VOICE OF CONSCIENCE: Why Labour copycatting the tories would be fatal

VOICE OF CONSCIENCE: Why Labour copycatting the tories would be fatal: For many of us Ed Miliband's election as labour leader seemed to augure well.He officially administered the coup de grace to the dis...

Why Labour copycatting the tories would be fatal

For many of us Ed Miliband's election as labour leader seemed to augure well.He officially administered the coup de grace to the discredited New Labour agenda and attacked unacceptable aspects of capitalism.It greatly encouraged many of us who want a centre-left party that aspired to social justice,redistributing income and breaking away from the centre right political consensus that deified free markets.This consensual paradigm was utterly destroyed by the credit crisis.

 However,recently these attempts to create a genuine alternative to neo-liberal austerity have been jettisoned.Instead Labour is reverting to "copycat" policy formation.I was stunned to hear that Labour intends to stick with tory spending plans for 2015-16 if elected.This ersatz toryism-,sticking to austerity plans- will be seen as cynical opportunism,crude copycatting. It will greatly undermine Labour's credibility.It will be seen as unprincipled .Given a choice between a party with an ideological love of austerity(the tories) and a fickle "me too" party labour will appear disingenuos and fake.Electorally it will be disastrous for labour.People will simply vote for the true believers.The disaffected majority will simply not vote or vote for the greens or UKIP.
On an economic level,Ed Balls himself has rightly criticised Osborne's plans as destructive to the economy and society.
Deflationary austerity is killing growth,fostering 1980s levels of unemployment and widening inequalities.Austerity is exacerbating the debt problem as Ed Balls again has rightly claimed.Zero growth and job creation mean lower tax revenues which makes it longer to pay the debt back.Demand stimulus is the only way to resolve the debt situation.No more borrowing is needed.Instead of printing money for Quantitative easing what is needed is to increase the money supply to stimulate businesses and inaugurate a large scale job creation programme.The spectre of inflation is often used to discourage this.However,wage pressures are very low and for many wages have fallen.So inflationary pressures are negligible.In any event,price controls and collective bargaining norms could be used even if inflationary pressures were there.
People are crying out for an alternative-for hope,for a future and for jobs.My message to the two Eds is: people do not want more of the same,it will destroy your credibility if that's all you offer.Offer people a future of growth,prosperity and fairness-not cynical copycatting.



Slaughter of the innocents

We like to think of ourselves as humane,animal-loving beings.Gratuituos cruelty to animals is anathema to most "civilised" human beings.How would we react if meerkats were being bred and slaughtered for their coats or skin? we can imagine the outcry.
A farm dedicated to breeding and then slaughtering elephants for their tusks would be universally rejected as repugnant.A facility that bred and killed tigers to manufacture coats would be regarded as odious.
However,an endangered species,renowned for its beauty is being bred and cruelly slaughtered in such farms in most civilised countries.The chinchilla,a critically endangered rodent, native to South America(where it is now almost extinct) has been farmed since 1920 for its fur.The founder of fur farming,Chapman, stole 12 chinchillas from the Andes Mountains in the 1920s to breed for their fur.All chinchillas alive today in captivity are descendants of these 12 animals.
It beggars belief that such extermination of an endangered species,renowned for its incredible beauty is tolerated.An entire species undergoing its own holocaust to placate human vanity.
Chinchillas bred on fur farms are killed with great cruelty.They are electrocuted,with an electric cable attached to their genitals at one end and ears at the other.Undercover investigations by the animal welfare charity PETA have revealed footage of chinchillas writhing in pain for five to ten minutes.It would seem to take a particularly cruel,sociopathic personality to inflict such suffering on a beautiful,small animal.Most animal lovers would squirm at such sadistic cruelty.Even more alarming is that Chinchillas are being exported to China where along with rabbits and foxes thay are skinned alive.Footage by PETA and other charities have disclosed horrific levels of cruelty on Chinese fur farms.
A free market without morality,capitalism without ethics and the worship of profit without scruples is the basis for all this.In the USA for example,there is no protection against cruelty for any farm animal,whether reared for food or fur.This same unadulterated greed caused slavery,human trafficking and drug cartels.These are all illicit activities today.With a raising of popular consciousness about the chinchilla and the holocaust perpetrated on it-one day this endangered species will be free from such an undeserved fate.