient scapegoat. Tory cuts have meant that poorer areas with a population increase due to migrant inflow have been under a lot of stress, and as Owen said Corbyn has spoken about reinstating the Migrant Impacts Fund. This may be a reasonable way to tackle the 'problem of immigration'.

It is also necessary to point out that if immigration is 'the problem', immigration increased massively under the Tories (the largest spike in net migration in British history) so the Tories have failed to address these concerns anyway, it definitely wasn't helped with David Cameron removing the Migrant Impacts Fund.

9. How can Labour’s mass membership be mobilised?
Canvassing, leafleting and phone banks are very popular ways of gaining support. However, we haven't massively had anything to come together for and focus on. The mayoral election brought together a lot of members and we had a Labour victory! If an election is called, we will have something to prove to  both the PLP and the voters and the mass membership would be mobilised. Furthermore, it's very difficult to mobilise yourselves when CLP meetings have been banned so as of recently it has been very difficult to organise any sort of action.

Conclusion

Owen did raise some very important questions, and they are the type of questions Corbyn supporters will be asked when canvassing, when doing phone banks, or when going door-to-door. Instead of hurling abuse at Owen for writing the blog post, I think we should do our best to answer the questions and address his concerns. All it does is make the left look weak if we can't address these concerns. I think it's clear if you read the blog post that Owen is not anti-Corbyn, I do wish he would be more forward in saying that he supports Corbyn though as, afterall, this vote is a binary choice and by not outwardly endorsing Corbyn, it looks as if he is supporting Smith and I do not believe this is the case.

Owen, who are you supporting in this election? This is very important, I think the future of the left is heavily dependent on this election, and I think you should make it clear who you are backing given how influential you are.

A very British coup

It's not even been a week since the results of the EU Referendum were announced, but in just a few short days the UK has descended into chaos. Pie Minister David Cameron announced his resignation shortly after the results were announced, then the internal divisions in the Labour Party sank to the lowest point in a very long time and it was announced that a motion of a vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn was to be raised at the PLP meeting, then Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn was sacked for stating he didn't think Corbyn was up to being leader, following this the shadow cabinet lost a further 19 members, and the most recent news: 172 Labour MPs have voted in favour of the motion of no confidence in Corbyn. To be blunt, the political world is a complete shambles at the moment. I have already briefly spoken about the internal divisions in the Labour Party, but I wanted to discuss the electorate's relationship with Labour and the problems that arise from a two-party state like the UK.

The argument that we've been hearing for the past year since Jeremy Corbyn came onto the scene are along the lines of "elections are won on the centre ground" so "Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable" - but is that so? If elections are won on the centre ground, can anyone explain why the Lib Dems are yet to have won a single election? Or why Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband didn't manage to become Prime Minister? There are obviously other factors affecting election results, I'm not here to dispute that, but centrist politics are extremely damaging and a key component in creating political apathy and disillusionment.

When the two main parties are offering similar policies, we become shallow and fickle in choosing who we want to represent our country, we buy into the image, the appearance, the charisma of the candidate. This isn't true of all voters of course - for example, I can't imagine a scenario where I would vote Tory because it is my personal view that it is wrong to victimise poorer people, but we all have our priorities, maybe that's just crazy commie Bess speaking. It's the swing voters who can make or break the election result, and when it's hard to distinct between the two main parties because their policies are so similar, you're more likely to be captivated by the charisma. In addition, the apathetic belief that "all politicians are the same" is a direct result of centrism taking over in politics, why would you believe that politicians are offering you something new when realistically they're not because they share a lot of the same policies?

Centrism results in a cynical electorate because it is clear that the politicians are saying what they think the electorate wants to hear, they are making promises to the people but then when they get into power they try and pull away from centrist policies and implement the ones they genuinely believe in. Translation: they lie to get voted in and then don't come through on their promises, this results in people losing faith in politicians and becoming disillusioned. If you're disillusioned and apathetic, why would you vote? Why would you vote when "they're all the same"? This is why turnout is quite low, why would you vote when you feel like your vote doesn't matter? If the EU Referendum showed us anything, it's that we're in dire need of electoral reform - the turnout was about 20% higher than in the last General Election, people vote when they believe their vote matters and will make a difference.

