Left behind

Way back in the 1980s (when an ipod sounded like something from a 50s sci-fi movie & mobile phones resembled sturdy bricks), it was still possible to believe in "the socialist transformation of society". That belief was felt fervently by those of us active in the Labour Party during that decade.
A few years' later, the Berlin Wall crumbled & with it, any lingering hopes that capitalism was on its last legs.
When I see former "comrades" these days, we recall that time with a mixture of wistfulness & amusement (did we really swallow that rubbish from Ted Grant that capitalism would never return to Russia?).
All of which brings me to George Galloway. He's been spot on about Bush & Blair's real agenda in Iraq. I also relished his single-handed demolition of the Republican senators in Washington last year.
However, there's long been an ego-driven side to Galloway; not content to be just a messenger, he sees himself as a fulcrum. The term "champagne socialist" is a prehistoric pejorative term in the Right's lexicon. Yet the sad fact is that Galloway's persona openly invites the label.
Some people are appalled by his involvement with Celebrity Big Brother. Not me. It's the sort of thing a person fuelled by large dollops of vanity & chutzpah would do. As for the small matter of what his constituents should do if they have pressing issues, well, that's minor stuff when you realise that George can use the programme as a vehicle for revolutionary socialism.......can't he?