Ake could be thinking back to the dark days when Thatcher had just become Prime Minister, and there were tiny fringe groups of extreme nutters on the furthest spectrum of the left
who celebrated her victory as the start of the process of capitalism destroying itself...???

An era when racism, sexism and homophobia was still prevalent amongst older trade unionists and Labour party voters.
But that was an inevitable symptom of how rancidly prejudiced the entire British mainstream society and culture was in those dim dark unenlightened times...

I'd suggest my generation born in the late 50s / early 60s was the turning point.
Growing up educated to accept multiculturalism and progressive ideas of tolerance as a norm...???



Ake - perhaps it's different up there in Scotland were the rise of nationalism has conjured up all sorts of [daft ?] rationalisations to discredit and oust the Labour party...???