Conservatism
Understanding the right wing mind: Thatcherisms lacuna
I loved @Andrew’s comment earlier that “[Thatcher’s] “living tapestry” is what others might simply call “society”. She sees the threads but others see the fabric”. It set me thinking about what Thatcherite Conservatives actually think government is for. Thatcher famously said: “No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had... Read more
Johnson’s second nature is to lie
After Johnson’s Susannah Reid interview it seems that there is another more basic purpose for a red bus: Johnson didn’t demur – apparently it didn’t seem in the least strange to him that people might seek warmth on a long bus journey. He even tried to take credit for the London’Freedom Pass’ involved – just... Read more
‘A way of making the Turkey vote for Christmas’
There is a really excellent article – well worth reading in full- by Gerhard Schnyder, a Professor at Loughborough University, here on ‘Budapest-on Thames’ outlining the current parlous state of UK democracy. I particularly appreciated this paragraph: This post should not be read as ‘Conservatives bashing.’ I am actually not opposed to conservatives or conservatism... Read more
Forget economics…
If Mrs Thatcher, the cause of most of today’s societal problems, suggested that the object is to change the heart and soul and the method was economics, have we got to change it back again? As I said in a recent reply to @Schofield, there is no doubt that is an uphill task with a... Read more
The only fascist state where the trains do not run on time…
If the UK is not a failed state it seems well on the way to a fascist one, now that the Lords has voted down amendments that would disallow the Electoral Commission to be supervised by a government minister – a scheme that the Electoral Commission itself argued against. Photographic identity is to be compulsory... Read more
What exactly is the definition of a failed state?
And what, exactly, currently counts? Is it that the UK Justice system is, through lack of investment, is paralysed into incompetence and inactivity? Or that social care is stripped to the bone? Or that local government is eviscerated? Or that the NHS waiting lists are completely out of control? Or that the Police struggle from... Read more
Russia’s war on Ukraine is rooted in neoliberal hubris
This, it seems to me is the basic conclusion of Professor Guy Standing’s piece – The Neoliberal Origins of Russia’s War. Now I think many of us had long concluded that the oligarchs did not arrive out of the blue and that neoliberals from the capitalist West were too hasty to redesign what had been... Read more
Representative democracy needs to concentrate more on the representation…
It is a relief that Macron has been re-elected, though the whole binary ‘ballotage’ system is in many ways demonstrative of how democracy gets reduced so quickly to a plague on both your houses. Indeed it forces most of the reasonable French left to support the centrist candidate through fear of an even worse outcome... Read more
Johnson to escape scot-free?
So Johnson had up until now enquiries into his Covid conduct from the Metrpolitan Police, Sue Gray and now the third enquiry from the Commons Privileges Committee. Now we have a further and fourth inquiry likely, in the form of two complainants who think that the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons has... Read more
Travel pricing
Andy Burnham pointed to this bizarre working of the travel ‘market’: Meanwhile for the next month there is the equally bizarre ‘Great British Rail Sale’, giving half-price off peak tickets. In so doing government recognises that price is an important factor in promoting rail travel, yet has spent the last dozen years relentlessly pushing up... Read more