Thread by @shaunjlawson

Incidentally, just on this: the 'toxicity' and 'intolerance' 🙄🙄🙄

I have the best followers in the world. The best. And you know what so many of them have in common? Kindness, compassion and empathy. Some of them naturally; others because of their own horrendous circumstances.

https://twitter.com/Paul1Singh/status/1210874880008359936

Not only have many of them experienced - and are continuing to experience - almost unimaginable levels of cruelty, hardship and adversity... but over the last few years, they've been demonised by many of those in the party that's supposed to HELP them.

That is what makes me angry about the Labour right. That is why so many of us were disgusted at Tom Watson sabotaging his own side, a bunch of rotters jumping to Change UK, or those calling for Yvette Cooper, architect of the Work Capability Assessment, to replace Corbyn.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't think the Labour right have any experience of austerity whatsoever. I don't think they have the remotest conception of what life is like for its many millions of victims. And in all too many cases, I think they just don't care.

That blows my mind. Literally blows my mind. But what defines centrists like Paul is: a quite incredible failure to highlight the circumstances so many face or advocate policies intended to help them; and just sheer, unadulterated hatred for Corbyn and his supporters instead.

That phrase 'Corbynista' was always intended to demean and disparage. That is to say: it demeans and disparages some of the poorest, most vulnerable, kindest people in the UK.

I've mentioned before how far we are through the looking glass. In Britain, as we end this decade, the strong shit all over the weak, the weak are demonised by those supposed to represent them, an anti-racist is called a racist, and a racist is Prime Minister.

If the Labour Party is not there to give a voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless, there is no point in it. None.

If the Labour Party only exists so narcissists can feather their nests while slandering its members, its lifeblood, there is no point in it. None.

Politics, first and foremost, is about values. Fighting for what you believe in. Standing up for those values. And in the case of the left, for others.

The idea that this is somehow 'unelectable' or 'dangerous' or 'radical' isn't just ridiculous. It's grotesque.

When the United Nations condemns the UK - twice! - for its treatment of the poor and the disabled, and some within the Labour Party couldn't care less about it, it's them who have the problem. In their case, lack of a functioning heart.

When hate crime skyrockets across the board, but especially towards Muslims, and we are told we "must listen" to nationalist, Islamophobic bigots, it's those arguing for this nonsense who have the problem. Not us.

When the entire economy grinds to a total halt for a whole bloody decade, and we're told that "the voters want aspiration! And we must be tough on welfare!", it's those telling us that who have the problem. Not us.

Does that mean that the left doesn't have lessons to learn? Of course it has lessons to learn: many of them. Contrary to the cliches of the likes of Paul, many of us have been deep in reflection - including self-reflection - for weeks.

I think Labour have to be a post-Remain party which demands urgent electoral and constitutional reform.

I think Corbyn passed his best about 2 years ago.

I think the next leader will not be a left winger, but WILL maintain most of Labour's policies. Build on them. Seed them.

And as I've said many times before, in that yawning chasm between Blairism and Corbynism lies Labour's future direction. It's not either/or and it's quite mad to think otherwise.

But you see: Corbyn didn't win in 2015 or 2016 because we're all a bunch of mad loonie lefties. He won because he was the only candidate who knew what Labour is supposed to stand for. So he reconnected the party with its long lost soul.

I will always be grateful to him for that. Always. Just as I will for him staying so strong in the face of an absolute tsunami of abuse, the extent of which disgraces British politics and society.

But now? It's time to move on. The vast majority of Labour members realise that.

And the answer lies neither in the 1970s or the 1990s... but in the 2020s. Which are ours to shape, together.