Another brilliant analysis from Spiked of the shallowness, hollowness and emptiness at the heart of Labour. They have nothing but platitudes that don't make sense. All they tell us is that they "care". But we don't care, "caring" is nowhere near enough to win the public over.
This is by Mick Hume, whom I think was once the editor of Living Marxism.
Spiked also alone among all the political magazines understand the UKIP phenomenon.
"Labour - A Death is Denied"
...
"Miliband’s execrable interview with Russell Brand and his two-tonne limestone pledge stone, known as ‘Edstone’ since his political demise. Of course these were cringeworthy efforts. Yet they were only visible symptoms of the void at the heart of the zombie Labour Party.
What was striking about the Edstone was that, despite its portentously solid appearance, it said virtually nothing of substance. The pledges – ‘An NHS with time to care’; ‘A strong economic foundation’ — were so nebulous as to be meaningless, slightly lacking the moral clarity of the Ten Commandments they were intended to bring to mind. The only clear message was No4: ‘Controls on immigration.’ The idea that such a programme was somehow ‘too left-wing’ confirms that political language has now been robbed of any real meaning.
Any political party worthy of the name would surely begin a post-mortem by debating what principles it wants to stand for – and then setting those principles out as clearly as possible in order to persuade people to support them. By contrast Labour’s post-election spat is all about how to moderate its image and PR message in order to adapt to the existing state of public opinion – how to say what they imagine voters already want to hear. Labour is a party without a reason to exist beyond its own survival.
No change of leader can address the fundamental problems facing Labour, a party founded to represent a mass trade union movement that no longer exists as anything more than an empty shell. Yet those who cling to the hope of resurrection cannot admit that their party is a zombie of its former self.
That is why the debate is all about what language to use and which leader to promote, rather than which political principles to stand for. Indeed there are few political divisions here on fundamental issues. All sides agree, for example, on Labour’s commitment to more state intervention, notably to restrict freedom of speech and other personal liberties.
None of this means, of course, that Labour might never recover in the polls. Cameron’s Conservative government will undoubtedly get into trouble before long. But it does raise the question of why anybody who wants change should care what happens to Labour, or bother trying to revive the political corpse?
www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/labour-a-death-is-denied/16963#.VVPVo6LbKic