In addition to this, the UK is essentially a two-party state. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it's true, that's why parties like the Greens and UKIP only have one seat each whilst Labour and the Conservatives hold most of the others (unless you're in Scotland, in which case SNP are a pretty viable option). This means when we vote, you essentially have to make the choice between Labour and Tory. It is a lesser of two evils situation generally. My MP, for example, voted to introduce tuition fees and to bomb Syria just to give a couple of examples. I don't really feel adequately represented by him, but I would rather a Labour MP than a Tory MP which was why he got my vote. I would put money on the fact that most of the electorate vote in a similar way, my constituency represents that we don't support the Tories but it can't really be taken much further than that in this scenario. It it for this reason that the PLP are not truly representative of the electorate, 172 MPs in the PLP supported a vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn and the New Labour sect of the party are using this as evidence that Corbyn has lost the support of the electorate. This is ignoring the fact that Corbyn was never insanely popular with the the PLP to begin with - he needed 35 nominations from the PLP to get onto the ballot paper for the leadership election and he only just got in with 36, but when you compare that to the actual leadership election where he won with nearly 60% which is a landslide, it's obvious that he's more popular with the electorate. For this reason, we cannot honestly state that the MPs are representative of the electorate and we cannot let this coup damage our support of Corbyn. Those who resigned are not worthy of the position they had, I mean every single one who resigned voted in support of or abstained from voting on the 2015 Welfare Bill which resulted in the poor and disabled paying for £12 billion more in cuts - are these the people who represent us?

The media and the right-wingers will have us believe that Corbyn is unelectable, but so many of us voted him in against all the odds, against all the Blairites and the Tories. We have to call into question why the media and the right-wingers are quite so opposed to Corbyn, the attack on him is very extreme in comparison to other party leaders. As Another Angry Voice pointed out, this is exactly the sort of response you would expect when a candidate is as anti-establishment as Corbyn is. I will continue to stick by Corbyn, and I hope you do so too. Do not succumb to the propaganda, remember we are the electorate and we have the power.

A vote of confidence for Corbyn

7am. The full results of the EU referendum were announced and, frankly speaking, the country went into panic. Angry Facebook posts right, left, and centre, abuse being hurled from both the Brexiteers and the Bremainers, all of this with the odd meme in between.

I am not going to continue to sit here and complain about the results, I've done enough of that. We need to act fast and organise, we need to make use of our frustration and mobilise, it has been an eventful day and that just goes to show how quickly we must act before the situation worsens.

I'll keep this brief. The Lexiteers and the Bremainers alike must unite under a shared goal of ousting the Tories. As we have learned from the past few elections, elections are not won on the centre ground (just ask the Lib Dems) and Jeremy Corbyn is realistically the only strongly left-wing candidate, he is the only one offering a new kind of politics. We need to remember in the leadership elections, he managed to win back those who had defected to UKIP, he managed to inspire the apathetic and disillusioned which is a great, great feat, let's not forget he won with a landslide! Ever since Corbyn became leader, the internal divisions in the Labour Party have become increasingly clear, to the point where a certain former Labour Party leader essentially endorsed the Tories over Corbyn. As Corbyn was backing Remain, the vote to leave is a point against him, and it's one that the Blairites in the party are cynically capitalising on to attack Jeremy. The Leave campaign was based upon mendacity, it capitalised on people's fears about immigration as well as people's fears about the NHS facing further cuts just to name a couple, it became a campaign based upon hatred and deep seated hostility. Jeremy's campaign during the campaign was spot on, defending free movement and holding the Tories accountable for the damage they have done and used the EU as a scapegoat for. To oust him now would be disastrous for the future of the Labour Party, we need to unite under our shared goal of defeating the Tories. Instead of widening the divisions in the Labour Party, we need to remember who the real enemy is.

This is where you come in. There has been a proposal for a vote of no confidence for Corbyn to be brought up in PLP, if you do not want a Tory government, if you do not want a continuation of fear, lies, and institutionalised oppression, we cannot let this go ahead. What we can do is e-mail our local Labour MPs as fast as we can urging them not to comply. If you want to find the contact details for your local MP, you can go to this website - you must act fast, we must mobilise ourselves. Below is the e-mail I sent to my local MP, feel free to use it as a template.

