Replacing Trident

What some people even on the right are realising is that there is a future for Britain as a normal European country. The policy framework established since Suez in which Britain retained delusions of grandeur as first satellite of the US armed with purchased American nuclear weapons is in its twilight.

It will take time, though, for this argument to sink into mainstream politics.

Polish workers and the recession in Britain

From 2004 New Labour permitted the free inflow of Easter European labour from the new member states of the EU into Britain, simply for the purpose of depressing British wages in a period of boom.

As Britain falls into recession, tensions over diminishing employment opportunities will inevitably arise. Two points should be made. First if Poles and others have established residence in the UK, then they should not face employment discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity. Second, workers should struggle together for improvements in their well-being, not fight against each other.

Indentity Cards in Britain

From my point of view the problem is not the idea of an ID card per se, but the intrusive aspects of the government’s proposed scheme.

If ID cards were voluntary and just consisted of your name, date and place of birth, and photo, and were usable for European travel and self-chosen identification; e.g. in banks, then who would oppose them? They could be issued with the passports, if requested.

The falling value of sterling is of concern

Much of this article is correct and states the obvious, but I just with to pick up on one point; i.e. that the fall in sterling is of little concern. You write:

…the sea of Sale signs on the high street, and the savage discounts many retailers have been forced to make to tempt shoppers through their doors, hardly suggest that a surge in prices is on the way.

Stores may indeed be reducing prices in order to realise value on their existing stock, but the fact remains that imports will increase in price. Retailers will then either have to pass on these prices to consumers (i.e. inflation) or go out of business (i.e. recession).

Civic Freedom dying in Britain

In 1985 I finished a short holiday on the Baltic Sea Island of Reugen in the former East Germany. At the station, waiting for the train back to Berlin, I liked the way the sun was falling over the station house and took out my camera. Luckily, there was no CCTV in those days, so all that happened was that a railway official told me that photographing railway installations was forbidden.

Britain is not yet a totalitarian state, but its civic rights and freedoms are dying. Most people won’t either realise or care until they themselves come into conflict with the state (police, courts and prisons). In the meantime, it is necessary that those who believe in freedom to properly document every infringement and highlight it – as you are doing.

Understanding the Financial Crisis in Britain

Most of us are ignorant about most things most of the time, and it is a wise person who recognises that.

Though it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify these processes, it is easy to see the direction which the economy is travelling. The mass increase in public expenditure and state debt, incurred in attempt to limit falling levels of consumer demand, will lead in due course to inflation and a depreciated currency.

The debt binge has left Britain in an economic mess. The policies designed to cure that mess will lead to new difficulties. My own preference would be for the government to use the recession to invest in the infrastructure and support industries with a long term commercial future, so at lease when the upturn arrives the country is better placed to prosper than simply start borrowing again.

Is socialism relevant today?

The first question is: what is the defining principle of being a socialist? My answer is:

to work for a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families.

This definition does not exhaust the aims of socialism, nor does it highlight the various policies and struggles in favour of socialism. It does, however, tell us that New Labour and many of the ‘socialist parties across Europe are not in reality socialist.

The second question is: how relevant is socialism today? We live in a society of vast and growing social inequality, whose financial crisis is throwing many working people into destitution. In such circumstances socialist goals and purposes are clearly relevant.

The key problem today is to work towards the articulation of socialism and then to create organisations which can struggle for socialism.

No agency for progress

The problem is that there is no agency to bring about social progress; New Labour is not going to become a social democratic party again, and Cameron’s Conservatives are even worse. The best one can expect from Brown et al are a few publicity palliatives. Working people will suffer in the financial crisis at least until some of them fight back politically and challenge the power and interests of capital.

New Labour's Economic Mis-management

New Labour promoted a regime in which capital flowed into Britain, bolstering the value of sterling, to fund working class spending. The houses, cars, etc. were paid for in part through wages, but consumption was hugely supplemented by unsustainable borrowing. One effect of this high level of expenditure was to inflate the economy and drive up house prices leading many to re-mortgage in order to fund further expenditure, which in turn drove up house prices further. (In the early 2000s, 40 percent of mortgage advances were not to purchase property but to fund consumption)

This credit-fuelled boom was marketed as New Labour’s success. Yet, credit for consumption makes little sense unless the consumer believes that his or her income will continue to rise. The myth of eternal economic growth was peddled by New Labour in the 90s and early 2000s who argued that a flexible workforce and low wages were boosting the economy. What in fact was boosting Britain just as much was the inflow of capital to finance consumer credit.

The boom ended in 2008 when finance capital saw the value of its security (the house, earning potential of the worker) could not guarantee the credit advanced. The inevitable withdrawal of credit plunged Britain into recession: spiralling unemployment, collapsing property prices and wide scale bankruptcy. Workers face mortgages and other credit bills they can't pay as their income and assets devalue. The end of the road is re-possession and destitution. The few palliatives from the Brown government hardly make any difference.

In 2007 Britain’s income per head was USD 44 000. The real pain is not caused by even a ten percent in that figure, but by the effects of Britain’s vast social inequalities. Those once surviving on stream of credit which has now dried up now have nothing but debts. Today and in the coming years many working people have, and will continue to have, absolutely nothing, or less than nothing.

Frank Field & National Government

Vindictive, nasty and authoritarian though Frank Field undoubtedly is, his advocacy of national government is inopportune. National government arises - in peacetime at least - only when there is a need for a coalition of the ruling establishment against an adversary. Unfortunately today socialism presents no challenge to Brown and Cameron.