Little Read

I doubt that Shanghai George has read The Little Red Book. He has read almost as little as Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher ever had. In any case, people have been punning on its title since time immemorial. Why, I myself have just kept up that tradition.

But John McDonnell was right. If he had not given the source of his quotation, then the man who believes in state control of British industry only if that state is not Britain, and preferably if it is China, would have agreed with every word of it. As phrased, he does agree with every word of it.

We trust that there will be no ridicule of John in tomorrow's Telegraph, which is desperately hawking itself around China, India, Russia and Arabia in search of a new proprietor. I still say that the trade unions ought to buy it.