Peter Hill

MODERATE Labour MPs who passed a vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn are agonising over whether to support him now that he has predictably increased his majority. They should dither no longer. The moderates have lost to the Lefties for ever. Their only course is to do a Lexit and set up a new party.

Corbyn didn’t just strengthen the “mandate” that he and his socialist pals boast about, his victory would have been even more overwhelming had not 130,000 new Labour members, virtually all Corbynistas, been prevented from voting in the leadership election.

He reassures MPs that few have anything to fear about reselection but he plans to give more power to the “grass roots”. More like the class war roots. Ultra Left activists will soon control all the constituency associations and anyone not on message will stand as much chance of survival as an aristocrat during the French Revolution.

All the moderates are facing the guillotine. The only way they can escape would be if a million sane Labour supporters joined the party and voted down the fruitcakes. It won’t happen because for most people politics is way down their list of concerns. A breakaway party is the only answer. q ANYONE under the illusion that socialism works – amazingly thousands still are – should look at Venezuela. Its vast reserves of oil and gas should have made it one of the richest countries but years of socialist incompetence and waste have reduced its citizens to starvation. Children are fainting from hunger in class as families go without food for days. Inflation is heading towards 500 per cent so any money earned is worthless overnight. q OUR policemen are getting younger and so are our airline pilots. Kate McWilliams has just been made an easyJet captain at the age of 26. She recently skippered a flight to Malta with a 19-year-old co-pilot.

Kate doesn’t see why passengers should be surprised. She has passed the exams and done all the training. I agree. Don’t forget that the Battle of Britain was won by pilots in their teens. In fact a former Daily Express colleague was flying a Spitfire at the age of 16. q I THINK most Bake Off fans agree that the break-up is bad but apparently we are split down the middle about Candice.

She’s the one with the rubber lips that have a life of their own and constantly change colour. Candice seems to be a fairly good baker but I am one of the faction who find her a turn-off. I can’t stand another second of her hideous gurning, like something out of a zombie movie. It’s giving me nightmares.

I am also watching the new Strictly and couldn’t wait to see what sort of a mess Ed Balls made. Actually he wasn’t a disaster but the most striking thing is his uncanny resemblance to Coronation Street grocer Alf Roberts. Come to think of it perhaps Ed should open a shop because he sure isn’t going to turn into Fred Astaire. Or lead the Labour Party. q CONTRARY to the saying, all things are not fair in war and British troops can’t be allowed to act outside the law and conventions, however savage the enemy. All the same the Government should defend our Armed Forces against baseless charges. And how shameful that soldiers should have to fund their own defence while their accusers get all expenses paid. Claims should not be allowed to reach court unless there is clear evidence of abuse. The authorities should assume that troops are innocent.

It is not their job to prove guilt – that’s down to those bringing the charges, 99 per cent of which are spurious. Why would anyone want to join up when their own Government isn’t on their side? q AMAZON hasn’t done the high street any favours but it has certainly changed our expectations about delivery. Orders arrive overnight and soon I expect they’ll get it down to an hour after you press the button.

I recently placed an order with an old-fashioned company and waited and waited. I’d almost forgotten about it when the firm’s van rolled up two weeks later. Instead of moaning about unfair competition, businesses will only succeed if they match the best. q THE state, meaning the taxpayer, puts seven times more into public-sector pensions than private firms contribute. Public-sector perks used to be acceptable because the pay was lower than the private sector but that changed years ago.

Now local and national administrators, NHS bosses and BBC bureaucrats receive pay and pension packages that others can’t even dream about.

The Government says it will limit payoffs to a maximum £95,000 and will stop the scam in which officials take redundancy then walk into similar jobs. What are the chances of the “them and us” scandal between public and private being put right? Not a lot. q ARCHAEOLOGY students at University College London have been warned that some parts of the course might be “disturbing, even traumatising”. They’ve been told they will be excused if they walk out of lectures and should catch up by copying other students’ notes.

It’s another step in the “safe spaces” policy that universities are adopting in the face of complaints from students who don’t want to hear anything that might upset them. Unless this idiotic hypersensitivity is stopped debate and free speech will die and in its place a sterile, onedimensional desert will prevail.