In 1987 the left activist and academic Hilary Wainwright wrote a book called Labour: A Tale of Two Parties, in which she outlined its two competing strands. On one side was the Labour establishment that thrived on a top-down leadership model with an almost exclusive interest in electoral success, as though government were an end in itself. On the other was a grassroots contingent with one foot in the party and one in broader social movements, more interested in the kind of fundamental societal transformation that parliament alone cannot deliver.

The most common adjective employed by weather reporters on Saturday 23 November 2013 was “treacherous”. But in reality there was not a hint of betrayal about it. The day was every bit as foul as one would expect the week before Thanksgiving. A Nordic outbreak of snow, rain and high winds barrelled through the desert states and northern plains towards the midwest.

The media industry may be in flux; the printed word may be in decline. But as an organisation where every editor-in-chief is given the sole brief of executing his or her job “as heretofore”, there are some traditions at the Guardian we hold dear.

Jeremy Corbyn has called on Labour MPs critical of his leadership to rejoin the frontbench if he wins next week’s vote, as long they respect his mandate and accept the “general direction” of his anti-austerity policies.

Halfway through my interview with Jeremy Corbyn, Laura Alvarez, his wife, turns up with a pot of homemade blackberry and apple jam for one of his assistants. “It’s from the allotment,” Corbyn says proudly. “It’s important to have a balance in life. I know my office gets quite irritated because I read lots of other things. I think you have to have an understanding of other things in life, not just the immediacy of politics.”