If all of the hot air emanating from the ongoing election campaign could be captured and put into a combined heat and power scheme, it would make a significant contribution to this country’s energy needs. We make no apologies for sounding cynical – as the saying goes, if voting could significantly change things, it would be abolished. Real change leading to a more equitable, sane and sustainable world doesn’t come about by putting a cross on a ballot paper every few years, it comes through concerted action at the grassroots as people and communities work together to start to gain control over what happens in their neighbourhoods.

Over the last few weeks, it seems that many of our so called comrades have forgotten all of this as they get sucked into a desperate frenzy of supporting Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party. Wise up people – the powers that be and their mates in what is a predominantly right wing media have no intention of letting Corbyn win. The way the system and media are rigged in this country means that Labour has sod all chance of winning and the time and energy expended supporting Corbyn’s vision is being wasted.

Not only that, if you want to know what Labour is like in power, take a long hard look at what Labour councils in London are doing in the name of ‘regeneration’. Ask any of the former tenants of estates such as the Aylesbury and Heygate in Labour controlled Southwark what they think of a council who demolished their homes and relocated them miles away from their communities and you’ll hear some pretty frank language. Ask any of the current tenants of estates such as Broadwater Farm in Labour controlled Haringey what they think about the council’s plans to demolish their homes and break up their community and you’ll get a sense of the anger that’s brewing.

For a forensic expose of what Labour’s housing policies really mean, we recommend this piece from Architects 4 Social Housing: Secure Homes for All? The Labour Party Manifesto on Housing – https://architectsforsocialhousing.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/secure-homes-for-all-the-labour-party-manifesto-on-housing/ To put it bluntly, there’s no way we could endorse a vote for Labour and ever be able to look a London based housing activist in the face again.

What will unnerve the powers that be will be a low turnout and / or a high number of spoilt ballot papers. If the turnout is 55% or less, then we could have a situation where less than 25% of the total electorate will have voted for what is inevitably going to be another Tory government. Looking at those kind of numbers, we’ll have every right to claim that the government has no meaningful legitimacy. When we have a government that has been elected on a low turnout and has no legitimacy, we have the justification to lob multiple spanners into the works and make this country ungovernable.

The energy that’s currently being expended and wasted by some of our so called comrades in supporting Corbyn’s Labour party would be far better used in planning how we resist and frustrate the operation of the next government. Rather than experiencing the feeling of utter dejection on June 9th that will inevitably follow the rout of Corbyn, surely it’s better to conserve our energy and plan for the long term struggle to come?