[Crabcakes]

While I don’t doubt for a second she’s been on the end of some horrific racism, and has been on the money on many issues*, it’s yet more proof that you need to be the whole package. You can’t be great on one aspect of equality and then turn around and say certain groups don’t really get that much hassle. Especially when one of those groups got a whole shitload of hassle when your mate was in charge because he thought along similar, equally lazy and simplistic, lines.

*with the caveat a lot of them were not particularly taxing (for non-Tories) ‘pick the non-evil choice’ level decisions, a la Corbyn’s ‘right side of history’ stuff.

[Youngian]

While I don’t doubt for a second she’s been on the end of some horrific racism, and has been on the money on many issues*, it’s yet more proof that you need to be the whole package.

When Diane was challenging Sadiq for the London mayoralty the phrase ‘Labour’s Boris’ was banded about by her distractors. It wasn’t entirely an insult, Diane had celebrity pull and was an affable and engaging media pundit. That you wouldn’t let anywhere near running an executive.

After the EURef it was Diane Abbot first to publicly express what we all knew about Farage’s immigration debate, it wasn’t about white Polish plumbers. You only need a day in Clacton or Romford to prove Diane is right.

[kreuzberger]

"It was just an early draft", seems rather curious.

Who writes mails and saves them as an iteration and then writes one afresh, running the risk of getting confused as to which file is which?

In all honesty, I have only been writing mails for fewer than thirty years, so I might not be entirely au fait with how these things work...

[Oboogie]

"It was just an early draft", seems rather curious.

Who writes mails and saves them as an iteration and then writes one afresh, running the risk of getting confused as to which file is which?

In all honesty, I have only been writing mails for fewer than thirty years, so I might not be entirely au fait with how these things work...

It wasn't just any old email, it was a letter for publication in The Observer. I'd check that before sending it and I think many others would too.
We've all pressed send on things without checking them thoroughly. When I've done it, it's usually meant I've sent something with a spelling mistake, an omitted or poorly expressed point or without the attachment.
What I have never done is draft anything that denies that the majority of racism exists or claimed that the Nazis, the actual Nazis, were not racist because they never put Jews, Gypsies and Slavs into slave ships. Why not? Because I don't have those thoughts, so I would never ever have written them in the first place.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Ms Abbott is 70 this year.

Mrs A postulates early dementia...

[Abernathy]

So it isn’t a cunning move by Abbott to martyr herself on the altar of “falsely accused of anti-semitic racism” that has already seen her close friend Jeremy Corbyn put to the sword, in the hope of keeping a negative focus on Labour that will see it fail to win the election, thereby realising sweet revenge on the damned centrist traitors who so cruelly sabotaged Jezza’s bid for glory in 2017 and 2019?

Maybe I should stop eating that Stilton left over from Chrimbo.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

So it isn’t a cunning move by Abbott to martyr herself on the altar of “falsely accused of anti-semitic racism” that has already seen her close friend Jeremy Corbyn put to the sword, in the hope of keeping a negative focus on Labour that will see it fail to win the election, thereby realising sweet revenge on the damned centrist traitors who so cruelly sabotaged Jezza’s bid for glory in 2017 and 2019?

Yes. Demented.

[Oboogie]

I've long thought she was rather thirsty.

[davidjay]

Ms Abbott is 70 this year.

Mrs A postulates early dementia...

I've wondered that for a while. Her lashing out in all directions seems to be becoming increasingly common.

[Crabcakes]

Another possibility is, she’s spent far too long now in Jeremy’s increasingly concentrated pool of die-hard fans and her thinking has genuinely shifted. It’s the same ultra-simplistic line as the man himself has hinted he believes after all - that only poor black people can really experience racism, and that certain other groups definitely don’t need as much attention. He’s just been better so far at not saying the quiet bit out loud.

Because that would actually make the first draft excuse make sense - that it’s *absolutely* what she thinks, but she realised it needed dialling back because of ‘zionist media bias’ and the lack of belief that it’s all a big conspiracy to discredit the nicest man in history and his top team. Which she was one of, of course.

[The Weeping Angel]

[Abernathy]

Yes. Apparently she sent it in from her personal email address, and the Observer got back to her to request an actual postal address for publication, so she just sent back the exact same text with a postal address on. Dunno about raising doubts, though. The first draft excuse was always a lousy one that nobody believed in any case.

[davidjay]

Even if it was a draft, she still must have been thinking along those lines to write it down. It's not an excuse - if anything it's an aggravating factor.

