George Plays a Blinder
20 May, 2008 — RickBThis government has been the most rightwing since the second world war- Monbiot.
He knocks out some nice riffs on the utter bankruptcy of the NuLabour regime and coincidentally he was dreaming of Gini too-
Labour has shifted taxation from the rich to the poor, cutting corporation tax from 33% to 28% and capital gains tax from 40% to 18%, and introducing a new entrepreneurs’ relief scheme, taxing the first million of capital gains at just 10%. It tried to raise the income tax paid by the poorest earners from 10% to 20%. Labour has lifted the inheritance tax threshold from £300,000 to £700,000, and maintained the cap on the highest rates of council tax. While vigorously prosecuting benefits cheats, it has allowed tax avoidance, mostly by the very rich, to reach an estimated £41bn. Inequality today is slightly worse than it was when Labour took power in 1997 (the Gini coefficient which measures it has risen from 0.33 to 0.35).
Above all, the Labour government has destroyed hope. It has put into practice Thatcher’s dictum that “there is no alternative” to a market fundamentalism that subordinates human welfare to the demands of business. Labour has created a political monoculture that kills voters’ enthusiasm, and has delayed electoral reforms that would have given smaller parties an opportunity to be heard. All we are left with is fear: the fear that this awful government might be replaced by something slightly worse. Fear has destroyed the Labour party, but people keep supporting it in trepidation of letting the other side win.
Ps. But he is a meaty bugger.
20 May, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Yes, I well remember in the last but one budget thinking that the buggers had taken the 10% income tax off me and given it directly to the ‘Entrpreneurs’ Nice, ta.
20 May, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Hey Annie, yes they pretty well much did, it’s great we have a choice of govt. between utter right wing capitalist bastards or utter and complete right wing capitalist bastards. Neoliberalism is an anti democratic ideology and now it is beginning to bite, our choice is stark- there isn’t one.
20 May, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Indeed, but what have they destroyed hope in? In a system of government that is basically hopeless, that calls itself democracy but which is completely divorced from popular politics.
A Hague, Howard or IDS government wouldn’t have been a world away from New Labour (probably a bit harsher on gay liberation and all, and probably not able to get away with as much sneaky privatisation), but a Blair or Brown parliamentary opposition would have constantly got in the way of popular opposition. Put it this way: we’d have seen the war, but we wouldn’t have seen Stop The War; not on the same scale at least.
I don’t want to see a Tory government, but even more than that I don’t want to see a Labour opposition. The elections showed that people have stopped giving New Labour the benefit of the doubt, and I just hope they don’t start again as sure as Cameron gets in. I mean, for all the recurring hype about Miliband, I reckon Alan Johnson might be the worst-case-scenario leader of the opposition: jolly Northern postie exterior, heart as dark as Blairite coal.
20 May, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Hey that Blairite coal is good, lights easy, virtually smokeless and incinerates principles in seconds!
I reckon they will try the same thing they did before, Johnson as vice Miliband as leader with the pretence like before a blairte leader but a northern salt of the earth brand to assuage rank and file. All of course nonsense.
After some rough patches (post WWll & 60/70 moments) the ruling class have really got the two party democracy schtick sorted thanks to the miracle ingredient -Friedmanism- as soon as we get sick of one flavour we get the other (hey that’s a choice!) but like salt & vinegar versus Cheese & Onion (Cheese & Onion btw the clear winner, mmmm crunchy savoury yum) they are still both crisps. Yes, that’s the crisp analysis theory (chips for our Atlantic cousins) of neoliberal hegemonic dictatorship!
One gang in while the other does the barrister thing of opposing professionally while both actually share the same basic approach- hey being rich is good, let’s all do that.
Which is to say once we have a Tory govt (shudder) of course Labour will be all -yeah we oppose them like totally to the max dude! And the back and forth crisp puppet show continues (that’s the Hicks- there’s a guy behind the two puppets analysis combined with the crisp analysis).
I think to many the crucial thing is viability, voters are disgusted with labour but if they do not see a viable left they will either not vote or reluctantly give Labour another chance. The real left is fractured, I think perhaps it will take some years before the deleterious effects of neoliberal dogma become so profound it creates a real solidarity and viable govt. in waiting with actually different economic polices (not crisp -neolib- based). That’s electorally, meanwhile lots of local stuff goes on that while they might not consciously perceive it as such, is basically anti-capitalist. Gwynedd went to a control based around first time candidates standing against school closures, Plaid lost a lot of support because they went along with the closures (I do find there are 2 Plaids, very generally: a conservative nationalist one -predominant here- and a socialisty one -more to the south). How that single issue stuff is expanded into a greater platform remains to be seen there though.
But maybe, just maybe the Iraq war is a profound thing whose political effects are yet to really happen. I think that takes a generational scale but it does lead to a new political landscape and as you say Labour will be looking to soak up support in opposition, but this time, people will remember.
21 May, 2008 at 12:05 am
Yeah, read this today. Excellent piece as always from George. Makes The Guardian on Tuesday an absolute must read.
ps I’m a meaty bugger too.
21 May, 2008 at 12:46 am
Ah well, no one’s perfect!
21 May, 2008 at 12:51 am
(Just realised Johnson is actually a Southerner. But he’s also a former Communist, so it cancels out. Or something)
21 May, 2008 at 12:59 am
A southerner! Ye gads no! Ah yes *googling* he was parachuted into Hull (on Earth, oh that never gets old) good point. Ok salt of the earth union/postie diamond geezer.
21 May, 2008 at 1:44 pm
This all sounds way too much like US politics. I’m beginning to see how important proportional represntation is.
21 May, 2008 at 7:58 pm
It is the one simple thing that would begin to alter the two party sham, not an end in itself but suddenly when votes translate to power more directly, politics gets a lot more responsive. It really allowed for a great choice in the London Mayor elections, you could vote true left and still have reserve vote for Ken that would keep the tories out. Sadly though the craptastic media helped convince people their only choice was Bojo the clown or ‘dull old Ken’. So it’s a long fight, change and the perception of change must combine.