THE LAST DITCH

Brexit is the only way the working class can change anything | Lisa Mckenzie | Opinion | The Guardian.

I think the author of the linked article may be on to something. The working classes have had a hard time of it in Britain in my lifetime. Yes our growing economy has created lots of new jobs. Most of them cleaner and more pleasant to do. Many involving the polishing of trousers and skirts on comfy office chairs. Yes average purchasing power has risen when modest pay increases have been multiplied by downward pressure on prices of manufactured goods (net of course of steady increases in taxes as the state consumes more and more of GDP). But this is no consolation for the fisherman, miners and factory workers whose jobs have been wiped out by the EU, priced out by environmental regulations or simply offshored. 

To add insult to injury, the political instrument they and their trade unions founded — the Labour Party — has turned its back on them, neglected them and taken to describing them with contempt as idiots and bigots. In its Islingtonian manifestation, it’s more interested in its new consitutencies of assorted minorities who are — or can be made to feel — oppressed. So interested in them in fact that it has taken to importing them despite concerns among its old supporters that they may drive down wages. 

To such traditional Labour voting fodder, long condescended to or scorned, the sight of the likes of Kinnock and Mandelson living it up on the EU gravy train is galling. As is that of Blair openly coveting, enjoying in return for God knows what in office and ultimately achieving the life of his multi-millionaire chums. 

New Labour has delivered what Old Labour predicted capitalism would: a profound sense of alienation. All this compounded by the electoral tactic of “triangulation” under which none of “their” politicians are ever to be heard actually talking to them in public  

If Brexit delivers a swift kick in the pants to those pigs who clearly think themselves more equal than others, why not give it a try?  

2 responses to “Even the Guardian is sometimes right”

  1. Sackerson Avatar
    Sackerson

    At last, the Guardian cleans out its ears and begins to hear the voices of Tony Benn, Frank Field, Dennis Skinner etc.
    We in Birmingham are living through the social and economic consequences of New Labour’s decision to throw Rover Cars under a bus in the runup to the 2001 General Election, merely to “make assurance doubly sure” – Molton’s plan would have saved thousands of jobs, preserved pension values and allowed for far better redundancy payoffs – plus the chance of re-employment at e.g. Toyota in Derby.

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  2. Tom Avatar

    I don’t necessarily think the traditional working class, still less the gents you mention are right in their economic analysis. But they are right in feeling abandoned. For what it’s worth local Conservatives feel equally abandoned by their leadership. The political élites generally have lost the respect of ordinary voters as they have built their power, increased the size of the state and looked with greater disdain on the little people that — properly analysed — they are there to serve. Remember Cameron’s comment about “swivel eyed loons” among his grassroots? Or the “fruit cakes” of UKIP? That was his equivalent of Broon’s “that bigoted woman”. They all despise us and it is now all about them as far as they are concerned. Hence the expenses scandal. Hence the decline in turnouts. And hence their affection for the European Project once they get close enough to see the actual and potential benefits for them. It did not come from the people. It does not serve the people. It provides an elite far removed from popular control to live a detached and privileged life. It allows a rest home for failed national politicians. It provides a second chance for current politicians to secure policies rejected by their local electorates by pretending they have been imposed at the EU level.

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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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