The right wing of the Tory party got its attitude to regulation wrong.
It got its faith in markets wrong.
It got its attitude to those who need state support wrong.
It got its belief that the only job of government was to get out of peoples' lives wrong.
Some of us have said this for a long time. Others have only done so for a few days. It does not matter which is the case; Grenfell Tower is the shocking evidence that this is true.
But in that case it is important to ask what else the Tories (and others of neoliberal belief, because these errors were not made by Tories alone) got wrong.
They got their attitude to experts wrong. And so they got their attitude to doctors, teachers, fire officers, the police, judges, probation officers, housing officials, social workers, environmental experts, academics, health and safety officers and so many others wrong.
They got their attitude to tax wrong. Low taxes for the rich do not deliver prosperity, even for the rich.
They got their attitude to Europe wrong. The EU might be flawed but its cost sharing approach to the development of the regulation we need to make the modern world work is the right one.
They got their attitude to government spending wrong. Government spending creates income, and that's a benefit, not a curse.
They got their attitude to debt wrong. They tried to reduce government debt which is the foundation for the safe savings that underpin private wealth whilst encouraging private debt that grips peoples' lives.
They got their attitude to social security wrong in so many ways. Worst of all, they treated those making claim as if they were scroungers when people who have need deserve the right to a decent life when they are denied it by a market that does not value them for who they are.
They didn't value people for who they are.
They didn't value people for who they might be either. And so they burdened them with debt for their education.
They didn't realise that it isn't the savings of the elderly that provide them with their pensions. It is the willingness of the young to care for them that does that. But they treated the young with contempt because they chose to follow the wealth.
They assumed that the planet was an asset to exploit and not an ecosystem to sustain.
They treated any culture but their own with contempt.
They considered it impertinent for others to ask them questions. So they denied the right to free speech and assembly.
They denied those working the right to negotiate.
They considered London the epicentre of the known world, and that nowhere else mattered.
They considered that in the absence of real colonies Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could have to act as substitutes, where relative poverty would ensure a continual supply of labour to south-east England.
They believed they had a right to govern and so sought to shrink parliament and ensure it remained as unrepresentative as possible.
They measured people by their worth, and ensured that most counted for nothing.
They thought nothing mattered but them. That, and their right to a free-ride on the back of others.
And that's what they got most wrong. Which is why we really do have to reject all they stood for.
It won't be enough to change the cladding after Grenfell Tower, although that may be necessary. It is the the whole rotten attitude of contempt that has hidden behind a veneer of respectability that has to change now.
Nothing less will do.
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Grenfell Tower – I have been trying to keep my cool about this but, hey it’s actually all too much.
It is screamingly obvious that the authorities, being government, local councils, whoever, are completely and utterly incompetent. Ephemeral platitudes purporting to give a damn are insulting and quite frankly risible.
This sort of tragedy would be totally avoidable, if not for lazy, penny pinching governments, councils and contractors who seem to think that their own self importance and status are far more important than human life.
This ever worsening attitude is basically a propagation of the general don’t give a damn attitude that lies at the centre of political and corporate values now pervading our lives “..doesn’t directly affect me, negative monetary impact, so don’t really give a shit”.
I would probably go as far as to say that corner cutting, cost cutting and back handers is the simple answer to why this tragedy occurred – but hey, let’s have a lengthy, protracted and extremely costly Public Enquiry and come to the same conclusion, by which time those responsible will have been able to skulk off in the knowlege that being part of the establishment or being in the back pockets of the establishment, they will have some sort of “year and a day” get off clause to mitigate their responsibilities.
We purport to live in a civilised society where our past mistakes are to be noted by others for the better good, but where our past mistakes were justifiable until they became untenably.
This nation is run by and financed by arrogant pond life whose sole “raison d’être” is “do not give a fuck about anyone else” and further exasperated by a flawed, nepotistic and broken legal system.
I suppose the guilty parties are at least safe in the knowlege that our civilised society isn’t governed under an “eye for an eye” dictatorship…if it was they would themselves be burned alive.
