Quick reply to Andrew Walton

Ben Drake

I agree with Andrew in not wanting to be sectarian and hoping we can campaign together where possible, and otherwise agree to differ and do our
own thing.  As you know I've argued for a while all of us on the Left need to do that.

But to that end can I (comradely!) suggest to Andrew that it might help if he didn't accuse us of being champagne socialists, and more importantly not imply that Respect is homophobic or anti-abortion?  For the record (again) the Respect founding declaration includes these clauses:

- Opposition to all forms of discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs (or lack of them), sexual orientation, disabilities, national origin or citizenship.

- The right to self-determination of every individual in relation to their religious (or non-religious) beliefs, as well as sexual choices.