Saturday, Dec 05, 2009
Class War
The Telegraph: Why Lord Snooty is the ideal role model for David Cameron
The current, desperate Labour strategy is not to inspire new voters, but to shore up old ones. There are, perhaps, 25 per cent of the population whose atavistic dislike of posh people can be exploited. Labour figures like Harriet Harman, the privately educated niece of an earl, or Lord Mandelson of Hartlepool and Foy, who likes to join Lord Rothschild’s shooting weekends, must be kept away from them. They want John Prescott – red and rude and ignorant. Their votes are useful, but their attitudes mean almost nothing to people under 40. They cannot win an election for Labour.
Posted by devo @ 10:56 PM (1238 views) Add Comment
16 Comments
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1. devo said...
It's politics night on HPC!
2. cyril said...
I would vote for the non-posh candidate if there was one.
3. devo said...
2. cyril said... I would vote for the non-posh candidate if there was one.
irrespective of his manifesto?
4. vinrouge said...
At least David didn't fail his 11+
5. devo said...
4. vinrouge said... At least David didn't fail his 11+
Gordon Brown failed his 11+ ?
6. crunchy said...
Gordon Brown also failed his 60M+
7. the number cruncher said...
The problem with criticising proponents of class war is that there is a very good justification for class war. 1% of the population owns 70% of the country's wealth. some mebers of that 1% are very powerful and systematically manipulate laws to preserve their wealth and thus class division.
My multi-millionaire friend/business partner pays an effective tax rate of about 20% with all his offshore fiddles and clever accountants. I, who take a wage, get taxed effectively by over 50%.
If we put in place policies to narrow the division there would be no justification for class war.
So I say we should talk about the division in society and how the rich an powerful manipulate politics for their own selfish ends because it is very real. If we can do that in a way that is fair and open we will also avoid extreme politics.
8. crunchy said...
7. the number cruncher said...The problem with criticising proponents of class war is that there is a very good justification for class war.
Justification? In another form perhaps. If that's possible, or should I say restructured system.
Another oxymoron?, but it doesn't stop some from trying against all odds, even if the divided serfs don't like it. Oh how I know!
"If there is hope, it lies in the proles" Quiet.
George Orwell.
9. letthemfall said...
"At least David didn't fail his 11+"
Did he get his 25 yd swimming certificate? That would qualify him just as well.
10. stillthinking said...
The problem doesn't relate to class though. Over the last century, the working classes were exploited, and society changed after each major war. BUT, the problem now is not that the UK generates wealth which is unfairly divided, i.e. workers are exploited.
The problem is that we don't generate enough wealth in the first place.
Totally different. For Brown on behalf of New Labour to insinuate that future austerity is because the productive working class are exploited, is mischievous to say the least, because we do NOT create enough wealth. Quite aside from the exploiter of the common man in the UK being the -> government <-.
11. letthemfall said...
But the workers are evidently exploited now - they are low paid while a narrow section of society, exemplified by the bankers, are exceptionally well paid. The main reason for this is structural, notably the changes brought about by China's economic rise.
We probably don't generate enough wealth, though the question of what wealth is may not be the confined to the usual definition. But we hear constantly about incentives to the rich, though never for the poor. Unequal societies will always perform worse than fairer ones.
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13. crunchy said...
11. letthemfall said....... 'We probably don't generate enough wealth, though the question of what wealth is may not be the confined to the usual definition.'
Profound and worth some thought.
14. clockslinger said...
No points for your grasp of political jiggery pokery Charles old boy! Rather than hide Ms. Harman, the Malcome Tuckers of Nu Lab taught her to drop her consonants and go for the full Ross Kemp demotic vernacular during her time as home secretary. However, only someone with such a pathetic grasp of the contemporary social fabric could think Prescott was a big pull for the vote of the modern working class! I recall his main purpose was to keep folk away from/eat sh*t for Anthony... you know Charles, a bit like the porter at Oxford and young Sebastian Flyte. God, Moore, you really are a sorry sight. Empty your pockets and give me your job this instant! Now bend over you little oik!
15. _woody said...
@11 I certainly agree that unequal societies will perform worse than fairier ones. And certainly, increasingly, the UK is suffering from uneven or bad income distribuiton. Purchasing power has to greatly improve where it comes to those of lower incomes, though it is precisely this group which is being squeezed (by the corporations they work for) more than any other. Perhaps an incomes policy may help signal the need improve the purchasing power of society as a whole.
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