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Showing posts from January, 2016

Inside the world of the Corbynistas

What exactly is it that makes a Corbynista tick? It’s a question I’ve been pondering in recent months, while trying to enter into some kind of debate on social media with the avowed fans of Labour’s leftwing leader. For those of us who remember the political turmoil of the 1980s, it is perhaps too easy to dismiss Corbyn’s followers as being stuck in a timewarp. With all the talk of nationalisation, unilateral nuclear disarmament and even the ownership of the Falklands, are we dealing with renegades who are simply refighting the lost battles of a bygone era? I’ve challenged myself to be a little more open-minded. After all, we’re told that Corbyn has inspired a new generation of activists. If you’re 19 or 20 today, you would have been born around the time of Tony Blair’s first election victory.  Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council and the Trotskyist take-over of Liverpool would seem as much a part of the history books as the Korean War appears to me. It’s hard to know