Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Set in the mid nineteen nineties, this fast moving thriller lifts the curtain on sex, sleaze and corruption in high places. Tor Raven’s novel captures the mood of those times with a host of fictional characters who engage in political intrigue, money laundering and murder, pursued by an Irish investigative journalist and his girlfriend, the daughter of a cabinet minister found dead in a hotel room after bondage sex.

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David Dimbleby  has written in the Guardian that Jeremy Corbyn is treated unfairly by the press. This is a most unusual intervention from a national treasure and the voice of the nation on all state occasions, general elections and the like. He weekly chairs the foremost national TV political show, Question Time. So when he speaks we listen and the point he makes is valid. Baiting Labour spokespeople has become a national pastime of much of the media establishment, most of which is to the right or centre right. Corbyn gets the worst treatment of all.

So today when he lost concentration on Woman’s Hour, there was a feeding frenzy of replays and aggressive interviewing of his colleagues by BBC journalists of whom we expect better. It was actually rather cruel. You do not kick people who fall, whether it is Corbyn, Diane Abbot or even Theresa May. But be assured this is a vote winner.

Nobody is voting for Corbyn because he is a faultless spin master. They will be voting for him and Labour because he cares about people and he articulates issues the way they see them. He empathizes with the worries in their lives and their yearning for a better fairer country. He can also suffer from exhaustion. On his schedule on their behalf, that is no small wonder. It shows he his human. Just like them. That is what they like about him most of all.

Labour Can Win is an abridged version of my dissertation Turn Left to Power. The Labour Manifesto for the General Election on June 8th contains proposals which echo many of the principles which I have set out in an easy read format. Labour now has the chance to spring an historic surprise on June 8th. If you want a Labour victory, this is a must read. It will give you ideas and inspiration to drive you forward. A message of hope over fear in under 100 pages.

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There was no knockout blow. Both sides will be relieved. But it was not an even contest, because Corbyn had everything to gain and May had everything to lose. Corbyn came across as principled, comfortable is his skin, engaging and willing to give quite detailed answers to questions even from Paxman. The more people see of Corbyn the more they warm to him.

For May it is the opposite. The more the campaign has exposed of her the less she is liked. A 25 point lead is now down to 5 points. She came across as brittle, evasive and unwilling to answer one single specific question with numbers or costings. She was shown to be a serial mind changer. On Brexit, she campaigned for Remain. On the tax changes for the self employed in the budget, she  scrapped them. On the promise she would not call a snap election, she did. On no cap on social care costs, now there will be one. And this is the person who has staked the whole Tory campaign on her strong decisive leadership. Well it appears voters are now changing their minds about her ability to provide it. Last night she did nothing to halt that trend.