Sea Change

The populist movement led by Jeremy Corbyn likes nothing better than to be besieged by enemies. The ‘neoliberal’ Blairite MPs who will do whatever they can to obstruct socialism. The so-called ‘Israeli lobby’, which apparently trumps up charges of anti-semitism against the left. And, of course, the notorious ‘MSM’ – proper newspapers to you and me – responsible for issuing a poisonous drip-feed of lies and distortions about the motivations and intentions of the Dear Leader. Traditionally, opprobrium was reserved for the ‘right-wing press’, but recently things have taken a comical turn with the Jez junkies turning on The Guardian . Despite the liberal paper being the repository of correspondence from every leftist luminary since the beginning of time, its open-minded and critical stance is now anathema to the hard-left activists busily destroying the Labour Party. Corbyn himself harbours bizarre fantasies of ‘democratising’ the press, as if objective reporting can only come ab...

A couple of years ago, there was a hullabaloo in the press about Momentum Kids - a club for youngsters of Corbyn's left-wing activists, which was quickly dubbed 'Tiny Trots'. I don't know if the socialist daycare centre is still up and running, but if it is, let's hope there's no history on the curriculum. Momentum's founder Jon Lansman - mischievously likened by some to Papa Smurf because of his trademark white beard - produced the most extraordinary breakfast tweet today. It was the morning after Labour MP Joan Ryan had lost a vote of confidence in her Enfield constituency. People were observing that the only media representatives live-tweeting the meeting had come from Jez's favourite foreign broadcaster - Iran's Press TV. Lansman needed a distraction and it came in the form of Tony Blair. The former Prime Minister had publicly expressed doubts that Labour could ever be rescued from the hard left. This was Lansman's chance and he l...

If there’s one thing that all extremists have in common, it’s the pretence – or perhaps delusion – that they are not , in fact, extremists. I’m sure vehement Trump fanatics see themselves as part of the great American tradition, rather than members of a movement that is completely alien to that tradition and which threatens to destroy the Republic’s democracy. Likewise, supporters of UK Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn often like to paint themselves as part of mainstream European social democracy. Nothing the Dear Leader proposes would be out of keeping with the policies pursued on the continent or in Scandinavia, they opine. (We’ll leave aside the fact that they’ll also tell you social democracy is dead. Consistency and intellectual coherence have never been Jezuit hallmarks.) They’ll point to the relatively moderate manifesto of 2017, which was cobbled together as a compromise in a fortnight, and pretend that this represents the essence and extent of their guru’s political a...

Corbyn’s Alternative MacTaggart Lecture in Edinburgh was probably the first example of the Labour Leader setting his own agenda after weeks dominated by the anti-semitism furore. While the row with the Jewish community shows no sign of abating – and new footage emerges of Corbyn making extremely dubious remarks at a London conference five years ago – his media proposals were indeed eye-catching enough to deserve some scrutiny. He started with a direct attack on mainstream news. ‘While we produce some fantastic drama, entertainment, documentaries and films,’ Corbyn argued, ‘when it comes to news and current affairs, so vital for a democratic society, our media is failing.’ His evidence for this sweeping statement? That people, when questioned in surveys, say they don’t trust the media. Of course, a fair degree of scepticism is entirely healthy when looking at journalistic output. The British tabloid press doesn’t have the greatest of reputations and proprietors clearly...

I thought Guardian columnist Marina Hyde was brave to bring up the siege of Waco. Her recent piece on the similarities in mawkish sentiment between supporters of far-right activist Tommy Robinson and the followers of Jeremy Corbyn was provocative enough. But to allude to the Branch Davidians and David Koresh was, I felt, probably asking for a little trouble online. When federal agents surrounded Mount Carmel back in 1993, it led to a bloodbath in which dozens of people died. The crackpot sect had amassed a frightening arsenal of automatic and semi-automatic weapons and fought with fanaticism. Even if we see the Corbyn movement as being cultlike in its behaviour and worship of its leader, I think we can rule out a Texan-style denouement. Jez, after all, is a man of peace, as we are repeatedly reminded by his supporters. But there is a serious question about how all this craziness will end. The Twitterstorm this week - running with the hashtag #WeAreCorbyn - provoked a frenzy...

The hard left is on the back foot over the anti-semitism row gripping the Labour Party. The Pete Willsman tape was too much even for some of Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters – particularly the younger inner circle that act as his minders and semi-official cheerleaders on social media.   These high-profile vloggers, bloggers and blaggers, who’ve bizarrely chosen to hitch a ride to the festival in Jez’s clapped-out Trabant, understand how poisonous the anti-semitism issue is for their movement and want some sort of closure. They also don’t share the weird obsession of the traditional British left with Israel and are almost certainly frustrated by old-timers who seemingly can’t leave it alone. They face two problems though. The first is that Corbyn’s most vociferous supporters in the wider online world – the trolls, misfits and cranks who populate Facebook forums and Twitter – are virulently anti-Israeli and, in a frightening number of cases, anti-semitic too. While it’s p...

One of the most remarkable things about global politics in 2018 is the huge importance of Russia. Its influence goes way beyond its obvious reach. Beijing is much more powerful than Moscow economically. Washington is still much more powerful than Moscow militarily. But Russia under Putin is a fulcrum on which the politics of North America, Western Europe and the Middle East seems to turn. We are grappling with the idea of Russian interference in elections and referendums. Still reeling from its enormous implications. Press conferences are held in which Putin is questioned on whether he has kompromat on the US President. While the US President is standing right beside him. The US President reminds us that Germany is heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies. UK security services investigate a murder on British soil linked to a Russian nerve agent. We have reconciled ourselves to the fact that the butcher Assad will survive in Syria, because of his powerful ba...