Nationalisation has been vindicated by realityTHE extraordinary session of parliament last Saturday was necessary in order to rescue British Steel. There is little reason to be cheerful, though, as this is a largely half-baked measure and the future of both the company and all the associated jobs remains in the balance.Most other countries, irrespective of their political ideology, would not dream of letting themselves be put in such a position, and neither should we. Steel is a vital industry. It is important in itself and is a vital input into other key sectors, including rail, other transport, certain infrastructure, construction, machinery and cars. Many of these have become rather unfashionable industries in a number of Western economies, including Britain. But they have only become “unfashionable” because Western firms have stopped investing in them or severely reduced their investment. Yet many of these same industries are booming in the rest of the world. Instead, we were told that services and especially financial services were the way forward. Bizarrely, despite the utter banking collapse in 2007 to 2008 and its costly consequences, there are many who still seem to believe this, including in the Labour government. Yet industry is vital to the prosperity of any advanced economy
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nationalisation-has-been-vindicated-by-realityWrong on Principle, Wrong PoliticallyThe Donald Trump administration is currently in the middle of what might be the gravest federal government overreach seen this century at least, asserting unprecedented repressive powers against even US citizens, defying a Supreme Court order to rectify one of its unlawful deportations, and thumbing its nose at core principles like the rule of law and separation of powers that American democracy was founded on. Challenging this loudly and fiercely should be a basic, commonsense position for anyone who believes in these things, and especially for an opposition party that has spent years screaming that Trump was a dictator in waiting. Yet the response from a shocking number of voices who should know better is that those appalled by this authoritarian overreach should meekly avoid the issue. They’re acting like the Trump administration is enjoyin
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.