Labour drifting to the left once more can be a catastrophe

The article by Lynsey Hanley represents the same old lack of actuality that’s typical of the left (I’ve drifted left with age, not proper. If solely Labour would do the identical, 15 August). It actually isn’t that way back that Labour did drift left. Reasonably than an “unimaginable surge of enthusiasm and optimism”, the British public ended up rewarding Boris Johnson, of all folks, with an enormous majority, after it had gifted Theresa Could’s worst marketing campaign in historical past with an additional 2.3m votes over these gained by David Cameron in 2015.

Jeremy Corbyn supplied a endless provide of fabric for the Tories and the rightwing press, and his merciless latest tackle denying Ukraine the power to defend itself confirms how proper the voters had been to reject him. Nostalgia for that interval will, in fact, proceed among the many middle-class leftists who don’t really want a Labour authorities, however for individuals who desire a rational various to the Tories, it’ll at all times and rightly be regarded with contempt.
Matthew Younger
London

The problem with Lynsey Hanley’s piece is that the median voter is a homeowning 55-year-old plumber from Worcester with a family revenue of about £35k. Because it’s 2022, they’ll help homosexual marriage and internet zero. However they aren’t going to need a number of adjustments from the established order.

I respect that it’s irritating for youthful individuals who don’t personal homes – but when Keir Starmer desires to be prime minister he has to place himself as somebody the voters within the center may help. And whereas he may typically be a bit of bolder, I feel he’s doing fairly effectively at that.

If youthful folks need extra affect, additionally they want to show up and vote at election time, because the older owners do.
Matthew Hutton
Haddenham, Buckinghamshire