Anne Perkins wrote in the Guardian yesterday:
Think what kind of country you want for you and your children and, even more importantly, think how you might get there. Now think, is Jeremy Corbyn in the middle of that picture?
I have to admit that until very recently the idea of Jeremy Corbyn fulfilling that role would n0t have occurred to me. But what I can also say with certainty is that Burnham, Kendall and Cooper would not have been in the frame either. The names Caroline Lucas and Nicola Sturgeon would have been rather more obvious choices.
So what does that say about me? And what does the Guardian suggesting that 'senior Labour figures queueing up to prove it is not possible to be too rude about 66-year-old Corbyn' say?
First it says that it was time to cancel my Guardian subscription: I have done that. If this is how dedicated the paper is to balanced reporting I have given up on it.
More importantly, it says that I, like many others, have little confidence in the triumvirate of centre right politicians seeking to lead the Labour party. Having been observing the political scene for a long time now (since 1970) I can think of few more uninspiring choices for leader, whatever talents each might have as a minister.
There is though something much more to this than the issue of personality, including that of Jeremy Corbyn, to which the debate in the media is currently reducing this issue. The truth is that the unlikely rise of Jeremy Corbyn suggests that there is a rise in discontent with the politics of the mainstream. Cooper, Burnham and Kendall are all from the mainstream and mainstream no longer appeals.
There is, I think, good reason for that. We are, I think at the end of a political era. The post war consensus was actually built during the war and died during the late 70s: a period of thirty years or so. Thatcher's control of the consensus was really established in 1983: that was 32 years ago. And that consensus is also now dying.
This explains the paranoia of Kendall, Umunna, Cooper, Blair and others with power: they can feel it slipping from them. Of course they are angry: this is very personal for them. The SNP has shattered the myth that the only alternative to Tory government is Labour. The ability of George Osborne to wrap the Tories in Labour clothing whilst delivering something quite different has undermined their confidence in whatever ideas they had, and the cupboard for new initiatives is bare. The reality is that all they are really offering is a version of neoliberalism with softer edges is all too apparent when the truth is that neoliberalism is itself morphing into neo-feudalism and the Labour mainstream has yet to react.
That move to neo-feudalism is happening across the world, and not just in the UK. Power elites are clearly usurping the authority of politics, with the consent of mainstream politicians who are willingly playing the role of paid agents for financial power. And everywhere people at the grass roots are sensing this and realising that change is inevitable if the threat that this represents is to be challenged.
I am also quite sure that people do not know what they want in the place of neoliberalism as yet: that's why the far right can do well in politics at present, and candidates like Donald Trump can make headlines in the USA. It's also why a candidate with a distinct, different and obviously consistent, and so authentic, voice like Jeremy Corbyn is doing so well in Labour. It is why the SNP has swept Scotland. It is why the Greens are noticed much more, if still squeezed.
What all these movements suggest is underlying deep mistrust of the neoliberal consensus and the way it is now developing, and with very good reason: that consensus and all that goes with it is harmful to very large numbers of people and they know it, although because there is little discussion of why as yet: the media is making sure of that. In that context the arguments of conventional leadership candidates in Labour that they must be supported for the sake of power is, in itself, almost counter-productive to their cause. People - especially political activists - sense that what these candidates want and what is in their own best interests are not the same thing, and are withholding their consent.
It saddens me in this context that the Guardian is quite definitely at present part of the consensus of neo-liberal power.
What I look forward to is a growing awareness that what is happening is fundamental, necessary and, of course, risky. There is a need for change. The power base of ideas that has sustained politics for so long is dying. In that case it seems to me that it is only by looking more broadly, and most certainly across party lines at present, that anything that can really effectively deliver change can be created. Right now no one has universal claim to know what that alternative is, but the grass roots of British politics that is dedicated to economic, social and environmental justice knows that an alternative is needed to the thinking that is currently dominating Westminster. As a result I suspect they are going to get their way in creating real, fundamental and lasting change because across the country people grass roots politicians on the left are refusing to prop up the remains of a dying political era, and that's when change happens.
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One could call this a ‘paradigm shift’. I think you are right. We are not short of ideas but they have yet to be moulded into a coherent whole. This is why your blog is so relevant.
