Would you give Eric Adams a chance? Factionalism, corruption, and results -Diary 02/11/25

and ZoomerCore roundup

Reminder that I am going to war on the 19th of November at the Emmanuel Centre, for a Spectator Debate on Private Schools. Buy tickets here.

Monday 27th October

For my sins, I’ve been ill this week. I went to an Andy Burnham event in London to test the vibe. Then, they got a finale for the ChadPup series (art requires sacrifice). Read them in full here:

Part 1: For the Love of Zoomers (go straight to the Sunday part)

Part 2: the boys who keep me young

Part 3: Libtarded Millenial GirlBoss DESTROYED By Chady Zoomer Podcast Bro

If you want more ZoomerCore, I recommend the much underrated, and un-paywalled, Young Nazi series:

Conversations with a Young Nazi: Part 1

Conversations with a Young Nazi: Part 2

Conversations with a Young Nazi: Part 3

Conversations with a Young Nazi: Part 4

And of course, the OG sin:

of boys and women

And the unrepeatable, SIMP to CUCA nemesis pipeline:

the boys all biceps and the girls all chest

Tuesday 28th October

People keep on asking me what I think about Mumdani. I am obviously on his side. I campaigned for Bernie, and in many ways, I am your archetypal lefty. But there is something I need to get off my chest about Eric Adams.

I love New York to bits, but its visible degeneration is unquestionable. I can summarise the things that would keep me from moving there pleasantly, despite how in love I am with it’s nightlife, could be summarised in what I called the three R’s: Rodents, Rental prices and Rage - i.e. violent crime and mentally ill people being aggressive in public.

Under Eric Adams, low level corruption might have become shamelessly blatant. However, rat sightings are down by 17% alone this year. Whilst rents, in response to the just build it zeal of Adams’ City of Yes policy have fallen for the second month in a row. Finally, whilst petty crime remains out of control in NYC, murder rates and gun violence have fallen to their lowest levels in three decades.

I like Mamdani. I love that he is making lefties hot again. But ultimately, I like effective policy more. I would only excuse low-level corruption if it meant getting results.

Wednesday 29th October

The Lads from Conversation Cabinet came to the office I work out of in Millbank Tower to record a podcast with me. I love motivated and hard-working young people, and I am certain these two will go far. I will link to the episode when they release it. Watch their back catalogue here till then. Also, I know they are looking for sponsors, so if your brand could benefit from being visible to two up-and-coming, politically astute baby Zoomers, let me know to connect you.

Thursday 30th October

I was defending Rachel Reeves for my paper review again this morning. Go figure. Which reminds me to link to my LabourList collumn in case you’ve all forgotten it. Read the full column here.

How much further could we go as a party if we appreciate the legacies of every faction? the pragmatism of Wilson, the idealism of Foot, the resilience of Kinnock, the integrity of Smith, the charisma of Blair, the compassion of Brown, the earnestness of Miliband, the authenticity of Corbyn, the discipline of Starmer.

My pleas will fall on deaf ears among those at the top of the party entrenched in factionalism. Ministers, SpAds and staffers have too much to lose and too much to gain. The humiliation of defeat blinds the Blairites, the pain of political cruelty blinds the Corbynites, and the fear of confrontation paralyses the soft left.

But down at the trenches of the party, our post-CLP drinks, our Young Fabian boat parties, our picket lines and Committee room panels, we can afford to be civil.

I flinch whenever someone dismisses the talent or character of someone because of the faction they are aligned with. We give the benefit of the doubt to our voters, that good people come to the wrong conclusions all the time, that one’s politics are the result of the life they lived, and had you lived the same, you could well be parrotting the same lines. Why not do the same for our own comrades?

Much has been written about the ‘purge’ of the left, as discussed in Maguire and Pogrunts’ book, Get In, and in the upcoming Paul Holden book, The Fraud. Read both and you could come out thinking that the people involved are either heroes or sociopaths, depending on your own position.

The horseshoe theory suggests that the extreme positions on either side of the spectrum, rather than being opposites, resemble the two ends of a horseshoe -diverging from the centre but curving toward each other in style or behaviour.

Luke Akehurst, MP for Durham, and I are where the horseshoe meets in terms of our stance on factionalism. Akehurt is extremely loyal to his faction. I am the mother of Labour Wets©.

But we are both adamant that naked factionalism repels normal people (and my God does Labour need them), so you will hear him advising members not to demonise people who express sympathy for radical figures as often as you will hear me admonishing MPs and staffers for playing fantasy football with our factions.

Imagine showing up for your first CLP meeting and you find two people fighting over Labour’s immigration policy. Rather than a policy debate, you find one person shouting that Labour has abandoned its working-class roots because of the left, the other that Labour is racist because of the right.

Regardless of your politics, you will assume we are all sickos and make a beeline for the exit. Factional warfare ultimately damages the party, because who wants to join a party that people told them is both classist and racist?

I can hear the cynics scoffing at my industrial levels of naivety. I know you can’t govern a party or a country without discipline. Idealists like me need ruthless people around them to do the dirty work while our images remain blemish-free, ready to be romanticised by voters and hacks alike.

But if you are not touched by a bleeding heart who dreams of peace around the family table, I will employ the other tool in my social pressure armoury: you sound like losers when you bicker about your fantasy political teams.

Friday 31st October

I dressed up as a construction apprentice for Halloween because Keir Starmer said we need to stop overvaluing university and start doing more manual work. I agree with him, actually.

Enough updates for this week! Don’t want you getting bored of me!

Once again, give me anonymous feedback lads and ladettes: here.