Between the pandemic, parliamentary by-elections, local elections and a return to an in-person Labour conference, 2021 has been busy. And along the way, LabourList has offered many, many contributions from across the breadth of the labour movement. Below is a list of our ten most-read comment pieces from the past 12 months.

1. It’s time to do “whatever it takes” for the self-employed, Mike Clancy of Prospect and Roy Rickhuss of Community – February 12th.

“We can’t have an economic recovery if the self-employed aren’t helped to bounce back. It is time for the Chancellor to finally deliver for these vital workers and entrepreneurs.”

2. Why I’m launching Labour’s new ambition: ten by ten, Wes Streeting MP – August 20th.

“It’s Labour’s ambition that all children have the opportunity to take part in these ten life-enhancing activities by the time they’re ten. And we offer to the Conservative government a plan to make it happen. If they won’t step up for the nation’s children, the next Labour government will.”

3. Labour needs to think about the merit of any legislation, not the “Red Wall”, Diane Abbott MP – March 15th.

“…sadly it has been clear for some time that Keir and his advisers take the view there is almost nothing the Tories can bring forward on policing or security that they are prepared to oppose. They are not concerned about the intrinsic merit of any legislation. Their main issue is that they are convinced that, by moving right on policing, security and human rights, they can lure “Red Wall” voters back into the arms of the Labour Party.”

4. Focus, comrades! It’s the Tories we need to be attacking, not each other, Barry Gardiner MP – May 17th.

“Here’s a message of solidarity to my parliamentary comrades: shut the fuck up! No, of course not in the meeting. I mean about the meeting. If there is one thing the past little while should have taught us as the labour movement, it is that running down your own side is never a good electoral strategy.”

5. What would good election results for Labour in May 2021 look like? Luke Akehurst, Labour national executive committee member and Labour First secretary – April 8th.

“In the council elections, it is reasonable to expect a continuation of the pattern of the last decade of the distribution of Labour’s votes changing due to Brexit, boosting Labour in urban areas and university towns, and reducing its support in small towns and former mining areas in the Midlands and North. Unfortunately for Labour, the London boroughs where this pattern is helpful are not electing councillors this year (other than scattered by-elections), and only one third of seats in metropolitan areas are being contested.”

6. What Labour must do to get ourselves in a position to win: a four-step plan, Alison McGovern MP – May 19th.

“Politics is complicated. And hard. Questions that really matter – whether you have a job, whether you can buy a house, whether your kids are happy at school – are never top of the agenda. Perhaps that is just the way that the news works. But there is a purpose to politics that I do believe people care about. What are we for? What do we want for the country? These are the questions.”

7. Proportional representation? Bad tactics, bad strategy and bad for Britain, John Spellar MP – August 6th.

“PR is not only a bad electoral system. Obsessing over it makes us look like losers in the eyes of the electorate because it signals that we believe we can’t win under first-past-the-post (FPTP). Fundamentally, it is avoiding the tough choices necessary for Labour to realign with the electorate. It also doesn’t actually help the Labour Party in practical terms. It hands power and resources to our rivals and fringe groups.”

8. Labour is being reduced to a husk – this can’t be allowed to carry on, Andrew Scattergood, Momentum co-chair – July 23rd.

“Starmer has shown none of the boldness and vision needed to confront these challenges head on. He has also shown zero willingness to bring together the different wings of the party, displaying an inability to compromise and reach out to build alliances – essential qualities for any Labour leader.”

9. Keir Starmer’s Labour Party: where are we now? David Kogan, author – July 12th.

“Today, there are few frontbenchers apart from Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner who appear either visibly prepared or allowed to take the attack to the government. Jonathan Ashworth is one, given his mastery of his portfolio. Ed Miliband pops up to give good testosterone on Andrew Marr. But in general, the frontbench is nowhere to be seen.”

10. Why the Brexit issue won’t simply go away, Richard Corbett, former MEP and EPLP leader – January 19th.

“Some seem to believe that Labour should now “move on” and ignore Brexit, hoping it won’t be an issue anymore. They are wrong, for three reasons.”

Bonus: our five most-read interviews and analysis pieces

1. Zarah Sultana: “You expect support and solidarity from people in your party” – November 25th.

“Coming back from bereavement leave earlier this month, Sultana tweeted an example of the abuse she receives. “I haven’t had a single word of solidarity from the current leadership,” she says. “Angela Rayner, Nick Thomas-Symonds, Louise Haigh, Kim Leadbeater, all of those guys got in touch – and I didn’t get anything from the leadership at all.” In fact, she adds: “I’ve never spoken to Keir.”“

2. Will Kim Leadbeater’s campaign allow Labour to hold onto Batley and Spen? – June 28th.

“Canvassers sent to streets near where her parents live are told that day specifically to say they are calling from Kim Leadbeater’s campaign rather than from the party. One door-knocker says she was the most locally well-known candidate they have ever campaigned for, with supportive residents clearly “voting Kim not Labour”. The long leaflet distributed in these parts does not feature the word “Labour” at all.”

3. Could Labour conference really reject general secretary David Evans? – September 8th.

“Historically no vote has been taken: instead, the chair has told conference how the NEC voted and their pick has been endorsed with ‘aye’s. The chair could therefore choose this path (and their ruling could only be overturned by a two-thirds majority). However, Keir Starmer allies are confident that a card vote on Evans would be won, which would be a show of strength and a way to disillusion those opposed to the current leadership early in the conference.”

4. Are Taiwo Owatemi and Zarah Sultana under threat of deselection? – November 11th.

“The crucial matter is Labour’s trigger ballots rule change at conference in September. Proposed by the leadership, it undid the Corbyn era reform that made triggering an MP easier, and raised the threshold for setting off a full selection process.”

5. Sharon Graham: “I’m trying to get what we do politically to mean something” – December 4th.

“Graham describes herself as “somebody who likes outcome”. She is critical of Starmer’s Labour crucially because she believes that “there’s a difference between intervening in politics and driving it” – and that he is intervening, not driving. This is also the key difference between herself and others, as she sees it.“