Last night Respect offered a glimpse of what life is like in a mass organisation. I’d guess that about 120 people paid £10 a head for a meal and to hear Ken Loach talk about his film Cathy Come Home. He also took questions from the floor. I say “questions”. Some people seem to think that’s a word meaning long pontifications telling us things we already knew which cause us to doze off after 30 seconds.

The main point though is that one of the things that distinguishes an organisation with real roots and influence is the number of writers, actors, artists and so on who are identified as being in its orbit and are prepared to give up their time. Last night the majority of people in the room were new faces who see Ken’s films as a political reference point and agree with what he says. What struck me is the comparative shortage of prominent creative people who are willing to take a similar stand and engage with even the loosest form of political organisation.

Ken is a real asset to Respect. Last night in his replies he cut between his film and how the market is unable to provide homes for people in a way that was politically sophisticated and very acessible. We should make more use of people like him as our recruiting sergeants.