1. Opposition as Colourless Managerialism
2. John McDonnell: Be Nice to Keir
3. The Zoomers and Class Politics
4. Waiting for Opposition
5. The Moral Turpitude of Cllr Ally Simcock
Again, critical Keir studies rules the blogging roost with three posts dedicated to this most scintillating of topics. Here's a fun fact for the stat fans; but one page view separated the top two. As for the others, it's always pleasing to see a more heavyweight post do well. My look at the relation between class and generation managed to clamber into the number three spot. Longer term processes of class composition and the particular rentier model of capitalism characterising the UK's political economy is the driver of the age polarisation we see in politics, and it's a reality our benevolent and wise party leadership appear not to have cottoned on to. This can make a real difference between being the master of or victim of circumstances, so will they wake up to it in time? Bringing up the rear is a tale of political betrayal and woe from the Pearl of North Staffordshire. And who doesn't follow Potteries politics with alacrity?
As always, two posts are ushered back onto the launch pad in the hope of stratospheric success that eluded them first time round. Set up and ready to go is Bernard Stiegler and the Attention Economy, an appreciation of the militant philosophy of the French theorist who passed away early last month. Second is Rule Britannia and Tory Culture Wars, which is a sort of companion piece to the meditation on the Zoomers. Nationalism appeals to and is the glue holding together the Tory coalition of older people. We need to understand how and why it works, what strategies the Tories are likely to pursue to keep their band together, and what can be done to disrupt them and break it apart. Who says theory is an idle pastime?
Next month who knows what might happen. Could Labour take a lead in a poll? Might Stoke yield more blog-worthy shenanigans? Can your humble author continuing dodging the dread Coronavirus? Carry on tuning in and you'll be sure to find out.
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3 comments:
«nationalism appeals to and is the glue holding together the Tory coalition of older people»
Here is my usual disagreement with an extra point:
* The extra point is that electoral coalitions are not held together by a single glue, but by that plus non-competing interests, as Grover Norquist very wisely informed us (quote to follow). The Conservative coalition is made principally of rentiers, but also includes nationalists, at least those who are also rentiers (and many are) and those nationalists for whom nationalism is the "button issue" even if they are victims of rentierism,
* While the Conservative coalition is made mostly of older people, this is just a secondary phenomenon, a consequence, not an essential characteristic; it just happens that nationalism is less popular with younger people, and most rentiers are older people they have built up assets over a longer time or more simply they could buy property in the south when social-democratic policies still had made it affordable, or they got good final salary pernsion when social-democracy made them available.
Without keeping in mind these details it is difficult to imagine how to buikd a Labour coalition bigger than that of the Conservatives. The "networked proletarians" our blogger is fond of should be a component, but I think they are not enough,
«plus non-competing interests, as Grover Norquist very wisely informed us (quote to follow)»
He describes the Republican coalition as made as rentiers, evangelicals and gun people, and adds:
“But on the vote-moving primary issue, everybody's got their foot in the center and they're not in conflict on anything. The guy who wants to spend all day counting his money, the guy who wants to spend all day fondling his weaponry, and the guy who wants to go to church all day may look at each other and say, "That's pretty weird, that's not what I would do with my spare time, but that does not threaten my ability to go to church, have my guns, have my money, have my properties, run by my business, home-school my kids.”
«the particular rentier model of capitalism characterising the UK's political economy [...] it's a reality our benevolent and wise party leadership appear not to have cottoned on to»
Ahem, you are underestimating them, as my guess is that the leadership have cottoned on to that to the point that their main strategy is to get the votes of the "aspirational voters who shop at Waitrose and John Lewis" rentier capitalists, because the proletarians have nowhere else to go except abstention and that's something the leadership don't object to.
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