"Dear Gareth,
Like 48% of the voters in the referendum, I'm incredibly unhappy that Leave won. However, I am even more unhappy that it is being used cynically to attack Jeremy Corbyn. The Leave campaign was based upon mendacity, it capitalised on people's fears about immigration as well as people's fears about the NHS facing further cuts just to name a couple, it became a campaign based upon hatred and deep seated hostility. Jeremy's campaign during the campaign was spot on, defending free movement and holding the Tories accountable for the damage they have done and used the EU as a scapegoat for. I'm writing to you to help stop this very damaging vote of no confidence in Jeremy, and I would like your assurance that you'll vote against the motion in the PLP. Jeremy Corbyn won a landslide in the Leadership election, so many people joined the Labour Party solely to vote for him, he inspired the apathetic and disillusioned which is a great, great feat and it would be foolish to forget that. To oust him now would be disastrous for the future of the Labour Party, we need to unite under our shared goal of defeating the Tories. Instead of widening the divisions in our own Party, we need to remember who the real enemy is.
Kind regards,
Bess Oates"

Solidarity to you all, let's organise ourselves gang - change can happen. As the Style Council once said, "you don't have to take this crap, you don't have to sit back and relax, you can actually try changing it, I know we've always been taught to rely upon those in authority but you never know until you try how things just might be if we came together so strongly"...

The Tony Blair issue

Tony Blair - also known as former Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party, the man responsible for Blairism and New Labour, and one of the biggest red Tories out there. I try not to talk about Tony Blair if it can be avoided, I think ultimately the involvement of Tony Blair in current political affairs is counter-productive - let me explain. Tony Blair is not representative of the Labour Party or at the very least, he is not representative of what the Labour Party is now in 2016. We are moving past the times of New Labour and Blairism ('bout time) and entering the age of Corbynism, Labour are becoming reconnected with the grassroots movement, the links with the trade unions and socialist parties, that they began with.

The issue being that Tony Blair continues to make public statements about the status of the Labour Party and his opinion is still widely listened to and respected by people, the words he says still make an impact because of the position of power he once had. This wouldn't be such a bad thing if he was productively supporting the party he claims to be backing, but all Blair seemingly does when making statements about the Labour Party is complain that they've moved too far to the left since he left government which does nothing but undermine the party. When someone with that amount of political influence makes sweeping statements like it would be a 'very dangerous experiment' if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour with its 'populist policy-making' got into power, it is an outright endorsement for the Conservatives, they can and they will capitalise on the fact that a so-called Labour supporter (and not just any so-called Labour supporter but the one who just so happened to be Prime Minister for 10 years) isn't even supporting Labour under its current leadership, and that to me sounds much more dangerous an experiment than the idea of a Corbynite government.

Not only do Blair's statements endorse the far right, they also reignite support for New Labour which divides not just the members of the party but also members of the public. Division in the Labour party is feeding right into the hands of the Tories and we cannot afford to give them fodder in political discourse. It is vital that the Labour party are united under the common goal of defeating the Tories, and that cannot happen when red Tories are bringing down the party from the inside. What's being presented from that is that Labour's internal politics are not consistent, why would anyone vote for a party that can't unite and inspire their own members let alone the general population? Outside of the party, members of the public are reminded of New Labour and it's possible that they could defect to Tory because Blair is essentially saying that if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party gets into power, it would be disastrous. It's blatant that Blair is telling us to vote for an alternative, and in this two-party state realistically the only alternative is Conservative. If members of the public who support New Labour take on board what Blair is saying, we may have possibly lost a huge chunk of Labour support - I repeat, we cannot afford to do that.

Another issue with Blair chipping in on these issues is that a lot of people don't respect his opinion and may completely disagree with him - myself included! This is a problem though, because if miraculously Blair does stop bitching about Jeremy Corbyn and gets behind Labour before 2020, this could be a negative endorsement for Labour and could result in people abstaining from voting. Jeremy Corbyn's tagline when running for leader was that he was advocating 'a new kind of politics' and a move away from centrist* Blairite policies. If Jeremy Corbyn is advertising a non-Blairite style of government and he is endorsed by the biggest Blairite there is, Blair, I somehow doubt that many people will be convinced that Labour are going to act any differently to how they have when they have previously been in power. Tony Blair's input in this discussion is not remotely helpful for the left, and Labour has and always will be fundamentally at its core a left wing party, so if Blair cares as much as he claims about the future of Labour, he would do the admirable thing and stop publicly making statements about Labour. It's counter-productive and Tony Blair should no longer have access to this public platform.

On a final note - Tony, if you want to talk about a 'very dangerous experiment', do you want to talk Iraq?

