Newspaper Reader comments.

The first paragraph of this essay is as lackluster as Kier Starmer, as portrayed by Bagehot !

Usually, politicians try to offer optimism. Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party specialises in despair. “This is worse than the 1970s,” said Sir Keir in one speech. “We are in a hole.” Every Labour figure emits the same dirge about Britain’s high debt, low growth and exhausted public services. Even moments of hope are tempered with warnings of misery. In a rare bout of cheer, Sir Keir promised: “A realistic hope, a frank hope, a hope that levels with you about the hard road ahead.” Hooray!

https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/12/14/cheer-up-sir-keir-it-might-never-happen

This is followed by a Political History Made-To-Measure: dotted by almost evocative bon mots, or should they be labeled glancing insults, aimed at an un-impressive political mediocrity? The consideration of the careers of David Cameron, Mrs. May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and her partner Kwasi Kwarteng, Rishi Sunak, that are the thought to be precursors to a Starmer political ascendency, almost puts him – Starmer fits comfortably in the above collection of mediocrities

If Labour wins the next election, as is highly likely, the consensus is that it would inherit a total mess. In 1997 New Labour were handed a booming economy and low debt. In 2010 the Conservatives took over thriving public services. In 2024 Labour will receive neither. But the party harbours a dirty secret. Some problems will fix themselves; some things are better than they look; and a few conundrums can be solved with only a little effort. Pessimism is judicious. Sir Keir would enter office with the lowest expectations of any prime minister since the 1970s. The good thing about low expectations? They are easily met.

There is an ascertainable glee in this iteration of Bagehot, and yet The Reader …she has 835 words till the end of this polemic! In the interest of a self-serving brevity, in deference to political honesty, I’ll highlight what might be characterized as valuable to a potential Reader!

…

But the Office for Budget Responsibility, a fiscal watchdog, is already predicting growth of almost 2% by 2028 through no effort of Labour’s own.

…

That means the public finances are now highly geared: a small jump in growth can lead to a big jump in tax revenues. The Conservatives took the political pain; Labour can spend the proceeds.

…

The markets expect a slew of rate cuts in 2025, just in time to benefit a newish government. Public and private finances will then improve—and quickly. In the course of the next parliament, mortgage renewal will flip from being a moment of despair to one of relief.

…

Sir Keir says that his party will whittle down National Health Service (nhs) waiting lists, for instance, but these are due to peak next summer anyway.

…

Reforming Britain’s nhs is the more Augean task. After a bout of restrained spending from 2010, the service has been doused in cash in recent years yet barely treats more patients.

…

The backlog of moves delayed by lockdowns, when people could not travel, will clear. Labour’s promise to return net migration to its recent (and still historically high) norms is not much of a challenge, yet it will still be seen as an achievement.

…

Since eight in ten Labour voters say they would rejoin the eu, a tighter and more prosperous relationship with the eu is perfectly viable.

…

The Conservatives have swung from a vision of a small-state government sat snugly inside the eu to a free-spending one far outside it. In the process it went through five prime ministers, with often radically different agendas, in seven years.

…

Under the rubric of ‘Can’t have a triumph of low expectations without a triumph’ the last two paragraphs:

…

Bored Labour backbenchers will make trouble eventually. Assuming that things will inevitably improve is naive. Yet so is assuming that things must remain terrible.

…

But a golden inheritance brings high expectations. During the 2005 general-election campaign, Sir Tony was harangued by voters complaining that gps were too quick to see patients.

…

Luckily for Labour, when you have hit the bottom, the only way is up. 

Newspaper Reader