Pageantry. Royalty. Ceremonial. Uniforms. Lifetimes of Service and Devotion. Flags waving. Bells tolling. Guns firing. For the likes of former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil, in yet another turgid diatribe for the Mail, “This week proved Britain ISN'T the declining power the liberal elite portrays us as”. Deflection, this time by inventing a mythical “liberal elite” which is doing down Britain.
But there is no need for anyone to do down Britain, and well Neil and his media pals know it. For them - Neil lives in the south of France - the world may be excellent: not for most in the UK, though. And that reality is where the Royal mourning provides such good cover: with the distraction of this new momentary interest, enough people can be persuaded that all is well.
There is no need to “do down the country”. All that is needed, to confirm that the UK is in decline, is to allow reality to get a look in, to show for a moment what is really happening outside Westminster. Shining a light on that world, the world inhabited by the vast majority of the population, has been John Burn Murdoch at the FT. And his conclusions make for sobering reading.
“In 2007, the average UK household was 8 per cent worse off than its peers in north-western Europe, but the deficit has since ballooned to a record 20 per cent. On present trends, the average Slovenian household will be better off than its British counterpart by 2024, and the average Polish family will move ahead by the end of the decade. A country in desperate need of migrant labour may soon have to ask new arrivals to take a pay cut”.
On the basis of that data, those new arrivals may not want to come here. The Tories’ attempts to appease the not really racist right, honestly, by trying to stop asylum seekers coming here may have to be matched by a willingness to allow many of them to remain here, and get them into the labour market.
Giving the already well-off more money will not kickstart an increase in economic activity: the rich have a high propensity to save, and so much of the money thus gifted will go into savings, will remain unspent. Had extra money gone to the less well-off, with their high propensity to spend, little or none of it would be saved. It would be spent, thus increasing that economic activity.
What the less well-off spend that money on may not be to the liking of the media class; that is not the point. The money gets spent, businesses thrive on the back of that. Their owners, staff, suppliers and others who depend on them benefit in turn, creating that virtuous circle which brings growth, an increase in tax revenues, and thus better public services and infrastructure.
Instead, the Truss gang is set to hobble the economy, and our free and fearless press cannot provide cover for such misguided economic policy for ever. Nor will the wider world accept this state of affairs without visiting the consequences of the Tories’ ineptitude upon them.
As Stephen Flynn, who represents Aberdeen South for the SNP, put it, “Five days in broken Britain … Mon: UK trade deficit is worst on record … Tue: Rich to get twice as much cost-of-living support as poor … Wed: Food inflation at highest level in 14 years … Thu: Plan to scrap cap on banker bonuses … Fri: Pound falls to 37 year low against Dollar”.
And John Burn Murdoch at the FT concluded thus: “income inequality in US & UK is so wide that while the richest are very well off, the poorest have a worse standard of living than the poorest in countries like Slovenia … Essentially, US & UK are poor societies with some very rich people”.
Slovenia was part of communist Yugoslavia until proclaiming its independence in 1991. Poland was a totalitarian satellite state of the former USSR before 1989. Heck, even Ireland was noticeably poorer than the UK in the 1980s and 1990s. Now it is we who are poorer than Ireland.
Still, there’s always the ceremonial. We’re good at that. Mustn’t grumble.
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6 comments:
Nothing will change as Tories only understand the term ‘trickle down effect’ and never acknowledge the ‘multiplier effect’.
I am impatient to see a list of individuals in the "liberal elite" mentioned by Murdoch catamite Neil.
Surely the neonazi slab of blubber won't waste this opportunity to shop them to his bosses in the Reich higher command at Vauxhall Cross and Langley.
A mechanic friend of mine has a saying for the well to do in our area " every pound is a prisoner" in other words they wouldn't pay their maker unless forced to. The same the world over.
I didn't know the Queen, I actually felt sadder about Aerith's death in Final Fantasy VII.
I liked the Queen, but I didn't know her, she was a vague, astral enigma. Besides, Murdoch will, once the mourning is done, begin destroying Charles III. It will be pretty easy for him to do, given Charles's inability to keep his mouth shut.
Many governments in Europe are having to make tough, unpleasant decisions, but only the UK is deciding to make life very pleasant for the rich and absolute misery for everyone else.
Riches for the rich, sewerage for the poor.
Charlie beware. Charlie 1 said "I am the happiest king in christendom" - shortly before he caused the worst and most devasting murderous war in British history. Charlie 2 finally helped establish the peculiar oligarch/aristo/feudal circus that followed - not that he had much choice. So if Charlie 3 wants to keep his head he best restrict himself to chatting with trees. Forehead knucklers will always brush up the leaves.
Charles III allegedly enjoys talking with trees.
Excellent practice for his weekly meetings with his prime minister.
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