Femi Oluwole

Labour are driving in the right direction but in the vastly wrong gear

Hello and welcome to What’s Left? where I interview someone from somewhere on the left each week. There’s been a lot to digest in the news since I last emailed. On the one hand, a ceasefire in Gaza has finally been agreed and partially implemented, but on the other, Trump’s parked his arse back in the White House. Not only that, but the former was probably only made possible because of the latter — what a world we live in.

I originally planned to interview an American today about the inauguration and felt exhausted at the prospect. But then I figured that a) other people might also want a small break from thinking incessantly about Trump too and b) American readers might appreciate remembering another country’s commitment to ruining itself. So today, I’m talking to one of my favourite British political commentators who is resolutely and quite passionately anti-Brexit.

After the interview, I have a little announcement, so I hope you’ll read through to the end. Look after yourselves, everybody. I’m sending you love.

This week, I’m talking to Femi Oluwole. Femi is a British political activist, human rights campaigner and co-founder of the pro-European Union advocacy group, Our Future Our Choice. He has appeared as a commentator and activist on British television and has written for The Independent, The Guardian and The Metro. Femi is the first guest I’ve had who I don’t already personally know — I’m just a fan of his from the internet. This is a powerful shift for a still-growing newsletter and I just know you’ll feel it too. Time to meet Femi!

Hi and welcome, Femi. So if you were to imagine a version of the political spectrum where 0 is totally centrist, -100 is fascist and 100 is as far left as you could possibly get, where would you place yourself?