Yanis Varoufakis' on Keir Starmer's Labour Party

[@tomsimpson5449]

Yes, traitors are far worse than enemies.

[@margaretnoakes9868]

Yankis always calls a spade a spade. So refreshing.

[@davidmontgomery9846]

He might call a spade a spade but a lot of it is wrong .

[@ahmetkemal5918]

@@davidmontgomery9846 maybe but he is right about labour though

[@SlowhandGreg]

​@@ahmetkemal5918in what way?

[@MontyCantsin5]

@SlowhandGreg: That Labour, in their current guise at least, are a truly dreadful prospect. Increasingly authoritarian, seemingly unable to stand up for the most basic of working class principles, and intent to continue with the status quo (unsustainable greed/economic growth based on capital) that is destroying the planet.

[@davidmontgomery9846]

@@MontyCantsin5 Have you seen the state of the country and its finances .The Labour Party can promise the earth but none of it will be deliverable because there isn't the money to pay for it .The Tories have decimated the N.H.S. , Social Care, housing , defence and every other public service yet you blame the Labour Party .

[@r8chlletters]

The US has similarly terrible options: worse and worser

[@David-bi6lf]

Most people don't see the reason for this. We are 2 of only a few countries still both using the FPTP voting system. The world has moved on and it no longer works. Ask a lot of people why it nots fair and leads to a only two choices and they probably won't know why.

[@ltmund]

​@@David-bi6lfFPTP is tried and tested. Nothing is perfect.

[@chessmodernist]

I hope that you didn't forget to see that in the worse option there is at least a chance to turn things around by the power of democratic debate and structure where in the worser option there is simply no way back except violent civil war? As the 'worser' option, democratic structure would be completely dismantled like on Jan 6th and full on authoritarianism will be set up (something that Biden supporters would never do). On that level its more a case of life and death. On a more issue based level of exteriority it appears to be (or can be misconstrued as) 'worse and worser'.

[@chrismanners9091]

Biden literally just passed a big tax credit for the poor.

[@nickxcore74]

Yanis is absolutely bang on the money. The guy interviewing him and some of their fellow journalists on this channel may be better educated than me, but I’m afraid Yanis explains exactly why I’m done with Labour and the gullible people on the left who think that Starmer is going to be more like a centrist liberal leader. Anyone can see after the past few years what the Labour Party are like today, incredibly authoritarian and fascist, they’ve moved further to the right and socialists are no longer welcome there. The interviewer is giving Starmer far too much credit as Yanis said, because the so called left and this current Labour Party are 100% fascist.

[@chessmodernist]

"Wahay another done with Labour who will not vote!" says Tory!

[@chrismanners9091]

"Fascist".

[@HitchcockTheSnail]

Stasi Starmer at it again, banning any opinion he doesn't like SMH

[@howlinmadmurdock9553]

🤡

[@chessmodernist]

Get those evil stasi commies. Anyone who disagrees and uses force to kick out is a evil stasi/fascist? Such crystal clear analysis!? 🤔

[@aion5837]

Why would neo-liberalism have any interest in promoting democracy? A healthy democracy, requires genuine political opposition. It's far better to have captured both and for both parties to merely act performatively. Of course, this only works until it doesn't. Then a vacuum opens up, which can be filled with the extreme right or the extreme left. My guess would be the far-right.

[@michaeljones825]

It is amusing to see Marine Le Pen described as far right in France, yet her policies were similar to the Tories, just saying

[@Jordan-hf4ch]

@@michaeljones825 Le Pen is somewhat performative though, as is Trump. Neither is truly far right.

[@waltonsmith7210]

Or maybe Tories are just more fascistic than polite society usually admits.@@michaeljones825

[@Harriet-Jesamine]

Bingo!

[@Redbrack]

I completely agree, And the far right is usually more preferable for corporations too, easier to profit from and control

[@jacknorman8236]

He’s so spot on. This Labour Party is now a watered down Tory party

[@davespagnol8847]

I agree, apart from "watered down". We need a new party of the working class.

[@fmj9346]

Not even watered down. Look up Starmer and the Tri Lateral Commission.

[@howlinmadmurdock9553]

🤡

[@parallaxview2143]

Both offer watered down trickle down economics.

[@parallaxview2143]

@s7nful_ I'm voting Green or independent to send a message I'm not having Lib/Lab/Con. What are your plans?

[@jacquityler2803]

What is Labour going to do that is significantly different to the tories ? Seems to me that they're going to offer more of the same "non solution's" that the tories have. They've been bought by corporate interests Streeting and Starmer have received thousands from US health care companies, why? The NHS is no more safe under labour than the tories.

[@alexandermason3421]

labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Missions-Document-Lets-Get-Britains-Future-Back.pdf Give it a read

[@archvaldor]

@@matthewhiatt3862 Yeah yeah every pensioner in the country is mixed up with dodgy US healthcare interests. Your apologia for corporate sycophancy is noted.

[@kelvinpell4571]

Labour will essentially keep the same fiscal policies and ramp up the diversity and inclusion nonsense. Anyone who calls out their fascism will be accused of hate speech.

[@ReapermanUK]

@@matthewhiatt3862 the difference is the pensioners have no say where their money is put. the rich investors have much more power and why the fuck are they paying starmer and streeting it's not because they are nice people trying to fucking help others all they care about is return on investment!

[@chessmodernist]

"Seems to me" indeed it all is. A seemingly similar equivalence which with a small enough map and wide enough pencil tip, the places do connect in a pattern, but when the map is enlarged and the pencil tip sharpened, the points on the map do not equivalate at all in the pattern one thought they did.

[@PEPG2024]

Yanis, as always, is so right.

[@seymssogood]

​@s7nful_What Yanis meant was that Tory rhetoric is plain to see; we know the Tories despise workers and the working classes, and they don't lie or mask over their allegiance to the upper classes and the establishment. Labour, however, is masking over its true allegiances, trying to appeal to the establishment while ignoring their roots.

[@GreenTurtle181]

Yanis is absolutely spot on about Keir Starmer and his authoritarian, uncompassionate Labour Party. Cannot vote Labour or anyone else as all trust has gone.