If you think that’s bad, you should see the hatchet job the Telegraph are pulling, with the help of Labour MPs who backed Corbyn!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11756688/Half-of-the-Labour-MPs-who-backed-Jeremy-Corbyn-desert-him.html
Shows how desperate the neoliberals are getting, with both Mandelson and Blair “warning” against electing Corbyn. Which makes me hope even more that he’s successful.
Agreed
Telegraph is really rattled
But I stress: I see Corbyn as part of a continuum and hope he will do so as well
Don’t know why The Telegraph is so alarmed Daniel, given that the paper pulled a rather childish stunt a couple of weeks ago in suggesting to it’s readers they register to vote in the leadership contest so they could help vote Corbyn in, thus apparently making Labour unelectable!
The fear and loathing of the British right of any left wing presence in politics really is grotesque.
why is the telegraph alarmed?
I think they’ve noticed that Corbin gives straight answers to questions in contrast to the other three who appear to excrete corkscrews whenever they open their mouths.
I can see that the approach he offers could make him attractive to a wider audience, much in the same way ukip and farage seemed a few years back, but personally I find his predilection for sectarian and violent nationalisms unacceptable.
“… his predilection for sectarian and violent nationalisms”. I think you need to explain this. Jeremy is the most peace-loving politician we have.
I agree
He sought peace in Northern Ireland – and was right to do so
He seeks discussion between Israel and Hamas. Is there any other realistic way forward?
Spot on with the analysis. I was amazed at the number of commentators who lined up against Corbyn.
Were they against the man or his policies? Are the journalists afraid of real change and prefer the security of carping from the left?
I really doubt they are frightened of the man: as far as I can tell he’s an honourable peson doing the job asked of him
So the paranoia is either about the left or change
I suspect it is a biut of both motivated by an exagerated fear that what the left would like is unrecognisable
It is from the heights of neo-feudalism
For most people what the left has to offer is hope, work, security, sustainabiity and growth
By design the MSM journalists are systemic lickspittles – that’s why they have their jobs and why the politicians and the politicians’ bosses spend so much time supplying them with what they like to lap.
The Ancien Regime of the super-wealthy cannot simply allow a left-wing opposition to arise so easily. They’re much happier to see a situation arise as in Europe, where all the social-democratic and pseudo-communist parties collapsed in corruption scandals and made their way into either neoliberalism-light or oblivion with the demolition of the USSR. So now we see the utter tragedy of Greek polity – a non-socialist “leftist” party “in power” that had no intention of doing anything other than plead very hard to its masters in Brussels for manumission, saw a massive “no” vote to austerity as a “yes” to the Eurozone, now passing legislation that will transform the Greek working class into the lifelong victims of Pawnage and debt-slavery. Shameful and inevitable at the same time given the social composition of its leadership and their political philosophy.
Be afraid of parliamentarians. I don’t trust them a millimetre. Not after I met Eric Heffer. We need a different sort of democracy – one that short-circuits the new mediaevalists.
People of good intent will always make the mangerial anodynes that aspire to no more than the serving as a loyal opposition very uncomfortable.
I suspect they’re afraid of the reigns of power being passed to someone outside their neoliberal circle. This eventuality clearly hasn’t been considered, let alone allowed for. No doubt between them, right and left, they thought they had it all sewn up and business would continue as usual. Instead I think we’re watching a plan becoming decidedly untogether 🙂
Hopefully Corbyn can embrace MMT into his economic thinking and develop the People’s/Green QE ideas alongside a Job Guarantee scheme. A JG scheme is pro employment compared to the Green’s Citizen’s Income policy and will set the wage floor for the private sector.
Bernie Sanders has Stephanie Kelton – Corbyn could do with someone similar who can exemplify progressive economics based in reality.
There were several available in the room yesterday
I hope he’s listening to Mariana Mazzucato.
You may already know this Richard but Bill Mitchell is keen to meet with Corbyn..
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=31457
He’s pretty easy to contact
It would probably be better to not ascribe the vitriol towards Mr Corbyn as coming from the likes of Blair/Meddlesome etc, but correctly direct it at the people who are telling the tormenters of Corbyn, and others, what they have to say and do.