The ultimate praise should also go to ALL the emergency services.
Praise also to the friends, neighbours and general public who have given more in the last few days than the authorities ever would.
SHARE THIS PLEASE, HOWEVER BADLY WRITTEN, HEADS SHOULD ROLL
I agree.
(Please edit typos…thanks)
T
Send me an email with thn highlighted please
It’s very hard to see them in your own work
My apologies. Mea culpa. I had copied the bit and forgot to past.
Here it is.
“Ireland could gave to act”
Please delete my comments afterwards. Thanks.
T
I think I have corrected that now….
My compliments.
This is a piece of writing that comes across like a literary pugilist landing quick and accurate punches on their opponent. It is passionate, heartfelt and satisfyingly complete.
One thing that struck me about the Tory response to this was how they keep reminding us that they have set aside £5 million to help the victims as if this will solve everything. Personally I was surprised not to see the army involved helping out. did they get involved. It all seemed to be local people to me.
In the film ‘The Big Short’ one of the principle characters (an investment fund manager) had a brother who committed suicide. Towards the end of story the character breaks down and finally starts to come to terms with the death.
He confesses that when his brother told him that he’d had bad thoughts, the first thing the investment manager did was to offer the brother money rather than take the time to talk. There then follows some soul searching about how being in the business of money distorts peoples attitudes and makes them less human, less empathetic. It is a moving scene in an otherwise fast paced, funny and visceral story.
But the scene and the problem seem to exist off screen and in real life too in West London and in the bowels of the Tory party and our other ‘institutions’.
What made me angry yesterday as a republican was to turn on the TV to watch England play Argentina at rugby to only find the Royal Family together watching a really expensive and rather unnecessary over-celebration of whatever.
To me the whole event was in bad taste because of the fire but also because of austerity. Some people really do not get it do they?
And there was the young male royal (strategically placed at the front of course), more healthy looking and happier than far too many of his fellow countryman of similar age will be (or have been since 2010) waving at the aircraft.
I saw Phil say something to Liz. Was it something like:
‘I say Lizzie old girl, what sort of external cladding did one say one had on one’s palace again?’
You are quite right. And a free market driven by greed makes us all worse off. The growth of regulation is not a conspiracy by the EU or some other bogeyman. It is the inevitable response to the tendency to do down others for gain. It is true that regulation has a cost. Effective enforcement has an even bigger cost. But we do without it at our peril. It cannot be reduced by a simplistic policy of “cutting red tape”. It can only be reduced by a culture of taking responsibility and treating others with respect. Such a culture has been undermined since 1979. We can only hope that this is a turning point.
Mr Hammond is on Marr still spouting the “We must live within our means and balance the budget”
Either he believes this in which case he is not fit to be Chancellor or he doesn’t and he’s not fit to be Chancellor.
Almost as bad is that Marr seems to be clueless as well.
Grenfell Tower survivors sleeping on floors days after the event, after more than 130 offers were made to the council to accommodate them. It’s a Third World earthquake story, not a 21st-Century UK one.
I’m seeing on Twitter the govt appears to be trying to disperse the survivors, telling them either they go accept accommodation in other parts of the country or be treated as having made themselves homeless and abandoned. It strikes me the govt fear these people as a body, and that’s why they’re trying to disperse them. I wonder what they know?
Here, I found video testimony https://twitter.com/imjustbait/status/876206132745949184/video/1 Click on the picture and it should play.
I meant to say above, ‘intentionally’ homeless, which means they get no help at all. One wonders how many more stories are out there which would outrage us if we were to hear them, and how little there is of this in the MSM.
I think we need to remember, while it might feel like a ‘turning point’ that we have a very divided country. Although the remarkable election showed a sudden surge for change as the power-dressed veil of illusion fell from the perception of the Tories they still got 42% of the vote or about 29% of the electorate. They are UP by about 5% since the last election.
I suspect that if an election were held now, Labour would win. As others have observed on this site, neo-liberalism ain’t disappearing anytime soon. Now is the time to keep getting the message across about neo-liberalism’s dehumanising failures and the web of deceit it spins about human possibilities.
