6 October 2005: another B52 'socialist'

Just been reading a typical pro-war piece by Sasha Abramsky at Open Democracy: the war in Iraq (I summarise) is retrospectively justified because of the London bombings which prove that most Muslims are racist and sexist - and so deserve being bombed, unlike us. All standard stuff, except for one resonant sentence: 'Some of my friends and relatives tell me I’ve changed', Sasha writes, 'that my politics aren’t as "leftwing" as they used to be.' Two quick thoughts (a) since when did it become de rigeur for miserable jingos (and candidates for the Tory leadership) to boast of a left-wing past? (b) Surely this can't be the same Sasha Abramsky who was at Oxford in the 1990s. I know memory can be deceptive - but Sasha you weren't very left-wing then, either.