The third, and final, part of my series on reform and how to tackle it is out today on Substack. You can read it here.
The argument that I present is quite straightforward. This is that if those who support Reform have reasonable grievances with the way society has developed over the last 45 years, we cannot simply wish those away or abuse those who hold them, because there is substance to their complaints. Far too many people have been left behind, living precarious lives as a result of policies promoted over that period. They have a reasonable right to be angry.
At the same time, we cannot look for a neoliberal solution, because neoliberalism deliberately created these problems. The consequence is that we must look for another philosophy to defeat Reform's far-right approach, and that, I suggest, is to be found in the politics of care.
A video version of this series is likely to come out soon.
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I watched the Death of Yugoslavia on iPlayer recently. I could not believe how……………………….’familiar’ it all feels now?
And then I thought about Western/Eastern Europe and realised that it has to be the biggest human graveyard in all history. The EU as a peace project is now in real danger, and somehow I cannot help but think that the UK is heading the same way.
And why? Because simply we continue to allow capital to allocate and claim resources in what is a one way street, leaving too many short and too many looking for something tangible to blame.
Hello Richard.
i don’t know much about Substack, though I do have the app. If I go onto the app and search for ‘Richard Murphy’, I find you right away, but I’m struggling to find the articles on Reform. It seems that your last activity was on 11th March.
If instead I search on Substack for ‘The Politics of Care’ I find the article on Reform right away.
Also in your bio there’s no mention of ‘The Politics of Care’ which I feel is a mistake, as it’s your strongest idea at this moment in time.
As I say I know nothing about Substack but do these things need to be pulled together to make it easier to find for people?
I was just trying out a way to find this stuff on Substack assuming I didn’t have a link from here and had only heard your name somewhere in passing for the first time.
Thanks Gordon
I always provide the links
And the biog on the Politics of Care site has a whole sectuon on – the Politics of Care. https://richardjmurphy.substack.com/about
I could delete the Richard Murphy one – but then someone else might use it.
I wouldn’t trust Nigel as far as I could throw his now old and rusting electrician’s van, but looking at the Reform party website they make some very attractive promises for jobs, education, farming, the NHS etc. I’m not aware that you have yet said anything to refute their ability to deliver these miracles.
What you describe is a modern utopia where many of us would wish to live, given half a chance. To achieve this brave new world, would need the ‘poor’ of the country to stop voting for the desires of the ‘wealth’ of the country. They certainly never used to vote this way before neoliberalism took over the economic system.
The media are largely to blame, being predominantly owned by the ‘wealth’. They are quite happy to use any means, including outright lies, to achieve their ends. The media are largely pushing Reform as their preferred choice and it’s very clear why this is. Reform are an extreme version of the Tories representing ‘wealth’ and extreme neoliberal policies. They pretend to care about the ‘poor’, but it’s obvious they cannot claim this while advocating austerity.
They(Reform) also gave us Brexit which has been a disaster for the economy in many ways and has impoverished the ‘poor’ even further.
So, can we ask, nay demand that our fellow citizens stop voting against their own interests if they wish to inhabit the utopia I mentioned earlier?