Simon,
(The Tories)”are UP by about 5% since the last election”
In terms of vote share, yes – flowing from votes lost by UKIP (mostly)and other minor parties. Interestingly, Labour was up by almost 10% on the same basis. I wouldn’t necessarily interpret any of that as Tory resilience.
“neo-liberalism ain’t disappearing anytime soon”
Well, given its relatively slow start, historically, and its near 40 year tenure, I now see it evaporating at a rate that is a lot faster than I expected. But that’s a matter of perspective I suppose.
It seems like it hass used up all its chips. It has virtually nothing left to privatise (nothing at all within tolerable limits). Inequality has also reached tolerable, viable limits. Leaving the masses with next to no income flattens agregate demand which then leaves the rich with lots of money and nothing to invest in except those those stupid rent-seeking, bubble markets which are looking like they’re ready to pop once again. “Free” trade has become the widely despised fuel that has driven the rise of the alt-right (and, to some extent, “far” left). There will be no putting that genie back in its bottle.
Everything that neo-liberalism has or represents is either wholly on the nose or running on empty. Any “consensus” that it might have had has now been permanently broken. Its decline may seem slow to some but it is inevitable nonetheless.
That’s not an attempt at optimism. Its a reading of history.
Oh, and there is of course one thing that I forgot to mention. The neoliberal (once known as monetarist), their preferred economic policy tool is monetary policy which evolved into inflation / interest-rate targeting under their watch.
That tool would now appear to be broken as well. It is squeezed by the zero lower bound (they can’t cut interest rates below zero)and the expansionary measures that they have used (lower rates / QE)merely fuel asset-price inflation rather than demand. The asset-rich might enjoy that for a while but its not sustainable. It just hastens the next crisis and next time their options will have already been exhausted.
If may also add the following – describing his philosophical views, Frank Zappa stated, “I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a ‘temporary license to exist’–in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government–it doesn’t own you.”
And Frank Zappa is wrong
You don’t own the government
Society does
OK I think we can paraphrase his comment as meaning the same thing…we are society
No, since society is a collection of “yous” you are wrong and Frank Zappa is right.
Certainly Mr Zappa has sold far far more records than you have sold books. In fact, he’s sold more books than you have and he’s a musician.
So clearly his ideas, as expressed through his music and writing, have gained more traction in society. You would do well to chill out and listen to some of his music. And read some of his writings.
Silly me; I forget: the market determines right and wrong
Of course it does
I’ll always remember in future.
But I very much doubt you have one here
When I think of society, I think there is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.
That was on display after the Grenfall fire. The ‘tapestry’ came to life and people rushed to aid their fellow citizens.
Ah, the hard right and Victorian view that it’s all down to the charity of those with time to do tapestry
Let me assure you, it does not work
Sure thing Sally-Ann,
And Barbara Cartland has sold more than Frank Zappa – so she must be even wiser.
Right?
Whatever..
As a Zappa fan there was no doubt that he was an individualist but I think that when he said what he said he meant ‘society’ because even he knew that collective action was better than one individual standing up to the US Government. Throughout his career Zappa took issues on sometimes on his own, sometimes collectively.
In Michael Moore’s film ‘Sicko’ he interviews a bunch of fellow Americans who are living and working in Paris (France) comparing the welfare and health systems of both countries.
Rather tellingly one of the Americans he interviews (in a group that agrees with this sentiment) puts it like this:
‘Over here (France) the Government is afraid of the people; in America, people are afraid of the Government’.
Apologies, we have a bit of confusion here I think: Mr Zappa, was brought up following my earlier post to further enhance my point that government is here for the people, not the other way around. Albeit everyone needs government, and a country or mass entity could not exists safely without a government, the emphasis has shifted away from looking after and supporting that society to a facile comedy of semi dictatorships. We vote for a government based on promises made by said government to run things accordingly…only to ascertain that once they are in power those promises are voided and false.
