On Merit

During ‘The Unbelievable Truth’, on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, the definition of ‘Aristocracy’ was given: “Rule by the best”. Compare that with ‘Meritocracy’: “Rule by those most able & talented”.

Built into our current model of capitalism is an assumption that ability and talent is almost entirely inherited. Inherited wealth must be protected. The rich are the best so their children have an automatic right to better education, food and healthcare.

As I have toured the stately homes of Greater Midland, which fell into the hands of the National Trust, in earlier, more socialist times, I’ve noted the walls lined with centuries of family portraits, illustrating the past owners’ pedigrees.

Along with evidence of their line and their obsession with animal husbandry, documented by walls full of champion bulls, hunting hounds and stallions there is an occasional beautiful mistress from the mongrel classes. They are fully aware of their own weaknesses.

I was asleep when the Eton Rifles started to lead the fightback against a Conservative Party appointed on merit. So were New Labour. “Let them eat organic sour-dough loaves with Tuscan olives”, said Tony. “Get out of the way if you can’t lend a hand”, sang Bob Dylan, back when Jeremy Corbyn was a lad. He listened. He kept his head down when New Labour led, voting against them when he felt he must but staying mostly quiet until the wind changed. It is now time for New Labour’s Bitterites to shut up and let someone else have a go. You lost and are FAR MORE unelectable than Corbyn right now. Give the guy a chance because it’s the only chance your side has.

And you know John McDonell’s little red book stunt? It was very funny! The Conservatives ARE selling Britain to Communist China. They work for the new international aristocracy, not the British people. That’s a far bigger danger to ‘the rest of us’ than one-world socialism.

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George Osborne, you seem confused about what you think

You blamed Labour’s profligate spending for our balance of payment deficit, so you have tightened all our belts & it has got worse. That’s odd isn’t it? Maybe the problem was that the banks were manufacturing money to lend to Americans who aspired beyond their means and the whole house of credit cards collapsed. I guess that’s what happens when virtual money becomes more important than people or honesty. We could sell council houses to people who have done well out of socialism, so the next generation have to buy their own homes or rent from good capitalists, even though they can’t afford to.

You say companies are not achieving because the banks won’t lend them money to borrow their way out of a crisis? Isn’t that what Labour were trying to do, when the fashion for lending pretend money, guaranteed by imaginary assets suddenly became unfashionable and crashed the banking system? They didn’t cause it; they made a bad bet. You know that but you still lie to us.

There is nothing wrong with borrowing money to replace the broken down car that gets you to work, if it lets you keep the job that will enable you to pay off the loan. There is something wrong with borrowing tax credits off the poorest working people so that your rich friends can buy a new yacht and fund your political party. Borrowing in the UK to fund infrastructure that will allow economic renewal, in infrastructure and sustainable technologies is good. So why haven’t you? Why have you closed down green energy initiatives and imported nuclear power stations that won’t arrive for 10 years? Are you trying to force fracking through, by generating an energy crisis George?

You want to privatise everything that is state owned because competition makes companies more efficient, yet you have invited nationalised French and Chinese energy companies to build our nuclear power stations and China to bid for the steel contract for HS2 because they can undercut UK companies. That sounds like they are more competitive. Could it possibly be that our state-owned companies have had insufficient investment in order to deliberately make them fail, like the NHS, to falsely demonstrate that your dogma is correct? It isn’t though, is it George? It’s clearly wrong, because evidence.

You say we must all be in work because we need growth. Why do we? Why are you in such a hurry to deplete the world’s few remaining resources. You can’t “create wealth”. You can only convert our wealth in natural resources into a grey wasteland and paper promises. Why can’t we shrink and share what we already have and slowly reduce the population to maximise humanity’s remaining time on this planet? You want us busy so we don’t have time to think.

Why do we have any entitlement to inherit the wealth of our parents? What have you ever done to deserve your life, apart from be born lucky? I include myself in that question. I was born into a functional welfare state and had a free university education, unlike the immigrants you are so keen to exclude from claiming their share of the world’s resources. Yet not the rich Russians and Chinese who you will happily sell England to, as long as they buy Manchester first, while property prices are held artificially high by international buyers who don’t even want to live here.

How is life in First Class, George?