Egoistic narcissism writ large
July 14th, 2010Not another personal memoir, surely. Apart from the obvious motive of trying to retain a drop of fast-fading publicity, this latest wallowing in an orgy of self-importance in Mandelson’s diaries is yet another painful reminder of the personality-obsessed, policy-vacuous utter lack of ideology, direction and vision of the New Labour years. It’s almost as though the waste of more than a decade was merely a paver for a largely trite, always self-centred, stream of personal reminiscences. O Crossman and Crosland, where art thou today? Why have we descended so far to the pygmies?
It seems inexplicable that the vast movement in the the culture of globalised capitalism, ushered in by Thatcher-Reagan and consolidated in the dominant model of the Washington Consensus, passes almost unmentioned. There’s not even a post-mortem even though the 2008-10 financial crash and recession marked its very clear demise. The memoirs are all about how we handled the breakdown and how brilliant we were, but nothing serious about its deep-rooted causes, its meaning, and its replacement by an alternative economic model.
In the turbulent 1970s there were passionate debates about the soul of the Labour Movement, now there is the silence of the graveyard pierced only by these tedious backward-looking self-promotions. It is extraordinary that today the political landscape is so devoid of ideas, yet the need for a thorough re-thinking of both the democratic and economic fundamentals can scarcely ever have been greater. We have three main political parties with a largely unanimous narrative, one that is both inadequate and shallow, yet around half the electorate in effect unrepresented by parties clinging to a defunct fundamentalist market agenda with no apparent thoughts on ideological renewal.
What is needed more than anything else today is a clear positive systematic statement of what should replace neoliberalism. The 1980s counter-revolution against the State has itself been derailed by the excesses of the market in the 2000s. What is now required is a rebalancing of the role between markets and the State, a reweighting between finance and manufacturing within the UK economy, a recalibration between ‘light-touch’ deregulation/privatisation and excessive intervention within markets, a robust strategy for advancing the new green digital economy, a crackdown on indefensible inequality, and a restoration of the values and ethos of social justice, public service and genuine accountability.
Watch this space for my new book on ‘Power Change: the Road from Neoliberal Capitalism’ at the end of the year.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:17 am
That is the problem made even worse now, I joined labour in 1963 left in 2005 after the welfare reforms of new labour hit a new high with the battling to out do each other, with labour saying we will get half a million back to work, Tories Million, labour two million, it was like watching labour change to the Tories. Now we have even lost the Liberals who have sold out to get power, but with luck next election I will be voting Tory to give them a mandate to rule without the Liberals let see how long they can last out side of the power base.
But new labour, labour call it what you like with Milibands Burnham and ball all New labour die hards some Blair boys some brown boys all gave out the same signal we are Thatcherite children.
Labours got sod all to offer me anymore, being disabled next month I will go through the back to work test which says having no legs does not mean you cannot work, having no hands means you cannot work, having no brain does not mean you cannot work, all put forward by Blair backed up by a bloke from Scotland who without doubt should have been claiming sickness for a mental health issue, he is as mad as a may hare, yes I know I should know better, but believe me what I think of labour these days and the people who sat back and allowed the welfare reforms is nothing short of disgust.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:37 am
And Robert – you will be going for a ‘back to work’ test with some private company, an offshoot of the medical insurance business who’s entire remit will be to find you fit to work because they are being paid to reduce the numbers on IB and DLA. See the Facebook site against the behaviour of ATOS … there has even been a BBC expose.
This is the direct result of public services being ‘free at the point of receipt’ and the pretence that provision by the private sector would have no different outcome to the NHS.
I actually hate Blair et al… they had the best opportunity ever to change this country for the better and all they were, were New Tories… which was the inevitable result of electing a bunch of narcissistic personality disorders who were intrinsically not interested in the stuff of politics, but who were very interested in evidencing their specialness.
Incidentally, I think Blair is the closet narcissist to Cherie and Mandelson’s true narcissicm, whereas Brown seems to be on the autistic spectrum… the defining characteristic of each of these structures is their lack of authentic empathy…. and wasn’t that obvious from their policy decisions.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:43 am
I believe that Rupert Murdoch was asked whether Blair would be a problem (before Blair was elected in ’97). Murdoch is supposed to have laughed and said ” No. Blair is just a star-f…er!” Fits with the excruciating “Yo Blair” conversation with Bush doesn’t it?