THE OLDEST SOCIALIST I KNOW

..... is my dad, who is 87 today. He's voted Labour in every General Election since 1945 and hopes to be around for the next one.
Born in Manchester, he was brought up for the first ten years or so of his life by his grandparents in Portaferry, a small village in Northern Ireland, as his parents couldn't afford to feed five kids. Which meant a childhood diet of herrings, buttermilk and fruit and veg straight off the land, probably explaining why he's achieved such amazing longevity. There is no other explanation as he has always enjoyed a pint and smoked till he was 50.
A recent story about my dad involves the recent ( temporary) closure of his local pub. He was forced, instead, to walk a few more hundred yards to another he had not frequented for some years. On ordering his pint, he asked the landlord where all his erstwhile mates were. "They're all dead, John" was the sobering reply.