[@keithayre6793]

'COVID 19' was authoritarianism in practice.both labour & conservatives imposed 'LockDown' which is a prison doctrine on their own citizens.

[@howlinmadmurdock9553]

🤡

[@therealrobertbirchall]

We don't even have the SNP in Scotland thanks to Sturgeon

[@ronmatthews1738]

Farakis is just another useful idiot. Where do you have to be politically to think that we have a far right government? There has been no difference between Labour and Conservative since John Smith died and Blair took over. The two have the same policies and they are not for the benefit of the British people. Inequality jumped after Thatcher was elected and it stayed high ever since, whoever was in charge.

[@infohound41]

No he's not, he has to move centre left to bring swing voters on board. Don't understand why that is so hard for people to understand. There is a whole other side of the electorate to this KZbin channel that needs to be wooed a bit if Labour is to win the next election. The idea that KS is anywhere near as bad as Tories is ridiculous you should absolutely be voting Labour.

[@aliruane]

Yanis on the money. Again.

[@caroltodd6691]

Yanis a Tory voter you mean

[@jodders619]

​​@@caroltodd6691 You got anything better than BS?

[@fookorf]

@@caroltodd6691 try listening to him closer, d1ppy. He despises both establishment parties.

[@jonsmith5058]

@@caroltodd6691how is he a Tory voter?

[@jonsmith5058]

@s7nful_ we’ll also be fucked if Starmer gets in, thats the point, he just repeats Tory policies

[@shinywarm6906]

Spot on. Varoufakis' experience in the Syriza government should be a warning to us all

[@chessmodernist]

But he failed and he is now without power as he once had.

[@shinywarm6906]

@DSPwhilst those who remained with Tsipras and accepted austerity economics, not only further impoverished the Greek people, but created the conditions for the far right to replace them in government. This is exactly the trajectory of the UK if Starmer's mantra of power over principles is followed

[@chessmodernist]

@@shinywarm6906 The trajectory is different now. If Tories stay in and Trump gets in there will hardly be any replacement for as long as Putin, Xi Jinping, Modi and others such stay in and longer- once their asses are on the throne they cannot be removed because they change the democratic structure. Times have changed.

[@chrismanners9091]

@@shinywarm6906 The Far Right would have done quite well out of Greece being bankrupt, I reckon. What choice do you think Tsipras had? Easiest thing to have done would have been to flounced out.

[@shinywarm6906]

@@chrismanners9091"reckoning" to know about something that never happened is easy. Sneering is easy. Varoufakis spent years working to build Syriza. When they finally won office - and when he'd been appointed to a post that he could have used to set himself up for life, he was faced with the reality that to do so would have meant betraying his principles. He walked away to start a new party from scratch. He's remained active in Greek politics (and without the benefit of a ministerial bodyguard, got hospitalised after being assaulted by far Right thugs not long ago). You might think he made the wrong choice. You might disagree with everything he stands for. But to suggest he took the "easy way out" is fatuous.

[@scoates9910]

Its the truth and i despair. Good interview ❤

[@captainwin6333]

Starmer and his party stands for nothing.

[@HiveFleetOni]

Demonstrably not but let’s not let actual facts stand in the way of good hyperbole 🙃

[@richards9750]

What utter rubbish.

[@richards9750]

@@matthewhiatt3862 He has no idea what he typed means. He probably saw it on GB News or The Sun

[@chessmodernist]

That is meaningless to me, they appear and exist and speak and write and do so many things, so do indeed do something.

[@JustinThorts]

Everyone in the country NEEDS to watch this!!

[@michaelrch]

Supertanskii and her ilk need to hear this. But of course they would run the other way rather than confront this truth about Starmer and the right.

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

Please someone get Mick Lynch to see this. Labour supporters need to just vote for the Green Party, we can't afford to turn our heaters on anyway. Green party will pull us out of all those Tory, environmentally unfriendly, money wasting egotistical wars Starmer will continue.

[@alexandermason3421]

We have a chance to get the tories out and get a large enough majority for the left of centre. Stop trying to run before walking, or we will never change the institutions of the country. I agree completely that the Green Party offer a better future for the Uk, but labour need to steady the ship before we can have any drastic change in the economic or cultural setting.

[@therealrobertbirchall]

The Green party are a waste of oxygen. They bought down the SNP and set back the cause of Scottish independence bu 20 years thanks to their ridiculous GRA bill. A Green council in Brighton split over a simple issue like council workers wages, allowing the tories to tale control of the council.

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

@@alexandermason3421 Tories and Labour voters need to unite, get rid of both parties. For Green. Tory MP admitted the other day, Tories and Labour are just two parties of the same policies.

[@Redbrack]

@@alexandermason3421ridiculous. Starmer is a lite-tory, he won’t steady the ship, he’ll slow the speed it sinks, then lose to another Tory. We need real change. Starmer only wants to change the colour ties of those in power

[@francesdoyle1508]

Only council Greens had control over: Brighton. They ruined it. #VoteTactically #DontVoteTory Labour/LibDem coalition best for Britain.

[@tapaarn5863]

The electorate deserve much better than the Tories or Labour are offering.

[@archvaldor]

You say that but they rejected the only alternative to Starmer and the Tories. Those who voted for Jonnson and now Starmer deserve everything they get.

[@Silver-st2zq]

​@@archvaldorTotally agree.

[@Dylan-co2cl]

Yanis got Starver sussed,completely.I wouldn't trust that snake in the grass as far as I could spit,no different from any tory.

[@caroltodd6691]

is that Because you are a Tory voter

[@adamcarreras-neal4697]

​@caroltodd6691 sorry Carol, saying someone is a tory voter for calling Starver the dictator he is. Starvers admitted being a tory, he's gone back on all his pledges. He's de,onrushing the left. Get you're head out his backside

[@Redbrack]

Hey, that’s not a fair thing to say about Kier, disgusting comment😤. Snakes have spines, don’t drag them into this. he’s more like a worm

[@RedBrigades]

​​@@caroltodd6691I imagine it's because he doesn't like traitors. Class exists. Labour should shout about it. They won't even utter the term working class. Members of the public thinking they themselves are middle class is hillarious😂 if you sell your labour for a wage you are working class. If you work to live you are working class. Everything else is window dressing. Just another way to divide. Do these middle class folk somehow think they are going to "climb the ladder" and become upper class? 😂 Us and them. ALWAYS has been. ALWAYS will be.

