Stop (One Third of) the Cuts!
David Aaronovich is a political journalist - a commentator who writes a regular column for the Times newspaper.
Like others of his trade, you can take or leave what Aaronovich has to say - depending on your views or your mood - on any given day.
But as a long-time Labour supporter - Aaronovitch deserves a hearing for speaking honestly as a critical friend - for telling it as it is, or as he sees it at least - without serving up the usual stale diet of slogans and party propaganda.
Here's a slightly abridged version of what he had to say yesterday - on the looming battle over cuts in public spending.
"But here's the problem. There is more than just a hint of the the old red elastic in the way Labour figures are now discussing politics. They are being pulled back into the comfortable Thatcher-era Labour politics of "stop the cuts" and "support the fightback" activism.
Yet, by its own estimate, some two thirds of the cuts being made by the coalition would have been made by a Labour government. And the electorate knows it.
If oppositions were once cut slack for having no plans of their own, I suspect that those days are gone. Should ... Labour ... demand an expansion in higher education, say, but oppose any measures including increased tuition fees to fund it, they'll simply look ridiculous.
Labour will have to say what it would have cut, what it would have saved, and why."
Precisely.
"Stop the Cuts!" - may be what Labour says.
But - "Stop One Third of the Cuts!" - is what Labour really means.
Like others of his trade, you can take or leave what Aaronovich has to say - depending on your views or your mood - on any given day.
But as a long-time Labour supporter - Aaronovitch deserves a hearing for speaking honestly as a critical friend - for telling it as it is, or as he sees it at least - without serving up the usual stale diet of slogans and party propaganda.
Here's a slightly abridged version of what he had to say yesterday - on the looming battle over cuts in public spending.
"But here's the problem. There is more than just a hint of the the old red elastic in the way Labour figures are now discussing politics. They are being pulled back into the comfortable Thatcher-era Labour politics of "stop the cuts" and "support the fightback" activism.
Yet, by its own estimate, some two thirds of the cuts being made by the coalition would have been made by a Labour government. And the electorate knows it.
If oppositions were once cut slack for having no plans of their own, I suspect that those days are gone. Should ... Labour ... demand an expansion in higher education, say, but oppose any measures including increased tuition fees to fund it, they'll simply look ridiculous.
Labour will have to say what it would have cut, what it would have saved, and why."
Precisely.
"Stop the Cuts!" - may be what Labour says.
But - "Stop One Third of the Cuts!" - is what Labour really means.