They would be the the same people propping-up the crapservative party, and directing money towards the labour party as a backup in case of cameron self-destructing.
Interestingly, a certain Mr Rowan has a bolg also…and he is scathing of the influence, grossly distortionate influence, of “The City” (et-al):
“When you strip away the bombast, the ‘traditions’ and the smart suits, much of membership of the ‘City’ is comprised of a cross section of spivs, wide-boys, buccaneers, shady entrepreneurs, crooks, freemasons and get-rich-quick merchants”
http://rowans-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/the-city-crooks-are-writing-new-chapter.html
I dream of the day that the villains in the “City” serve jail time for their misdeeds.
I fear I won’t be alive to see that happen nor will I be around when the economy is rebalanced so that it is more productive and parasites that inhabit the square mile are constrained.
Regrettably the privileges of the City of London are still to this day enshrined in the Magna Carta. Doubtless the Tories will ensure these survive as the rights of ordinary people are stripped away one by one!
Very true. I also sense fear/confusion in the population. The mind set is – the neoliberal consensus gives us a living. We will lose something supporting the alternatives; lose our pensions, lower wages, less luxuries, a different lifestyle imposed. The elite project “we are the Wealth Creators”, throw us out and you won’t have wealth [debt], your life support will be cut off [the cruel budget cements these ideas]. I’m sorry to say this is already happening – wake up. About ten years ago I stopped being an on-off Labour Party member, 18 months ago I stopped my very long term Guardian subscription, 12 months ago I joined the Greens and stopped voting Labour.
The turning point for me was sustainability of resources, planet and people. Labour can’t just bolt this on to a neoliberal backbone – hence problems for Burnham, Kendall and Cooper et al. It is incongruent to neoliberalism. And look at the commitment of some Labour MPs – Kinnock absents himself from the benefits vote – a sad day for Welsh political representation — he falls at the first hurdle — who/what does he [Labour] stand for? Look at Mairhi Black, Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn, Leanne Wood — it is possible.
“The truth is that the unlikely rise of Jeremy Corbyn suggests that there is a rise in discontent with the politics of the mainstream.”
It says far more about how out of touch Labour activists are than it does the rest of the country. I’m still amazed that almost 3 months after the GE there are still people who persist in the belief that Labour lost because it was too right wing.
You might be
Realists are not
I’m amazed that there are people so out-of-touch with the reality of life that they persist in the idea that the state is failing people because it’s too left-wing. Ring any bells?
I think FDR said he was happy to be defined by the character and nature of his enemies.
If that is the case with Jeremy, he should be ecstatic.
It doesn’t get him elected though.
And if labour doesn’t get elected his views do not matter.
I quite liked Michael Foot and John Smith.
Neither made it through “the system”.
I suspect that though Mr Corbyn is a nice guy, and his views are “soft” left, the press will destroy him: Totally.
No party will be elected unless their leader is supported by the mainstream press.
The electorate, while not stupid, are unable to recognise they are being led down the garden path.
They expect their news to be “true”……
I think you are wrong
For the sake of the people of this country I have to believe that
“The electorate, while not stupid,” – evidential basis for that observation? I’m afraid there is a certain percentage of the electorate (24.8%?) who are calloused and indifferent to the outrages of the last five years and live in a cocoon of there own measly and small-minded sense of security and who don’t give a flying fandango about the community, environment and the suffering of their fellows – I’m ashamed to share the planet with such gargoylish distortions of human nature.
That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try.
Or should he leave it to the likes of liz kendall or Liam Byrne and his absurd Red Shift (the f is silent)?
I’m amazed at the claims by the other leadership contenders (and amplified byythe press) that they know what the electorate wants all of a sudden.
They only seem to know what the 25% that voted tory want.
They do not seem to recognise that there is 75% of the vote to play for.
The electorate, while not stupid,” — evidential basis for that observation? I’m afraid there is a certain percentage of the electorate (24.8%?) who are calloused and indifferent to the outrages of the last five years and live in a cocoon
– by which you mean democracy in action. You may not like or agree with the result but the electorate have spoken, I think calling them calloused and indifferent just because you don’t agree with them is rather small minded
At the time of John Smith’s death in 1994, Labour had a commanding poll lead over the Tories. If Smith had lived another few years, he undoubtedly would have been Prime Minister.