[@MetalSamantha]

@@caroltodd6691 Are you lot ever going to have the wit or intellect to come up with anything else?

[@adampowell5376]

The authoritarian nature of the Labour Party is most disturbing. For the first time in my life I think I am more frightened of Labour than the Tories. I shall vote Green.

[@isabelcooke3476]

@@matthewhiatt3862 Umm...you support the Israeli genocide then? Starmer does and has done for 4 months.

[@chessmodernist]

"Yay" Another who wont vote for Labour, so much more for us!" says Tory.

[@adampowell5376]

@@chessmodernist No, I shall be voting Green not Tory. I shall vote in Epsom and Ewell which is unlikely to turn Labour anyway (there is a good chance of it turning Lib Dem). Tell me, what is the point of me voting for a party I no longer believe in, that does not represent me, whose Leader terrifies me. Surely, in a democracy it is healthy for people to vote for what they believe in?

[@chessmodernist]

there are things I would ask you (I do not expect you to answer them here but only to yourself) is have you ever checked to see if your conclusions that Labour doesn't represent you, that its leader terrifies you and your lack of belief, is inculcated by campaigns of social media disinfo and forces which are hard-to-spot-fascists in sheep's clothing who wish to destroy socialism and keep Tories in power? Or whether you have checked that your conclusions are based on reading of source documents of Labour policy and weighing up from listening both to those who support and those who constructively criticise and those who genuinely expose corruption? Are your conclusions based on understanding what ruses the current techno-libertarian anti-socialist neo-fascist reich wingers use to keep conservative forces in power? Are your conclusions based on an understanding of Labour history and similar situations where we can learn lessons from the past? Have you deeply considered and rechecked and tested your conclusions and spent any time attaining conclusions that you had to change in further light of analysis and have hence been practised in the art with sufficient degree? For if not, then you may indeed be some unwitting 'useful idiot' for forces whose aim of the destroy and dismantle democratic states to build up authoritarian power of the worse kinds. Again, I suggest you reflect and there is no need to answer this here, only in yourself and if you have considered all these things, then all the best as I also think the Greens and Lib Dems are not such a bad lots on some issues either and are a better alternative to Tory.

[@hughwalker5628]

Back in 2015, Murdoch may not have liked Corbyn but he had respect for him saying that, among leadership candidates, he was the only one who believed in anything. I don't imagine his opinion has changed.

[@MetalSamantha]

Blair believed he was right and that he could could convince voters of it Corbyn brliebed bebelieved he was right and that he could convince voters of it They may have little in common, but they weren’t weathervanes buffetrd about by the slightest thing, terrified of losing voters, constantly backtracking on anything that didn’t immediately see a surge of voters, scared of their own shadows, claiming to believe whatever the latest YouGov poll says white van man reckons and doing the same tomorrow even if it’s utterly different than before That was neither Blair or Corbyn I’m afraid, though, that it’s Starmer to a T

[@chessmodernist]

Murdoch has gone off Trump, a crack in the wall? He also apparently prefers Labour than Conservatives too. He liked Blair. He started off as a communist but flipped over, maybe he is maturing and changing? Vacillating, or god knows what? David Duke also liked Corbyn. The National Front are pro-Palestinian. Tony Benn was anti-EU and so were the BNP. The Hells Angels took it on themselves to be the security of rock musicians who had no choice. Churchill liked Stalin.

[@janeburrows9595]

Yanis is absolutely bang on about Starmer

[@chrisrobinson860]

A brilliant analogy of Starmer. However, millions will still vote for him.😢😢😢

[@Squishys25]

A couple of questions for Yanis... Yanis, I remember very clearly the moment I knew Keir Starmer was a *hidden in plain sight* Tory. It was one of his very first interviews after becoming Labour leader, a journalist asked him about Boris Johnson, Brexit and Tory policies. Starmer was oozing Johnson's toryism from every pore. It was sickening to watch then, even more so now! Starmer has either u-turned on policies that would be beneficial for the vast majority of people in the UK or in some cases actually agreed to continue with toxic and cruel Tory policies that have a detrimental effect on the ordinary people of the UK! As for Starmer's *it's OK for Israels right to turn off the water, electrity supplies and stop food and humanitarian aid getting into Gaza as a *defence* speaks volumes!! So... Q. 1, When did you realise that Keir Starmer's vision for the UK Labour Party was to be a mirror image of the Tories? Q. 2, Are you free to be the next UK PM? At least living in one of the devolved countries in the UK we can and do vote very differently than voters elsewhere, ultimately though it is down to English voters and who THEY alone vote for that impacts the rest of the UK, simply because of the number of seats/M.P"s England has. Lastly Yanis, thank you for your insightful opinion. Take care

[@chessmodernist]

Except Starmer is not a hidden Tory he's an alternative third wayist socialist with a different variant to Blair's third wayism and incorporates blue Labour insights and has kicked out SOME of the 'far-left' because, well like as historically Labour did in the past with the CPGB, they cause trouble and this time indeed harbour antisemitism (as acknowledged by academics and other far-left Trotksy groups too like Worker's Liberty and the Socialist Workers Party USA- not a smear). So Starmer because of his booting outs and his third wayist socialism different and similar to 'Blairism', and his bringing back the red-wall drift with blue labour, is not technically Tory but an actual realistic alternative to Tory which can be built on in the future considering the circumstance. Another load of Tory years (allied with trump is he gets back in) will mean hell on earth and further destruction of democratic structures and socialist possibilities. Starmer will mean hell on earth yet with progressive ways out and forward. Big difference not to be overlooked. One needs nuance not simplistic emotional, i feel, he looks like, sounds like, feels like and superficial analysis on external issues and cheer on those who agree with my....

[@EileenHall-j9f]

I hope Starmer is embarrassed by this, but being the narcissist that he is, probably not. But pride comes before a fall. If Starmer is unpopular now, heaven help him when he becomes P.M. I can’t wait for him to hit the buffers. Odious individual that he is. Never mind him cosying up to the business class, his Zionism will never be forgotten. Has to be the most untrustworthy politician in British politics. Leader of the Labour Party, it’s beyond parody.

