Rich Seam Of New Labour Dross

March 12, 2008 · Filed Under Politics 

Is there anyone alive today who can remember what that funny, old fashioned Labour Party did?

There was something about helping the poor and acting as a safeguard against the ravages which the rich might inflict upon them if left to their own devices. It was a party which stood up for the weak and made the voices of ordinary people heard against the clamour of the rich and privileged.

None of that nonsense now applies, of course, in this rich and brave New Britain, where everyone is on the make and only wants to be given “opportunity” and “empowerment” to exploit their “talents” to make money, or so says John Hutton.

As far as he is concerned, the rich should have no obstacles placed in their path to amassing more and more money and if poor people get in the way, they can just be mown down by the onslaught to create more and more millionaires.

“Over the coming months and years, we must be enthusiastic - not pragmatic - about financial success.

“We are, for example, rightly renewing our historic pledge to eradicate child poverty in Britain. But tackling poverty is about bringing those at the bottom closer to those in the middle.

“It is statistically possible to have a society where no child lives in a family whose income is below the poverty line - 60 per cent of median average income - but where there are also people at the top who are very wealthy. In fact, not only is it statistically possible - it is positively a good thing.

“So rather than questioning whether high salaries are morally justified, we should celebrate the fact that people can be enormously successful in this country.

“Rather than placing a cap on that success, we should be questioning why it is not available to more people.”

To be enthusiastic, rather than pragmatic, sounds like a formula for idiocy, which is probably what John Hutton hopes will propel the rich to become richer. Pragmatic simply means guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory. The pragmatic experience of everyone trying to get rich quick is that the process tends to devastate both the body politic and the lives of the poor.

So, John Hutton, the one who has not heard that Thatcher’s wonderful world of market forces has been discredited, even amongst those foolish enough not to spot the gaping holes in the theory first time round.

Still, crazy guy, crazy, stupid ideas.

So, enjoy New Labour while you still can.

Come election time, it will not be coming to a town near you, but will be more forgotten than the old version is now.

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