The Key Government shows us the Nanny State “is alive and kicking – it's just that her petticoats are blue now, not red.”
Not my words, but those of Finlay MacDonald in today’s Sunday Rag. Words I would have been proud to have written myself.
Words echoed—and who would have ever thought you could say this—in Michael Lhaws’s column for the same rag, in which he concluded “what last week's anti-smoking and anti-drinking endeavours are all about: the middle class telling the lesser classes that they can't be trusted. And if Labour weren't so resolutely PC, they would be all over this issue until election day.” And so they should be. And could be. Because as Finlay MacDonald points out, “if Labour fancied reinventing itself as the enlightened libertarian alternative, John Key and his meddlesome chums might be forced to defend their own record against the charge that they have given nanny a fresh pair of bloomers and even more sensible shoes.”
A charge to which they could only plead guilty.
Read them both:
UPDATE: Never mind that freedom nonsense, time to soak the poor, says Phil Sage. Just for the record, Phil votes National.
5 comments:
The Laws piece was especially nice, thanks. Is SST the only paper not going on an anti-fun crusade?
It looked like that the 2 authors might have lifted the ideas/words for their articles from Not PC blog.
It's not the 'middle classes'
It's the frickin' 'Upper Classes' that nobody- even the libs- dares mentions.
The fuckers-mostly unelected that actually call the shots here.
"the middle class telling the lesser classes that they can't be trusted"
Politicians, party apparatus, crony capitalists- they are NOT the 'Middle frickin' class'
They are are friggin' MASTERS.
Like my termanology or not- that is the reality!
I thought Finlay had the whiff of hypocrisy in that article. Words you might be proud to say, were only said by him because if the shoe was on the other foot and it was a Labour policy, he'd be defending the changes.
Here's the beginning of my post on this topic (not trying to spam your thread):
Finlay MacDonald is outraged in today's SST. How dare National take on Labour's role of the Nanny! How dare they go along with Helen Clark and the Green's anti-smacking bill even after a referendum result of 88% gave him the mandate to reverse it! How dare Key put up tobacco taxes!
So many things that Labour could be promising to do in the next election are now under threat - the drinking age, the driving age, cell phone use, pub closing times, folic acid in bread - will there be any nappy unpinned, any freedom left unfettered by the time Labour arrive to govern?
Indeed, why vote in Labour, when National are doing Labour better than Labour?
What's a principled party like Labour to do when National take over it's political morals?
Well, Finlay suggests, it's enough for a principled party like Labour decide to abandon it's principles and reinvent itself as an enlightened libertarian alternative.
The rest here if you follow my line of thought: The shoe is on the same foot
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