[@hansweissmann_xviii6754]

It’s not labour! It’s Tories light….

[@martindornan1667]

Red and blue Tories.

[@indricotherium4802]

SirK's whole schtick - strategy even - is grounded on a cultivated, authoritarian aloofness. After initial brief fanfares of promise and optimism, as PM he will quickly revert to what he knows. He will do what most corporate CEOs do these days - make themselves as untouchable and out of reach as possible.

[@chessmodernist]

Ironic then that the masters of this untouchability seem to favour his critics more considering the boost they get in the online presence. Strange that is.

[@BR-qf3wq]

I want to see fairness, equality and respect. No political party can deliver this, they can talk about it, but won't do anything. Corporate, big businesses and Murdoch rule the country.

[@Charleighcharger]

No one has said we should go to Moscow.

[@jackbaynes3959]

As an Eastender, support for Labour was always strongest for us, and the MPs relatable. Still, I agree that Labour will be a difficult vote to say the least, because of the similarity in terms of parties and the establishment...

[@chessmodernist]

Therefore you need to look deeper to what are the differences then and if you cannot see them, perhaps look at yourself and the surrounding peer pressure for not looking or even wanting to look hard enough (and perhaps social media for encouraging us all to think in memes and placards, break up all our writing into three four line paragraphs and share shorts more than others) sad as it is these days where nuance and effort and more than ever needed and yet people don't have the time either, alas.

[@jackbaynes3959]

@@chessmodernist What is dis waffle??? 😂😂😂

[@chessmodernist]

@@jackbaynes3959 Glad I made you laugh. I was merely pointing out and covering it all as much as I can, why the view of similarity and false equivalence exist and the need for instead looking at what the differences are between the parts of the establishment and politicians as they are not all the same. In fact the Tories used a vote-for-none-they-are-all-the-same tactic to stop Milliband getting in. It was an actual part of their PR strategy. Of course we have social media now and a heap of controllers of corps who whilst knowing everything about our political views we know nothing directly about theirs excepting that they seem to like reducing our attention spans and boosting comments everywhere which lead one to conclude voting is a waste a time, they are all the same. Capitalising on people's inability to think deeply and nuanced is something we need to work hard on not allowing.

[@michaelrch]

This has been my main worry for 2 years. Most Labour supporters just don't get it. Starmer will (intentionally) discredit progressive policy for a generation. After 1 term of Starmer, expect a fascist Tory party to return to power.

[@michaelrch]

@@matthewhiatt3862 it comes from paying attention, understanding power and not slavishly treating politics as sport.

[@michaelrch]

@@matthewhiatt3862 are you 14 years old or something?

[@michaelrch]

@@matthewhiatt3862 I think you're extremely naive or maybe just uninformed if you think that Starmer has "firmly held progressive beliefs". There is zero evidence of that in his career before becoming a politician, or since. If you actually look closely at his track record, at who he has associated with and with who has supported his political career, it's clear that he is an establishment tool filled with nothing but ambition. And stop patronising me.

[@keithparker1346]

​@@matthewhiatt3862Starmer doesn't hold progressive beliefs.hes pure establishment

[@keithparker1346]

​@@matthewhiatt3862word salad

[@grahamricketts-bq1ft]

Nothing between Starmers ears, hilarious, say it as it is Yanis !!

[@chessmodernist]

Yes when it gets personal and at the low point of the argument big it up the rafters and rub ones hand in glee. Its all a laugh isn't it? ffs!?

[@Antony2790]

Nice when Yanis repeats what you said. He was shocked when the interviewer suggests he's liberal center. I don't understand why this interviewer ignores the obvious.

[@alexandermason3421]

People who haven’t been paying attention keep saying “what do labour even stand for” as if the answer isn’t on Google

[@rickparkinmoto]

@pumps6330 ask your carer how to use Google.

[@chessmodernist]

The answer is on Google- don't vote for Labour, they are antisemitic pro Zionist lobbyists sayeth a flip flopping million trolls and all those sudden defenders of Palestine who appear from nowhere and where logical rebuttals are strangely silent (or cannot be seen?) and such admirable against the "flip flopping" sentiments abound!

[@gusandsciolla]

No Corbyn (no left Labour), no hope. Simple.

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks so much for posting

[@Silver-st2zq]

Well said 👍

[@shaneselfe6506]

I won't ever vote for Labour again with the likes of Starmer and co in charge just go and see who is funding him and the Party because you will see Private Health Care and right wingers which should tell you all you need to know about what sort of party it is now

[@vincentblack7467]

And lammy is cut from the same cloth as kid staver...

[@gen_x_dad]

Wauw, Ollie. You looked a little uncomfortable. Like you were interviewing a toddler who wouldn't stop swearing. Did you expect him to be nicer about Starmer?

[@michaelbrady9364]

I agree with everything that Yanis says.

[@deeps8622]

I'd vote for the monster raving loony party before labour or the Tories.

[@raylder6339]

I take it the amount of comments responding to the clip at the start of the previous interview inspired this shorter clip?

[@captainwin6333]

This fascist take on power in Europe isn't something that started recently. It has been ongoing since 1945, they've just been a bit smarter about it and less militaristic. Fascism and Nazism didn't dfie in 1945, they carried on their normal lives, they didn't even bother to change their names to hide the fact of who they were in the 1940s and they never apologised. They were never held to account despite authority being given to the German government in 1950. They just quietly dropped investigations because there were more 'ex' nazis in the 1950s German justice ministry than there were under Hitler. The Nazis spread across Europe and the world, exporting their bull shit. Fasicm carried on in Spain and Portugal until the 1970s. It carried on in South America. It's never gone away.

[@RedBrigades]

​@@matthewhiatt3862Fascism is still alive and well. Get your head out of the sand.

[@chessmodernist]

It can even appear as wolf in sheep clothing waving a Palestine flag (or raging against the EU) like as in the BNP and NF and in such a manner suck in a bunch of 'useful idiots'.

[@francistobin7263]

Starmer has all the ingredients of a dictator

[@ParcBlondel]

Spot on!