Governments do not listen to scientific advice of common sense if it doesn’t suit their ends and therefore they are not acting for the people they are purported to represent.
I get a feeling that the mention of Frank Zappa as a person who could be listened to by the “establishment” fits in to the same category as above, most certainly as a mere “musician” and therefore likely to have no pertinent comments. This of course is utter tosh.
The statement of his which I have transcribed above can me misrepresented in any way required to fit him “out” of being a person able to make a viable and justified judgement.
The fact is that it is blatantly obvious what he’s is saying, and it is blatantly obvious that he is correct.
Do not get confused by what is and what should be…in the same vain that what is legal and what is ethical and correct are two entirely different things.
As an aside the poor man had to live in America- he should know better than us.
Let’s not get too serious here.
After all, it was Zappa who was supposed have said that ‘Politics is the entertainment branch of industry’.
Let me be honest: I suspect I do know a Frank Zappa song, but I can’t think of one right now
In view of all the above, especially the attacks on local authorities, and remembering also how Richard M was criticised in one person’s post for presuming to have building expertise over cladding, when Richard only expressed an opinion on the cladding, as we all have, truth to tell, maybe a real expert’s view might be worth considering.
Try the following: https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2017/jun/17/architects-grenfell-tower-fire-was-an-avoidable-tragedy?CMP=share_btn_fb
This lays the blame fairly and squarely with the neo-liberal lunatics in the Government, who clearly believe the pap and tosh on stilts that they have been force-feeding the whole of society, ever since “the Wicked Witch of the West” entered Downing Street in 1979.
Either that or – what is worse – they knew, and know, it is tosh, and have been conducting a massive “distraction burglary” for nearly 40 years, as they hoovered up the social and financial capital built up over decades by the whole of society, redirecting that wealth into their own pockets and/or that of their chums, henchmen, cronies and sidekicks.
Time the cowardly (and avaricious!) State stood aside, and let the people and their really democratically accountable representatives (rather than the faux-accountable apparatchiks of the incipiently neo-feudal neo-liberal sham democracy) get on with the job of rebuilding a solidarity society, in which we are all genuinely our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and really “all in it together”.
If only the Tories had made a bonfire of the attitudes listed and not innocent people!
It is being mooted on the Guardian’s website that Khan has called for similar blocks to Grenfell Tower to be pulled down.
Hmmmm…………
This is quite worrying. Where will the displaced people go? Will they ever come back? You can’t get many houses on the footprint of a tower block I can tell you? An opportunity for more social cleansing? I hope not – especially with a Labour mayor in power.
Why can’t they just bite the bloody bullet and make the blocks safe?!!
I can’t see demolition as an option for now
But if it is we’d better get building remarkably quickly
Khan’s suggestion, if it is left unclarified, still leaves room for worry about gentrication and displacement.
“The Grenfell Tower fire was a “preventable accident” caused by “years of neglect” by the local council and successive governments, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said.”
The above is from the BBC website
The London major attributes blame to sucessive governments
Let be fair shal we?
Why should we be fair to a bunch of politicians who want to rip the guts out of our country and who, it must be said, have had plenty of time but no apparent willingness to address these issues. I’m on the side of rage at their catastrophic incompetence and indifference to the consequences of their economic ineptitude. Anything less is, in my view, so mightily disrespectful to the rights of the dead, the injured, the homeless and the mighty community response that shamed that of our leaders.
Just in case you want to be political about it, I would feel the same if any government of any party had failed its people so badly. There’s a time to be fair and a time to say “enough”. This is most definitely the latter.
http://www.dispossessionfilm.com
But where is the £5m to come from? Have May and Hammond unearthed the fabled ‘magic money tree.’ You get so tired of Hammond and co spouting such economically illiterate tosh, although I suppose it suits their small state agenda. But do they really believe it? In the meantime people are dying from the effects of austerity and not just in Grenfell Tower.
£5m is petty cash to government
Richard, slightly OT, but if, as it appears, K&C council have over the years run surpluses (ie charged residents millions more than the council actually spent on services for those residents) and, as a result, squirrelled away £270m(!!) into their reserves, could that not be construed as fraud or even theft?
