tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post1768107728875829345..comments2023-10-27T07:50:27.411+01:00Comments on Next Left: When Blue Labour met the FabiansTom Hampsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05917325958130851128noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-5804053273419169682011-05-12T14:34:17.603+01:002011-05-12T14:34:17.603+01:00I, like many, was deeply concerned when 'Blue ...I, like many, was deeply concerned when 'Blue Labour' was first announced but am now coming round to the idea. I'm 16 and have just started a blog where I discussed the new debate gipping the Labour Party. Would be great if you had a look:<br />http://a-week-is-a-long-time-in-politics.blogspot.com/Roryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10878598200011030373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-84843253655701224062011-05-11T02:36:34.118+01:002011-05-11T02:36:34.118+01:00Hapless Americanisms such as ‘stepping up to the p...Hapless Americanisms such as ‘stepping up to the plate’ do not suggest a great awareness either of localism or of local institutions.<br /><br /><br />Blair, for example, spoke of ‘middle Britain’, calqued on ‘middle America’. In fact, there is no such place. And the antagonism between Government and People (They don’t get us? OK. Lets’s patronise them, maybe even lie to them) which characterised New Labour as it does its Coalition successors derives from linguistic production, not from ‘old’ Labour statism. New Labour derogated many practical activities, through PFI for example. Just not to real communities or in truly accountable ways. And so, I strongly suspect, with the Big Society.<br /><br />As to the ‘politics of identity’ owned or developed as some sort of USP, that would be disastrous, a retreat into essentialism. Not quite BNP Light, but something along those lines. There were signs of exactly that in Brown’s soft spot for Roger Scruton, as there are now with Cameron’s ‘muscular liberalism’ and the world of radical orthodoxy. <br /><br />A few days ago <a href="http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/thersa/too-clever-for-this-world/" rel="nofollow">Matthew Taylor</a> argued, apparently seriously, that ‘intellectuals’ can’t do politics because the people are too dumb. Britain never suffered Leo Strauss, but apparently it has been necessary to import him. Could we export him again?Zio Bastonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18066899839752174167noreply@blogger.com