*BLAIRISM IS NOT CENTRIST IN THE SLIGHTEST. LET'S BE REAL. 

Political baking with a meme-ingful message

Recently, I helped host a little shindig for my feminist friends (a.k.a the combabes) and I decided to get a little political for the vegan treats I made.

So I made some vegan shortbread and whilst I started off just writing 'I hate men', 'girls rock', 'NB people rock' etc. I ended up with a hammer and sickle and 'kill all men' - they went down pretty well!

I didn't intend the writing to look like blood, more like a happy accident...

On the 10th January, we were blessed with a new meme and that is the phrase 'Davey Cameron is a pie', so what better way to commemorate it than with a literal Davey Cameron pie? I went for apple, even though I'm sure Cameron would've preferred pork. There's nothing more liberating than stabbing a Davey Cameron pie, as I'm sure our party guests would've agreed with.

Whilst this may not have been the most interesting post, I make myself laugh and I want as many people to know as possible than I not only bake vegan treats but I also bake vegan treats with a political message - thank you and good night.

New album releases, the final meetups, and #JezWeDidIt

one.
It was my friend's 19th birthday so we all met up for some drinks and some bantz, it was really nice to see some people from my sixth form who I hadn't really met up with this summer (and obviously we'll all be separating very soon) - it was my first time playing Kings, if you haven't played it, you really should, it's a heck of a lot of fun.

two.
My friend Isabella was the first to go off to University so she threw a little leavers afternoon tea kinda dealy at her house before she left which was really cute, still hasn't quite sunk in that everyone's leaving and moving on!!

three.
Ben Folds' new album was put online and I think it's so so good, the album is split into two parts so you have like ordinary songs and then the second half is all instrumental with an orchestra. It makes me wonder why more musicians don't use orchestras. Ben Folds is one of my favourite musicians ever so I do pretty much love everything he does anyway, but I'm generally just a big fan of a lot of instrumentation in music so this album is a winner for me.

four.
Troye's new album's come out as well and I like it so much, it's got that same Troye music aesthetic chilled vibe kinda thing he had going on in the last album but it's all new songs so it's not like he's doing the same thing again . . . if that makes sense. Basically, he's done some really catchy shiz, and I love Troye's music - I like that his music is good in its own right and not just popular because he's a big YouTuber, and I'm not trying to throw shade at any body but I think it's good when a person's work can to an extent be separated from the celebrity around them.

five.
I met up with a few friends for a sleepover which was really cute, I'm really enjoying meeting up with groups of people before we all split off because you don't know when it's going to be possible again. We watched the One Direction This is Us film which was surprisingly pretty good (okay, lowkey I'm 1D af but let's pretend I had to be forced into this one), 10 Things I Hate About You (which is a classic) and lots of episodes of Friends - I'm pretty certain the only reason anyone hangs out with me is because I have a Friends DVD box set.

six.
I've finally gathered the motivation to start filming videos again, I'm not sure if anyone noticed but I haven't uploaded in a month because I just haven't been in the right mindset, but I filmed a few in a day and I'm starting to feel it again which is good.

seven.
It was my friend's 19th birthday so we went out for a meal at a pub which was fun - it was nice to hang out with a bunch of people who I might not see again at least for a while.

eight.
Okay, vegan discovery - vegetable and houmous sandwiches are the bomb diggity. I haven't tried any vegan butter alternatives so I don't really have sandwiches anymore, but my Mum picked me up one while we were out and yes, they were very good, 11/10 would recommend.

nine.
I'm overjoyed at the fact that Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership election, and with nearly 60% of the vote! This is the most optimistic I've been about politics since before the general election - bring on 2020!

ten.
Laci Green uploaded this video to the MTV Braless YouTube channel about celebrities being problematic and it got me thinking about how problematic everyone was, I knew before that no one was perfect but I think it's important to remember this when criticising others and it's probably something that I needed reminding of.



