Cor-bynned Votes

It is interesting to read this...
https://twitter.com/Jareth_Labour/status/634297455169900544

I quote:

"Friend who is lifelong Labour voter was rejected AFTER voting for @jeremycorbyn and @stellacreasy with no explanation. Worrying ‪#‎LabourPurge‬"

Now, this could, as has already been suggested in response to that tweet, have been a mistake – but why are ballots being rejected after the vote, and how are their origins being identified? (Several others have come to public notice during today, so the above isn't an isolated instance.) That isn't how properly-run elections work – although I imagine it is easier to do with  online voting than with ballot papers, which would have to be opened by the party.

Whenever I have been involved in such a ballot, the paper, sealed in an inner envelope, was addressed to an independent electoral society, not the (Conservative) party. It was all done by them, so there was no scope for rigging by the party or otherwise manipulating the result.

The whole Labour procedure, including the Miliband changes, reeks of typical Labour incompetence, because anyone with a reasonably functioning brain could have foreseen much if not most (or even all) of what has now happened, especially when they look back into their own party history. They have brought it on themselves: nobody did it to them, so the blame lies within the party.

It must now be assumed that this Labour party leadership election is effectively invalid and its outcomes will not be able to be assumed 'safe'. Perhaps those who were already calling for its suspension are now being given the ammunition to actually achieve that end.

Strike Out Jobs

The current strike on the London Underground displays all that is wrong with such actions, especially in today's world. The 'tube' drivers receive a very generous income relative to most others, a ridiculously extended leave allowance – based on some dubious psychology – yet demand more.

And yet, all many (perhaps most by now) do all day is sit in a cab and press a few buttons.

Anyone who thinks that the drivers have any value probably ought to read this book, which I have had for decades...

It explains how 'train operators' on the Victoria Line were included purely as a sop to the Unions, and were not actually necessary. It cost, and continues to cost, commuters a fortune.

Subsequently, the Docklands Light Railway has proven the original point very successfully. My brother worked on that, so I have access to the 'inside track' on that whole story if necessary.

This latest action (inaction?) will simply push the powers-that-be in the direction of driverless trains throughout the London Underground, and then all those cushy jobs will go. As someone who never accepted that the original Victoria Line decision was right, I look forward to that happening...