In reply to BnB:
> I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought you guilty of any such thing. I don't. Although I'm baffled that you're unaware of the level of FB abuse. I'm a businessman in his mid 50s and my middle aged left wing friends are all sharing the vilification around.
> Your post was merely a handy launching pad for my point. If anyone is stirring it up, it's the Labour leadership. And it will serve them well right up until the moment they attain power. And then it will become an albatross they can't shake off. Do you think Corbyn will soften his message to business now he's a contender rather than a pretender?
I know that you're a a businessman and I thank you for your contributions from that perspective, you have given me plenty of arguments to ponder over.
I am aware of the facebook abuse. I'm not aware that it's anywhere near as endemic as you suggest, and I don't believe that it's a purely leftist phenomenon. Perhaps on facebook it is mostly left-leaning folk engaging in it, but that might just be the medium. Consider for example the appalling abuse that Gina Miller and Diane Abbott have been subjected to online. I'm not saying it's acceptable because both sides engage in it, it isn't, but I don't think it's purely or even predominantly one sided.
I do believe Corbyn will soften his message. Did you see his answer to a concerned business owner on the Question Time special? He certainly appeared to to be reaching out, although you are better placed than me to say whether the detail of his answer was convincing.
I think Corbyn has definitely matured politically over the course of this campaign. I initially voted for him in the first leadership contest but then went off him. My concerns were that he couldn't lead, couldn't reach compromise with those with differing views. placed sentiment ahead of detail, seemed often absent in daily political life and couldn't get his message across to the wider public through the noise of the hostile media. For me he's answered those concerns magnificently, and I hope he continues in the same way. I do wonder though if he's at his best when he's pumped up for a campaign.