Formally, I share his politics, in the sense that I think Russia was State Cap etc. and I would never be a member of the Labour Party, let alone Swindon Branch! But spiritually, you and he seem much closer and that is consistent with what you've been arguing on this thread. He is a 'bloke' isn't he, well put. And he is so bloke-ish that I find it hard to attribute to him a deep soulful connection to - say - John Coltrane. You knew him, I only saw him from afar, so I don't rush to judge. But nor could I be bothered to read his book to test this contention. Perhaps someone else here has read it? My guess is the book argues that Coltrane is great because he plays the music of the oppressed (and that Coltrane was practically a revolutionary and if he had heard of the SWP he would have joined them). In other words it will be linear, reductinist, and lightly-researched. For what it's worth, I visited the Church of John Coltrane in San Francisco in a slightly flippant state of mind, I have to admit. But I was very impressed by the reverence with which his followers treated him: that and the fact that we were all given instruments to join in with 'A Love Supreme'.
