There is an only slightly tongue-in-cheek view, widely held in County Durham, that the Big Meeting is a lovely family day out which is only spoiled by the attendance of politicians. Even so, Blair's refusal to attend was always recognised for what it was: a studied insult to the former mining communities.
I confess that, what with one thing and another, I haven't been for years. But I might just this year. Since Ed Miliband will be among the speakers. (His brother, with a constituency within the historic County of Durham, appears never to have attended it.)
Miliband himself should make a television programme about the banners, with their Biblical scenes and characters, their historic local landmarks, their tributes to the dead of the two World Wars, and so on. You don't get any less New Labour than that.
David Lindsay is Guthrie Featherstone: "either a left-wing member of a right-wing party, or a right-wing member of a left-wing party – for the life of me, I can't now remember which."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't ordinarily allow up the same comment on several posts. But I have to say that I do rather like this one.
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