I wish we had more politicians both left and right who would come up with some fresh thinking a bit of imagination and then “SPEAKUP”
leave the bloke alone he needs encouragement!
If he believes in what he’s saying long may he say it, win or not.
‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.’
Gramsci currently seems very apt.
The neoliberal paradigm is fraying globally. Hence, the frantic efforts to impose the so-called ‘trade deals’ which are intended to bypass sovereign governments of whatever complexion.
I keep remembering the mantra: First they ignore you; then they ridicule; then they attack. In the final stage, they are supposed to agree with you but my concern is with the attack stage. We’ve seen how the ECB, the troika have been able to subjugate Syriza and Greece, and I worry what sort of financial weapons George Osborne might employ in the UK to similar effect.
It seems to me interesting in relation to the Labour leadership battle that although Syriza has lost its battle with the troika it remains popular with the Greek electorate. I think there is also a similar theme with regard to the SNP and it’s completely at odds with the Blairite presumption that electoral success lies with divining what the ‘middle ground’ wants and then seeming to offer to deliver it – all the Labour leadership candidates following that line just come over as so shifty.
I think that Corbyn’s values are appealing to younger potential Labour voters and the more the hated Bliars and Meddlesomes go on the more support Corbyn will get from the victims of neo-liberalism-so carry on Tony and Peter!!
Quite, I agree. Most of today’s youth have been s**t upon from a great height and why wouldn’t they vote for views they actually can believe in?
The press may be upset but many of the young – probably most – do not read it so why should they care? (Indeed it is probably more of a scandal that the BBC gives so much publicity to the views of the press.)
i think shares in toilet roll companies must be skyrocketing-there is real fear that Corbyn may express an underlying groundswell of opposition!
HOWEVER – I would like to believe that the present political ‘consensus’ is dying but I believe, sadly, that it has some time to run due to a largely scared, duped, prone and cowed public with a Tory voting middle-class contingent wanting to hang on to its own narcissistic corner. Viral narcolepsy will take time to shift. Corbyn may be a start or may even be a false dawn-but I’m afraid this sh*t has a long time to run in its immiseration, pauperisation and social stigmatisation of large parts of the populace.
I really hope I’m wrong here!
I agree with the Gramsci quote, above, and so, I believe from the trailers and teasers, though the whole book is not yet out, does Paul Mason, in his new ‘Post-Capitalism. There is certainly an air about the place that a new form, monster or perfect child as it may be, is about to burst from the blasted husk of neoliberalism. Straight, honest Corbyn could be the midwife to a different future. None of the other ‘leadership’ candidates could!
I wish I could be more more optimistic but given TTIP etc, I think we’ll the likes of Warrant Officer Ripley to deal with what seems to be bursting out of the body of neo-liberalism rather than the affable Mr Corbyn!!
I posted on whether Jeremy Corbyn could be PM in 2020, very brief and to the point. You might well be very amused, don’t rule it out.
Very good
Spot on
You need to add re-tweeting button on blog for moments like this when I am on a London bus….
New Labour castigating JC supporters have failed to recognise that this grouping is anti austerity, not old labour. It is very 2015, as are Podmos in Spain and Syriza in Greece. All of these groups have attracted the young, who, it could be argued, have suffered most from the neo limbs imposition of austerity following the criminal activities of the banks which caused the 2008 credit crunch.
Conservatives aren’t frightened of Corbyn. Most of us want him to win so that Labour is cast into the wilderness by the electorate.
Outstanding. Good points well made. It is sickening and shameful that Guardian leader writers/columnists are apparently queuing up to hurl abuse at someone who is proposing the UK should act more like that “basket case” Germany, rather than pursue the Bangladeshi sweatshop model ao apparently beloved by George Osborne and David Cameron.
I suggest everyone who agrees should install the browser extension “uBlock”, so that Guardian understands, through loss of revenue, how strongly its readership feels about its odious stance.
