Is there need to revive this thread ?
It was started by
friendofdorothy before Corbyn was elected leader of LP.
Which , for me at least , was a glimmer of hope - which has now been largely dashed.
Except for places like London , Liverpool , Manchester , Bristol etc
And over 10 million voted for LP.
Not forgetting Scotland & Ireland.
Here's post from friend on FB....
Baring one's soul is a wholly unedifying task, for writer and reader. But after three nights of interrupted sleep, here I am, doing just that. I haven't shed a single tear, but have been close to them for 72 hours.
I am a political animal - I have been since my teens. I have been an active political animal and an inactive political animal. For most of my life, I have been on the losing side of political debate. I joined Labour in 1982 and my first political activity was campaigning for Labour's Peter Tatchell in the Bermondsey By-election. A more dis-spiriting experience would be hard to imagine. Then the 1983, 1987 & 2002 General Elections, campaigning for Labour against Thatcher and Major.
I supported the miners and their families during the 1984/5 miners strike, a brave, just and heroic battle that was ultimately lost. I supported the printworkers in their battle with News International in 1986 and joined the campaign against Section 28. I marched against the Iraq War In London, with millions from across the country. Being on the losing side of a battle is a concept not unfamiliar to me.
I was the Secretary of a left-wing branch of a toothless and collaborationist trade union for six years, from 1988 to 1994.
One would think that with that history, any semblance of idealism would have been well and truly knocked out of me by now. It hasn't. That defeats would be easier to cope with. They aren't. That rage and anger at injustices would temper. They don't.
I am nothing if not resilient, though - that is indisputable. The present fog will clear, given time. It always does.
Quite how the UK's membership of the EU became the defining political issue it has, I will never fully get my head round. When the referendum was first called, honestly, I could have gone either way. In the end, I plumped for Remain, but without any serious enthusiasm. A Labour member by that time, I wasn't moved to join the more enthusiastic Remainers in my party in campaigning.
Over the intervening three+ years, I have been sickened by some of the sanctimonious claptrap that many of the right of Labour have trotted out in favour of Remain, dressing this up as internationalism. There have been more principled arguments for Remain from the Labour left, but none of these really fired my soul either, being honest. I am today the unenthusiastic Remain voter I was in 2016, but Oh Boy - I really wish that Pandora hadn't opened her box in 2016 at all.
Those enthusiastically chomping at the bit for a second referendum ignore Thursday's election results at their peril, but they do. How the EU has come to symbolise all that is bad and wrong in England & Wales, I will never understand. The polarisation of opinion, on both sides of the debate is quite shocking and just a little bit frightening.
The casualties of this polarisation are many and will grow. But the one that is interrupting my sleep is the successful demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn. Caricatured as weak and a ditherer, nothing could be further from the truth. Principled, courageous and incredibly resilient, his leadership of the Labour Party was driven by duty and compassion, rather than ambition and a lust for power. If his election bids of 2017 & 2019 had broken through, that power would now be in the hands of ordinary people, not a bunch on lying, unprincipled Bullingdon Club toffs.
Jeremy has been lied about, smeared and ridiculed by those who aren't fit to tie his shoelaces. He started this election campaign needing an eye operation (hence the glasses we have all seen him wearing for the last 6 weeks). He could have jumped the queue at Moorfields Eye Hospital with one click of his fingers, but steadfastly refused to do this. Instead, he embarked on a gruelling tour of TV studios and towns and cities across the UK. Everywhere he went, there were thousands there to greet him. He struggles with the hero-worship mantle, but put on a brave and gracious face in the interests of those who turned out - recognising that this was good for our movement, not him. I quite simply adore the man.
(the therapy angle of writing this just worked, because I have now shed my first tear).
If there are positives to come out of last Thursday's election, one of those is that Jeremy will be able to finally put down the weight of all our hopes and aspirations and get some of his life back. That goes for his family, as well.
It is a credit to the man that he has survived the last four years, buoyed in large part by being comfortable in his own skin. A lesser man would have crumbled a long time ago, with all the crap that has been thrown at him. Dragging ex-partners out to paint him as some kind of machine, powered only by baked beans really is the gutter in which his detractors now lie.
I love the photo that I have posted to accompany this rant, because I think it encapsulates just how comfortable Jeremy is with his lot. He has a wonderful supportive partner, three fantastic sons and a cat. He would have made a fantastic Prime Minister, but it was not to be. That is our loss and we will feel it for years to come.
Continue speaking truth to power, Jeremy - you did all (and more than) we could possibly ask of you. You will be very hard to replace, but you have more than earned a period of rest. Then come back and sock it to them, for us all.
