The viciousness with which Mendoza et al have turned on Owen Jones helps explain why, after writing nuanced pieces in the early years of the Corbyn project, he largely abandoned asking questions post-2017: There was no room anymore in the movement for even modest critique. 1/

It became a choice between being in the movement and suppressing one's critical impulses or be cast out and be targeted for abuse. Most of us, including Owen Jones, don't have the strength for this. And that's why the likes of Mendoza ended up defining the culture of Corbynism 2/

It's a terrible indictment of Corbyn that he let a movement that promised so much descend so rapidly into abusive paranoia. And it's tragic how some of the brightest hopes of the left never had the strength to resist being sucked under.

I think we're done here. Muting