Not being a politician I can say that UK standard of living is going to continue to decline for reasons largely outside of national government control. I do think the professional managerial class believe they are the anointed ones in a way that really sticks in the craw. I expect they would be shocked and upset at how many ordinary people think they are certifiably insane. A whole priesthood that has drawn up whatever anchored them to physical reality and floated off to the land of 'we make our own reality', narrative control. They really seem to make the category error that saying something equals something having been done.
We are entering a soviet like era where central government is likely to receive all sorts of reassuring data on 5 year tractor production whilst those on the ground ignore the tidalwave of new rules, regulations and laws being passed and get on with doing what seems best to them in the moment. Having neither checked people are broadly in favour of the direction of travel for these new rules or adequately funded regulation, inspection and punishment I expect they will be the last ones to realise the termites have got at the support beams holding everything up. Cue more panicky doing what already isn't working, but harder...
Very good! I was thinking that Michael Young’s 1958 dystopian novel ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy’ could be usefully ‘re-booted’ to take in current developments. I suggest it be titled ‘The Mid-Wit Cuckoos’.
A suitably pointed piece. My only quibble is that I believe that the Tyranny Class in Government
* believe* in their heart of hearts that they actually 'own' the economy, 'own' all property currently being loaned to the little people, and 'own' the choices that the little people make about spending the money they have been owned. After all their cleverness and worthiness know no bounds.
I'd argue that the Labour government are on manoeuvrers to pull down resistance to their ownership by identifying their targets through the periscope of Class War.
And yet, to paraphrase a well know former Prime Minister:
"There's no such thing as 'The Economy'. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."
I don't know it's as fully conscious as that. I think it's more that, by default, they tend to have no reason why in any given circumstance the state shouldn't do more, and confiscate more to pay for it. It's not so much 'We own everything' as 'We know best and will find the resources to make what we want to happen, happen'. Eventually the latter amounts to the former, obviously!
I rather agree. If, like David Goodhart’s “somewheres”, you define yourself by your qualifications and professional achievements, you have to keep believing in your capacity to engineer positive change even when there’s no evidence, as otherwise your raison d’etre evaporates. In this sense, politics is simply an extreme example of a much wider deformation professionelle.
Only these people Goodhart called the “anywheres” - the “somewheres” are grounded in place and community. The credentialed meritocrats aren’t - perhaps they should be called “nowheres”
Superb, just superb. Thank you. It prompts a two part request though, one is Olivers, 'Please sir, can I have some more?' The other is this, you take apart with the deftness and clarity the sheer calamity of the misguided (or perhaps unguided) workings of this new tyrant class in the way of a master craftsman working with his tools, it looks easy, it is quick, it is not wasteful and the resultant piece is durable, from Greece to today, but for lesser smiths like me I need a ready reckoner to be able to use in the day to day that 'points to' all you have said in a truism. Perhaps in this case in might be 'she's grown to big for her boots'. These old adages of ages past that my father and grandparents knew and used well have been forgotten and perhaps we need an updated miscellany of them. Could we have an appropriate one with each essay please?
The tyrannical class's belief that one man or woman possesses more ability and wisdom than the unwashed masses can be divined in the reorganisation of local government. In particular the creation of regional mayors and police and crime commissioners. Both were formerly functions of collective bodies (of varying abilities it must be said). Now power resides in our own local, or regional, person of destiny with predictably underwhelming outcomes.
Thomas Sowell calls it "The Vision of the Anointed". Their 'vison' is unconstrained, naive, and counter-behavioural, resulting in a virtue-signalling wish list of what is deemed 'good' and, therefore, morally superior.
Another excellent piece David. In 4-yrs time do we get 'rinse-repeat' with the last shower, or do you think we may actually be close to the denouement of the uniparty? What's going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, because its knees are buckling!
".... the exposure is likely to be so thorough, in the end, that it may eventually call into question the premise upon which the authority of the entire tyrannical class rests." We can but dream libertarian dreams.....
I am so glad I’m not the only one who’s spent their life looking around and thinking ‘why does nothing make sense’.
A couple of points popped into my head.
Firstly, the mindset you described is being used to ‘revamp’ the National Curriculum to train children to ‘appreciate diversity’.
