Five Most Popular Posts in July

That's general election month out of the way with, so what made the top of the blogging pops for July?

1. Left of Labour General Election Results
2. After the Child Benefit Rebellion
3. The Class Politics of the Tory Collapse
4. An Ambiguous Triumph
5. Vote as Left as You Can

The election and its aftermath dominated the month's posts, and this place being this place the list of far left/left of Labour results won the most visited slot. Which it was always going to be. But hot on its heels was the fall out of Keir Starmer's suspension of seven Labour MPs who voted for the SNP's amendment to the King's Speech (and therefore not against the government's programme, as some commentators dishonestly claim). There is that most rarest of thing, a political opening for a new party of the left with parliamentary representation and an electoral base it can call upon. Are any of these MPs going to go for it? Coming in third was my survey of the defeated mess that used to be the Tory party. I told you so, I bloody told you so. Coming up behind was a quick analysis of the very thin Labour vote - a vote whose thinness can only embolden opposition to the new government on the left and, as we've seen this week, on the right. And coming in last was a set of voting recommendations.

A couple worth flagging that didn't make the list. The first considers Labour's attack on those elites outside the coalition of capital it wants to build to sustain it in power for years to come. And following on from that I also mulled over Rachel Reeves's financial statement. Too many have been quick to shout "austerity!", when in fact it's more subtle. Reeves gives with one hand and takes with another as a means of bedding down Labour's strategy to depoliticise public finances by tying them to the household budget model of state spending. Time to recalibrate and adjust, comrades.

Peering into the future, there will be something SF related coming in August. So much for the "turn" I announced last December. And as events have a habit of happening, unless my arms drop off I'll have plenty to type about. As ever, if you haven't already don't forget to follow the occasional newsletter, and if you like what I do (and you're not skint), you can help support the blog. Following me on Twitter and Facebook are cost-free ways of showing your backing for this corner of the internet.

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