[@darkangel686868]

Tell it like it is! ❤

[@briankendall2290]

Has the interviewer been half asleep the last 9 years?. He's supposed to be a political analyst but seems to have no grasp of the dreadful reality of Starmer and his Cabal.

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

He knows exactly what Stramer is about, he is being an interviewer and allowing Yanis to talk and trying to remain impartial. It is called professionalism.

[@briankendall2290]

@@DavidJohnson-dc8lu no it is showing the same naivety that so many Labour members and supporters show when presented with the reality of Starmer's corruption and mendacity.

[@Simon-xc6iy]

Truth truth and yet more truth

[@Kingtrollface259]

No one should be in power ,make them all work together for the people of this country ,and make them bloody accountable

[@cherylburrows1655]

The socialist labour mps should resign from labour and start an opposition party. Socialist claim there isn't enough momentum for it. But labour is dead and cannot be saved

[@teddy8094]

Yanis is right you are too kind , Keir does not have principles any more.

[@sushiaim5418]

Yanis Varoufakis is right on the money, real change will only come if we vote for someone completely different, if nothing is gonna change you might as well vote different anway, I really hope most people are onboard with this.

[@martindornan1667]

Red and blue Tories.

[@musiqtee]

‘Rich Norway…? Our Labour govt has increased the austerity line that started after 2008. They are in conflict with one particular ex-leader - now local leader - who’s too much of a socialist for the party. They are supported by oil and finance, while ‘workers’ don’t want to be identified as such after 30 years of social-Thatcherism (coined…?) Our pension plans were severely downsized in 2011 under Stoltenberg, now NATO leader. That same pension fund pushing up rents for students in Berlin or Athen - we’re ripped off across borders here. All of north-west Europe pay through their noses for power, priced by gas that Equinor will sell to Germany the next 10 years. Nationally there is 95% hydropower, but we sell it off by cables to the UK and Denmark. We all pay over our heads, via Nord Pool owned by Euronext in the Netherlands. There is NOTHING social democratic about the Labour Party, Yanis would be right if he described Norway too. I’m a DiEM25 member since 2020, democracy must be deliberately reshaped! 🔥

[@andyhodchild8]

Way to go Yanis. Spot on nowt going on in staremers head.

[@pud4272]

His point about the media differential between the two main parties is spot on: Labour having to err further to the right on some, generally more traditional policies (especially of the monarchy), is nothing but evidential of their need to demonstrate loyalty to the upper wealthy donor class of individuals, something that conservative parties really dont have to work at... love it

[@chessmodernist]

I think they said similar things in a similar mood as Yanis, in a different situation, when Lenin set up the New Economic Policy...of which Stalin ruthlessly abolished and Trotksy like Stalin also criticised too.

[@pud4272]

@@chessmodernist could you grasp any further for those straws

[@chessmodernist]

@@pud4272 What do you suggest as the alternative in Britain today? For the sake of purity, railing against the wealthy until they easily destroy labour and the party becomes a grassroots out of power insignificant party of idealism? Wasn't Lenin's New Economic Policy chastised by soviet purists as selling out to capitalism? Namely the purists Stalin on one hand and the more subtle Trotsky on the other, neither of which continued the New Economic Policy and hence ruined Communism as a result as Labour was fighting for improved trade relations with the new Bokshevik state at the time? Also I personally find further parallels in Lenin's approach to the CPGB (the Communist Party of Great Britain) and its desire to remain pure communists outside of Labour and not selling out to Labour (because of reasons and arguments similar as to what you mention) as of interest. History shines a light on all this making excuses not to vote for Labour (however valid the excuses are) as Lenin clearly states such is a foolish approach making sure socialism is destined to the grassroots insignificance- he urged whatever the faults of Labour British communists still get involved with the Labour party and support, vote and take part within it, not outside of it. I use these examples of Leninism because this is as far one can go in the argument of the socialist left leaving Labour, and even there, there is a far left argument for remain (lol!). It shows there are far left and socialist arguments against the very things you suggest as remedy for those things you and Yanis are correctly are taking umbrage about and perceptively pointing out which are in a way based on socialist thinking. Thus in the past in similar situations, even in those 'extreme' left Bolshevik-as-victorious shores (when British Labour constructively criticised but also supported and had hope in it), there is an argument against justifying by argument of purism and principle to abandon working with , within and for Labour. The need for actually attaining significant power is more important than stances of approach to the elites. The need to be able to make concrete changes by remaining with Labour whatever the weather is more important than attitude or stance against monarchy or the rich. If we allow arguments for purity and stance to trump need for power to change, and use such to distract people from voting and taking part within Labour, we will be forever grasping at straws as there wont even be much grass roots and shoots which will be dead and dry if the current crop of Tories stay in power and Trump gets back in! Considering then the circumstances, indeed it is folly to use purity, ideology and principle above necessity and somehow make arguments that Tories are better as at least the are more easily recognisable and less hypocritical in their support for elites.

[@DanielMasmanian]

Yes, and Labour has never been this long in opposition.

[@adamcarreras-neal4697]

Yes it has. 18 years 1979 to 1997. Try knowing history first

[@MetalSamantha]

Ever heard of Margaret Thatcher?

[@DanielMasmanian]

@@adamcarreras-neal4697 @adamcarreras-neal4697 love a good insult. Well done, silly me. That was five more years of gratuitous moaning from the sidelines, and surely you remember well how much Foot and Kinnock achieved. Keep knocking Starmer for not being your ideal lefty leader some more and you'll achieve just about as much. It's nice to imagine Smith would have gone on to win - but be honest, even his Labour party didn't - Blair's centrist redo did. Either you want Labour to have a large majority or you can enjoy it having a slim one, or none at all. But yes, you're right, I miscalculated the five years. Keep at it, and so can you.

[@richardcashley5856]

Starmer = Tory party B team

[@xMasterAssassin93]

In an ideal world we wouldn't have to vote Labour as the only option out of 14 years of Tory destruction of our country. But this is not an ideal world. Labour IS the only option for this election and probably the next, and - aside from when voting tactically - a vote for any other party could be the difference between 5 more years of Tories or a start of a new era.

