Hi Ian M


AAV say Reform lost by a big margin, so it cannnot have been that tight after all. In fact It was because it was so very tight that they lost by big margin. I have never seen a clearer case of tactical votes shifting a result. Soundings based on first choices put the main contenders neck and neck.

Seeing that, Green and Libdem and other progressives did not want to reisk letting Reform in, so they shrank their own votes. It less a personal triumph for Burnham than a crushing defeat for Reform which, you might say, got stuffed. This Tactical voting for a lesser evil might stuff it in the general election

This is not to deny that Burnham has deserved his popularity. But it is not hard for a Mayor to achieve popularity. He does not have to impose taxes or deal with immigration etc. He is free to spend on Transport. Burnham's achievement in re-regulating busese is nothing so impressive as Livingstones in introducing a congestion charge or the oyster card. But Burnham has tried to distance himself from Blair and Blairism.

Against advice from Tariq Ali and myself,Livingstone made the seirous mistake of rejoining New Labour

AAV do not see tactical voting for the lesser evil because, being ultra left, they dont approve of it. The Lesser Evil is still Evil, Dave Spartacus has solemnnly reminded me. But luckily those good voters believe that the lesser evil is still Lesser.

Now Ian M could you do me a small favour. The only platform to which I have acess is X, which seems to have circumscribed my reach in ways i dont understand. I cannot link to indidual posts but I think I can link to profile pages

For instance below should eg be the link to Owen Jones profile page. But it may not link everyone to his current page.

https://x.com/owenjonesjourno?lang=en

Can you click that and access his posts for today 21 June?

gb