A week today the people of the United Kingdom will go to the polls. Voting Tory is obviously so completely wrong that we will talk of it no further. Views of Jeremy Corbyn are polarised too, among Labour supporters and voters as well as the wider electorate, but the election campaign and the choice facing us has thrown everything into new light, and views of Corbyn have been shifting with people getting on board who previously had doubts. It seems blindingly clear to me (in England at any rate, Scotland and Wales have different issues and different options and Northern Ireland is a different situation again) that if you have any interest in wanting a fairer society, anything approaching some kind of social justice, a society where there will be an NHS for all and an education system that is relatively equal for all, a country where the many are not downtrodden for the benefit of a wealthy few, then there can only be one box to place your X. Whatever your thoughts on Corbyn, Labour are offering a manifesto that promises hope- for the many, not the few. Will they win? I don't think so but it's tighter than it was a few weeks ago and if the polls are correct it's getting tighter still. I'd like a Labour government with the Green's Caroline Lucas in the cabinet, by far the most impressive of the debaters at the leadership TV showdowns (which Theresa May is too frightened to attend despite seeing herself as strong).
That's my soapbox speech over, at least until next Thursday. Hull's Balearic campaigner Steve Cobby and realist poet Russ Litten have recorded a song borrowing the name of Labour's manifesto, for the many not the few. Smart electronic funk, a bubbling bassline, horns and flutes, and Russ's words. The original track was a free download. They performed it at a rally in Hull and it turned out Corbyn already had it as his ringtone. You can now get a four track e.p., complete with Corbyn himself edited into one of the mixes Tackhead stylee, for the cost of £1 (all proceeds to the Labour Party). It's here. You can get the single original version as a free download here. For the many, not the few.
7 comments:
Hopefully they won't get a majority and we can get a Progressive coalition involving Labour, Greens and SNP
Need to put aside differences for the greater good
Well said SA.
Christ, we think we have it bad over here in Ireland but we've got a utopia compared to the possibility of another Tory government in the UK. As they used to say over here in the 1800s - "vote early, and vote often!!" Best of luck Jeremy! Oh, and great track.
As CC says but I'm not sure that the Labour Party will be able to overcome their antipathy with the SNP to work with them, if the Lanark hustings on Tuesday night is anything to go by and also a few of Corbyn and other members of the PLP's comments. They still blame the SNP for their demise in Scotland not their own failures and forming coalitions with the Tories up here. How the fuck could any Labour Councillor even remotely entertain that?
Agree about Caroline Lucas.
Drew the whole ethos of a Local Councillor appears to be Fill your boots
Ditto. Although down in Devon the only chance of getting the tories out is from the lib dems. Which that all of wycra will be voting for them.
TB
I've been interested in seeing how a number of the media have challenged the Tories on their empty and uncosted promises, thus posing them some very difficult moments that have gone viral and helped to close the gaps in the polls (if they are to be believed after the almighty fuck-ups in recent years).
CC...I can't let that second comment of yours go unchallenged. I've spent 32 years in local government working alongside hundreds of councillors of all persuasions. There's been a few who do 'fill their boots' but many more who do a superb job in and for their communities. Please don't tar everyone with the same brush.
I had a downbeat and resigned sounding post ready for 8 June; it's on hold for the moment...I'll very happily take a hung parliament right now as two weeks ago it wasn't remotely on the cards.
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