8 April 2021
Diary of a Corbynista
Nippers on the March
by Don Urquhart
1 April
1964 was the year the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on Robben Island.
In his London Grammar School Corbynista discovered that being a socialist was a minority sport. We held a mock General Election where I led in a witty satirical manner for Harold Clothcap against the old Etonian Alec Dunglass-Fume. I say “led” but in truth I was on my own. And so it has remained. I still have friends from that time and only one of them owns up to being a Labour voter, but he is also a Spurs season ticket holder – nobody’s perfect.
When we have reunions politics is only discussed when I pop out to the loo.
2 April
In Shaw Sheet 273 David Chilvers pointed out the difficulties of comparing Covid-19 performance nation to nation. Our leaders have no difficulty in comparing our vaccination performance with others but new cases and avoidable deaths are put down to the way countries count.
3 April
The Independent has the headline:
New Zealand raises minimum wage to $20 an hour
Taxes on the richest New Zealanders are being raised
Meanwhile our political leaders vie for the “Ronnie Barker” vote.
In the Frost Report sketch John Cleese looks down on Ronnie Barker who in turn looks down on Ronnie Corbett, who, fortunately for political stability, knows his place.
What is often called the Red Wall vote is a component of the Ronnie Barker vote but there is a growing Ronnie Corbett vote that doesn’t know its place.
4 April
It’s not just the Health Service being sold off to the chums. Schools have long been going the same way. It is pretty clear that the main purpose of academies is to enrich their owners.
The Guardian reports:
Teaching union hits out at academy bosses’ ‘eye-watering’ pay
In 2019 the Department for Education wrote to 94 trust leaders whose pay was regarded as excessively high to ask them to justify their inflated salaries, but excessive pay continues to be a concern and unions say the government’s powers to intervene are “utterly feeble”.
5 April
There were demonstrations in 25 cities on Saturday against the Police, Crime and Sentencing Courts bill. All started out peacefully but several ended in battles with the police.
The competing narratives:
Protests are hijacked by thugs intent on destroying property and attacking the police;
The protesters are peaceful but police use violent tactics to disperse them.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Unionists are demonstrating against the separation of Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK in a manner reminiscent of the Troubles. There will be no shortage of government spokespeople telling us of their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.
6 April
Martin Forde QC has said that his panel cannot publish its findings as they might prejudice the work of the Information Commissioner’s Office in investigating the security implications of the famous leaked report.
To try to find out how much longer we have to wait I have submitted a Freedom of Information Request.
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
I understand that the Labour Party informed you that the publication of the report entitled “The Work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to anti-Semitism, 2014-2019″ might have given rise to security breaches.
Please let me know:
- On which date did you receive this information from the Labour Party?
- What is the estimated completion date for your inquiry?
- Do you consider that publication of the Forde Report would prejudice your inquiry and if so, why?
7 April
Message Board responses to Corbynista in Shaw Sheet 273:
Walsall:
Why in Goodness’ name would anyone buy PPE from a beautiful products company? Do they have any established provenance or did they start a fortnight before and are friends of Ms Patel, who has a history of all that is moral and righteous.
Sunlounger:
Re the Priti story: chumocracy? Is the company owner a Tory party donor or Priti’s hairdresser?
Across the pond, Biden appears to be doing a Corbyn by upping taxes and revitalising US infrastructure.
The Northern Independence Party appears to be gaining traction as well. I don’t know much about the NIP, but are its members and supporters called Nippers?
We live in fascinating times.