[@caroltodd6691]

Bang on every one at work wants these Tories out

[@tlongie6055]

But it won't be the start of a new era. Just Tory 2010 rehash 🤦‍♂️

[@DrSpooglemon]

After 14 years of the Tories we need to elect Tory team B? Logic!!!

[@imemine6494]

​.. and then what???... tell me what policies you support of Labour???

[@Rog3rY]

@@imemine6494 nationalising railways, abolishing Non doms loophole, VAT on private schools,. house of lords reform. I could go on, but lets get a manifesto out first!

[@bryangeake5826]

Starmer has never said that the west has to march on Moscow; that was a rather absurd claim!

[@norman7527]

His owners have though

[@petergarner7519]

Varoufakis did not say that Starmer said that, listen from 8: 20 onward and he is referring to Starmer rhetoric it seems

[@shinywarm6906]

Ironic to misquote Varoufakis in order to claim he misquotes Starmer

[@caroltodd6691]

load off Bollocks Tory voter @@norman7527

[@caroltodd6691]

BANG ON

[@andheydsj]

Got a lot of time for Yanis! Why can't just one single supposed "left wing" party say "We want to democratise the means of production", just give the establishment the finger and lets do this shit already!

[@markcutts383]

The Labour Party has become Centre Right pro neo- liberal economic party. Their job is to deliver Austerity V 3.0 in order to keep the rich in the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. Osborne was the worst Chancellor there has ever been - his homely fixing of the roof while the sun is shining would have worked if: A) The sun actually was shining under the Tories. B) the fact that he economic clouds were all the making of the Tories themselves - the sun never shone. C) At the time the roof may have needed a dozen slates for temporary repair. D) Now ( due to at least two lots of austerity and massive Financial Bailouts to keep the Banks in business) most Western nations need not just roof repairs and not just a new roof - but a whole new house. The West is a dilapidated building which the speculators don't want to invest in. How Starmer can create " Growth " without State investment and Private investment - I want to see how this is done. That's why he talks of " Hope " as hope is all the Labour Party has at the moment. The Labour Party pretends it has a growth plan but if State money is not being invested in re- growing the UK economy why ( say the capitalists) should we? Despite a lot of promises the Labour Manifesto should just have one Page: Hope. Yanis should know one thing as a socialist and that is the main reason Jeremy Corbyn and his potential government didn't get into power was their Foreign Policy. No problem with Starmer of not bowing to the US and it's their for all to see. He personally was responsible for Julian Assange being in jail too. Labour will be in power probably but in charge of nothing, except making sure Austerity continues on steroids. They may have to do this in a coalition government as the Tories did.

[@Weejie2011]

But he folded a neat towel.

[@chessmodernist]

Have you even bothered looking on those primary documents on their website or do you reply just on what clips appear in your social media feed for your analysis?

[@alexhenderson1312]

The Labour Party of Keir Hardie and Nye Bevan died with John Smith in 1994 - it's been Red Tory New Labour ever since! ☹️

[@Weejie2011]

@@alexhenderson1312So would that include the years under Jeremy Corbyn?

[@tomgraham6071]

What is his solution? I mean practically, as a first step, and a second, and so on. I enjoy listening to Varoufakis and can agree with him on some things but it would be helpful if he could explain in lay man terms how he thinks the left can win enough votes to get into power with all that is stacked against it, which we saw under Corbyn. Because, the first thing you notice when you're canvassing is that the people who you'd hope believe in socialism, often don't. And let's not forget, in the end Corbyn failed badly.

[@nicoruppert4207]

If the system is stacked against you, change it.

[@isabelcooke3476]

Corbyn failed because the right of Labour couldn't bear the idea of a PM who is pro-Palestinian and anti-oil. They threw the 2017 election and after that were emboldened to throw all internal democracy to the wind. The senior officers trooped through the media studios firing on the loyal rank and file.

[@gkinguk]

a vote for labour is a vote for the idf

[@andrewharrison1194]

If I understood what Yanis was talking about, I might actually like him!

[@Oldhandlewasabitcringe]

What an absolute looser, Starmer and Sunak are miles apart on nearly every level. He is unironically just spouting Tory propaganda just like all the bots on social media

[@stephenwood2172]

I literally can't think of even one issue where they are "miles apart"!!! 😅

[@gio-oz8gf]

@@stephenwood2172 It wasn't necessary to extend your comment beyond the fourth word.

[@Oldhandlewasabitcringe]

@@stephenwood2172 Removing non dom tax exemptions for the elites not paying any tax Nationalising private sectors the tories have sold off like energy and rail Being anti austerity and actually funding the NHS, police and other services. Like what planet do you have to be on to think these people are the same

[@Mcgiver699]

They are so many miles apart that Starmer and Reeves are sounding like Cameron & Osborne in 2010.

[@Oldhandlewasabitcringe]

@@stephenwood2172 Cutting out non dom tax exemptions so that elites don’t get away paying zero tax. Even if you think they are exactly the same in every way except this, isnt this better? Or are you just a tory bot?

[@eyesopen7946]

Director of crown public prosecution and knighted for it = Authoritarian

[@spartacusforlife1508]

Another example of its authoritarianism is its three line whip on the SNP gaza amendment. It is an SNP opposition day. Labour introduces an amendment with almost no difference to the SNP one. Their amendment has nothing to do with concerns for Palestinians in Gaza. It's to head off Labour M.P. 's voting for the SNP amendment. They look absolutely ridiculous. Every media outlet is laughing at them

[@chessmodernist]

The British got the Hashemite arabs to uprise against the Turks but didn't tell the Hashemites they were settling in the Zionists (who were also not told about why the British were helping them either! lets not forget!!). Oh and by the way the Jews do have a history that deserves to accounted for in all of this early history prior! Let us not forget that too! In other words the British use the Arabs and Jews for their own ends and divide and rule for the sake of India and the trade over the waters of Suez canal and the oil fields of Iraq. So if you are using the Arabs for your getting your own back on Labour for Corbyn side, then you are doing the same. More so than the situation in Parliament, which really was not planned and if anything a trap gone wrong to divide Labour (which is also what the anti-Labour left are also doing). History repeats itself. The question should be then how to bring about peace with Jews and Arabs and stop their manipulation and get Palestinian and Israeli to live in peace as far away from Hamas shit stirrers on one end and the right wing Zionists on the other and MOREOVER the outside manipulators of such, which are, ironically, are SOME of those who shout the loudest against the war for the reasons they do in this country!

