Sawn In Half

Donald Trump's complete departure from the economic and foreign policies that secured his election ought not to come as any surprise.

The undisputed global leader of the opposition to neoliberal economic policy and to neoconservative foreign policy is now Jeremy Corbyn.

Tomorrow, two hundred thousand will hear him at the Durham Miners' Gala, which is all set to be the biggest since the 1950s.

So much for his lack of appeal in the North, or to the working class.

Is that how Labour has 46 per cent in the latest poll by YouGov, its highest ever rating by that company, and eight points ahead of the Conservatives, placing it well into overall majority territory?

Meanwhile, three hundred miles away in what we are supposed to believe is the only place that they like him, how many people will turn up to a Fabian Summer Conference that has been timed to ensure that he cannot attend, so embarrassingly well-received was he at last year's?

While all the royalty are up here (I am off now to hear Ken Loach, and I expect that Corbyn and others will be there), attendees down there will be regaled by Debbie McGee, so called because she is famous only as the wife and assistant of a light entertainer.

Although, in all fairness, Debbie McGee never abolished Income Support, or imposed the Work Capability Assessment.