How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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Visiting Brighton, self-care, and being the annoying vegan friend

one.
After getting my results and finding out I'm getting into my first university choice in Brighton, me and my family decided to go away for a few days to check out the area a bit more and look at the accommodation sites (as they didn't come with me on the open day, although I ended up rejecting the accommodation I was offered) and I'm really looking forward to living there now, not that I wasn't before like I knew Brighton was a lovely place hence why it was my first choice but visiting it again knowing that I'm definitely going there sort of reinforced that. Also, there were quite a few record shops (#hipster) and a mahoosive guitar shop which me and my Dad spent a rather lengthy amount of time in.

two.
I went round to a friend's house to watch American Horror Story (although we watched one episode and then ended up watching Orange is the New Black because I still hadn't finished it, but I finished it now!!) and I established that I am crap with directions. Literally it took me an hour and a half bus journey to do a trip that should've been less than half that time, I knew I wasn't so good in directions on foot but I've honestly hit a new low . . . (Damon Albarn voice: this is a looooooooooow)

three.
I went to go see the Bad Education movie with a few friends and it was so funny, if you like the series you're going to love the movie and it's really nice way to end the series. We also went to Costa afterwards - I've gone vegan again so it took me a while to order (I had to go online and check what was vegan on the menu, yes I'm becoming the annoying vegan friend . . . )

four.
I was feeling really down so I decided to ignore my phone most of the day and play piano all day, I find it so therapeutic and ever since finishing grade 8 I've been majorly neglecting the piano, but it has such a positive effect on my mood I really should find more time for it - I feel like I'm being productive by learning new pieces and I just generally like playing the piano, so it's definitely one of my favourite forms of self care.

five.
I decided to watch Harold and Maude again as it's been a few years since I first watched it, and whilst I really enjoyed it the first time, I really really loved it the second time round. The whole film is about control and enjoying life, but not it's not at all cheesy like how you would expect a film which essentially expresses #YOLO to be. Definitely one of my favourite films and an exquisite, cult classic.

six.
I'm not sure if I've vocalised this many times but I am a massive Saved by the Bell fan. I used to watch it a lot when I was younger (I must've been really young and they must've been re-runs, but I do remember watching them with my older half-sister) and then I found them all online a while ago and watched the series a few times, then I was given the box set for Christmas one year and I return to them a couple of times a year and it's time - I've been speeding through it, I've watched quite a couple of series in a matter of days. I'm enjoying myself profusely, but it means Breaking Bad has taken a backseat once again.

seven.
I went to go visit my future home in Brighton and I'm looking forward to moving in now, it's nothing special like it is your average student house, but I really like Brighton and I think the change would be good for me.

eight.
I've become re-obsessed with Everybody Loves Raymond. This used to be one of my favourite shows when I was in primary school, right up there with Friends, because it used to be on about 7:30am and in primary school it didn't take so long to get ready in the morning so I had time to watch it, and I do actually own a series on DVD that I revisit quite a lot, but it had been a while I had watched it on TV and I've actually been recording them (TiVo wishlists are a Godsend), so I've been watching series 9 and it's become one of my favourite things to do everyday. Nothing better than starting your day with some porridge, a cup of tea, and a couple of episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond - I'm pretty certain I am Robert, like I'd love to think I'm Ray, but if I'm honest I'm Robert.

nine.
I got round to voting in the Labour Leadership election (as well as the one for mayor and a bunch of other ones that I didn't know I had to vote for) and I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I voted Jeremy Corbyn as leader - I've said it once and I'll say it again but Jeremy Corbyn has been the only thing keeping me optimistic regarding politics since the election, I'm really hoping he wins.

ten.
I went round to my friend Ma'Suma's house with Isabella for one last sleepover before we go off to University (well I don't really leave for another few weeks but Isabella leaves in a few days, she's a big leaver) which was cute. We watched a lot of Friends and A Hard Day's Night, if you haven't watched any of The Beatles' movies you really need to, even if you don't like The Beatles' music they're such funny boys with a dry sense of humour. I personally think Help! is their best film but I do love A Hard Day's Night, just avoid Magical Mystery Tour at all costs . . .

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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Last hope for the lefties

This is probably one of the first posts I've ever done on UK politics, I've spoken about topics of social justice before and I've mentioned my hatred for the government and how sad I was with the General Election results but this is the first whole post I am dedicating entirely to UK politics, and this post goes out to the lefties - so if you're a Tory, you might want to bugger off right about now, although if you're a Tory I don't see why you're following my blog in the first place . . .

As you will probably know, the Labour Leadership election is coming and votes need to be in by September 10th. Anyone can join the Labour Party in order to be eligible for this election, and if you're a true leftie, you really should consider it because Jeremy Corbyn could be Labour's last chance to win an election ever again. People are tired of Tory lite/austerity lite, hence why the Tories have essentially won the past two elections. If the results in Scotland from the last election show us anything, it's that people want an alternative to austerity and that's exactly what Jeremy Corbyn is offering as Labour leader.

