Jeremy Corbyn Ate My Hamster And Other Such Bollocks

Hello.

Been a while hasn't it?

I know I've been neglecting you all and this blog for a while. I've been introspective. Yeah, who knew that was possible in an age where every single one of my thoughts is vomited out onto the ether before it even has a chance to fully form. Certainly not me.

I haven't had the time or energy to write.

Plus, we got kittens so, you know, distracted.

Tonight though Frida Kahtlo and Sylvia Purrlhurst (yes really) are in the other room so they don't lie across the shiny thing demanding attention while I try to write.

So, *pours drink* *sits back* what's been happening?

Well, I got assaulted, got engaged, ended one friendship, reestablished another, signed up for uni, got two toes broken, nearly came to fisticuffs with my gynaecologist (separate posts coming on all that) and we got a left wing Labour Party leader.

I KNOW RIGHT?!?!?

I type it and there is a part of me that still doesn't believe it.

Two years ago I joined the Labour Party and man did I have to eat shit for it. I was a sell out. I was establishment. Naiive, stupid, a dreamer. I couldn't change anything, why waste my time when I could be helping to build a party of the left.

I joined Labour rather than other 'left' parties for three reasons.

a) I'm not a big fan of rampant sexism, rape apology, domestic abuse apology, thuggish behaviour or trans misogyny.

b) the parties the above refers to are so far from being viable or effective it isn't even funny.

c) I have a strong attachment to the Labour Party. It was built by trades unions, it used to be the party of the working class and dammit Blairites, I WANT IT BACK.

And then along came Jeremy.

And the party laughed. And they said, sure, we'll let him on the ballot so we can have a debate, why not?  And on the ballot he went.

And a movement built behind him and he went and bloody won. All the shit I had eaten was worth it.

Then the backlash. Corbyn's bike was Maoist. Corbyn didn't appoint enough women. Corbyn hates rugby. Corbyn HAD CONSENSUAL SEX. Corbyn once flicked a bogey at your nan. The media are shitting themselves and it shows.

And the more they have a go at him the more popular he gets. He's like Obi Wan Fucking Kenobi with that shit. And I like it. I like that he looked like a geography teacher in a borrowed tie at PMQs. I like that he humanised the people the Tories are literally killing with their policies by naming them. I would call it a stroke of political genius but it felt too genuine for that.

I like that he has appointed Shadow Ministers for Mental Health, Young People and Voter Registration.

Though I am waiting for the 'Corbyn set fire to the barn that killed Grace Archer' story.

So I went to my first LP meeting this week. I am going to two more next week. There were lots of new members and first timers there and we all wanted to get stuck in.

Parliament may not be the best way to run the country but its what we have so it can't be ignored.

And for the first time in a very long time I feel hope. Hope that things can, and will, get better. Hope that there may actually be a future.

Hope that people will matter more than banks.

So two messages.

One, for everyone who told me I was stupid to stick with the labour party. Fuck off.

And to the Blairites who have had a hold on my party for 20 years.

You can't keep it. I will fight for it from within as long as I have breath and no amount of sneering or flinching will stop me flying the red flag.

#Thegeographyteachercometh