Labour currently has no ideas, no vision and no strategy for addressing the many problems Britain faces. But there is a way through, if only Keir Starmer can find the courage.
Doesn't Janan Ganesh realize that he is working hand in glove with Farage by hoping for Starmer’s failure? Or perhaps he does?
Politicians, especially in this day and age when so much of how they act is decided on the basis of polls rather than on their core beliefs, need, rather, to have the courage to act on conviction. Britain has been driven into its current hole by a series of Tory prime ministers who were more interested in clinging to power by playing fast and loose with economic policy than by any considerations of public welfare. I mean, dilettantes like David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak - really?
Let's hope that Keir Starmer - an intelligent man with good instincts - chooses to act decisively, as opposed to making a limp-wristed attempt to appeal to all sides. That will only result in him failing by falling between the two proverbial stools. His primary concern has to be the common good: namely, he has to work to restore the quality of public healthcare and education. To that end, he has no choice but to raise taxes on corporations and the rich.
I know, however (and I do not have to tell you, Mark), that members of the middle class have been having a particularly tough time of things in Britain. My belief is that they should be spared tax increases of any substance (but I will leave it to economists to decide upon the actual structure of future increases). Sure, there will be the inevitable wailing from the rightwing, but who cares? The people will rally behind Starmer if they begin to appreciate the benefits of his policies.
We should be rooting for Keir Starmer to succeed. I believe he can if he stops playing footsie with the malevolent idiot whom our illiterate and bigoted electorate, here in the US, has placed back in power. Starmer needs to align himself forcefully with Europe. I am encouraged to see that he is doing so in practice.
Thanks Homi. And yes, Starmer is doing much better in terms of foreign policy (footsie with Trump aside) than he's is doing domestically. I hope Starmer does the find the courage. There is some talk here about Andy Burnham (currently Mayor of Manchester and a former government minister) taking over, but he doesn't currently have a seat in parliament. And I agree re: taxing the middle classes. I plan to do some serious research into the numbers before posting a more detailed tax plan ahead of the budget.
Don't most of the electorate vote based on culture and values issues these days? A more sensible economic plan, no matter the success it may gradually have, isn't going to suddenly snap a culture warrior out of some kind of fever dream. Starmer is still going to come off like a cautious lawyer. Part of Farage and Trump's success is that they are story tellers in an age of populism where different subcultures battle it out in perpetuity. Green Party leader Zack Polanski says that the thing that's most needed now is a populism of the left, otherwise progressives will forever be bringing knives to gunfights like the US Democrats.
Hi Sanford, well yes, that’s what we’re told, but I’m still pretty convinced people start voting on culture/values when they feel a sense of injustice (rightly of wrongly) and need someone to blame, or they’re worried for the future. But I take your point: the horse has bolted. As for a populism of the left, sure, but it has to be rooted in reality, and I can't see any quick fixes to our current reality.
I agree. I can only see the current culture dispelling with a generational split that may take several decades. I am reminded of the Latin American authoritarian regimes of the 1950s/60s. They didn't wind down until the next generation grew weary of living under them. Gen-Z will be middle aged by then. In the meantime BBC columnist Katy Kay just published this and it was enlightening to me.
For what it's worth, I worked on the early web during the dot com boom of the 1990s that built the foundations of the current world and I will say it was an optimistic vision at the time - some among us even thought that we were doing uptopian work. The last thing I expected was that so many people, given access to so much new and previously gatekept information, would become Nazis as a result. What does that say about the average Joe?
Yes, really difficult to see a way through this, and a return to a world where reason and tolerance at least get a look in. Thanks for the link to the Katy Kay piece.
I just read this, which is long, and rather depressing, but it's very good on another aspect of what's driving all this: what Marriott calls the 'ubiquitous mobile internet'. So much for utopian visions eh, though even TimBL didn't see this coming.
An excellent essay and analysis, Mark!
Doesn't Janan Ganesh realize that he is working hand in glove with Farage by hoping for Starmer’s failure? Or perhaps he does?
Politicians, especially in this day and age when so much of how they act is decided on the basis of polls rather than on their core beliefs, need, rather, to have the courage to act on conviction. Britain has been driven into its current hole by a series of Tory prime ministers who were more interested in clinging to power by playing fast and loose with economic policy than by any considerations of public welfare. I mean, dilettantes like David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak - really?
Let's hope that Keir Starmer - an intelligent man with good instincts - chooses to act decisively, as opposed to making a limp-wristed attempt to appeal to all sides. That will only result in him failing by falling between the two proverbial stools. His primary concern has to be the common good: namely, he has to work to restore the quality of public healthcare and education. To that end, he has no choice but to raise taxes on corporations and the rich.
I know, however (and I do not have to tell you, Mark), that members of the middle class have been having a particularly tough time of things in Britain. My belief is that they should be spared tax increases of any substance (but I will leave it to economists to decide upon the actual structure of future increases). Sure, there will be the inevitable wailing from the rightwing, but who cares? The people will rally behind Starmer if they begin to appreciate the benefits of his policies.
We should be rooting for Keir Starmer to succeed. I believe he can if he stops playing footsie with the malevolent idiot whom our illiterate and bigoted electorate, here in the US, has placed back in power. Starmer needs to align himself forcefully with Europe. I am encouraged to see that he is doing so in practice.
Thanks Homi. And yes, Starmer is doing much better in terms of foreign policy (footsie with Trump aside) than he's is doing domestically. I hope Starmer does the find the courage. There is some talk here about Andy Burnham (currently Mayor of Manchester and a former government minister) taking over, but he doesn't currently have a seat in parliament. And I agree re: taxing the middle classes. I plan to do some serious research into the numbers before posting a more detailed tax plan ahead of the budget.
Don't most of the electorate vote based on culture and values issues these days? A more sensible economic plan, no matter the success it may gradually have, isn't going to suddenly snap a culture warrior out of some kind of fever dream. Starmer is still going to come off like a cautious lawyer. Part of Farage and Trump's success is that they are story tellers in an age of populism where different subcultures battle it out in perpetuity. Green Party leader Zack Polanski says that the thing that's most needed now is a populism of the left, otherwise progressives will forever be bringing knives to gunfights like the US Democrats.
Hi Sanford, well yes, that’s what we’re told, but I’m still pretty convinced people start voting on culture/values when they feel a sense of injustice (rightly of wrongly) and need someone to blame, or they’re worried for the future. But I take your point: the horse has bolted. As for a populism of the left, sure, but it has to be rooted in reality, and I can't see any quick fixes to our current reality.
I agree. I can only see the current culture dispelling with a generational split that may take several decades. I am reminded of the Latin American authoritarian regimes of the 1950s/60s. They didn't wind down until the next generation grew weary of living under them. Gen-Z will be middle aged by then. In the meantime BBC columnist Katy Kay just published this and it was enlightening to me.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78n0e83ye0o
For what it's worth, I worked on the early web during the dot com boom of the 1990s that built the foundations of the current world and I will say it was an optimistic vision at the time - some among us even thought that we were doing uptopian work. The last thing I expected was that so many people, given access to so much new and previously gatekept information, would become Nazis as a result. What does that say about the average Joe?
Yes, really difficult to see a way through this, and a return to a world where reason and tolerance at least get a look in. Thanks for the link to the Katy Kay piece.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-173338158
I just read this, which is long, and rather depressing, but it's very good on another aspect of what's driving all this: what Marriott calls the 'ubiquitous mobile internet'. So much for utopian visions eh, though even TimBL didn't see this coming.