So what is Jez offering*?

1. On the economy, he wants an end to austerity, higher taxes for the rich, and protection for people on welfare. An end to austerity means protection to the public services that ordinary people, at some point or another, will depend on. The existence of austerity perpetuates this war on the poor that maintains and strengthens the patriarchy, so considering Jez is the only realistic alternative to austerity we have in this political system, that alone was enough to convince me he was the way forward.

2. On foreign policy, Jez wants to secure peace in the middle east by talking instead of invading - an approach that should regain those who became disillusioned with Labour under Blair. He's also spoken out many times on the oppression of Palestinian people and Israel's violation of international war.

3. On the EU, Jez wants to stay in but have a reform as the EU is precious especially regarding trade amongst other benefits like protection of workers, more jobs being generated, freedom for citizens to work, travel or study in any other European country, low prices of goods, a louder voice for the UK, and it aids in the development of economically deprived countries. He also outrightly disagrees with TTIP, which if it went ahead could result in the privatisation of the NHS, lower the standards of regulations on food and environmental safety (which could be pretty dodgy to say the least), give a hell of a lot more power to bankers, as well as resulting in a lot of unemployment, and it would introduce Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) which essentially means unelected transnational corporations could dictate the policies of democratically elected governments - so if I were you, I would definitely want someone opposing TTIP to be representing the Labour Party.

4. On education, he wants a national education service, and state-funded academies and free schools would be returned to local authority control as these systems divide the unions. He also wants to scrap tuition fees and he plans to do this by increasing national insurance for those who earn over £50,000 and a higher corporation tax - I don't know about you, but free or at least cheaper university sounds pretty good to me (especially since the Tories are getting rid of maintenance grants)

5. On housing, Jez wants rent controls in places such as Central London to help families on benefits pay their rent because obviously it's a lot more expensive there.

6. On defence, unlike the government, less money would be spent and Trident would be scrapped, which is a controversial issue in itself but I personally think this is a good move as it's an unnecessary, expensive deterrent - building and operating a new generation of nuclear weapons will cost the UK £97 billion, and the weapons are far too powerful for their own good. In fact, every submarine in Britain's Trident fleet carries up to 48 nuclear warheads, each of which is eight times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima**.

7. On travel, Jez wants to renationalise the railways which has a multitude of benefits. It would mean rail fares would go down, standards for rail workers would improve, customer service would improve, trains would be more likely to be on time, and the trains would be more clean and comfortable. Furthermore, railways are a natural monopoly which is bad because this means they can set any price that they choose and if it's not nationalised then its main priority is going to be profit, so this means higher prices than necessary. Secondly, a monopoly means that the business has no obligation to provide good service so they can provide inferior service and charge a high price for it because there aren't really any major competitors. There are more reasons than this why monopolies are bad, but these reasons alone are enough to show that it's vital for this natural monopoly to be nationalised. Plus, the benefit of having a state-owned railway means that any surplus, any profit, can be reinvested back into other public services, so even if you don't use the railways that often, it's still beneficial to you to have nationalised rails because other public services can be funded from any profit.

8. On energy, again Jez says he wants to renationalise energy. The reasons for this are basically the same reasons aforementioned on why monopoly is pretty bad, but essentially it's good to have nationalised commodities because any profit can be reinvested into other public services which at the end of the day benefits everyone.

If you want to sign up to the Labour Party in order to be eligible to vote in the Leadership election, you have to sign up by the 12th August at 12pm - so basically, y'all gotta hurry the heck up if you want to vote in this because time is running out. You can sign up as a member, like me and my brother did, and for us, it only cost £1 a year because we fit into the aged 14-19 bracket, or, like my parents, you can sign up as a supporter which costs as little as a £3 one off payment. There are other options for membership but you'd have to have a click around and see which one you feel would suit you most (this doesn't take long at all!) If you're a true leftie and want to see a socialist gain power of a major party, in my opinion this is the best thing you could do so sign up as quickly as you can - #JezWeCan.

Are you a member of the Labour Party?

