The only way to economic and political credibility is to restore the visibility of the parts of our economy which should be the monitors of economic health, to political debate. We need dynamic social policy that responds to and warns of market failure, efficiently run with boundaries on political interference and requirements to base policy in evidence. We now have to mark the difference between the real economy and the market economy and government need to redefine what their responsibilities are, and who has their ear. The debate about marketization in all its strands is now at the heart of our political discourse and our political media establishment are unprepared. The media are not a fit intermediary between us and our elected representatives. Exploitation of inequality for political and market aims is not the job of a democratically elected government.
Two years post-election have clarified the politics of marketization with an accelerated demonstration, the areas which have long been structurally invisible to political debate are about to get very visible. The services which did little more than mask problems politicians couldn’t be arsed with will be the focus of people’s attention now they have been slashed and those problems aren’t masked
The death toll rises, most recently with the death of regular benefits campaigner Karen Sherlock, I recognise the last days of her life in the lives of people all around, crisis voluntarily imposed with no evidence to support it as even logical. Only the left felt it should be dignified with response.
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