[ad_1]
By BAGEHOT | Manchester
Britain is currently suffering from something very un-British: millennialism. This country, which has always prided itself on supporting common sense and progressive change, is being hijacked by those who believe the end of the world is nigh and the Kingdom of God is just around the corner.
When I arrived in Manchester for the Conservative Party conference, I engaged in a debate with a bearded gentleman who reminded me of the millennial character of the Labour Party. Socialist Workersa left-wing newspaper. This bearded gentleman told me that “the Russian Revolution is the greatest event in world history”. I asked him if he had ever been to Russia. He said he had not – a strange admission in the age of cheap travel for someone who thinks it is the greatest thing ever. However, he shrugged off my statement because I had been to Russia several times, including in the 1980s, and the country did not look like the product of the greatest event ever. He told me in no uncertain terms that I could not see clearly what was really happening because I was a running dog of the capitalist class. The conversation went downhill from there.
This gentleman may be an extreme example of such a person, but the Labour conference in Brighton last week was packed with people with a similar millennial mentality. Jeremy Corbyn and his followers kept repeating that Britain is essentially a land flowing with milk and honey – the fifth richest country in the world – and the only reason people don’t have enough good things in life is that the “rich” consume more than their fair share. All you need to do is tax the rich a little more and distribute the wealth more fairly, and Britain’s worst problems (homelessness, poverty, NHS queues) will disappear.
[ad_2]
Source link
