Socialist Democracies function perfectly well in many countries in the world - countries which feature year on year in those lists of best places to live in the world in terms of happiness, wellbeing, access to services etc etc.

Trotting out Venezuela in response to every socialist idea is intellectually vacuous; there is no equivalence between that, and the Labour manifesto - not to mention crippling US sanctions and a desperate attempt to grab oil reserves.

Where are the socialist paradise?

Democratic socialism - is alive and thriving in Canada, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and Ireland, for example.

If you say so.

You want high taxation, I hope you are happy to pay it, I am not.

I'm happy to pay more taxes so that everyone in society has better life chances - I'm a right tw*t aren't I?

And the majority of those countries are at the top of the democracy league table, whereas the UK is around 15th and the USA around 22nd. So, it always seems strange to me that the USA sees itself as the leader of the free world!

I couldn't agree more - the USA has a worse functioning democracy than we do, with all the same corruption, non-partisan media and wealth inequalities; but they have a tendency to get all patriotic and beat their chests about being the greatest country in the world - which is demonstrably not true.

The fact you have started this thread on Diane Abbott, but haven’t started one on Chris Grayling (who awards a ferry contract to a company without boats, then pays compensation for not tendering the deal in correct way, banned prisoners from reading books, oversaw the failed privatisation of prisons, is responsible for absolute disgraceful state of the railways, or Boris Johnson (who spent millions on a garden bridge that was never built and on water cannons that are illegal to use) proves my point that she is attacked for being a black female. You are not even able to explain why you think Diane Abbott is “thick” “incapable” and “delusional”.

Don't forget when he made a quick stop off at the DoJ to completely f**k the legal aid system and put barristers on minimum wage, the lovable scamp.

The Sin Bin may as well be "The Socialist Worker", left wing old people with an axe to grind.

Can you give any reasons to back up your “opinion”? You don’t seem to have responded.

And by the way young people are far more likely to be in favour of socialist policies than old people. Most old people voted conservative and brexit. Most young people voted labour and remain.

I don't have to justify my opinion to an internet troll.

You prefer a forum where you can express an opinion and not have anyone question it? The very definition of a right wing snowflake - perhaps you should confine yourself to your echo chamber?

I am far from a "right wing snowflake" and I am happy to debate acrual issues, I don't believe Diane Abbott should be an MP, but poeople in her constituency voted her in, my view is she only opens her mouth to change feet.

And you've yet to say why, other than vague insults and slurs, and repeatedly refused to engage with people who've asked you questions about the post that you actually started.

If you didn't want to discuss it, why did you post it?

OK, a few things as examples.

She blames Khanfor knife crime, not thepeople carrying knives or thegang society.
She wanted to let ISIS bride Begum back into the UK
She blames the UK for the tragis death of Begums child, despite the fact Begum had other children that also died.

If she were ever to get into office, I fear just where we'd end up, especially with Corbyn as PM.

Ah I see - it's her ability to look at the wider issues that bother you?

1. I don't see how anyone can reasonably say that the rise in knife crime isn't at least partly due to the swingeing cuts made to the types of local services that would, in the past, have kept some of these kids out of criminality; or the massive cuts to police numbers haven't impacted on the ability of community policing to know who's doing what, and to intervene early.

2. The "ISIS bride" was a British citizen - international law dictated that she was our problem - the right thing to do was bring her back and try her for any crimes that she had committed, instead of playing the tough guy to appease the Daily Mail comments contributors.

3. It's not a massive leap to suggest that if she'd have been returned to the UK, the baby (also a British citizen, and entirely innocent) would have lived.

I quite like nuance and detail - you should try it - it makes the world a more interesting place.

A left wing view, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I don't think this is about left or right - my instinct on these matters comes from decency, not politics; maybe that's the problem in this country now - we can't discuss issues, without first deciding that someone has a view because of the tribe we perceive them to be in - which makes us instinctively disagree with them if that tribe is different from our own.

We've been infantilised and brainwashed by politicians and the media to such an extent, that we get our opinions from an echo chamber, convert them into facts in our own minds, then cling onto them in the face of data and evidence to the contrary. That's how they control us comrade - but you can break free if you really want to.

What condascending codswallop, Begum left the UK to join a terrorist group, she ceased to be a british subject at that point,her child was not british.

I get my opinion from the facts, hence not believeing in God or Socialism.

Not in the eyes of the law.

Really, thatis why she had her status revoked?

Quote ="MGarbutt1986"Really, thatis why she had her status revoked?'" Seems a bit tenuous. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... be-stopped But anyway I'd be more for bringing her back to face trial. I'm sure she might also have useful information that might help the fight against ISIS and extremism too. How was she radicalised? Who did it? Who did she contact to make her journey? Who met her and who did she interact with while she was in Syria? Leaving her over there to rot doesn't really answer those questions. There's also the fact that as a UK citizen she's our responsibility. It sets a precedent if we wash our hands of her. What if other countries start doing the same. We could end up with loads of stateless terrorists wandering around that nobody is watching. I'm not keen on Diane Abbott because of issues of presentation rather than substance and on this issue I think it's better to consider the implications rather than make a knee jerk decision, on that she's correct.

Quote ="MGarbutt1986"Really, thatis why she had her status revoked?'" Seems a bit tenuous. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... be-stopped But anyway I'd be more for bringing her back to face trial. I'm sure she might also have useful information that might help the fight against ISIS and extremism too. How was she radicalised? Who did it? Who did she contact to make her journey? Who met her and who did she interact with while she was in Syria? Leaving her over there to rot doesn't really answer those questions. There's also the fact that as a UK citizen she's our responsibility. It sets a precedent if we wash our hands of her. What if other countries start doing the same. We could end up with loads of stateless terrorists wandering around that nobody is watching. I'm not keen on Diane Abbott because of issues of presentation rather than substance and on this issue I think it's better to consider the implications rather than make a knee jerk decision, on that she's correct.

Polarised Britain summed up in one sentence, right there. I suppose the opposite would be a right wing view? No in-between? Black or white, no grey areas?

loads of grey areas, but serious political parties have gone to the extreme of their side, and the Limp Dems have all but disappeared!