Loony Left Wing Spot

The loony left is a pejorative term to describe those considered to be politically far left. The term was widely used in the campaign for the 1987 general election and subsequently both by the Conservative Party and by British newspapers that supported the Conservatives as well as by more moderate factions within the Labour movement to refer to the activities of more militantly left-wing politicians that they believed moderate voters would perceive as extreme or unreasonable. The label was directed at the policies and actions of some Labour controlled inner-city councils and some Labour Party politicians. Although the labels hard left and soft left reflected a genuine political division within the Labour Party, loony left was by far the more often used label than either. While academics have depicted the era as of the "new urban left" (such as the rate-capping rebellion) as a throwback to earlier municipal militancy (e.g. Poplarism), wider media coverage tended to focus on the personalities of city leaders such as the Greater London Council's Ken Livingstone and Liverpool's Derek Hatton.
== Links to Peel ==
Peel used the term loony left wing spot or loony leftie spot on his programmes in an ironic or sarcastic way in 1986, to highlight an artist or track that had left wing connotations..At the time the term was widely employed, without irony, by newspapers - notably the Sun - who supported the policies of the Tory government, which the DJ didn't sympathise with. At the time, Peel himself was a left wing Labour supporter and seemed to introduce the loony left wing feature in spring 1986, but abandoned it sometime in the summer of that year. For whatever reason, it didn't catch on, proving to be as short-lived as the "Disinterred Thirty-Three And A Third" feature introduced by Peel and John Walters on Top Gear in the early 1970s, but Peel continued to play records expressing similar left-wing sentiments in later shows, without flagging them up as such. 
== List of records ==
Below is a list of records featured in the loony left wing spot of Peel's show.:
* thumb|330x330px19 March 1986: Jackson Browne: Lives In The Balance (LP - Lives In The Balance) Asylum
*24 March 1986: Hopeton Lindo: Tribute (7") Aqua
* 25 March 1986: Jackson Browne: Lawless Avenues (LP - Lives In The Balance) Asylum
* 23 April 1986: Gary Clail And Tackhead: Hard Left (12") World
* 06 May 1986: Bible: Red Flag (LP - Walking The Ghost Back Home) Backs
* 14 May 1986: Redskins: It Can Be Done (7") Decca
== See Also ==
* Glossary
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia
Category:Lists