The Tories 2012: 3rd Movement

Cutting public spending is not a simply a process to the Tories, or even a plan. it is a reflex. It is an end in itself. It is what they do, what they live for. Increasing it has never been on a Tory manifesto, even though, as they never tire of telling us, they have always done just that even when they have been claiming the opposite, just like today, indeed. But this merely emphasises just how ideologically driven this lot are. And by keeping up this pretence for the benefit of nobody other than the hectoring buffoons on their backbenches - stop borrowing tomorrow and the lights will go off the next day as the country gets repossessed - they part company with Thatcher, who made a virtue of her ideological purity. If policy objectives looked like not being met or, as is the case with the Coalition's austerity fetish, demonstrably crashing to ground in a fireball, rather than pretend otherwise, which would have made her look foolish and was best avoided, the responsible minister got well and truly handbagged. George Osbourne would not have been grinning like the goofy imbecile he is under Mrs Thatcher; and he's no Geoffrey Howe, so unless he's got some good pictures of David Cameron in his Eton yearbook, ones that aren't on Facebook, yet, he should watch out.

The Tories 2012: 2nd Movement

The only solutions being espoused just now are short-term and almost invariably revolve around satisfying the self-declared imperatives of one group of people, usually the same group of people; those with their names on the wealth. This is just as it should be for social Darwinists, but no comfort for those about to be evolved into penury. 

All the evidence, in the last days of the U.K. at any rate, suggests that our leaders' views of what constitutes recovery and economic well-being are markedly at odds with those of the bulk of the population. A Tory government is testament to the quality not of their politics, but of their own free market propaganda as many who voted for it clearly have no logical reason for doing so if all scores are totted up. This has largely been achieved by the same Public Sector Bad/Private Sector Good mantra beloved of Thatcher and creating, all too successfully, a phoney battle that, quite coincidently, splits opposition down the middle and pits worker against worker.

The Tories 2012: an 7 part symphony: Ist movement

In leiu of a New Year's greeting, I bring you a beginner's assessment of the coming year and an introduction to the political themes I somehow suspect will dominate the coming months. Any inferred inconclusiveness is not so much unintentional as unavoidable and, frankly, expedient; any conclusion that might be relevant today will almost certainly be irrelevant next week.

As keeping this to the 1000 word limit our modren world seems to have imposed is impossible, this has been randomly and retrospectively chopped into eight movements for the benefit of those whose time is already imposed upon more than they would like.

I would also like to welcome viewers from Russia and Ukraine who have stumbled into this dusty corner of cyberspace, according to Lord Google. Tell me, how are you finding capitalism? Good, isn't it?

Perpetual Motion: a celebration of modern economics

And it would come to pass that one day, efficiency reigned. Everything and everyone would be the same for ever. Everybody would wear the same clothes, eat the same calorie-controlled diet and work for the same company. There would be one company. Everybody would have seven hobbies. There would be only seven hobbies to have. They would be job descriptions. Everybody would share the same modes of transport and travel the same distance every month. Vacations were part of peoples' occupations, as were redundancies. Hardship and wealth had become optimised as agents of progress. Progress had been driven by necessity. Stability had been the goal and stability had been attained. There would be no more need for change, only growth. Only a few individuals would grow. They would harvest any excess without impediment. This had been proven to be necessary.

Everybody worked all the time. Everybody would serve and everybody would be served equal amounts of everything. There would be no inequality and everybody would treat everybody else identically. There would be no prejudice or discrimination.

Everyone would use the same money and the same bank. There would be one bank. They would use the same shop for everything.  There would be one shop. All branches would be located by strict demographic measurements and proven management techniques and sized accordingly. They would stock exactly the same produce at exactly the same prices. Each outlet would employ the same amount of women and men. All purchases were driven by compulsion. There would be no need for enforcement of anything, ever. Everybody would know their place.