A progressive space for the ‘politics of place’

It’s been a year since the General Election in 2019, as surreal as it is to comprehend that. The pandemic has simultaneously flown time through the sheer overflow of stories and events and made 2020 feel as though it had flowed as slowly as honey. A lot has happened, a lot has been endured, and tragically, we have all suffered and lost things this year — jobs, mental health and sometimes, loved ones.

A lot has happened with the Labour Party too, as much as it sometimes feels like the party isn’t doing a lot other than trying to maintain a face of competence and wisdom while the Conservatives rapidly shed theirs. Jeremy Corbyn went leaving behind a battered husk of a party and remnants of his troops still clinging onto his dream within the party base. Starmer’s arrival has introduced a different air into the party, one of guarded optimism and the mildest of indications that Labour is travelling a different course, one that respects the concept of principles being made redundant if they’re never in proximity to power.

Corbyn offered a religion to his supporters when most voters simply wanted a political party. The meaning of what Labour Party should be became lost. Those on the radical wing of the party believed it should dismantle the structures of capitalism rather than simply managing it as benevolently as possible. Tied in with this was the sinking suspicion of a man attempting to lead a country he didn’t like very much.