By many metrics, Government Compulsory schooling since the 1890s has been a dismal experiment and now it’s overtaken by the Nudge Unit, just like University.
Secondly, I will find it hilarious to see how the lot spin the problems that are coming from living in a low-trust sectarian society.
Credentialism through faked resumes, degrees and the like might weaken these as ‘signals’ of greatness.
Not to mention the day to day worry of going to a fake Doctor, a fake Dentist and driving on the roads with people who have fake Driving Licenses.
Lastly, I read The Whisperers, a book about life in Soviet Russia and it changed my mindset to one of just assuming I am also in a Soviet system.
It’s has better predictive and explanatory powers than when I thought of this as a Democracy.
Now, if things go wrong — and they probably will — it’s on them.
Yes, I think about The Whisperers from time to time. We're not there yet, of course, but you can absolutely see the shape of that kind of a society taking form beneath what we thought was our own.
I would just add that this type of government has run Britain since at least 1997. Others have called it "Stalinist", or "Blairite".
The "Conservatives" who ran Britain from 2010 to 2024 were the same - aping Tony Blair because their belief was that he was a really effective politician. (In passing, he wasn't. Gordon Brown basically ran Blair's government.)
David Cameron, supposedly, rejuvenated the Conservatives, by abandoning all those nasty things like Conservatism, and driving out the Conservatives in the party. He copied Blair, because the Tory faction he led all loved Blair and wished he was in their party.
That in turn led to the party's current existential crisis.
Right up to Jeremy Hunt, the Conservatives were exactly as you have described Ms Reeves in your article. I am not convinced they have changed even now.
The open letter of 02 October 2024 sent to her by an MP gave a straightforward evidence based proven way how the government can resolve the budgetary difficulties.
HM Treasury perfunctory response of 21 October 2024 to the open letter did not even state that there was an inability to come up with answers.
The government can't help the economy, but they can harm it, everything that they do is an act of harm when it comes to our living standards and freedoms, the Labour party is a cabal of the nation's enemies. This makes their behaviour immediately understandable.
They hate Britain and all that it has previously stood for, they'd rather live in a world without the UK or the West. The Tories were both incompetent and to a small degree malicious, but Labour is incompetent and wholly Malicious. They hate Britain and that's the kindest thing I can say about them...
An interesting observation about Reeves but I think the real problems are related to universal suffrage and democracy. You refer to the governing classes as being mid-witted but that must also apply to the governed. It took me almost 80 years to work out that democracy is the biggest con trick ever implemented. It makes us think the politicians are working for us.
It took the EU referendum for me to see the problem with democracy. Those who "lost" the vote did not accept the result and most of the politicians did not accept it. More importantly it revealed the nonsense of a majority being relevant. It relation to the registered electorate the decision to leave the EU was based on a minority. It was also the first time that I questioned why a majority could make the correct decision and what right the have to impose their view on a minority. Democracy is essentially means socialism and a welfare, and even warfare state.. It redistributes money from the middle classes to the poorest and when taxation gets too high debt is used. We now seem to be at a stage where there is no money to provide welfare for the poor.
The creative and intelligent are the ones now being vilified for their wealth but we need them to provide the work for the rest of us. Even the small business are being penalised by taxation. Democracy is the enemy of wealth creation and a better life. We need a Republic based on limiting the power of the government and one based on individual rights and property. This work in the US until the creation of the Federal Reserve and since then it has transformed into a democracy and is now heading into world tyranny because warfare dominates its economy.
I can see no way back from this except through failure of the western economy and all that will happen is the cycle will start again as history shows.
Not being a politician I can say that UK standard of living is going to continue to decline for reasons largely outside of national government control. I do think the professional managerial class believe they are the anointed ones in a way that really sticks in the craw. I expect they would be shocked and upset at how many ordinary people think they are certifiably insane. A whole priesthood that has drawn up whatever anchored them to physical reality and floated off to the land of 'we make our own reality', narrative control. They really seem to make the category error that saying something equals something having been done.
We are entering a soviet like era where central government is likely to receive all sorts of reassuring data on 5 year tractor production whilst those on the ground ignore the tidalwave of new rules, regulations and laws being passed and get on with doing what seems best to them in the moment. Having neither checked people are broadly in favour of the direction of travel for these new rules or adequately funded regulation, inspection and punishment I expect they will be the last ones to realise the termites have got at the support beams holding everything up. Cue more panicky doing what already isn't working, but harder...
