Special Demonstration?

Until the very recent enactment of legislation that the Official Opposition did not oppose and would not repeal, demonstration was not illegal. Yet there was a Special Demonstration Squad, as if peaceful protest had been terrorism, or fraud, or organised crime. Under other recent legislation that the Official Opposition did not oppose and would not repeal, nothing that that Squad had done could possibly be illegal if it happened now, making it even less likely than ever that anyone will be prosecuted for having done it when it was against the law.

I already knew a lot of this through the great man, Dr Dave Smith, whom I managed to miss at last year's Durham Miners' Gala, meaning that I have not seen him since Davey Ayre's funeral. With any luck, he will be at the Big Meeting next month. Unlike any official representative of the Official Opposition that did not oppose and would not repeal the post facto legalisation of all of this, since it is led by a spycop. There would be no fuss over Oh, Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie unless it were telling the obvious truth.

But when I tell you that there is going to be a hung Parliament, then you can take that to the bank. I spent the 2005 Parliament saying that it was psephologically impossible for the Heir to Blair's Conservative Party to win an overall majority. I predicted a hung Parliament on the day that the 2017 General Election was called, and I stuck to that, entirely alone, all the way up to the publication of the exit poll eight long weeks later. And on the day that Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, I predicted that a General Election between him and Keir Starmer would result in a hung Parliament.

To strengthen families and communities by securing economic equality and international peace through the democratic political control of the means to those ends, including national and parliamentary sovereignty, we need to hold the balance of power. Owing nothing to either main party, we must be open to the better offer. There does, however, need to be a better offer. Not a lesser evil, which in any case the Labour Party is not.