All things to all men

The growth in Euston Manifesto signatories means it would probably be quite difficult to get to the bar - might even be able to fill a couple of pubs.

And its more sensitive critics - incensed at what they saw as energy wasted criticising them rather than capitalism - have taken an extended break from their heroic struggle against imperialism and invested an enormous amount of industry in, um, criticising the Manifesto, whilst simultaneously claiming it doesn't matter. This effort would be better directed towards the business of running several pubs, in my view. Smoking ones, please.

Anyway, here's a reasonable summary of the arguments so far - although it does miss a couple of gems: on one hand, the Geek has been dissed by some lunatic describing himself as a 'socialist' because he's unemployed; elsewhere the 'Decents' are castigated "like the privileged assimilated conformists they are."

Substitute "assimilated" for "house-trained" and I'll plead guilty. As for "privileged", still waiting for that one to kick in, I'm afraid. Would they have any idea of a time-scale here? I could do with some new socks.

It's all part of an attempt to discover the pathology of the E-Team, y'see. In various commenty places, you'll discover long speculations as to how people like Nick Cohen could possibly take the position he does. Having children is frequently cited as a major culprit. Breeding indeed - how painfully bourgeois.

If you've lurked around the blogosphere for any length of time, it won't have escaped your attention that the plea for consistency is a frequently made one by all sides, including myself on occasion. And now there's a new one and it's this "prolier-than-thou" thang. I want to know the rules. Does everyone get a shot? It would be a novelty for me. Normally the sociology of Glasgow means I would expect to lose in the aggregate. But in the world of the ultra-left? A piece of piss. There's more than a few out there who clearly have had the working class they claim to speak for, and whose vanguard they believe themselves to embody, described to them.

Believe me, it really shows.

Ok, I won't do it if you don't.