A lot of middle class opponents of Jeremy Corbyn seem to be getting very desperate to find some basis on which to attack him, and in the process only demonstrate the extent to which their middle class way of life separates them from ordinary working-people. So, on the BBC Paper Review last night, Corbyn was attacked for proposing women only carriages at night on London Underground as a means of dealing in the short term with the rising problem of attacks on women on the tube.
The basis of the criticism was that by suggesting that women should have the benefit of their own carriages, it means making women the problem, not the attackers! Really? It seems to me to show a recognition that it is the attackers who are the problem, and that it is women who are the victims of the problem, and to provide an immediate practical solution to that problem. The argument that was put that its necessary to deal with the attackers shows just how removed these middle class pundits, who probably never have to suffer that risk of attack are.
Of course, it would be great to be able to deal with the attackers, and indeed to deal with that aspect of human behaviour that leads to the attacks, but that hardly deals with the problem of women facing the attacks now does it. Its the equivalent of the old response to every problem with the demand for "Socialism Now". Its also the equivalent of the idea put forward by conservatives that the answer to teenage pregnancies is not to provide girls and boys with contraceptives, but to tell them not to have sex!
The idea that women should have their own compartments as a safe zone on tubes as a means of dealing with the current situation seems eminently sensible. It is in fact no different from similar suggestions such as having "women only" shortlists for selection meetings and so on, to deal with the problems of sex discrimination against women.
But, then it seems the Blairites are so desperate now that they will pick anything to try to beat Corbyn with.
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