I agree with the Gramsci quote above. There is a gaping void in politics for an alternative narrative and set of ideas.
The left has to reclaim the aspiration narrative. I.E. it’s not about people wanting to work hard versus those who don’t, but that the left aspires to things like:
– sensible housing policy with a renewed model for social housing, home ownership outside of the normal market (e.g.ability to buy a social housing property at a fraction of current market rates with strict limits on resale or letting it)
– relevant and beneficial education for all. Training in skills in life and for in workplaces. Re your recent post Richard, I don’t take issues with essays but instead coursework (e.g. school cookery or technology lessons where 1 lesson in four is doing practical skills, the rest generic coursework )
-/sustainability / engineering and science – the UK has a proud history of leading the world in terms of engineering and scientific discovery. The UK should be building on this strength, and the power of its universities to lead the world in adapting to meet the challenges of a world without fossil fuels. Even if you are a climate change denier(not me) then you can or deny that fossil fuels are running out and this is a massive strategic security liability for the UK. This argument should even persuade those on the right to get behind this most important of projects.
Just a few thoughts there but what I am getting at is that aspiration is not just the ‘climbing the ladder in Surrey’ notion that the right have claimed it to be. Those on the right in the labour party are right to say that aspiration is key to winning an election but not for the reasons they think it is. Politicians have to either offer hope or instil fear (either of themselves, or of the alternatives to their narratives) in order to gain support. Hope for the future is currently totally lacking from the political discourse and an alternative model has to engage the public in adapting to the future, based around a vision of future prosperity. I think your green QE is a good starting point for that.
I fear that the above will not happen and neoliberalism will.not quietly transition away. I fear that it will first descend into either war or dictatorship.
*cannot deny, I mean.
If Corbyn does win, expect the formation of a new Blairite SDLP-style breakaway. If Corbyn doesn’t win, the Labour Party is finished – the young, the poor and the economically literate will abandon it – a new party will emerge, as in Greece & Spain. As a lifelong Labour voter and former party member I and many of my friends can no longer tolerate the acceptance of the neo-liberal world view. It seems that a fault line has opened that cannot be bridged.
There can be little doubt about it, that the right wing press, media & politicians are very worried indeed. The coming forward of labour MP’s in the media to announce they would not support Jeremy Corbyn as leader and Blair’s “anyone with their heart in the politics of Jeremy Corbyn need to have a transplant” were a disgusting and vile reflection of the depths to which our political elite will stoop to defend their adoration of neo-liberalism.
Evidently the labour party elitists have lost their ways and forgotten the very basis on which the party was founded. The party is fundamentally broken and possibly beyond repair. If anyone can save it, it’s Jeremy Corbyn, a man I have met on a number of occasions and hugely admire, but I fear that both the task at hand and the opposition he will inevitably face may be too great even for him, if he is elected as leader.
Following the recent summer budget and events in Greece there definitely is a growing anger among people that neo-liberal politics does not match with their needs. I believe that the labour party is just the most recent victim of a wider crisis in both our system of politics and wider society. It is a damming indictment of our political system that following the recent general election, we have a majority government for which just 24.7% of the electorate voted for.
In response to all of the above, I have set up a new grassroots group of people resident in the UK. The purpose of the group is to provide a platform for people to come together to discuss, debate, design & build a better, fairer & more democratic UK society where everyone will have an equal chance to prosper. One of the ways this might be achieved is through a peoples constitution, as they did in Iceland, but ultimately it is for the group members to make all decisions from naming the group to deciding how to reach it’s goals and everything in between.
Group meetings will be held online as webinars and the first meeting will take place this coming Monday 27th July from 8.00-9.30pm. Anyone with UK residency may join the group by sending an email to redesigndemocracy@yahoo.co.uk
interestingly-in America something similar is playing out in the Democratic Party-Bernie Sanders is creating a stir much like Corbyn over here. Hilary Clinton (holds up crucifixes and garlic!) is getting nervous about Sanders.
These are good signs but the neo-lib ‘world order’ will take years to dismantle and it ain’t gonna go quietly.
I agree that it will howl and scream to the last
Another problem of neoliberal thinkers is that they believe in automatic progress.
