In response, Mr Corbyn told Morgan: “You shout at people all the time” and said the host’s “inability to keep quiet for 30 seconds” meant he was unable to answer the question. Here’s McCluskey on Kipling’s If: “The poem’s different verses have a specific meaning to many people, hence its popularity.” The specific meaning they appear to hold for Len is as a prophecy of supposed mainstream media lies about Corbyn immediately prior to the 2019 election: “If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken/Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools/[… you’ll be a Man, my son!]” (p.16)

And here’s Corbyn on Wordsworth’s “ I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”: “The second verse is particularly beautiful, but it should be read as part of the whole poem.” Jeremy also thinks Wordsworth’s lines convey “a strong message advocating for environmental sustainability” as if he had really seen not a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils, but a forest full of lovely Green wind-turbines. (p.13) In reading Poetry for the Many, you will journey through a rich selection of their favourite verse, and hear from Jeremy and Len in their own words as they describe how they came across each poem and the impact it had on them. At the same time, they will encourage you, the reader, to embrace poetry and shake off any notion that it is not something to be read, written, or appreciated by working class people. I want to see change in our society” — POETRY FOR THE MANY authors Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey featured in The Independent (8/6/2023) Featuring their favourite poems from the likes of Shakespeare and Maya Angelou alongside contributions from Russell Brand, Maxine Peake and Michael Rosen, ‘Poetry for the Many’ intends to encourage readers to embrace poetry and shake off any notion it’s something to be dismissed as ‘posh’.Some of the poems have been chosen by Corbyn and McCluskey, others by lefty friends like film-director Ken Loach and Scottish trade union activist Karie Murphy. Russell Brand was supposed to be involved but was dropped when his probable choice of Lord Byron’s Don Juan was deemed inappropriate in light of recent well-publicised allegations. Whilst there are reports of the educational benefits of reading poetry with 80% of teachers believing that poetry is a significant part of a literacy curriculum, still only 39% of teachers have had development training on poetry. Rutger Bruining, CEO and founder of the UK’s leading biography-writing service, StoryTerrace, discusses how poetry should be accessible for people from all walks of life. As a free ebook, Poets for Corbyn lends itself well to sharing through social media at a time when speed is of the essence as the leadership vote gets under way. After all, there really was little warning given to the literary community of Corbyn’s rise to prominence. He’s only been an MP for 32 years.

Working class women and men have contributed so much to poetry, both historic and contemporary, much of it in the form of rhyme, ode, and lyrics. Many of these styles of poetry are captured and celebrated in this book. And many recognised poets are rightly given credit for their enduring works. The discussion had all the hallmarks of someone attempting to do too much in too little time, covering too many undefined topics in too many loose ways. I would recommend prospective viewers bear in mind that Dale’s show could get better with different guests, but after a wet squib of an opening night, I would not keep my hopes up. If you want searing political fireworks, or even some mild entertainment, I suggest you look elsewhere. None. I’m writing this column next to a bookshelf of my favourite poetry collections (including Seeing Things by the very working-class Seamus Heaney, as it happens), and I could no more write a poem than I could do astrophysics. Nonetheless, for our two anthologists, the pen really is mightier than the sword, perhaps explaining Corbyn’s one-time leadership position within the pacifist-posing Stop the War Coalition anti-Western protest group. Whilst genuine enthusiasts of verse, Len and Jeremy possess an exceedingly instrumentalist view of what poetry should be, saying that, for example, “Poetry is key to political empowerment” (Corbyn, p.88), or “poems should be considered as an agent”(McCluskey, approvingly quoting someone else’s line, p.24).

Al is anxious and obsessive in Doctors

Trade Unions Are Starting to Turn the Tide” — POETRY FOR THE MANY author Jeremy Corbyn interviewed in Jacobin (9/27/2023)