How the Corbynites want to reverse the 1980s
By BAGEHOT | BRIGHTON
PAUL MASON, a journalist turned Labour Party activist, was very much in evidence at the Labour conference in Brighton this week, competing with the Guardian’s Owen Jones for the title of Jeremy Corbyn’s favourite talking head. Mr Mason got a lot of grief for one of his tweets: “I really advise my colleagues in the press corps to listen to the conference. It’s a breath of fresh air and reminds me of 1980”. His colleagues in the press corps quickly reminded Mr Mason that 1980 marked the beginning of 17 years in the electoral wilderness for Labour. The breath of fresh air was a very cold wind indeed.
In fact, Mr Mason’s tweet was the political equivalent of a Freudian slip: the Corbynites are obsessed with the 1980s. Young activists who had not even been conceived when the miners’ strike happened wear badges reading “coal not dole”. Trade unionists get standing ovations whenever they mention the devastation of the 1980s. Margaret Thatcher is the gold standard in evil.
