Corbyn speech at Glastonbury hardly a shock

Given his fondness for speaking at major national events, I’m sure many are waiting with bated breath for Jeremy Corbyn’s keynote address at Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

He might find the audience a bit less ‘on-side’ than at the Glastonbury festival but politics is all about going into uncharted territory and preaching to the unconverted.

The fallout from Corbyn’s Glastonbury speech seems to have lasted a ridiculously long time and can be summarised briefly as ‘left-wing politician gives speech at left-wing festival shock’.

While Glastonbury may have been sanitised (and televised) to the point where it’s actually about as left-field as Crufts or the Chelsea Flower Show, it still likes to present itself as somehow ‘anti-establishment’.

I went to the festival several times in the 1990s and you’re bombarded by cosy right-on politics throughout the weekend, to the point where you come away feeling murderously rightwing.

Back then, anyone to the right of Tony Benn wouldn’t have stood a chance on stage at Glastonbury. So, while many of the musical acts (and tiresome actors) were cheered this year for railing against ‘Trump’ or ‘The Tories’, very few used their platform to call for restraint in public spending or, that other rabble-rousing classic, an easing of corporation tax.

The irony is Glastonbury actually embodies the sort of financial hierarchy that Corbyn and others loudly oppose. So, you can have a bigger tent and camp in a nicer area, away from the riff-raff, if you pay more. And you run the risk of being picked off by a SWAT team if you try to get in without a ticket.

But hey, peace and love, let’s all be nice to each other. Unless we happen to disagree with your politics.