Real it may be, but the problem with the “hidden army of Real Labourites” argument is that the group has cemented itself to the moral high ground and made it impossible for current pro-Labourites to say their own piece, because they must all be “in denial” or sell-outs, intellectually bankrupted, morally compromised, or blinded by adoration for TB.

Going back 15 years, would I have expected Labour to run on its current platform? Probably not, because as someone for whom ideology came first, things like PFI (or indeed anything containing the word ‘private’) would have seemed horrifying. I don’t think the principles that matter have really changed, though my views on all sorts of issues have evolved.

Which is a very positive thing.

That would be PFI and the dismantling of comprehensive education?

You can make all the claims you like - the only people you convinve are yourselves. There’s reasons - may reasons - why all the ex-Labour voters don’t vote for Labour any more and if you want to stick your fingers in your ears and play “la la la we can’t hear you” then go ahead.

Here’s a little exercise though. Imagine yourself, fifteen or even ten years ago, being given a list of the current government’s policies and being asked to guess what party they belonged to. Anybody who answers “Labour” is a liar.

Which kinds of cuts through all the crap, really.

That’s a fair summing-up of Labour’s 8.5 years in government? You say you know all about what Labour has been doing, and yet the first things that come to your mind aren’t, say, unemployment, public service funding and reform, or more rights at work. Nope, it’s privatisation, the word that’s meant to strike fear into our hearts.

As for the stuff about Tory/Lib Dem administrations, forget it. Most people - and I mean, here, natural Labour supporters and well-informed ones at that - can’t slip a playing card between the record of Labour local authorities and those controlled by other parties. There was a time when that wasn’t true, but that time isn’t now.

Say that to Labour people and they turn into robotic speak-your-statistics machines, as if we just didn’t realise what Labour was doing for us. But we do, because we’ve been watching. For years. And to tell us there’s some sizeable difference simply insults our intelligence.

As for sitting on the sidelines, do me a favour. There are many productive ways to employ one’s time, but canvassing for a party of privatisers and union-bashers isn’t one of them.