File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-01-25.033, message 56


Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 15:13:24 +1000 (EST)
From: Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan-AT-qut.edu.au>
Subject: M-I: Odder thoughts on Britain


My month in Ulster gave me the opportunity to catch up on British newspapers
and  television.  I also got up to date with what is going on or not going
on in Ireland and I amy post on this soon.  suffice to say that everyone in
Ulster is waiting for Blair.

The Labour Party is so far ahead in the polls, and the Tories are is such
disarray that I must be the only one who thinks that Major can beat Blair.
In my mind's eye the Tories are like the "corpse" in a Stephen King book who
suddenly revives and grabs you by the ankle, provoking untold terror.

I am also inclined to agree with Tom Nairn's observation that England the
real England is irredeemably tory.

Apart from this what makes me think blair can still be beaten is that he is
not contesting hegemony in any way. The Tories have  but to accuse him of
something and he will rush to change it. He is perpetually on the defensive.
Perpetually trying to prove he is not a socialist.

Thus as I was waiting for my plane I had the great joy of hearing the leader
of British labour Saying that he supported a policy of zero tolerance of
homelessness.  There are not words strong enough to express my contempt for
this little shit.  What we desperately need is a policy of zero tolerance
for the wealthy and instead we get this -The poor as Public Enemy No 1-.
Prescott the left apologist for Blair was on trying to excuse or cover for
his leader.

I  did get a laugh out of Blair though.  He went on a popular tv chat show
to try and show he was human.  He told a story about smuggling on board a
plane for the Caribbean when he was a schoolboy.  

How daring of the leader!  His dad though sort of spoiled  it all by saying
it wa a load of nonsense and never happened.

The spin doctors it seems perceive a problem with Blair and are anxious to
link him to the people.  Of course the petty bourgeois bastards have no
idea how to.

There was also a serious critique of Blair's politics from I suspect Will
Hutton in an Observer editorial.  Basically Hutton wants Labour elected but
worries that Blair is so right wing that he may not launch the sort of
Keynesian program necessary to revive British industry. 

I have no idea what the working class will make of all this.  I suspect they
are ignoring Blair and just want the Tories out. The defeat of the Tories
will still represent something of a victory for the working class, though
the struggle against the Labour government if one should eventuate will be
particularly bitter.



regards

Gary



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