Dave. If Jeremy Corbyn ran my local you'd never get me out of the place. I've heard him speak at two rallies since he announced his candidacy (the one in Liverpool last Saturday attracted over a thousand people). What impressed me wasn't just his candour, or the fact that he reiterated virtually everything I believe in. It was that his speech took in such a huge field. He didn't just talk about the things which most people would consider mainstream socialism, although they were certainly in there. He brought in women's rights, gay rights, the torture regime in Eritrea, children having to go hungry during school holidays (yes, folks, this is 2015) because the school meals kitchens were closed, climate change, fracking, the disgusting mess we are making of the planet, and much, much, more.

Two things impressed me more than anything else though. The first was the way that capitalism stifles the artistic endeavours of ordinary people, and the role which art will fulfill in the new society. "Everyone has a genius inside them", he said. And by God he was right.

The second came right at the close when he said we have to forge an end to this dog-eat-dog/rat-race/competition-led-ethos which currently surrounds all of human existence, and let us instead build a society where everyone cares for everyone else worldwide. "You can call it Humanism or Christianity, or Humanitarianism", he said. "I call it Socialism".

Is Jeremy Corbyn the man to lead Labour to victory at the next general election? Personally I don't think he is, and I don't think he is because if ever he came within breathing space of victory, the media and the establishment would bury him just like they buried Jesus Christ and the Diggers and the Tolpuddle martyrs and the Chartists and Joe Hill, and everyone else who had the brass neck to stand up and shout for a fair and equal world.

But let's look beyond 2020. For more decades than I care to remember, the left in Britain has been wandering round like a lost dog, alienated, thwarted, and totally demoralised. That is partly the result of Thatcher and the lengths she went to to crush the unions, and it is also the result of Tony Blair's efforts to sell us his ersatz version of toryism.

What I saw at those two rallies was a left wing which has been galvanised back into action. At long last, it has picked itself up off the floor and it is fighting back. Let a million red banners be unfurled. The people are on the march again.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/jeremy-corbyn-tells-echo-i-9774468