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hurricane_run
This is the really crucial thing here, I think, and I (hopefully, respectfully) disagree. Hate the players and hate the game even more, 100%, but I think we'd all agree that ultimately the game needs to change, so the question is how.
From further upthread:
The shadow front bench are capitulating on a number of arguments: on migration, on the nature of finance, workers rights, tenants rights, among others. These aren't private issues — they're inherently public — and our major left representatives don't seem to be concerned with them much at all. That's partially down to a democratic deficit, and otherwise an anti-confrontational streak in the shadow front bench for all the reasons @Maj stated earlier.
To give them some credit, they're trying to navigate what they see as a difficult political situation with new ways to get around the old problems of political economy. It seems to me that they've read a bit of Mariana Mazzucato and listened to her ideas on the entrepreneurial state (I'm a fan too!), but have landed on the idea that it's all they need to do, rather than something in addition to correcting any of the many failures of the last 40-50 years.
The resurgence of the youth vote for far-right parties in places like The Netherlands is particularly worrying in this context. Their protest votes centre on old problems of distribution, equality and housing. The only figures they can turn to are the likes of Geert Wilders, who are publicly willing and able to warp these forces into changing the status quo.
So back in the UK, we're really just hoping that Labour's agenda is much more progressive than it appears, simply willing meaningful change into existence without really talking about it.