Matthew d'Ancona on how liberals can halt the march of the right

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"Have you seen that article by d'Ancona?" Lord Bonkers asked me at lunch. "It's Awfully Good."

"He says we should give the forces of darkness one up the snoot," he added.

You can read the article Lord B was referring to on the Guardian website.

If you do, you will see that his précis was about right:

Pluralism, women’s equality, ethnic diversity, our responsibility to refugees, internationalism, LGBT rights – all that is now under systematic attack. It won’t defend itself. One of the enduring lessons of Bill Clinton’s campaigns is that rapid rebuttal works. When idiots post idiocy on social media, call them out. Challenge, probe, demand answers. Be civil, but unrelenting. Never cringe or yield ground to bigots. Facts defeat fury, sooner or later.

That paragraph falls under the heading 'Defend your ground, aggressively'. It worth giving the list of d'Ancona's headings in full:

• Defend your ground, aggressively
• Colonise your opponents’ language
• Lead, don’t follow
• Heed grievances – but don’t appease
• Stand up for immigration
• Stand up for integration
• Fight the next battle, not the last
• Don’t make a fetish of 'unity'
• Challenge the public
• Be patient

No doubt Lord Bonkers will have these commandments embroidered so he can hang them on the wall somewhere.

If I can venture a comment of my own, it is that liberal Conservatives like d'Ancona are our allies in this fight and need to become more vocal.

Jeremy Corbyn and his admirers, however, look more like part of the problem than part of the solution.