On Sunday 2 August the Observer carried a piece by Neil Kinnock on the Labour leadership election. Although the piece could not convince anyone of the case he makes if they were not already convinced it is worth a second glance. It reveals something important about a style of argument that passes for political thinking in some Labour circles.
Neil Kinnock, it would appear, considers himself an authority on the matter of winning elections and offers his advice to Labour Party members accordingly.
For all his years in politics Neil Kinnock has not understood that specific problems need specific analyses and specific solutions. He clearly thinks that generalised rhetoric can perform the trick of selecting one candidate from four. Continue reading
If you haven’t seen The Wilderness Years, a BBC series of four hour-long documentaries broadcast in 1995, it’s well worth watching – and you can by following the links below. Documenting the period of Labour’s history from losing the 1979 election to the election of Blair as Labour’s Leader, it relies entirely on archive footage alongside in-depth interviews with those most closely involved in the events, a format which really does allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. 