“Tomorrow, Britain goes to the polls.” That’s a phrase we’ve heard more frequently than usual in recent years. As time wore on, for me that phrase became synonymous with yet another degree of separation between me and my home country. But today, “Tomorrow, Britain goes to the polls” is a phrase tinted with hope. For the first time, I’ll be voting for somebody I’m actually on board with.
(Photo: Peter Urbacz)
I’m not going to pretend all skateboarders think alike, come from the same backgrounds, need the same things, or even all care about politics. The beauty of skateboarding is precisely that we’re such a varied bunch, and in the UK, there’s going to be as much of a difference between skateboarders as in any other random selection of people: age, race, class, and…all the other words that exist. I’m just going to look at what Labour could do for skating.
So let’s ignore, for a moment, Labour’s mission to narrow the class divide, Jeremy Corbyn’s track record on holding to his principles, voting for equal rights, voting for gay marriage, voting against the Iraq War, his attention to nuance and understanding of detail and diehard wish to pursue peace. Ignore all that for one moment, for goodness sake. Let’s focus on skateboarding for once.
Down with the kids
Jeremy Corbyn has consistently made a conscious effort to not only reach subcultures, but connect and commit to them. For once, an electoral candidate isn’t awkwardly clutching the token symbol of an alt. scene (a guitar, a bmx, a veggie sandwich) for a camera, in a pathetic attempt to bring in that subsection of society’s votes.
We’ve seen him standing side by side, for example: JME for VICE, or Sam Carter of Architects on Kerrang!’s front cover, but there’s something in those eyes that says this isn’t merely a political move. Jeremy Corbyn said “everybody you meet knows something you don’t know”, and this is a maxim he lives by: he listens with genuine humility, and wishes to learn about things he isn’t involved in.
So this was an unexpected surprise. It’s come to light that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would love a shred down at the Undercroft. Today, he managed to somehow sit in the wrong seat on a train heading to London from Birmingham. Bizarrely enough it was actually the seat allocated to Gnargore’s Jamie Brewer and within the polite exchange that followed, Corbyn commented on Brewer’s rig:
“He was in my seat but it was all good,” Brewer explained.”He said he’d like to have a go on my board and head down to Southbank for a sesh but he didn’t think he had enough balance. Could take that as a political stance if you wanted. Haha!”
Investing in groms
Many skaters learn and cultivate a love for skating at Youth Centres or council built skateparks in the UK. I myself grew up skating and working at The Pioneer, in St Albans. This is the oldest indoor skatepark in the UK, and a charity. It has been fighting to stay open against a safe Tory seat in that constituency for as long as I have known it.
We all remember our early visits to clanking metal mini ramps, with coping that seemed to stick out further than Theresa May in a wheat field. Well, Labour’s manifesto states that “Under the Conservatives, nearly £400 million has been cut from youth services and over 600 youth centres have closed. Labour will end the cuts to youth services.” This is a direct interest in supporting young people in finding activities they love.
I first saw examples of this “NewOldLabour” approach to community spending, when I spoke to Norwich South’s Labour MP, Clive Lewis, who was passionately supporting the building of a more central skatepark in a disused area in the city centre and had campaigned for it without much persuasion. Clive Lewis remains one of Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest supporters.
Independent Skateboarding
Skateboarding could experience a growth in the amount of small, independent businesses that push our industry forward thanks to Labour: hardware companies, online stores and private owned parks, for instance, could really develop. “We will protect small businesses by reintroducing the lower small profits rate of corporation tax.” states Labour. “Labour is the party of small businesses.”
Growing independent companies in the UK is not just an investment in the industry of skateboarding, but in the culture too. Britain is known for its skate style – all rough tarmac, bloody knees, missing teeth – when Raemers and Rowley took their sketchy council park shreddin’ legs to the US, ‘Merica didn’t know what hit them. And for those who stick around and make UK skateboarding all the more gnarly, more homegrown independent companies means a richer and more internationally renowned culture of skateboarding in the UK. If we’re leaving the EU, we can still make sure we bring some of its skate tourism here.
One day remains, tomorrow Britain goes to the polls. We at Skateism urge all you UK girls and boys to cruise on down to your local polling station and tick the big box marked Labour. You never know, we just might land this one.
