Snippets and gleanings - weekend round-up

I'm with Mick
The sainted Mick Lynch, leader of the RMT rail union, has called on voters to "grow up" when it comes to the general election. If they want to get rid of the current Conservative government he suggests (and who doesn't these days, even the Tories?) then the only option is to vote Labour, albeit unenthusiastically. This lukewarm endorsement of Sir Keir Starmer's Labour leadership may be damning with faint praise but I guess Starmer will just have to suck it up.

Cold comfort
Lynch's further announcement that, as an unaffiliated union, the RMT will be supporting Jeremy Corbyn if (surely when) he stands as an Independent candidate in Islington North will be significantly less welcome, however, as will his pledge to support socialist candidates wherever they stand. Labour still prides itself on being a broad church, despite the evidence that, under Starmer, it has become a narrow sect. But it will maintain the fiction to get through the election. And then what?

Who are you calling a cult?
With polls currently suggesting a Labour majority of anything between 284 (Electoral Calculus) and 120 (YouGov MRP) Starmer may find his 'broad church' a bit too broad to control easily. Once the euphoria of victory wears off (rather rapidly one imagines when faced with the monumental shitshow left by the Tories) factionalism is likely to reassert itself with a vengeance. Joseph Stalin's implacable rise to absolute power after Lenin's death provides a warning. Incredibly, Uncle Joe began by calling his faction within the Communist Party "the centre". History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. Arise, Sir Keir Stalin?*

Welfare or warfare
According to The Observer a new report by IPPR and Changing Realities looking into the experiences of families living on low incomes identifies two key challenges: measures to tackle poverty and policies to open opportunities to good quality work. It says 14.4 million people in the UK are now in poverty, with the situation set to worsen without radical change. These measures together, the report suggests, would lift one million people out of poverty. And the cost? A cool £12bn a year. What price your fiscal rules now, Ms Reeves?

* With thanks to Neil Partrick


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