Julia Langdon, journalist

Four or five degrees of separation (from Stalin)

​​Greetings festive readers and welcome to our last What’s Left? interview of the year. For new subscribers who’ve just joined us, I’ll email you a conversation with someone left-wing each week. So far, I’ve spoken to a communist journalist, a novelty political candidate and two comedians. And the great news is that because this is such a family-intensive time of year, I’ve arranged an appropriate treat for you today: a chat with a member of my own family!

If, in gratitude, you would like to reciprocate by offering me something back, why not help my sweet newsletter grow by recommending it to a friend or family member who you think might enjoy it?

You can even buy them a gift subscription! (Listen, I don’t know how generous you are).

Otherwise, I hope you have a wonderful holiday period and I look forward to connecting with you and lots more interesting lefties next year. You can still catch me and Andrew Hunter Murray on Radio 4’s The Naked Week annd I’ll be back with my dumb podcast FeMANism with Samantha Martin in the new year. XO

Julia Langdon has been a political journalist for over fifty years, working at the Guardian, The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Telegraph. At the Mirror, she was the first woman to hold the position of political editor of a daily national newspaper in the UK. As well as writing political biographies and working as a broadcaster, she (accidentally!) became a Labour councillor in Kensington and Chelsea. A friend and colleague of my father’s, she introduced him to her cousin, my mother, and so ultimately, we can all thank her for my existence as well as that of my newsletter, What’s Left?

Welcome Julia! If you were to imagine a version of the political spectrum with zero, and 100 the most extreme left, a communist or something. Where would you put yourself?