[@chrismanners9091]

Literally every party whips. And parties frequently put forward their own positions on opposition days. The controversy was what the Speaker did.

[@rayven2383]

Starmer is wef

[@belfasta]

Labour and conservatives are two cheeks of the same arse 😎

[@zadebasil3033]

Hello centrists, YE WERE WARNED.

[@andyhodchild8]

Keir stamer a centrist 😂😂😂 well I suppose it depends where the centre is..... The centre has moved to the right as our politics has moved to the right. See Robert Riech.

[@monkeyboyclyde]

79 to 97 ?

[@lucienwilliams4359]

You're just pissy because he's not Jeremy corbin

[@crappymeal]

Digital democracy E government Liquid democracy

[@BogushCh]

Yanis, as ever, as good as faultlessly accurate, but I didn't think much about little Joey.

[@R08Tam]

As a Socialist I no longer belong in the Labour Party

[@imnottellingyoumyname3050]

Dont blame me. I voted for Kodos

[@Autonomy0]

When I heard that the new leader of the labour party was some noboby I'd never heard of called (Sir?) Keir Starmer, I assumed it was a bad joke on the basis that how could a political party with LABOUR in its name be having a leader with even a non-hereditary TITLE. A title is STILL a title, after all, representing something as obnoxious to the Labour Party as garlic is to Count Dracula. The other thing was that the name "Sir Keir Starmer" sounded more like that of a walk-on part character on "Game of Thrones" than an actual human being. on the basis of those first impressions alone, I just knew no good could come of it. Having now gotten to know the man (at a distance thankfully!) I can best describe him looking, sounding, and behaving like the unholy Frankenstein construct of the WORST kind of neo-Blairite focus group. The man looks and sounds like the re-animation of the archetypal lower-middle class 1990's Conservative MP embroiled in a sleaze scandal, but without the self-assurance. I say this because his most distinctive feature is those apprehensive eyes. In interview, he wears the terminally worried the expression of someone who spends all his time dealing with dissatisfied customers complaining about declining standards. He looks just like a bank clerk trying to explain to you why the bank reduced your overdraft limit without telling you and is now trying to wheedle out of restoring the additional excess charge fees to your account. He is the living embodiment of all that has gone south in British public life over the past 50 years and WILL, without a shadow of a doubt prove to be the weakest and WORST British PM ever with his worried eyes. That includes Liz Truss, although they are, in truth, part of the same phenomenon of declining standards in the calibre of British public figures. Back in the day we lamented "All style and no substance" politics. In his case, it will be NO style and NO substances. He will also be eaten alive at international conferences. Even those little Baltic republics will quickly work out that he actually only a constructed and hollowed-out tribute act to Tony Blair and can therefore be safely treated with contempt.

[@Rog3rY]

I'm out, joe has gone owen jones. Labour need to win, and haven't even launched a manifesto yet, get behind them, or do you want more tory time? Wow a party campaigns to base and then moves to centre, ever party ever has done this.. Comp airing Starmer to sunak and Johnson is ridiculous, he's a humans rights layer, who defended miners for free and campaigned against the death penalty. He's not a morally vacuous tory.

[@Eltener123]

People change

[@martindornan1667]

Red and blue Tories.

[@keithparker1346]

Human rights lawyer who claims Israel has the right to do war crimes, was involved in defending the Met over that shooting on the tube and let's not talk about Assange. Starmer is an utter establishment tool

[@isabelcooke3476]

Gobsmacked by your comment. Gaza? Gaza Gaza? Starmer was on work experience when he defended the miners. He was obliged to do it. As Director of Public Prosecutions, he did not censure the police for shooting an innocent man in the back, nor for planting spies in various movements who raped women activists. And most of all, he supports Zionist racism and genocide in Gaza. Human rights lawyer??!!! His complicity in war crimes will see him in the dock when the ICJ verdict comes in. He is contemptible.

[@Tymbus]

No need for this- Starmer takes Labour down all by himself.

[@caroltodd6691]

what a Load off Bollocks your Tory Thieves have this country in a whole but you vote your Tory government while me and my 400 Staff vote Labour old chum

[@chessmodernist]

with a little help from a million comments like yours on this platform run by....? (they seem to know everything about our politics and we not much of theirs and they seem to favour yours and similar comments too for some reason and I do wonder why?)

[@caroltodd6691]

BANG ON @@chessmodernist

[@chessmodernist]

@@caroltodd6691 Thanks. I am afraid this is the case, unfortunately.

[@chrismanners9091]

They're literally 20 point ahead.

[@ottoeunquarto]

Ah, the perpetually losing, antagonising, non-consequential left. Can't help liking them!

[@KeithBarnesLife]

I just came here to remind you all that this is the guy that had the chance to help Greece out of its debt spiral far earlier that when its economy hit rock bottom. He literally admitted that he wanted to keep up playing hardball, despite Greece’s lying in national statistics and eurogroup meetings. Greece literally couldn’t finance its own budget, but wanted both the credit rating and financial backstop of the whole eurozone. What did he actually achieve? I’ll wait.

[@KimTebrok]

Yanis is an interesting character & original thinker. Offers fascinating insights into potential slightly leftist governments. Have similar concerns. Agree, totally that Labour are sucking up to mainstream economics. Not alternative viewpoints, like Keynesian economics.

[@caroltodd6691]

load off Bollocks

[@jacknapier6991]

In my opinion we cant stay with the tories, not liking other options but for the last 15 years all we have had is negative politics and low wages

[@kaysi6605]

Fascinating interview; though making claims without the context of the electoral reality that Labour is facing and the huge amount of difficulties antisemitism played in the party, this discussion is worthless. Calling a no-tolerance policy that has been made clear to all members and then applied when someone breaks is fascist is ridiculous. Starmer is almost obsessively committee-focused and wants to make decisions jointly rather than as a leader just making decisions. To just come out and call that fascist without any context weighing off the context is pathetic, and I would wish you would pull him up on that and not join in.

