Labour has held the north London seat of Holborn, beating Green Party leader Zack Polanski in a contest both parties described as the most important moment in British politics since the last one.
Polanski’s team called the result a ‘once-in-a-generation fork in the road’. Labour’s team called it a ‘mandate for change’, which is what they also called the last three things.
What did Holborn vote for? Mostly it voted for the candidate whose leaflet had the least text on it. The rest of the leaflets showed the candidates smiling in front of bins.
Labour’s first act as the mandated representative is a public forum called ‘Listening to Holborn’. Residents will be invited to share their concerns, and those concerns will be noted. The forum has no agenda, no speakers with powers to act on anything, and a catering budget larger than its policy budget.
The Greens have announced a counter-forum. It is also about doing nothing, but with a better playlist.