Loony left

Loony left

Loony left is a pejorative term usually applied to people or organisations of the political far-left, particularly by the right-wing press and tabloid newspapers of the United Kingdom.

The term became popular in Britain in the 1980s when it was used to refer to the policies of some Labour controlled inner-city councils by the popular press. Peter Jenkins, a columnist for "The Guardian" and "The Independent", recorded policies which were dubbed "loony left" by the media. For instance, Haringey council allowed only Nicaraguan coffee to be soldcite book |last=Jenkins |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Jenkins (journalist) |year=1988 |title=Mrs. Thatcher's revolution |pages=245–246 |isbn=0-674-58832-0 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |oclc=17726876] and introduced courses on homosexuality into its nursery and primary schools. Hackney council ended its twinning arrangements with France, West Germany and Israel and made new twinnings with the Soviet Union, East Germany and Nicaragua. A spokesperson for the council explained: "This will enable us to concentrate on our new friends". When Sinn Féin representatives were invited to speak to Hackney council a revolver was fired by a Liberal and there was a fight in the council chamber. Lambeth council banned the word "family" from council literature because this was discriminatory and police were banned from using council facilities. Lambeth council's leader, Linda Bellos, claimed: "I think the police are bent on war". Ealing council removed all books it considered to be "racist" and "sexist" from its local libraries. An ILEA teaching pack titled "Auschwitz: Yesterday's Racism" drew comparisons between the trade union legislation of Hitler and Margaret Thatcher. Another ILEA school in Kennington discouraged competitive games and making pupils write protest letters was made part of the school time-table.

The term was also used by right-wing American pundits to describe the Democratic Party and its left-leaning elements in the 2004 Presidential election.Fact|date=July 2007

ee also

* Hard left
* Municipal socialism
* Political correctness
* People's Republic of South Yorkshire

Notes


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