The Undeath of New Labour

This marvellous image (via The Weblog) came to mind when surveying some of the rather sly policy announcements of the last week. While Peter sodding Mandelson has promised a policy of industrial intervention, other New Labour shibboleths are dying very hard indeed. So, the government which began by abolishing student grants and slashing lone parent benefit might just end as the one which forced the mothers of one year-old children into work and subjected benefit claimants to lie detector tests. That this is, let's say, utterly fucking grotesque in a situation of spiralling unemployment and massive state welfare for banks should, one might think, go without saying. Yet spending my Sunday afternoon flicking through the tabloids, the grim thought did occur to me that people may actually fall for this nonsense. It is, however, looking increasingly unlikely.