- Starmer should emulate Thatcher, not Blair. Independent article headline... Archived Message
Posted by John Monro
on April 13, 2024, 11:05 pm
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....but is behind a paywall. Andrew Grice in the Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/keir-starmer-margaret-thatcher-tony-blair-1997-1979-b2527743.html I suppose there is one important thing where any politician might be praised for emulating Thatcher, in that she had the courage of her convictions, she was pretty straightforward and immune to subterfuge, and she had some innate common sense , eg, the Euro. The only problem being of course that almost all her convictions, taken undiluted from Hayek, were insane and wrong, and we are now suffering the ultimate thought long delayed result (it was North Sea oil that saved us for a while). Whereas Blair was a manipulative and unscrupulous player that took the country to a totally horrible and illegal war (at least Thatcher was able to fight a war an win it) and has proved his moral and character deficit ever since. But this headline and the few lines I can read below it is a perfect metaphor for the times we live in, that a Labour leader should emulate the leader that any prior Labour caucus would totally disdain and battle. Everything you ever thought was normal in the world has been turned on its head. So when will the UK citizenry come to realise they're being conned? Starmer himself has certainly cleared the way, sacking left wingers, disciplining members who query the role of NATO or the support of Ukraine, openly admiring Thatcher, resolute in his support of nuclear war, wedded at the hip to Israel and supporter of genocide in Gaza, a proven liar when gaining the leadership, abuser of Assange, autocrat desperate for power, with a shadow Chancellor of deep neoliberal orthodoxy - well you could go on and on. The tragedy for the country is when it desperately needs rational radical thinking in the face of converging social, economic and environmental crises, in a county that has in prior generations going back to the Magna Carter produced historical figures in abundance that can achieve this, in our present times no such figure seems to exist. Never in the history of the world has so much knowledge been gained, never in the history of the world has so little sense been constructed from it. |