tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post6072400391298956509..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: Toynbee is Almost RightBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-61198776659708947072008-12-13T00:17:00.000+00:002008-12-13T00:17:00.000+00:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-53948974112005246022008-09-14T12:58:00.000+00:002008-09-14T12:58:00.000+00:00Labour arent rightists they are just in thrall to ...Labour arent rightists they are just in thrall to the super rich and big business...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-76063269545654770272008-09-09T22:22:00.000+00:002008-09-09T22:22:00.000+00:00It seems obvious that the denial of class is a ver...It seems obvious that the denial of class is a very important ingredient in the success of consumer capitalism. It's just part of the grand illusion created by neo-liberals to disguise inequality, stifle dissent and suffocate democracy.<BR/><BR/>And it's working.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-74258260384405623242008-09-09T20:06:00.000+00:002008-09-09T20:06:00.000+00:00In case anyone wonders where all the Americans hav...In case anyone wonders where all the Americans have disappeared to once the Obama Administration takes office, we'll either be in criticism/self-criticism sessions or undergoing sensitivity training. We shall in turn overcome any hint of class distinction within our society, marching forward together in perfect harmony. In consequence, we won't have time to get much work done, so you can forget Randyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03071928294799081845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-14996280879486073962008-09-09T15:49:00.000+00:002008-09-09T15:49:00.000+00:00I think it was a German Christian Democrat who in ...I think it was a German Christian Democrat who in 1997 said he had met the new hope of left wing politics (Blair) and found him to be more right wing than he was.In times of economic woe, we do tend to turn Government to bail us out, witness Roosevelt's New Deal, Attlee's Labour landslide and now Northern Rock and Fannie Mae. But Labour have screwed up left politics for the next generation - Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-42473941626872948312008-09-09T15:26:00.000+00:002008-09-09T15:26:00.000+00:00You're changing Bryan. Maybe it's the new diet thi...You're changing Bryan. Maybe it's the new diet thing; you're less cantankerous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-23404420138815688082008-09-09T14:58:00.000+00:002008-09-09T14:58:00.000+00:00I was going to have a quick skim through her artic...I was going to have a quick skim through her article, but then I realised I could spend the two minutes on a round of online Pac- Man instead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-16674332609083961732008-09-09T14:13:00.000+00:002008-09-09T14:13:00.000+00:00I suppose only in England would a discussion about...I suppose only in England would a discussion about our future begin with who's been beastly about soufflé and then go on to imply that where someone lives is an indication of whether they have something worthwhile to say.<BR/><BR/>Life's a bit short for all this, isn't it? I suspect that too many people on both sides have a vested interest in perpetuating the class thing. If we really wanted to Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-56026100354804240022008-09-09T14:10:00.000+00:002008-09-09T14:10:00.000+00:00Wellington worked, but not for a living.Wellington worked, but not for a living.Frank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-48220814250925981382008-09-09T12:58:00.000+00:002008-09-09T12:58:00.000+00:00"f you work for your living, how can you be upper ..."f you work for your living, how can you be upper class?"<BR/><BR/>Or in fact anything but working class, if that is the criteria. The Duke of Wellington worked, but I think he might have taken umbrage at being considered any part of the lower orders.<BR/><BR/>I believe we are talking social class, not economic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-17797024413117404962008-09-09T12:31:00.000+00:002008-09-09T12:31:00.000+00:00>>This analysis suggests a new Thatcher figu...>>This analysis suggests a new Thatcher figure will emerge in about 2038 to break the power of corrupted organised labour. The same returns.<<<BR/><BR/>You really are drifting to the left with that bit of historicist nonsense.<BR/><BR/>btw, the credit crunch in no small part came about because Banks using those wonderful computer models (like the climate ones) misunderstood the REAL Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-66931651040129643042008-09-09T12:09:00.000+00:002008-09-09T12:09:00.000+00:00If you work for your living, how can you be upper ...If you work for your living, how can you be upper class?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-62779915982388233682008-09-09T11:39:00.000+00:002008-09-09T11:39:00.000+00:00Is Polly Toynbee Arabella Weir's role model, do yo...Is Polly Toynbee <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/03/publicschools.schools" REL="nofollow">Arabella Weir's</A> role model, do you think? Do either of them have any self-awareness at all?mongoosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14173341928744479143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-7989523855379943832008-09-09T11:31:00.000+00:002008-09-09T11:31:00.000+00:00Polly describes herself as middle class, thus iden...Polly describes herself as middle class, thus identifying herself with the 72% of the UK population who also define themselves as middle class.<BR/><BR/>If Polly is Middle class, I'm missing a Whippet. She just about scrapes into Upper Middle but is closer to pure Upper.<BR/><BR/>She is right about class though, but wrong about its application. It is her and her <I>de haut en bas</I> attitude Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-58316871885645313562008-09-09T10:25:00.000+00:002008-09-09T10:25:00.000+00:00Taking up cycling has done the lassie a power of g...Taking up cycling has done the lassie a power of good, perhaps if she moved to say Carlisle she would improve even further. The nail was very accurately hit on the head in her article and you are right Bryan, action and reaction, perpetual motion again, always the extremes. The poor, as ever, without a voice.maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-18149008060149478072008-09-09T09:24:00.000+00:002008-09-09T09:24:00.000+00:00If the people got good government...they wouldn't ...If the people got good government...they wouldn't like it very much. It's a strange kind of rightism that has left the UK with a public debt (when PFI and public sector pension liabilites are included) that is 100% of GDP. Curiously, conservative Major and democrat Clinton left their tenures with balanced budgets/surpluses. Their successors have squandered it. I don't see the left as Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com