[Oboogie]

A "draft" which she sent twice, three hours apart and then had a week to reflect upon, withdraw or amend, before publication date.

"Diane Abbott’s “antisemitic” letter was sent to the Observer twice from the MP’s own email account a week before it was published, the JC can reveal, raising new questions about her claims that it was just a “draft”.

The letter was identical each time it was sent, three hours apart, and the suspended Labour MP made no efforts to revise it in the seven days after it was sent.

The fact that it was sent from her own email address – not from one controlled by an aide – suggests that she was entirely in control of the process.

The first time the email was sent, the JC understands, Abbott received an automatic reply asking her to send it again but this time with the addition of a postal address. She did this, leaving the text of the letter unchanged.

The disclosure casts doubt on her statement issued on Sunday morning, shortly after the letter was published. In this she said that the letter was an “initial draft” sent in error, that she wished to disassociate herself from its contents, and recognised that Jews do suffer from “appalling” racism.

It also suggests she composed the letter shortly after reading the Observer article by Tomiwa Owolade to which she was reacting. Owolade wrote that “Jewish, Irish and traveller all suffer from racism”, but Abbott’s letter denied this, insisting they experienced only “prejudice” akin to that endured by white people with “points of difference”, such as having red hair.

The revelation that Abbott sent the same letter twice will add to the pressure on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer not to allow Abbott to stand again for the party in her Hackney North constituency, which includes the Charedi community of Stamford Hill, the largest in Europe. Home Office statistics published last year also show Jews are five times more likely to suffer hate crimes than any other religious group.

On Monday, the Labour leader said he “utterly condemned” Abbott’s remarks, which in his view were “antisemitic”.

The Labour whip had already been withdrawn from Abbott, and she now faces a party inquiry that may last for months.

Diane Abbott has been approached for comment."

https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/dia ... 5xJloIPUEa

[Killer Whale]

The 'racism stems uniquely from the transatlantic slave trade' slant from Abbot is very reminiscent of the way the SWP tried to shoe-horn racism into its economic determinist world view. That Abbot, with her age and experience, is falling back on such first year undergraduate simplicity is something I find quite sad. One would like to imagine that she's better than this, but apparently not.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

The 'racism stems uniquely from the transatlantic slave trade' slant from Abbot is very reminiscent of the way the SWP tried to shoe-horn racism into its economic determinist world view. That Abbot, with her age and experience, is falling back on such first year undergraduate simplicity is something I find quite sad. One would like to imagine that she's better than this, but apparently not.

I think she is not thinking clearly, for a variety of reasons, one of which, as others have suggested, is that she has been too long in the Corbynite bubble.

And it is satisfying beyond measure to see you posting again - welcome back, you have been missed (by me at any rate).

[Killer Whale]

That's very kind of you, Malc.

A couple of days ago I found myself watching conspiracy theory videos on that YouTube, smugly tittering at their irrational stupidity and pointlessness, when it suddenly occurred to me that I was actually getting mentally affected by them: Not sucked in, but starting to wonder how hopeless life is when humanity is capable of such crazy, reality and (in some cases literally) gravity-defying mental gymnastics.

So I resolved, in the odd half an hour or so I get free on the interwebz from time to time, to do something a bit more stimulating. And failing that, there's always MailWatch.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Well, you couldn't do better...

[Youngian]

That's very kind of you, Malc.

A couple of days ago I found myself watching conspiracy theory videos on that YouTube, smugly tittering at their irrational stupidity and pointlessness, when it suddenly occurred to me that I was actually getting mentally affected by them: Not sucked in, but starting to wonder how hopeless life is when humanity is capable of such crazy, reality and (in some cases literally) gravity-defying mental gymnastics.

So I resolved, in the odd half an hour or so I get free on the interwebz from time to time, to do something a bit more stimulating. And failing that, there's always MailWatch.

Sent by a vicar, even he’s sick of this shit

[The Weeping Angel]

That's very kind of you, Malc.

A couple of days ago I found myself watching conspiracy theory videos on that YouTube, smugly tittering at their irrational stupidity and pointlessness, when it suddenly occurred to me that I was actually getting mentally affected by them: Not sucked in, but starting to wonder how hopeless life is when humanity is capable of such crazy, reality and (in some cases literally) gravity-defying mental gymnastics.

So I resolved, in the odd half an hour or so I get free on the interwebz from time to time, to do something a bit more stimulating. And failing that, there's always MailWatch.

Good to have you back.