Another march

Like the mini-budget, the National Rejoin March had been postponed following the death of the Queen. Given the current state of industrial relations, it was perhaps a little surprising that there wasn't a rail strike yesterday, and we joined a smaller march than those of a few years ago - still estimated by the organisers at 50,000.

The atmosphere was perhaps a bit flat - even among these more determined protestors, perhaps, a bit of fatigue has crept in - but what was notable was the absence of any mainstream political parties (I only noticed Volt as a group among the marchers although I also saw an SNP placard later on). This was highlighted by some of the speakers during the rally in Parliament Square. Starmer seems to me far too timid - even more so than Blair was in the 1990s - and whilst I see that some caution is probably wise, it seems to me that "Make Brexit work" is meaningless as well as undeliverable. Lib Dem positions on the subject also seem fairly inert to me, though I remain a member.

Among the speakers, Terry Reintke and Guy Verhofstadt assured us that the UK could be welcomed back quickly into the EU. In a video message, A C Grayling urged us that the way to rejoin was not to rubbish disenchanted Leavers - true, but in some way they do need to recognise the error of the path taken. Steve Bray and Femi Oluwole were among several calling for proportional representation, which seems to have become a much hotter topic over the past year or so - I think that's probably a prerequisite for rejoining, it isn't a silver bullet but avoiding the kind of electoral dictatorship produced by FPTP we have seen in recent years is necessary for our political system to "grow up". If only Keir Starmer was listening.