If not legally, then, at least -as it appears to me – morally.
If you are quoting the Times story – I had some involvement in that
And yes. It’s true…
No, I don’t take the Times, in any form.
It just seemed to me that the Council were blatantly overcharging for the, clearly meagre, services they were prepared to offer.
With a captive audience of council tax payers, that seems like fraud or theft to me.
Is it legal?
Yes, I am sure it is legal
And because councils can’t issue money of their own they do need contingencies
Yep. Peanuts for the paupers.
“Low taxes for the rich do not deliver prosperity, even for the rich.”
I like this line – a lot.
For some time now it has, or should have become, apparent that once the mega-rich have bought everything that might satisfy personal consumption (as we might try to imagine it) they turn their attention to things that are ‘exclusive’ because they are in fixed supply – like the most desired, prime-location real estate for example.
As they do so they become locked into a bidding war, a closed auction of sorts where their grossly inflated incomes merely drive-up the price of fixed-supply assets. The assets remain much the same but more expensive and the mega-rich find that big money doesn’t buy as much as it used to. The asset sellers that are presumed to have gained from this may find that their real incomes are up against the same limits.
In some ways greater inequality can be really pointless and wasteful for all concerned.
Agreed
As Veblen predicted a century ago
Mrs May and, frankly, a great many MPs have absolutely no idea what they are doing!
They have the power to spend obscene amounts of OUR money and mess around with OUR lives with no forethought for the consequences. They cannot form a legislation that has, in most cases, the slightest chance of success! They are like small kids!!! I take that back; small kids with Lego bricks would maker a better fist at building our future!!
They should go back to school, learn basic arithmetic, economics and, on the “playing fields of Eton” learn SPORTSMANSHIP and FAIR PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Youy are wrong
The government money is not yours
It belongs tio the government
It is much more accurate to say your money is the government’s – look who printed it
However, what seems clear is you need to get acquainted with these issues. I suggest my book The Joy of Tax
What does my “comment is awaiting moderation” mean ?
It means it is waiting for me to approve it
And sometimes that takes time because I have the rest of life to get on with and this blog fits in between that
If your blood pressure can take it, here is a free market response to Grenfell (hat tip Neon)
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-16/beware-of-blaming-government-for-london-tower-fire
(Megan McArdle is a quite well known financial journalist, but I think somewhere on the barking wing of the American right.)
I have read it…
I have just read this from my favourite social policy guru (Paul Spicker):
http://wp.me/p6x0MC-1uS
Given that all I’ve seen is local people involved in dealing with this issue (as well as the emergency services) it seems obvious to me that K & C Borough Council are the first line of failure that must be dealt with.
Excellent – succinct and accurate. Up there with “J’accuse”! Hope it is circulated widley.
I disagree,we used to barter. Money replace this. Barter was an individual’s wares and skills exchanged for others. Therefore money earned is OUR money and we surrender some of it for taxes to help our Country help us!
In the case of Grenfell towers, the proper use of these funds was not observed or the correct fire resistant materials would have been used!
I applaud all the firemen, police, hospitals and other people who helped and in many cases risked their own
lives to help those poor people trapped. They are heroes and a credit to our Nation.
You clearly have no a clue about modern money, let alone tax
It’s wise to get to know what you are talking about
We didn’t used to barter. Read ‘Debt; the First 5000 Years’ by David Graeber or watch this handy video 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZIINXhGDcs
Ok. I admit I am just an ordinary lay person and does not have a degree in politics. However, the basic fact remains. People work to keep themselves and their families and pay tax to the government for the Country’s benefit. This money WHOEVER it belongs to (which refers to my “error”! In my first post) needs to be spent wisely and not wasted!!!
The opinion of small people like me is just as important as corporate opinion! Corporate is wrong? So what!
I don’t dispute government needs to spend well
Oddly enough, when those who think it wasted get into power they rarely find much evidence that it is