Someone once wrote – the reference escapes for the moment – that Nick Cohen was so outraged and sidelined by the Corbyn phenomenon and the rise of the actual left that he was basically reduced to writing the same angry column every week. His venomous irrelevance means that he’s usually best ignored.
But his disgraceful article yesterday attacking the unions – which would be funny if it were not so vile – varied his usual theme, with a large dose of misogyny.
Cohen’s comments about Jennie Formby, the front-runner to be Labour’s new General Secretary, in which he dismissed her competence and feminism because she used to have a relationship with Unite’s Len McCluskey, fails the very simple misogyny test: would he dismiss a man in the same way because of a former relationship?
The rest of Cohen’s article is simply laughable. Calling for greater militancy – ‘a stirring age of worker resistance‘ – while failing to resist his pavlovian use of ‘hard left’ and dismissing those who lead actual resistance is feeble even by his own standards.
It also displays a staggering – wilful? – ignorance of why the unions have to work doubly hard to mount effective resistance: the Tories’ repressive anti-union laws.
And the fact that, despite that, they still do so.
Cohen lists a couple of ‘small victories’ – right-wing dominated USDAW is mentioned, naturally – but fails even to mention the successful McDonalds workers strike that captured imaginations and faced down the global fast-food giant – let alone Unite’s huge victory in the Birmingham bins dispute.
Cohen couldn’t be less relevant to left politics – not even he could manage that. Yesterday he found an even viler way to be irrelevant than usual, but it merely showed his stunted immaturity compared to a trade unionist of forty years’ experience who has fought tirelessly to better the lives of workers and is hugely respected in the movement.
That the Guardian/Observer continues to publish his bile encapsulates perfectly why it is increasingly dismissed by actual left-wingers when it should be profiting from the fact that there is a huge gap in the print media for a genuine voice from the left.
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There is a left daily, Morning Star.
The Guardian being left is a joke. Couldn’t they see last week that all that focus on the Russians’ poisoning was a deliberate distraction from the Saudi King’s visit and of the UK selling arms to war criminals ? But there is actually genuine newsprint voice on the left- the Morning Star. More people should support it
I’m not sure about THAT Frank – ie the Sergei Skripal episode being a deliberate distraction etc. To my mind the whole thing was a PR exercise designed to portray him as a reformer etc, whilst with the full backing of the British Establishment, Saudi Arabia continues to bomb Yemen to smithereens (which, just coincidentally of course, hasn’t received much coverage by the MSM).
As to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, no doubt Vladimir Putin suddenly thought to himself a few weeks ago what a great idea it would be to try and bump them off AND, to do it a couple of days before all the celebrations to mark 100 days to go to the World Cup Football Championships. Well, I mean, you would, wouldn’t you.
Truly appalling article, even by Cohen’s very low standards. I’ve stopped buying the Guardian/Observer, and I used to get it every day but now I read mostly NLM, including of course The Skwawkbox
A truly appalling article to follow an equally appalling 28 minutes from him, on Radio 4 …. ‘The Silence of the Liberals’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tcvp2
The charge was again repeated that Corbyn had not spoken out against Iran’s abuses whereas Skwawkbox showed that Jeremy had formally raised Iranian abuses more often than any other MP but one. Cohen also made a great deal of the fact that no Labour MP was prepared to be interviewed by him…. hardly a surprise in my view.
Oh dear, only my second comment this morning, and both about different Cohen articles!
He’ll be looking to see who I’ve had relationships with at this rate!
Cohen whahhhhhh blah blah I hate Corbyn , blah blah hate Unions blah blah Corbyn Labour stamps foot tantrum , blah balh not fair Blarites loosing whahhhhhh its not fair whahhhhh whahhh
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Spouting all this shit for nobody
Only has one point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
He’s not a bit like you and me?
He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can’t you see anything at all
Nowhere man do worry
Making all your nowhere plans for nobody
Spouting all his shit for nobody
Spouting all his shit for nobody
Spouting all his shit for nobody
Ad lib and fade !!!
Forgive the bastardisation of the famous Beatles lyrics but think this sums up this odious bitter little man .
The G/O are simply an echo chamber for the disgruntled rump of “New Labour”, and frankly a waste of time and money for anyone of the Left. Much more useful to read the real left, and occasionally the real right (Times, Telegraph), to keep in touch with the latest Tory tricks. Better undenied enemies than false friends.
Yes must admit I get the Observer but turn the pages with their turgid commentators on as in my opinion they have nothing to say.
It’s becoming the same broken record technique – attack JC and the Left whilst promoting the dismal Right in Labour, promote Remaining in the EC and a second referendum.
Apart from Sport & Financial News (which we should all read) I am afraid the Obsérver with at times could be in the last chance saloon.
After often skim reading much of it I can feel a bit deflated and wonder should I bother but it is useful to see what the rich and powerful are up to in the Business News! Wish there was a genuine Left Sunday paper.
Labour party membership soaring towards 600,000 whilst the anti-Corbyn Guardian’s readership plummets towards 100,000. Perhaps it’s time for a new popular left-wing newspaper to emerge.
Nick Cohen writes a lot of sense, and I say this as a proud honorary life member of a trade union. The current ‘left’ have done untold damage to the Labour Party and the unions, discrediting both to the point that at the moment we are unelectable. Expect I will get the usual dismal bile in response, as Nick Cohen did. Never mind.
Nope I think you’ll just be ignored and pitied which defending such a misogynist rant from Cohen is what you deserve . Just remember the real enemy are the Tories and not the labour left who represent the many and not the few
You are obviously on the wrong blog, Elfbrook!
Go and pedal “YOUR” dismal bile, on a right wing blog, you fool!
Well, there you go! Despite being an unknown (otherwise known as ‘grass roots) activist of Anarcho/Commie bastard leanings for forty or more years, I never knew that The Guardian was Left Wing! I’ve always thought of it as a softish Capitalist owned rag which tried to be nice to workers when they toed the line and didn’t do ‘silly’ things such as go on strike, set up picket lines that were actually effective at stopping scabs from going to work and otherwise punching the shit out of every Fascist, Neo Fascist, NAZI, Neo NAZI, lace curtain racist i.e. UKIPers, and what not! I never ever thought it was Left Wing! Just goes to show one can still live and learn! Anyhoo, I had a read of the Guardian and was sorely disappointed, it didn’t seem Left Wing to me! Am I missing something?