Rich Seam Of New Labour Dross
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.
Bankrupt Legacies
When Mrs Thatcher was playing Oliver Hardy to Ronald Reagan’s Stan Laurel, everyone thought their time had come.
We were all going to live in lands flowing with milk and honey and riches and comfort would befall us all the days of our lives, even if we were going to have to behave like ravening wolves to achieve it.
To nobody’s great surprise, it did not quite work according to plan. Things just went on pretty much as normal, with the rich getting richer and the poor picking up the bill.
We all woke up to find we had been conned.
Then along came Tony Blair selling the same old claptrap and everyone got fooled again.
As that heavyweight of political thought, George Bush, would say:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
No, it doesn’t make any sense, but you can see what his poor little brain is aiming at.
We all know that these bankrupt ideas have made a very few people repugnantly rich and the world in general a poorer place. As Polly Toynbee writing in The Guardian shows, people are now wise to all this nonsense.
The problem is, how soon will it be before the politicians catch up?
Tony Blair’s legacy is that he was a pantomime Mrs Thatcher in drag who managed to take the farce on tour for one long, last show before all the costumes and props unravelled and collapsed on the rickety stage and everyone saw the horror of the real ugliness of the players beneath the peeling and running greasepaint masks.
Not much to show for ten years in power.
What will Gordon Brown’s legacy be for the couple of years he will have at the big top of the political circus?
Official: New Britain Now Plutocracy
For anyone who thought that maybe they could exercise their democratic right to vote at the next election and perhaps change the political landscape of New Britain, it is now too late.
New Britain, home of the mother of all parliaments, has now ceded control of this once proud land to the rich arriviste tradesmen. Money is now firmly in control and the cowards and quislings of government are going to be suckered, screwed and squandered by the rich until Britain well and truly learns to do as it is told by those in positions of real power.
We had the recent spectacle of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, not only being heckled and barracked at a City dinner, but also being ordered by Digby Jones (one of Gordon Brown’s handpicked gems in his government of none of the talents) and his rich chums to stop being idiotic enough to think he could impose taxes on the rich.
Needless to say, Darling of the Treasury did as he was told double quick, without even a pretence of standing up to the unacceptable face of capitalism. After all, he had to appear to be very relaxed about people becoming stinking rich, even if the stink was from being shat upon from a great height.
Now we have the bizarre and ludicrous prospect of a motor car manufacturer mounting a legal challenge against Ken Livingstone’s decision to raise the London congestion charge from £8 to £25 for the highest-polluting vehicles.
No doubt they will also make a challenge against the prohibition of driving cars on Ministry of Defence land when exercises with live munitions are taking place. After all, why on earth should the rich be prevented from doing anything they want?
Not, you will note, the drivers of the cars, from whose pockets the payment of the charge will come, but the car maker. Porsche, makers of fast cars and a van-like behemoth to satisfy the demanding requirements of the Chelsea tractor set do not want their rich clients having to dip into their pockets for anything other than the lovely, luxurious things in life. They should not have to taint their delicate little purses with anything as demeaning as having to pay an extra congestion charge, which might lump them with people who drive commercial vehicles and old bangers.
According to The Times Online, this is what a clearly outraged spokesperson for Porsche had to say:
“A massive congestion charge increase is quite simply unjust,” said Andy Goss, managing director of Porsche Cars GB.
“Thousands of car owners driving a huge range of cars will be hit by a disproportionate tax which is clear will have a very limited effect on CO2 emissions.”
Mr Goss claimed that the higher rate of tax on large vehicles will damage London based-businesses and put off rich non-domiciled entrepreneurs from settling in London.
“Successful people from across the world will start to think twice about basing themselves here if they think they are going to be used as cash cows for City Hall,” he said.
“The proposed increase will be bad for London as a whole and will send out the signal that it is not serious about establishing itself as the best place in the world to do business.”
How predictable that anyone who speaks for the rich sees anything which may mean they might have to be parted from any of their money as an ‘injustice’.
About thirty years ago, then then boss of Unilever had to tell a radio interviewer that he had no influence whatsoever on government policy and perhaps there was some truth in it.
More recently, a celebrity starlet said that having haute couture clothes and accessories helped to make similar people recognisable to each other. Obvioulsy, this only means people of similar wealth, as it is not illegal for criminals or psychopaths to have nice things: for some it is de rigeur.
Perhaps this is the secret of the whole affair. Central London must be the country’s biggest free showroom for Porsche cars and perhaps they are scared that orders may dry up if the cars cannot be seen.
After all, as far as people with money go, it is pretty much monkey see, monkey buy.
-
Recent Posts
-
About and Stuff
At the moment it is about wondering whether this is really such a good idea after all.
Site Podcasts 
Audio RSS Feed
-
Popular Tags
anti-terror laws banking bankrupt britain Business catastrophe conspiracy corporatism corruption crime and punishment cyber crime data loss data loss scandal deception delusions disasters dodgy deals failure fiasco freedom free markets george bush gordon brown government Home Office human rights hypocrisy ID cards idiocy imbeciles incompetence Jacqui Smith jobs for the boys lies market forces money New Britain New Labour NHS politicians scandal stupidity tony blair untrustworthiness War on Terror