*The basic information for Corbyn's policies was found on the BBC website 
** Source

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Lots of pizza, the apocalypse, and joining the Labour Party

one.
Diary of a Spendaholic/Miss Budget Beauty uploaded a video about her thoughts on PR samples and I wholeheartedly agree with her, I don't think there's anything wrong with where a product has come from as long you trust the blogger and also with sponsored posts, I don't think there's anything wrong with it as long as the blog doesn't become majority sponsored posts - just thought the video was worth a watch!!

two.
Think it's pretty safe to say that I've become nocturnal, seriously I'm falling asleep when the sun is up and the birds are chirping, and then not waking up until the afternoon - it might sound fun, but there's something about waking up in the afternoon that makes you feel like you're completely and utterly failing at life.

three.
I found this old video by The Amazing Atheist on YouTube on social anxiety and I think it's well worth a watch for someone who doesn't exactly understand what social anxiety entails, or if you're like me it's good to watch because it sort of tells you the feelings you're having aren't exactly true but not in an insulting way because it's coming from someone who's having that kind of experience.

four.
Jess from Rather Strange Blog did a video where she essentially recreated the videos she used to film of herself when she was about 9 and she danced to a bunch of the songs that she liked, I really loved the video, I liked how carefree in it which nowadays in YouTubing isn't something you really see too often - I really like Jess's YouTube channel and blog so do give them both a subscribe and a follow!!

five.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm a bit of an enabler, I didn't realise it before because usually if I go shopping with my friends they ask me what the bloggers general feel is on a certain product and I don't think anything more of it, but I went out with my friend Tanya just to buy a few bits and we went into Boots, Superdrug and Wilkinsons and I just realised how much of an enabler I am. She didn't really intend to buy makeup and she spent a fair bit more than she intended to based on my recommendations, whoops . .

six.
It was my brother's 15th birthday (cray, like I still remember the day he was born, well I think I do . . maybe I'm just remembering the bits we have on the home videos of that day) and we had a quiet day in, and we watched the Shaun the Sheep Movie. You'll hear about this in my next 'What I've been watching' post but my family is big on Shaun the Sheep like obsessed, but we didn't get a chance to watch it in the cinema but he got the DVD for his birthday and we watched it and it was so so good. Even my Dad who's not big on animated films quite liked it. We also ordered Pizza Hut and watched a few episodes of Peep show in the evening (slight change from Shaun the Sheep) but if you remember a few months ago, I was majorly obsessed with Peep show so it was nice to revisit that!

seven.
I've become obsessed with the app Fallout Shelter, it's a game set in a post-apocalyptic world and you pick up dwellers from the outside and get them to work in the waterworks, electrics or on food and you basically have to get these people to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. It sounds really bad, but it's so addictive - seriously, download it, because it's free and you'll be addicted in seconds . . because addiction is fun.

eight.
I joined the Labour Party! It's actually a pretty big deal for me because I've been quite interested in politics for quite a long time and the last election was the first one I could vote in and I was really upset by the Tory win (I actually captured by sadness via vlog if you want to relive the crushing defeat), but ever since Jeremy Corbyn has come onto the scene I've really become a lot more optimistic about the future of the Labour Party and I know a lot of people have been joining just to vote for him in the Leadership election. The way I see it, it's vital for Labour to move to the left if they're ever to win another election - this whole 'red Tory' persona adopted under Blair isn't ever going to work for them because they can't beat the Tories at being right wing so Corbyn is what the Labour Party need if they're ever to win again, and I personally don't think I could stand another Tory government in 2020 and I wanted to do all I can to prevent that happening. There's still time to sign up if you want to vote in the Leadership election so I urge you to join if you don't want another Tory government, it's only cost me £1 a year so I can't see a reason not to join . . . unless you're a Tory, but in such case you've got much bigger issues (but let's not get into that . . .)

nine.
I ate a pizza paid for by Noel Clarke . . . I couldn't quite explain, but long story short I was visiting a family member in hospital and I was suddenly alerted to the fact that Noel Clarke visits a lot and he had paid for a pizza party there. Sadly, I didn't get to meet him which is a shame as Mickey Smith is probably my favourite character from Doctor Who but alas we didn't get to meet him.

ten.
Hannah did a blog post on festival fashion and cultural appropriation which I feel is a subject a lot of people need to read up on. I feel like I'm fairly in the loop when it comes to cultural appropriation but I know a lot of people who aren't, so please give it a read if you're a bit unsure on what cultural appropriation is so you can avoid it.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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