Being Red and Green

 Something I wrote some time ago for Labour Hub. There was supposed to be a response from a critic of MMT, but it never materialised  https://labourhub.org.uk/2020/12/05/why-the-left-needs-to-understand-modern-monetary-theory/

Against my better judgement I watched the entirety of the first televised debate between the Tory Party Leadership candidates. An altogether depressing spectacle, except insofar as the paucity of the arguments and the dullness of the speakers should give considerable hope to those of us ( ie the substantial majority of UK voters) who don’t and won’t vote Tory.   A much more informed debate overlapped with the above- the regular Friday night Any Questions? On Radio 4. The studio audience was made up of locals from Merseyside, who were keen to express their hostility to the Tories at every opportunity The venue was a Community Cinema in Waterloo, Sefton and the producers presumably gave up on any attempt to create a ‘balanced audience’, not being able to find many/any Tory voters. The panellists were MPs Lisa Nandy, Layla Moran and Jake Berry and ‘financier’ Ali Mira.   You can listen to the programme here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00194cq   Lisa Nand...

Perhaps the best response from Labour and other opposition parties should be to say that those of the leadership candidates who stuck with Johnson until the last few days have no credibility whatsoever. This leaves Tugenhat and Hunt as possibly more acceptable although the latter would have to accept some responsibility for the state of the NHS and show some contrition. Such a semi endorsement of Tugenhat and Hunt, perhaps the least Thatcherite of the candidates, is likely to kill off their already slim chances of success. It might also be seen to give the opposition some influence over the process and serve as a reminder that the new PM, and presumably most of the new cabinet, continued to back the corrupt narcissist when most of the rest of us had long since decided that he had to go.