Mon 18 Jun 2018, 12:50 PM | Posted by editor
Letter from Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot CLP personal capacity.
I attended the Labour Live event in Tottenham, which cost me a tenner but was worth every penny. Roughly, ten thousand attended and I didn’t witness any anti-social behaviour.
Some within our movement complain that there is a lack of diversity in our ranks. But this event attracted youth, families, disabled and my own category: the grey and folically-challenged. You couldn’t get a more diverse event than Labour Live.
The combination of politics, poetry and live music proved to be a success. Yes, I have gripes: the initial entry fee and the price of a pint, £35 and £5 respectively, were a bit steep.
Should Ian Lavery MP read my post, I would suggest a greater number of stalls that reflect the different political trends within our movement and more food stalls. The right-wing press claim that the event was a flop. They were obviously not waiting in the queues for grub.
In my view, the best part of the event were the speeches of John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, who, as usual got a rock star reception. It’s not only the man but the ideas that he represents which arouses such passionate support.
To their credit, both John and Jeremy also urged the movement to mobilise against the possible rise of fascism. Although the far right have had little impact electorally, they did draw 10,000 at a demo in support of the jailed fascist, Robinson.
Many of the youth had stickers with Bollocks to Brexit on them. In my opinion, they are not wrong. However, it can become a diversion from what the majority of British people need most of all: a Labour Government committed to a Socialist Programme.
