Since 1979 there has been, in this country an inexorable drift to the right in politics. Michael Foot's attempts to stem the flow in the early eighties led to the Labour party splitting and an increased Tory majority in 1983. There were many reasons for this but under Thatcher there developed an orthodoxy which was later taken up by New Labour who ran with it and triumphed in 1997 when a tired and corrupt Tory party was finally relieved of the need to govern the country. Sadly for many on the left of the political spectrum what replaced John Major's discredited government was in many way more of the same.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. That is not to take anything away from some of the achievements of New Labour. Much of their social policy was enlightened and welcome after the years of Tory rule but there was a very centrist attitude to fiscal policy which echoed much of what had gone on under Major. The Elephant in the room had become income tax. It was the great shibboleth. Thatcher's espousal of the Milton Friedman view of the world created an atmosphere in which direct taxation was so toxic that it could never even be mentioned.
However governments have to get revenue from somewhere so indirect taxation became more important. Chancellors could announce cuts to income tax and raising of personal allowances by inserting rises in indirect tax into those parts of the budget which did not feature in the headlines. Gideon is particularly fond of slipping a little shock into the small print like a turd left behind the sofa when no-one was looking.
Privatisation is another area in which the right has triumphed to the detriment of the ordinary man or woman in the street. Anything that could be sold off was sold off, frequently at a price more beneficial to the purchaser than the vendor (us). Public sector services were outsourced, for reasons which are obscure at the very least. If you are committed to providing the same level of service as previously while running it as a commercial enterprise where presumably shareholders expect a dividend, somebody has to lose out. Arguments that the public services were inefficient and wasted money could just as easily be addressed by improving accountability within those public services as by selling them off at a knock-down price.
The losers as always have been the customer (previously the service user) and those on the frontline actually providing the service. It rather questions why these services are being offered at all. There have recently been massive cuts in budgets across government which have had several major impacts. Public bodies are now no longer able to provide those services which were previously deemed vital to the good running of a decent society. Those who previously provided those services have found themselves without a proper job, having instead to accept zero hours contracts or the like. It is one thing to want to reduce the influence of the state for idealogical reasons, but that state provides jobs which in turn produce revenue in the form of taxes and also help stimulate the economy by allowing those employed by the state the wherewithal to spend.
Letting the market decide has been the most disastrous move in the governance of this country in my lifetime. I have had to sit back and watch as successive governments have sloughed off great swathes of the economy. I don't use the train as I don't go anywhere much, but in the olden days you could turn up at a station and buy a ticket to anywhere in the country, single or return, first or second class (or even third class). If it was a return you had the choice of full or cheap day return which limited your travel to outside the rush hours.
You could travel on any train, they were all run by BR and you didn't face humiliation and an on the spot fine if you accidentally got on the wrong train. As I understand it that is no longer the case. Well hoo-bloody-ray.
And what happens when these privatised concerns cannot manage to provide the service which they are contracted to do? Well either some bugger suffers or the state steps in. I used to run a small business and I don't recall there being an option of ringing up the local council when I couldn't manage a job and saying, 'Over to you.'
And don't get me started on academies.
Or indeed being self employed. Successive governments have massaged the unemployment figures to make it look as though it is now not really a problem. The school leaving age is now effectively 18. That takes two year's worth of youngsters out of the figures straight away. The governments also trumpet the number of small businesses which have started up over the past few years. They are less keen to tell us how many have failed. Many unemployed people will become self-employed in the absence of a job of any other type. Self employment is not always easy. It has hidden costs such as insurance and there is no sick pay or paid holidays. If you want to expand and start employing somebody else to help out then that opens a whole new can of worms.
All this is to say that we have all in this country been forced to accept the orthodoxy which is Thatcherism or Thatcherism Lite® as espoused by New Labour. For the first time those of us who are genuinely keen on democratic socialism, who do see a role for the state, have a voice in Jeremy Corbyn. It may all come to nothing, this popular tide of support for a man who does not speak in sound bites and who genuinely appears to care, but I want to be part of it and enjoy it while it lasts. There is another way, a better way, after all what could be worse than what we have at the moment?
I'm not sure that was quite what I had intended to say this morning but I feel much better having got it off my chest.
Have a good day, and I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.
Love Tim xx
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