So we have all the media hype and scaremongering about Jeremy Corbyn being a throwback to the 1980’s, caricatured as the dark days of fruitless Labour opposition under Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock. Surely, they assume, we have moved on from then?
Yet they overlook the facts about what has really changed under neoliberalism. Inequality has increased, there are millions, including children, still living in poverty. Markets have failed to deliver in essential services and pensions, and we have had the global financial crash. It is inconceivable to them that these things are direct consequences of neoliberal policy, so the solution must be to cut back more of the state for being notoriously inefficient, and live within the means of wealth created by the private sector. Failure to identify the root cause of the situation leads to the mistaken solution being chosen time and time again.
To quote Bernard Lonergan, a civilisation in decline digs its own grave with relentless consistency.
Perhaps a return to the 1980’s might not be such a bad thing? Perhaps that’s when it all started to go wrong? An authentic voice of what the left truly represents needs to be heard loud and clear. Thank you Richard for highlighting these issues.
It’s extraordinary how the neo-libs use the 80’s to bash Labour whereas the Left has countless things to choose to bash the right with but doesn’t bother to do so!
The Lonergan quote is very apposite – do you know which of his books it came from?
The Lonergan quote is from the last part of his chapter on the Human Good in “Method in Theology”, 1972. This book is actually more about Method than Theology, so it transposes well to other disciplines too.
I also think it complements well Mr Murphy’s own book “The Courageous State”, particularly the economic myths and four areas of human achievement. There is a lot to be gleaned from reading Lonergan, although it is not so immediate and requires effort to learn.
There’s a lot of lazy, partisan hack journalism in the Guardian, but I don’t agree with your opening paragraphs.
Perkins’ article was an opinion column, and not pretending to be objective. It was also a piece about the Labour leadership. Whether we like it or not, the next leader of the Labour party will have a lot of power to shape the future of the UK. Lucas and Sturgeon have many excellent qualities but neither one is going to be elected Labour leader, so it would not make much sense for Perkins to discuss them in that context.
Likewise, in saying it “was not possible to be too rude about Corbyn”, I think the Guardian was (accurately) describing the attitude of senior Labour figures, not necessarily endorsing it.
To be fair you touched on this, because the reaction to the current consensus may not necessarily be Left Wing but could be Right wing. Left wingers tend to assume that the world revolves around them, and the populace would only hold their views
if it was not, say, for the dastardly Media. Let me tell you from life experience the populace are a bit smarter than that, they have an inherent distrust of intellectual left wingers who pontificate from ivory towers but don’t have the skills or determination to get their hands dirty by actually running or working in anything. It’s only by doing that that you realise you have to get broad consensus i.e. talk and bargain with your political opposites, to achieve progress.
Oh, you mean right wing intellectuals do something?
Pull the other one
The distrust of politicians is of all parties
And perhaps you forgot Labour held power for thirteen years recently?
You’ve really hit a few nerves with this piece, Richard.
Plenty of the comments have come from right-wingers which suggests to me that you have plenty of right-wingers as regular readers of your blog. The generally awful tone of their comments suggests to me that they’re more than a little concerned that what you write has them worried.
But most of the comments seem supportive of JC. It may not be a representative sample but the reactions to this piece suggest that there are plenty of people out there who would prefer an alternative to the failed neo-liberal worldview, to continuing down the self-satisfied and entitled road peddled by the right.
In summary, your voice of reason is being taken on board by both the left and the right, albeit for different reasons. May hope and a willingness to speak out bravely be rewarded.
Thanks Nick
I promise I will just keep saying it as I see it
It helps that I am an observer: I look on in this and am not a participant
The fight against the neo- liberals is likely to be a long battle and I see Jeremy Corbyn as the long awaited start of this. It may be that his selection does not result in his election but at least a different agenda will be presented for the electorate to think about and this government would be more actively held accountable. I am not that interested in the Labour Party getting elected if they just continue neo-liberal policies just because this is the only thing the press will tolerate.
Another possible interesting development is that, just as Blair has lost even more credibility from his recent comments, the press may also start to lose credibility with their knee jerk reactions to ideas that the majority of the population actually support.