I basically concur.
Very good! I was thinking that Michael Young’s 1958 dystopian novel ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy’ could be usefully ‘re-booted’ to take in current developments. I suggest it be titled ‘The Mid-Wit Cuckoos’.
A suitably pointed piece. My only quibble is that I believe that the Tyranny Class in Government
* believe* in their heart of hearts that they actually 'own' the economy, 'own' all property currently being loaned to the little people, and 'own' the choices that the little people make about spending the money they have been owned. After all their cleverness and worthiness know no bounds.
I'd argue that the Labour government are on manoeuvrers to pull down resistance to their ownership by identifying their targets through the periscope of Class War.
And yet, to paraphrase a well know former Prime Minister:
"There's no such thing as 'The Economy'. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."
I don't know it's as fully conscious as that. I think it's more that, by default, they tend to have no reason why in any given circumstance the state shouldn't do more, and confiscate more to pay for it. It's not so much 'We own everything' as 'We know best and will find the resources to make what we want to happen, happen'. Eventually the latter amounts to the former, obviously!
I rather agree. If, like David Goodhart’s “somewheres”, you define yourself by your qualifications and professional achievements, you have to keep believing in your capacity to engineer positive change even when there’s no evidence, as otherwise your raison d’etre evaporates. In this sense, politics is simply an extreme example of a much wider deformation professionelle.
That's it in a nutshell.
Only these people Goodhart called the “anywheres” - the “somewheres” are grounded in place and community. The credentialed meritocrats aren’t - perhaps they should be called “nowheres”
Superb, just superb. Thank you. It prompts a two part request though, one is Olivers, 'Please sir, can I have some more?' The other is this, you take apart with the deftness and clarity the sheer calamity of the misguided (or perhaps unguided) workings of this new tyrant class in the way of a master craftsman working with his tools, it looks easy, it is quick, it is not wasteful and the resultant piece is durable, from Greece to today, but for lesser smiths like me I need a ready reckoner to be able to use in the day to day that 'points to' all you have said in a truism. Perhaps in this case in might be 'she's grown to big for her boots'. These old adages of ages past that my father and grandparents knew and used well have been forgotten and perhaps we need an updated miscellany of them. Could we have an appropriate one with each essay please?
GK Chesterton: 'There is only one moral to everything'. Namely, that pride comes before a fall.
Well put. Agree totally.
Goodwin's 'new elite' = McGrogan's 'tyrant class' 😀
Also Martin Durkin’s forthcoming book on the ‘New Class’.
https://open.substack.com/pub/martindurkin/p/the-new-class?r=qck83&utm_medium=ios
An excellent piece.
The tyrannical class's belief that one man or woman possesses more ability and wisdom than the unwashed masses can be divined in the reorganisation of local government. In particular the creation of regional mayors and police and crime commissioners. Both were formerly functions of collective bodies (of varying abilities it must be said). Now power resides in our own local, or regional, person of destiny with predictably underwhelming outcomes.
In Cameron and Obsorne's heads, it would make local government more accountable. The result has been the opposite.
Thomas Sowell calls it "The Vision of the Anointed". Their 'vison' is unconstrained, naive, and counter-behavioural, resulting in a virtue-signalling wish list of what is deemed 'good' and, therefore, morally superior.
Another excellent piece David. In 4-yrs time do we get 'rinse-repeat' with the last shower, or do you think we may actually be close to the denouement of the uniparty? What's going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, because its knees are buckling!
I think there will be a serious financial crisis within a year or two. Once that happens, all bets are off as to what comes next.
Fabulous summary.
".... the exposure is likely to be so thorough, in the end, that it may eventually call into question the premise upon which the authority of the entire tyrannical class rests." We can but dream libertarian dreams.....
Another excellent read.
I am so glad other people are ‘noticing’.
I am so glad I’m not the only one who’s spent their life looking around and thinking ‘why does nothing make sense’.
A couple of points popped into my head.
Firstly, the mindset you described is being used to ‘revamp’ the National Curriculum to train children to ‘appreciate diversity’.
