{"id":28973,"date":"2015-05-09T17:49:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T16:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=28973"},"modified":"2015-05-09T17:49:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T16:49:50","slug":"i-am-deeply-aspirational-but-dont-confuse-that-with-the-pursuit-of-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2015\/05\/09\/i-am-deeply-aspirational-but-dont-confuse-that-with-the-pursuit-of-wealth\/","title":{"rendered":"I am deeply aspirational – but don’t confuse that with the pursuit of wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alan Johnson said today that Labour must be more appealing to the aspirational<\/a>. I leave Labour's debates to it to pursue, but there is a deeper issue in here. Alan Johnson is undoubtedly confusing aspiration with a desire for material accumulation.<\/p>\n

Let me be clear, a desire for material well being is natural. But it is not without limit. Only advertising has created that belief.<\/p>\n

And aspiration is for very much more than material well being. I explored these issues extensively in The Courageous State<\/a>, and offered theory based on my logic.<\/p>\n

But suffice to say that as material well being I aspire to strong relationships, including with, but also well beyond, my family.<\/p>\n

And I desire the intellect to understand, relate to and participate in the world of which I am a part.<\/p>\n

And I seek to understand my purpose in that world.<\/p>\n

These four aspirations make up a person, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Johnson subscribes to aspiration in the only area that can actually harm our well-being in the other areas and constrain our ability to achieve well-being in them whilst also harming the planet and so generations to come (to see how, read the book)<\/p>\n

I reject that politics.<\/p>\n

The fact that it has been the prevailing offering of all the major parties is precisely why, I think, most people deep down know that a great deal of politics - just like \u00a0too much of the advertising nonsense that is thrown at them daily - does not relate to the world they live in.<\/p>\n

We need a politics that speaks to the hopes of the whole person. Rather is the SNP is, like it or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alan Johnson said today that Labour must be more appealing to the aspirational. I leave Labour’s debates to it to pursue, but there is a
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