privileged position was undeserved. They strove to open their minds to try and understand what it must be like for the majority of people not born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
David Cameron, George Osbourne and Boris Johnson are distasteful because they espouse an ideology that basically states that 'people are poor because they are lazy and/or stupid'. The least we should expect from people who espouse this rubbish is that they personally demonstrate admirable attributes.
David Cameron got his job at Carlton because of a phone call from one of Prince Charle's aides (a friend of his father) putting in a 'good word'. Proving it most certainly is 'who you know' rather than 'what you know'. Boris has certainly got where he is now through hard work - the hard work of others. He has lied and cheated his way through his life - losing countless jobs as a result - but his inexorable rise was written in the stars - or more accurately his parent's bank balance and connections. Osbourne ditto.
When David Cameron talks of the rising cost of filling up his car he is more believable than Gordon Brown claiming to 'feel our pain' - the problem is - criticising government policy is meaningless if you offer no alternative. Is David Cameron really saying he could do anything to stop the rise in global oil prices? If so, what exactly? If he is going to cut fuel duty (and given the Tory record on indirect taxes when in office, this seems highly unlikely) then where will he get the money from? The tax take under Thatcher and Major was virtually identical - where they were different from Labour was that they took more tax from the poorest (by doubling VAT and introducing council tax), spent more on defence and less on the NHS, public transport and state education. This is the sort of change people are voting for if they re-elect Cameron's Tories. On social issues expect a reduction in the abortion limit, scrapping of the smoking ban and a relaxation of gun laws. On the environment, expect more road building, more congestion, less consideration for cyclists and pedestrians, more surburban sprawl and out of town shopping inaccessible unless you drive. There is no way to square being pro-motorist in this way and claiming to be 'green and their is no way Cameron is doing anything other than being opportunist over the 10p tax rate (that Tories voted against being introduced).
So Labour should emphasise the nastiness of these Toffs, not that they are Toffs which people rightly are not going to be prejudiced about.
David Cameron, George Osbourne and Boris Johnson are distasteful because they espouse an ideology that basically states that 'people are poor because they are lazy and/or stupid'. The least we should expect from people who espouse this rubbish is that they personally demonstrate admirable attributes.
David Cameron got his job at Carlton because of a phone call from one of Prince Charle's aides (a friend of his father) putting in a 'good word'. Proving it most certainly is 'who you know' rather than 'what you know'. Boris has certainly got where he is now through hard work - the hard work of others. He has lied and cheated his way through his life - losing countless jobs as a result - but his inexorable rise was written in the stars - or more accurately his parent's bank balance and connections. Osbourne ditto.
When David Cameron talks of the rising cost of filling up his car he is more believable than Gordon Brown claiming to 'feel our pain' - the problem is - criticising government policy is meaningless if you offer no alternative. Is David Cameron really saying he could do anything to stop the rise in global oil prices? If so, what exactly? If he is going to cut fuel duty (and given the Tory record on indirect taxes when in office, this seems highly unlikely) then where will he get the money from? The tax take under Thatcher and Major was virtually identical - where they were different from Labour was that they took more tax from the poorest (by doubling VAT and introducing council tax), spent more on defence and less on the NHS, public transport and state education. This is the sort of change people are voting for if they re-elect Cameron's Tories. On social issues expect a reduction in the abortion limit, scrapping of the smoking ban and a relaxation of gun laws. On the environment, expect more road building, more congestion, less consideration for cyclists and pedestrians, more surburban sprawl and out of town shopping inaccessible unless you drive. There is no way to square being pro-motorist in this way and claiming to be 'green and their is no way Cameron is doing anything other than being opportunist over the 10p tax rate (that Tories voted against being introduced).
So Labour should emphasise the nastiness of these Toffs, not that they are Toffs which people rightly are not going to be prejudiced about.
New Labour returns to the Class War
ReplyDeleteabout time !!!!
carry bag phd: Class War is all Labour have left!
ReplyDelete2 quick points - neither of them terribly important. Cameron got his first job at Conservative Central Office thanks to his connections, not his job at Carlton. It's still not exactly admirable, but a tirade against nepotism in party political circles does cut both ways - ask Tamsin Dunwoody, or Hilary Benn for that matter.
