Anti-semitism again

Reading Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer is a sad experience. It’s not vicious, but it is clumsy, and in seeming to ignore the holocaust she’s broken a massive taboo, and encouraged Starmer to display his anti-Corbyn credentials. He is the enemy of anti-semitism, and will pursue it to the death.

Racism, not so much. The days of Starmer taking the knee, identifying with Black Lives Matter, seem a long time ago. In election mode, Labour doesn’t want to be identifying with Blacks, strikers, anyone who might upset the voters they really want. The Williams report spelt out very clearly what went wrong over Windrush,and how it needed to be put right. Even Priti Patel accepted all of its recommendations, but Suella Braverman’s calculation is that there’s votes to be won by going the other way, dismissing Williams as “not set in stone.” So the whole nightmare of Windrush, its massive injustice, he failure to take action o set it right - all that can just be waved aside? From the ferocious enemies of anti-semitism, not a peep. Someone up top of the Labour machine has calculated that Braverman is right, and opposing her on this might lose some crucial votes. It’s not hard to see why Diane Abbott might think this is grossly unfair.