Humans are susceptible to many things before truth; articulacy and eloquence fly high, rhyme and alliteration are resilient, and to trot out old Adorno, “he who has laughter on his side has no need of proof.” All of the human fondness for ear candy (or text candy – most of it is written) are currently being deployed consistently in opposition to Jeremy Corbyn. While usual suspects in the tabloid media have caused little surprise in their reactions to Corbyn’s loose collar and his failure to sing the anthem, the more painful indictments against him tend to come from the centre left; from those who espouse social justice and equality as their values, and who – sometimes perplexingly – self-identify as being of Labour and/or of anything else resembling the Left.
As one opinion piece after another tears into Corbyn with great articulacy and logically-structured but often narrow reasoning, the only comfort you can take in moments of hair-shredding frustration at their lack of belief in Corbyn (for it is belief in, rather than a disagreement with, that seems to be their more fundamental resentment) is that the author is more raging than you are. Having Corbyn for their de facto, assumed thought-leader is having a worse effect on their mental health than their crushingly negative opinion pieces are having on yours.
Cowley, Ganesh, Behr; whether through praise of David Cameron, sycophantic praise of George Osborne’s clear path to office, or outright efforts at shredding Corbyn, they and a host like them can, so it seems, think to do nothing but write scorn all over what might have been interpreted as an opportunity for meaningful reform of UK politics. Supporters of electoral reform, reform of the Lords, regional devolution, the open source movement, of a UK republic, of a UK constitution and of green investment have all – varyingly – seen in Corbyn not a saviour, but certainly their best hope of enacting their own changes on the structure of UK governance. Others, meanwhile, do nought but snipe.