ReplyDeleteOh, and secondly, Boris has lost two jobs for his, ah, terminological inexactitudes. His cub reporter role at the Times, for making up a quotation, and his front bench role under Howard for his inverted pyramid of piffle.
So Labour should emphasise the nastiness of these Toffs, not that they are Toffs which people rightly are not going to be prejudiced about
ReplyDeleteSorry, Neil, but emphasising the nastiness of the Tories is not going to get Labour far when it demonstrates even greater nastiness itself. Look at the Labour campaigning material coming out of the Crewe by-election. It goads the Tory candidate by saying that he does not support making foreigners 'carry ID Cards'. Apart from the overt xenophobia, designed to appeal to sewage end of Labour's vote that might be inclined to vote for the British Nazi party, it is also a complete misrepresentation of the ID Cards Act. In fact foreign nationals will not be required to carry ID Cards unless they are in the UK for 6 months or more. EU nationals will not required to carry ID Cards until the British population has been coerced and fined into carrying ID Cards. A more accurate summary of Labour's ID policy would be ID Cards for everyone before foreign nationals. Labour has once again been caught on as dishonest and currying the Nazi vote. And you have the nerve to call me 'illiberal' for not wanting to vote for this racist new model Labour party?
Stephen: The Tories will always be closer to the BNP than the Labour party. By not voting Labour, it is you that will take this country in a more illiberal direction.
ReplyDeleteYes, the campaigning in Crewe has been sometimes distasteful and pathetic - we are talking about one leaflet - but although that leaflet makes me shudder, it makes me shudder far more to think of the Tories in power when they still overtly shout their opposition to lesbians being parents and have basically the same policies of Thatcher that tripled inequality. If you want to study illiberal times, take yourself back to the 80s and early 90s.
Neil, you should check out this week's "Private Eye" for a list of all those beloved Guardianistas, such as Polly Toynbee, who were privately educated!
ReplyDelete"New Labour returns to the Class War about time !!!!"
ReplyDeleteThe smoking ban IS part of a class war - against the WORKING class. The majority of smokers are from the working classes and they have been effectively downgraded to 2nd class citizens by their chosen Labour Party. That is one, if not THE main reason, that Labour are in the state they are in at the present time.
They have alienated a substantial majority of their supporters in this one piece of legislation. Not only that but they have failed to acknowledge the loss of jobs, pubs, and other leisure pursuits that this has caused, preferring to pretend that everything is rosy and everyone is happy with the smoking ban (as directed by anti-smoking groups) when a blind man on a galloping horse can see otherwise.
Most Labour supporters also enjoy the odd drink and they can see that even this is under threat, just like smoking.
Labour voters are not all thick or easily manipulated, as the Labour party seems to think and they know when they are being taken for a ride by a goverment that seems to be out of touch with reality.
Oddly enough I agree with your analysis of the "Toffs" campaign currently being waged in the Midlands. Even from a wingnut perspective to see supposedly intelligent people make such a massive mistake is embarassing. But I do take issue with a couple of your other statements:
ReplyDelete"Class war is about all Labour have left"? Surely that's hardly the sort of positive image I would have thought the party would wish to project. Indeed wasn't Blair's success built on moving away from the old class war scenario? Wouldn't a return risk another long period in the wilderness? Not that I'd be complaining, but it's surely not a good prospect from your standpoint.
And your point about the BNP being closer to the Tories. Have you read the BNP manifesto? It's chock full of commitments to nationalise industries and extend state control into people's lives. These are far more socialist tendencies than conservative ones. And let's not even go with Gordon Brown's "British jobs for British workers" comments.
The BNP aren't 'socialist' in any way. By the way, the type of NON-GLOBALIST economics the BNP supports is the one the Tory Party supported under Baldwin, Joseph Chamberlain ect. Their economic policies are basically pro-free market but WITHIN national limits ie they don't approve of our power companies being owned by the French, Germans ect whereby they can hike up our energy prices regardless of the effect this has on poor people ect and our economy. This isn't 'socialism'; its NATIONALIST economics.
ReplyDelete