[@isabelcooke3476]

The 'no tolerance' policy leads to throwing out people calling for peace, like MP Andy McDonald, because apparently we should all be aware a particular phrase occurs in Likud's constitution and carefully avoid any offence. That phrase belongs to Israel, don't you know! Perhaps 'river' and 'sea' are now proscribed words. Labour is literally asking us to believe that black is white and a call for peace is anti-Jewish. Tripe. There never was an a/s crisis in Labour. There was a confection of malice seeking to confuse anti-Jewishness with being pro-Palestinian. You are sadly mistaken if you believe the rhetoric from LOTO. Despite your insistence that Starmer governs by committee, those committees are packed and cowed by those at the top; Evans, Starmer and of course Blair and Mandelson behind the scenes. 'No tolerance' ' has been made clear to members ' indeed! From the top down, like a marketing company; not like a conduit for the views of the people. We didn't vote for that! Internal democracy has been trashed. Whole CLP Executives have been expelled or have resigned en masse in protest. Local candidates are excluded from the ballot and apparatchiks from the right are parachuted in. Purges, denunciations and expulsions are Starmer's methods of governing. And of course he's a genocide enabler.

[@michaelmccomb2594]

The mayor was not thrown out, he decided to leave the party because Keir Starmer didn’t want to give him a promotion to make him Mayor of the larger region.

[@robertbell9935]

He wasn't thrown out of the party but he was blocked from being on the shortlist for the larger mayoral selection in the North East. It was ruthless, factional behaviour on the part of the Labour leadership.

[@michaelmccomb2594]

@@robertbell9935 it was yes, but if the party doesn’t want to consider him for the job, that’s their prerogative. It was a proper ‘rage quit’ from him. He seems to have left for this, rather than any ideological concerns, or he surely would have left earlier. He’s still be there if they gave him the big mayoralty

[@robertbell9935]

Who is 'the party'? A controlling, authoritarian clique in reality, which was Yanis's point. When Corbyn's Labour tried to exert a smidgen of control over these people who were continually working to smear and undermine his leadership, headlines about 'Stalinist bullyboys' were all over the media. Ruthlessly attack and purge the left, however, and you're showing 'admirable toughness'.

[@keithparker1346]

​@@michaelmccomb2594so do you agree with Labour top nobs actions? Lots of well formed weasel words in your posts

[@michaelmccomb2594]

@@keithparker1346 I am just pointing out that what he’s said is not true.

[@nicksimmons7234]

Yanis was so good at government he stayed there for almost 5 months and 2 weeks.

[@fookorf]

Good at government? Even your phrasing is pathetic. Politics is a cesspool that attracts sociopaths and narcissists. Decent honest people either become part of that corrupt, self serving cesspool or they opt out for their own sanity. But go on, keep peddling more BS to defend your hero Kid Starver the Israeli genocide apologist.

[@michaelrch]

He explained why this was. His PM defied a 62% democratic vote of the people not to plunge the country into poverty, so Yanis resigned.

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

I love this guy

[@blackdogbarking]

Labour is forced to act the way it does by a very hostile and predatory tory press. Politics will become decent again once the press is reformed and PR replaces a broken westminster parliament.

[@lauriethompson740]

He's right in many ways, BUT his own experience of being in a seriously left wing government that failed surely begs the question, can you actually elect a left wing government that is allowed to succeed? It's the age old problem of reform versus revolution, neither can achieve what a democratic left wants, because serious reform is blocked by the global capitalist system, and revolution has to be so ruthless that it becomes authoritarian. So really the question is what's the most reform you can get away with at any one moment? If it hadn't been for Brexit a Corbyn level might have had a chance, now it's back to Blairism that will be better for working people to some extent, but risks another crash down the line after its 'dash for growth', at which point all bets are off:(

[@genevieveloveday2016]

Nato was rubbished by Yanis Yarovarkis is there any organisation he recommends

[@fookorf]

unlike you he has a fully calibrated bullshit detector.

[@blackdogbarking]

I greatly respect Yanis but I hope he is wrong about Keir he did work for Corbyn after all.

[@askeskipper3783]

Based takes apart from claiming that Keir Starmer wants to continue untill Moscow. This is the only thing bothering me about people like Yanis Varoufakis (whom I agree with on everything else). They don't see blatant imperialism when it comes from Russia and not the US. Putin will not just stop his invasion if we in the west just "play nice". The only way for Ukraine to gain it's freedom is by winning the war, which they can only succeed in if they have the support of the west.

[@jillsomething1995]

Haha . Mitsotakis ultra right ? Words have lost all meaning .

[@alanconway94]

Yeah, nothing like this. When Kinnock destroyed the Militant Tendency, Labour was still socialist. Blair and Brown changed all that. Eventually, it cost them Scotland.

[@jabezhane]

Who was it that wanted to introduce identity cards... Yup Labour.

[@jabezhane]

@@matthewhiatt3862 Well they cost £30 each and it then cost the tax payers £300 for each card refunded so it worked out well for someone. I'm sure Starmer will take on his old mate Tony Blair's idea for a full digital ID this time with handy social score score system to keep us in line.

[@GrainBrainGuy]

I think Blair was more authoritarian personally

[@imemine6494]

.. About the same

[@fmj9346]

He wasn’t anything like as authoritarian as Starmer. I would bet my house on it. And I loathe Blair.

[@MetalSamantha]

Nope. Starmer has kicked tens of thousands out the party, often for little more than liking a tweet. He has deselected tonnes of MPs. He has removed the means to challenge him from within the party. Goes way beyond anything Blair did. Way beyond anything Corbyn did, either.

[@isabelcooke3476]

Blair's still there, behind the scenes.

[@treyquattro]

on the one hand you have to ask if the Tories & GOP might have a point: democracy has failed! Look at the mess we've got ourselves in. But then look at Russia, China, North Korea, and history. We can't allow ourselves to give up on democracy, but we owe it to ourselves to do much, much better. We need better educated societies, we need civics, and we need much better damned politicians because the ones we have now are not fit for purpose, in any party. In what sane society would anyone vote for Badenoch or Braverman? Or Trump? Or, sad to say, Biden.

[@howlinmadmurdock9553]

Utter bollocks being spouted here.

[@keithparker1346]

Considering your username and avatar you are an expert in spouting bollocks