The commentators                    27-08-15

...on Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour leadership frontrunner, Jeremy Corbyn, has been a long-term supporter of the Palestinian justice movement. He could not possibly have known the personal backgrounds of every individual who has joined him at the many rallies he has attended over the years. Some of these people were antisemitic. And while the vast majority of people involved in the movement are – like myself – driven by a passionate support for self-determination, there is a minority that indulges antisemitic tropes. These ideas have to be defeated
- Owen Jones, The Guardian
Even the practitioners of political euthanasia running Labour’s leadership election would have objected to new members registering from Gaza, Venezuela, or a posh address outside Moscow. But this week there can be no doubt whom the leaders of the world’s most unpleasant regimes would like as putative prime minister of this country: Jeremy Corbyn, who can see nothing right with America and nothing wrong with its foes
- Edward Lucas, Daily Telegraph
Simon Jenkins
If Jeremy Corbyn is chosen as leader, it will indicate how far party support in the country will have moved away from anything to do with the party at Westminster. The latter will be seen as an Oxbridge clique of the sort that led Labour after 1945, but without the working-class leavening of figures who had advanced mostly through the trade unions. The Attlees, Daltons and Gaitksells were popularised by Bevins, Shinwells and Bevans. If Labour wants to progress it must find new leadership blood and open its primaries to all comers
- Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
Corbyn can apologise for the invasion of Iraq if he likes. But not in my name. Saddam Hussein’s regime was monstrous. In the 15 years before the 2003 invasion it killed up to half a million of its own citizens. After the failed 1991 uprising in the south, its agents poured petrol down the throats of rebels and set them alight. Back in Baghdad the Special Treatment Department was busy dismembering living prisoners with chainsaws, squeezing their skulls in metal vices until brain-matter oozed out, and making parents watch their flailing children disappear under swarms of wasps in confined spaces
- Nigel Biggar, The Times
To Jeremy Corbyn the biggest problem with immigration is that Britain does not have enough of it. Out of touch with mainstream opinion, he denounces every attempt, no matter how limited, to get a grip on the border crisis. His approach on immigration exudes the putrid stench of a catastrophically failed policy
- Leo McKinstry, Daily Express
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The only reason this case from Shoeburyness reached the public consciousness was because someone mentioned age. That turns out to have been a side issue, and we shall probably never know the full story. That may be right and proper, a family's private traumas should not be aired for public entertainment. 
But if women are being coerced into signing away the right to look after their children when they are not mentally fit, in order that councils can meet adoption targets - as the grandparents' lawyer and MPs suggest - then we need to know.
The journalists covering this story have fallen for the clickbait angle and missed the real issue.
Editor's blog: Grandparents' tale of woe

Comment archive, 2015

June 5 Fifa
June 4 Politics
June 3 Charles Kennedy
June 2 British politics
June 1 Fifa
labour leadership contenders
May 22 UK politics
May 21 UK politics
May 20 The Labour party
May 19 The NHS
May 18 UK politics
ballot box
May 8 General election
May 7 General election
May 6 General election
May 5 General election
Sturgeon and Salmond
April 24 General election
April 23 General election
April 22 General election
April 21 Drowned refugees
April 20 Scottish National Party
Westminster
April 10 General election
April 9 General election
April 8 General election
April 7 General election
Ed Miliband
March 27 Prince Charles's letters
March 26 UK politics
March 25 Cameron's exit strategy
March 24 Lee Kwan Yew
March 23 UK politics
Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour party conference
March 13 UK politics
March 12 Jeremy Clarkson
March 11 UK politics
March 10 UK politics
March 9 UK politics
Rifkind and Straw
February 27 UK politics
February 26 Minor party leaders
February 25 Natalie Bennett
February 24 Rifkind and Straw
February 23 World affairs
Merkel and Putin
February 13 UK politics
February 12 UK politics
February 11 UK politics
February 10 UK politics
February 9 Politics
Alexis Tsipras
January 30 Rape law
January 29 UK politics
January 28 UK politics
January 27 Greece
January 26 UK politics
Hebdo demo
January 16 World politics
January 15 Election debates
January 14 Charlie Hebdo
January 13 Charlie Hebdo
January 12 Charlie Hebdo
Picture
May 29 Fifa
May 28 The Queen's Speech
May 27 Europe
May 26 UK politics
New Tory MPs
May 15 Ukip and Labour
May 14 The Labour party
May 13 The Labour party
May 12 UK politics
May 11 Scotland
Picture
May 1 General election
April 30 General election
April 29 General election
April 28 General election
April 27 General election
manifestos
April 17 General election
April 16 General election
April 15 General election
April 14 General election
April 13 General election
dissolution parliament
April 2 General election
April 1 General election
March 31 General election
March 30 Depression 
George Osborne
March 20 UK politics
March 19 The Budget
March 18 UK politics
March 17 Race in Britain
March 16 UK politics
Boris Nemtsov
March 6 Scotland and the election
March 5 Isis
March 4 UK politics
March 3 Radicalisation
March 2 Russia
Copenhagen
February 20 UK politics
February 19 Chelsea and racism
February 18  UK politics
February 17 UK politics
February 16 Copenhagen 
education
February 6 UK politics
February 5 Isis atrocity
February 4 UK politics
February 3 UK politics
February 2 UK politics
Pope Francis
January 23 UK politics
January 22 Chilcot inquiry
January 21 Page Three
January 20 Anti-semitism 
January 19 Religion and freedom
Charb
January 9 Charlie Hebdo
January 8 Charlie Hebdo
January 7 UK politics
January 6 UK politics
January 5 UK politics
For EI daily digests from June to December 2014 please click here
Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence
Kings College Cambridge
August 26
Politics
August 25
Politics
August 24
Labour leadership
Labour leadership candidates
August 21
Politics
August 20
Student debt
August 19
Labour leadership
August 18
Labour leadership
August 17
Labour leadership
Jeremy Corbyn
August 14
Labour leadership
August 13
Politics
August 12
Politics
August 11
Politics
August 10
Labour leadership
Camila Batmanghelidjh
August 7
Kids Company
August 6
Kids Company
August 5
Labour leadership
August 4
Labour leadership
August 3
Calais
Calais
July 31
Calais
July 30
Calais
July 29
Labour leadership
July 28
Lord Sewel
July 27
Labour leadership
Jeremy Corbyn
July 24
Labour leadership
July 23
Labour leadership
July 22
Labour leadership
July 21
Counter-terrorism
July 20
Boris Johnson, Greece
Picture
July 17
UK politics
July 16
UK politics
July 15
Iran
July 14
Greece
July 13
Greece
Picture
July 10
Budget
July 9
Budget
July 8
The Budget
July 7
Greece
July 6
Taxation
Greek debt
July 3
Grexit
July 2
Heathrow
July 1
Grexit
June 30
Grexit
June 29
Tunisian massacre
Alexis Tsipras
June 26
Monarchy and Brexit
June 25
UK politics
June 24
UK politics
June 23
Greece
June 22
Greece
Labour hustings
June 19
Greece and Europe
June 18
UK politics
June 17
Politics
June 16
Social mobility
June 15
Politics
Merkel, Obama G7
June 12
Politics
June 11
Politics
June 10
Politics
June 9
Europe
June 8
Politics
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