Penny Red breaks on through to the other side.

When the Trotkyist grouplet the Revolutionary Communist Party strangely morphed into the Institute Of Ideas and launched the media career of Claire Fox few would have predicted how seriously it would be taken. Nowadays when she is introduced on Radio 4s The Moral Maze it's "Claire Fox of The Institute Of Ideas" as if she came representing the Royal Society or Harvard Business School. None of this can have escaped the attention of young Penny Red blogger Laurie Penny. I came across Penny Red when we were fellow Orwell Prize longlisters. I liked her stuff and was pleased when she made it to the shortlist. Skint, always on the verge of unemployment and homelessness and with a personal life that was going through one of those bad patches that we all experience from time to time, getting a nod of recognition from the Orwell judges seemed to be the only good thing happening to Laurie at the time. Now look at her. Writing for the New Statesman and the Guardian among others she is now set to appear as a panel member on Any Questions. I tend to dislike careerists, but fuck it. Good luck Laurie.