Absolutely excellent piece by Neal Lawson in today's Guardian on how New Labour acquiesced to capitalism and the interests of big business. As he points out, he should know. Being one of the most gung-ho advocates for Bliarism ( that was actually a typo which I'm not going to change). But no I'm not going to be dismissive or holier than thou.
I would like to say this.
What is happening with this Government cannot go on. There are daily announcements on everything from punishing council tenants to demonising Asians or coming up with McDegrees in burger studies. Every day there is something to be ashamed of if you are a Labour Party member and all of these pronouncements share a common denominator. They have absolutely nothing to do with what Lawson and Compass would probably call the "good society" and those a little further left would call socialism. Whatever.
I don't hold out much hope for Gordon Brown or the rest of the Cabinet ( a Cabinet now so far to the right as to make Blair's in 1997 look positively lefty) but I do feel that surely there must be sufficient decent MPs of the left of centre to wake up, smell the coffee and start working together to change this Government's course. The bad decisions which are being taken and the betrayals of our basic values mean that if the PLP doesn't get its collective head out of the sand then we are treading an inevitable path to a Tory Government. I hope groups like Compass and the LRC can come up with a common narrative which will salvage something from this wreckage of the Labour Party.
Lawson's piece is here:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/neal_lawson/2008/02/the_unacceptable_face_of_new_l.html
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
LAWSON FINDS HIS MORAL COMPASS
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6 comments:
Susan Press supports Lawson for NEC shock.
"Press says Lawson is left enough, just."
Seriously Neal has been saying things like this for at least 3 years.
This is the same Neal who decided Compass were supporting Brown for the leadership without any discussion.
Talk's cheap.
Alex. As Duncan points out,Neal Lawson made huge error in suggesting Gordon Brown was a catalyst for change leftwards.Or at least in direction of social democracy.WITHOUT leadership election. Only months ago.
We now know that not to be the case.Comments like yours utterly hijack the constructive point I was trying to make.ie we try to work together. Not take cheap shots.Disappointing, comrade.
It wasn't a cheap shot. I was trying to lighten the mood.
I realise the Brown thing will play for the next ten years.
The collective memory of the left is long and unforgiving
We have a lot to be unforgiving about.......happy to forgive Lawson as lomg as he and Compass start doing joined-up-thinking .Which, hopefully, they are......
I think the problem is that so many people have actually bailed out of the Labour party - me included - that it is difficult to see how it can be returned to anything like a social democratic party whilst in Government.
Perhaps we do need a couple of years of weak Tory government.
But then, the electoral system will always draw parties to the centre. Electoral reform will be part of any package of change.
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