By many metrics, Government Compulsory schooling since the 1890s has been a dismal experiment and now it’s overtaken by the Nudge Unit, just like University.
Secondly, I will find it hilarious to see how the lot spin the problems that are coming from living in a low-trust sectarian society.
Credentialism through faked resumes, degrees and the like might weaken these as ‘signals’ of greatness.
Not to mention the day to day worry of going to a fake Doctor, a fake Dentist and driving on the roads with people who have fake Driving Licenses.
Lastly, I read The Whisperers, a book about life in Soviet Russia and it changed my mindset to one of just assuming I am also in a Soviet system.
It’s has better predictive and explanatory powers than when I thought of this as a Democracy.
Now, if things go wrong — and they probably will — it’s on them.
Yes, I think about The Whisperers from time to time. We're not there yet, of course, but you can absolutely see the shape of that kind of a society taking form beneath what we thought was our own.
Agree with all of that, David.
I would just add that this type of government has run Britain since at least 1997. Others have called it "Stalinist", or "Blairite".
The "Conservatives" who ran Britain from 2010 to 2024 were the same - aping Tony Blair because their belief was that he was a really effective politician. (In passing, he wasn't. Gordon Brown basically ran Blair's government.)
David Cameron, supposedly, rejuvenated the Conservatives, by abandoning all those nasty things like Conservatism, and driving out the Conservatives in the party. He copied Blair, because the Tory faction he led all loved Blair and wished he was in their party.
That in turn led to the party's current existential crisis.
Right up to Jeremy Hunt, the Conservatives were exactly as you have described Ms Reeves in your article. I am not convinced they have changed even now.
Yes, it's a very deep-rooted problem. It goes back certainly as far as interwar collectivism, but really all the way back to the 15th century!
In ancient Greece, the tyrant, a tyrant, was not always regarded as a 'bad thing' ; not inevitably reprehensible.
Modern glosses of the word sometimes overlook this fact.
But, of course, and as we know full well*, definitions of words change over time.
* Cf. Humpty Dumpty's famous lines on the subject of words and what they may mean.
(Lewis Carroll was no fool.)
The open letter of 02 October 2024 sent to her by an MP gave a straightforward evidence based proven way how the government can resolve the budgetary difficulties.
HM Treasury perfunctory response of 21 October 2024 to the open letter did not even state that there was an inability to come up with answers.
Always ego. The sense of superiority. The drive to control. I remain curious about the psychology of the PMC and its priesthood.
The government can't help the economy, but they can harm it, everything that they do is an act of harm when it comes to our living standards and freedoms, the Labour party is a cabal of the nation's enemies. This makes their behaviour immediately understandable.
They hate Britain and all that it has previously stood for, they'd rather live in a world without the UK or the West. The Tories were both incompetent and to a small degree malicious, but Labour is incompetent and wholly Malicious. They hate Britain and that's the kindest thing I can say about them...
An interesting observation about Reeves but I think the real problems are related to universal suffrage and democracy. You refer to the governing classes as being mid-witted but that must also apply to the governed. It took me almost 80 years to work out that democracy is the biggest con trick ever implemented. It makes us think the politicians are working for us.
It took the EU referendum for me to see the problem with democracy. Those who "lost" the vote did not accept the result and most of the politicians did not accept it. More importantly it revealed the nonsense of a majority being relevant. It relation to the registered electorate the decision to leave the EU was based on a minority. It was also the first time that I questioned why a majority could make the correct decision and what right the have to impose their view on a minority. Democracy is essentially means socialism and a welfare, and even warfare state.. It redistributes money from the middle classes to the poorest and when taxation gets too high debt is used. We now seem to be at a stage where there is no money to provide welfare for the poor.
The creative and intelligent are the ones now being vilified for their wealth but we need them to provide the work for the rest of us. Even the small business are being penalised by taxation. Democracy is the enemy of wealth creation and a better life. We need a Republic based on limiting the power of the government and one based on individual rights and property. This work in the US until the creation of the Federal Reserve and since then it has transformed into a democracy and is now heading into world tyranny because warfare dominates its economy.
I can see no way back from this except through failure of the western economy and all that will happen is the cycle will start again as history shows.
I certainly agree with your last paragraph!