Mick Hartley

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It’s falling apart

Padraig Reidy dreamed he saw Saint Jeremy:

At this stage, I’m not even sure it’s the ineptitude that is alienating people previously well inclined towards Corbyn. It’s how utterly blase he and his ever-decreasing team seem to be about what they are doing to the centre left in Britain. It’s falling apart, and Corbyn doesn’t seem to care.

The problem is, he never did. As the “change” candidate in 2015, and the defiant hero standing up to the plotters in 2016, he was really nothing more than an avatar. He was a “true Labour” candidate, in spite of his astonishing record of voting against his party (and not just his party under Blair). He was a man of peace, in spite of his visible excitement around people like Hamas, Hezbollah and the provisional IRA. He was apparently, people even decided, pro EU, in spite of being vocally, vehemently anti European Union. Pointing any of these things out led to accusations of “Blairism”, Red Toryism, and the rest….

In my Jeremy Corbyn dream (dreams in fact; I’ve had more than one), I start off angry and end up depressed. I want to confront him on the damage he’s wrought, and then realise it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t care. Increasingly, nor does anyone else.

 Update: Corbyn has reshuffled the shadow cabinet. Deckchairs and the Titanic spring inevitably to mind.

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2 responses to “It’s falling apart”

  1. Martin Adamson Avatar
    Martin Adamson

    He doesn’t care because to a doctrinaire leftist all that matters is finding the correct line, and once that is found everything else will magically fall into place.

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  2. TDK Avatar
    TDK

    I don’t agree. Whether or not he cares is almost irrelevant. The fact is that for many on the far left, they assume that ordinary people would side with them given the right information. I’ve spoken with a fair few over the past year and they believe that millions of non voters will come out for them in the next election. Think about all the activists screaming “cultural appropriation” or “fascist”. Corbyn speaks to these people and thinks he’s on the crest of the coming wave.
    Those activists would prefer a Tony Benn, who had a bit of energy, or failing that a younger Ken Livingstone, but that’s a question of charisma not of caring.

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