Of the various journalists who back the Corbyn project, @paulmasonnews is much the most interesting and substantial. But I was struck by two passages in his recent @NewStatesman piece, which speak to some of the concerns many of us feel about Labour's new direction. 1/12
First up: this is what Mason had to say about “Wreathgate”, which “Corbyn and his team have handled .. with aplomb”. 2/12 
We can debate the rights & wrongs of "Wreathgate", but since when did a progressive party measure morality by its "cut-through" in the polls? It's hardly news that picking fights with minorities can be popular – so let's take Boris Johnson as an example. 3/12
When Boris Johnson compared women in burqas to “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”, Paul Mason accused him of “peddling offensive stereotypes against Muslim women”, at a time when “Islamophobia in Britain is real and rising”. He was right. But here's the rub... 4/12
After the article was published, the polls backed Johnson. He shot up from 5th to 1st in polls of Tory voters & Ladbrokes cut the odds on him as next prime minister from 12/1 to 5/1. One might even say that "after weeks of media battering, Boris & Boris-ism look strong". 5/12
Let's take another example. In January 1978, after studying polling data on immigration, Thatcher told TV cameras that Britons felt “rather swamped by people of a different culture”. Her party, which had lagged behind Labour in the polls, quickly shot into a 9 point lead. 6/12
Mason rightly accused Thatcher of a “catastrophic” blowing of “the racist dog whistle”. But Thatcher & Johnson could claim the same vindication in the polls as Corbyn. So what’s different? It’s not just that he thinks the charge against Corbyn false, a view we could debate. 7/12
From the start, too many party loyalists have treated complaints about anti-Semitism, not as a problem to be addressed, but as an attack to be repulsed. So victory comes, not from responding sensitively to critics, but from beating them at the polls. This cannot end well. 8/12
The second point is less sensitive, but still striking. Here’s Mason on the policy offer Labour should make ahead of a snap election. 9/12
There are lots of good arguments for a more devolved UK, but attracting extra votes to the Labour Party is not one of them. All parties need to stop mucking around with the constitution to secure a few short-term votes - the very approach that gave us Brexit and the FTPA. 10/12
I understand – though I don’t share – the hopes vested in a Corbyn premiership. But the danger is that everything else gets trampled down on the way. The road to a progressive society is always paved with good intentions, but the journey does not always end up where we hope.11/12
Anyway, that's the rant over. For the original article (which is well worth reading), see below. 12/12 newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
