Some of you out there will be aware of this; some will be hype-aware of it; others, may be oblivious to it. But you should all know that at present the Guardian runs a semi-daily feature, a cartoon drawn by Steve Bell which depicts a universe in which Jeremy Corbyn is a Jedi knight named Jez-bi-Wan Kenobi who is constantly getting the better of evil Tories. McDonnell is Chewbacca and Watson is R2D2 – I could go on, but you get the gist. If any of you think I’m making this all up to be mean to the Guardian, just have a look at their website.
I mention this because Bell’s cartoon serial is the perfect illustration (see what I did there?) of the mindset of the Corbynista as things stand. To the rest of us, Corbyn’s opening few weeks as leader of the Labour Party have been a disaster – a gaffe filled meltdown which now increasingly threatens the very existence of the Labour Party the longer it continues. Depending on one’s political bent, this has been met with horror, or curiosity – if you’re a Tory, glee. However, as Bell’s cartoon demonstrates, the Corbynista doesn’t think Jeremy is doing badly because he is being undermined by a vicious PLP (although they try, the bastards!) or a right-wing press (although they are doing their worst, the swine!) – they think Corbyn is genuinely doing a brilliant job. He is hitting it for six every opportunity, convincing the British public he’s their saviour – the revolution is on, man!
Some of my Labour friends have likened the Corbyn delusion to the denial of reality Lib Dems experienced during the coalition; how we all convinced ourselves that everything would come good with the electorate in the end. But those of us who were Clegg supporters were never in any denial that Nick was unpopular, or that things like the tuition fees U-turn were anything other than fiascos. We just thought that the electorate would be forgiving enough in the end to prevent total meltdown; to preserve enough Lib Dem seats to keep the party in contention in another hung parliament. That is a very different thing to us thinking Clegg was going to be prime minister after the 2015 general election or that some sort of Lib Dem inspired revolution was in the air.
Whatever you think of Corbyn’s politics, it takes a great deal of giving one’s self to an eidolon to figure that Jeremy is doing even kind of okay – much less that he resembles a Jedi. The Corbynistas would probably do better to admit to themselves that he’s made a hash of it thus far and try and figure a way to redeem the project of taking the party to the left some other way. They should learn the lessons of Tony Blair, their movement’s hate figure: whatever the merits of a political cause, it can be permanently undermined if the chap leading the way makes it look foolish or even morally incorrect through his own personal failings.
The Libdems surrendered their votes to prop up a Con already being perpetrated on the ordinary people of this country . It was a great move , all of a sudden new labour was exposed for the empty vessel it was and poof it was obliterated .
But then along came Corbyn and Co !
And I don’t think anyone saw that coming and I don’t think anyone’s going to stop him now !
I am not a member of any political party and at the election Labour was at the bottom with ukip on my vote preference list but since then I’ve seen influential and free thinking friends join the labour party and get behind Jermey Corbyn in their droves ! I believe that the people have spoken ! And no amount of spin is going to shut them up now they’ve found their voice .
You obviously haven’t been following “If …” very closely. Jedi Corbyn has spent much of his time battling Mandelson and Blair rather than the Tories, and is currently suffering a rebellion led by Watso-D2 who wants to join in with the bombing of Sirius!
As ever spot on Nick , total delusion reigns , the party is in meltdown , how is Oldham going to be explained away next week? will that be the PLP fault or the press or will it be accepted that JC and his side kicks McDonnell and Abbot are toxic not only to the swing voters Labour needs to win over but also voters in the Northern Heartlands now defecting to UKIP; This foreshadows a total collapse of seats in 2020 if this horror show plays out as I suspect it will if nothing changes. The parties only hope for was and still is Dan Jarvis , credible , centrist and a northern MP who is from a SPAD background , if the party has any sense that need to find a way to get to this change, then the tories would be worried!
I meant not from a SPAD background!
The really crazy thing is if you read BTL on any comment piece that expresses scepticism of Corbyn, the faithful are convinced that the Guardian is at the forefront of a vast rightwing conspiracy against their man.
I have to say that I had read Steve Bell’s Jez-bi-wan Cornobyn character as more self-deluded and useless than you do. However, given his approach to the entire political class, it is still probably the most flattering caricature of a party leader I have seen him do … possibly ever. So you might have a point.
I feel that there are some parallels in the Corbyn leadership’s delusions and the approach taken by Clegg post 2010 and it is more about the myth of the ‘new politics’ – Clegg seemed to believe based on the 2010 election that the ‘new politics’ had arrived – even with a failure to carry through proposed structural changes to the electoral system – and coalitions were more acceptable, and that there were genuine prizes available for being everybody’s second favourite. There weren’t.
Now, based on his own leadership election, Corbyn appears to believe that the ‘new politics’ has arrived, the system – apparently without any structural changes being needed – will acommodate a diversity of opinion far wider than any previously seen, without centre-ground voter opinion or habits needing to be recognised in any way, whether within his party or not.
I have to say, I wish they were both right and that the system could accomodate a more complex political debate in which more points of view could be expressed.
But I think it’s only about when – not if – Corbyn’s ‘new politics’ of direct popular mandate takes him to the same place that the ‘new politics’ of coalition took Nick Clegg. And the Tories will stride on, regardless, on the current, depressing, evidence.
Andy · Epic weekend! Esilcpaley the elevation. That is something I think i would like to do sometime, where I get some people together and make a weekend out of it! Much cheaper than those 4 day trips to the Alps or Pyrenees to do the same thing Glad you had a good time!
SO thrifty! Little Liv is so adorable, and so is the Baby Bullet. I saw it in Macy’s the other day and thought it was so cute. I also think it’s awesome that you’re feeding Liv REAL FOODS! So many parents fall to the formula trap, and don’t introduce their babies to whole foods early enough — which is why I’m convinced so many kids hate the taste of veggies! You go, Mama!