This thread, and sorry for starting it, had made me rather irritated.

Right.  Corbyn is clearly a scruffy bastard from the rather grubby looking beard to the excessively large shirts and the nasty jackets (like the one with the humongous collar gap worn at PMQs last week).

But there seems to be a predominant opinion amongst posters that they all have worked hard and that seems to give them a right to be damned with their neighbours and take all of their own good fortune as an endorsement of their own excess of talent and, hence, desert.

Now, as an individual in the SE of England who has done well out of life, put two children through private school, and generally not had to worry too much about how the bills are going to be paid, even I can see that there is something going badly wrong with 21sr century capitalism in Europe.  London (and I commute into the City every day) has become a ghastly parody of inequality.  Grim areas (like Whitechapel) on the periphery of central London have a subculture of immigrants and dispossessed, alongside not even built apartments being marketed for sale in China, with 2 bed flats going for over half a million.  Meanwhile, people are being exhorted at the checkouts in Waitrose to put cheap goods into a box to be distributed to foodbanks, which are used by those IN WORK to subsidise companies who don't pay a decent wage.

Now I always considered myself a one nation Tory (of the Ken Clarke ilk) and even I find the political realm in the UK to be utterly squalid.  Politicians bang on about strivers vs skivers, most of whom have never held down a Decent job outside politics and who would be exposed as unemployable in 5 minutes in a rigorous workplace environment.  The media countenances the most feeble level of political debate, whilst itself being shown to be utterly corrupt by Leveson, and all the while the UK becomes a shallower and more vulgar place.

So, all thing being considered (and just look at Greece to see how bad it could get) we have probably got off lightly with JC as our version of the reaction against the excesses of the banking crisis and the degraded public realm.  Just think on that as you bang on about about how those less well off might spur themselves into a more productive life...

Oooh get you...Waitrose...fancy!

You are quite right, Blighty is a disgusting place, a place of greedy fookers and useless fookers. And thats just in the commons. Thats why us super humans moved abroad. However, I feel asking for two pay rises is taking the piss.

We've (Oslo) just had our local's last week as it happens.  Which I get a vote in as a resident (though not in the national). We get two votes, for two councils. I voted Labour because A; they don't have a crank as a leader and B; I'm quite a leftie when it comes to social issues. As someone who's been able to send your children to private schools I can assure you, you be horrified at the estate I grew up on. It wasn't uncommon for people to use their fences for fire wood and it was the first estate in Leicester to have CCTV put on top of the lamp posts and that was a long time before anyone said anything about bent MPs or banks. Though its not great now its still a 1000 times better than it was. I'm well aware of what it is to be poor,  not that I'm rolling in it now. I'm just not for some wanker coming along and taxing me to the max just because I've been socially mobile. Or for that matter some tossbag like Blair or a Tory doing nowt for anyone who doesn't wear the right tie. Which is why I ain't ever coming back to that dog eat dog shithole anyway. We've a minimum wage of £15 ph, which, even allowing for the cost of living here is easy double the UKs in real wealth. And muppets like Bop wanna quote Lefty economies? Get real, Corbyns a car crash waiting to happen.

Your generation did nothing Kingy, don't pretend otherwise, you never fought the battles when they could have been won.

Corbyn is no threat to me, I live on the continent, his election, or threat of his election would be very beneficial to me, for a number of reasons, including professionally. But I don't want to see the land of my birth turned into an open sewer of socialist experiments by old men. Especially one with an "ism" at the end!

I keep on repeating this, perhaps it's falling deaf ears: take one look at the evil fire starter, twisted fire starter he has grandfathered in as shadow education spokesman.

I rest my case!

My generation had plenty of opportunity. It was gradually chipped away and people were bought off.

Melodramatic language like "open sewers" and "fire starters" does not boost your case.

Nobody is talking about fighting - apart from one loony general, allegedly, who promises mutiny.

People are choosing to exercise their right to vote. It is as simple as that.

We could have Straw and Rifkind instead. Two pillars of The Establishment. One red , one blue.  Both extremely "biddable".

Both exonerated by the "standards commissioner".  The Establishment looks after its own.

So I am not going to be surprised about some low-level, shadow education secretary either. Or the bloke who liked a punch up in the Commons bar etc, etc....