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| "They don't deserve another chance" |
Monday, 27 January 2014
Across the World
There is to be a general election in Hungary in April. Already political posters are appearing on the streets of Budapest. One, attacking politicians of the left, struck me as interesting, because, with changes to its line-up - but no change to its message - it could be used to tap into a mood in the electorate not just of Hungary but also in those of Australia and Britain. The campaign appears to be attacking individual personalities, but perhaps in fact there is some kind of international political shift going on, (or perhaps it is simply that the left has made a mess of things in several countries simultaneously):
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The contrast between Britain and France is particularly marked and so far, austerity appears to be winning.
ReplyDeleteBut in Britain, economic policies are overshadowed by the issue of immigration. I wouldn't have thought that it would be a big issue in Hungary.
Instead of immigration, the age-old default of racism is there - in this context in November last year in the New Yorker Anne Applebaum wrote about the deputy leader of Hungary's anti-semitic party Jobbik discovering he was actually Jewish - his grandmother, of the generation that had witnessed Hitler's attempts to eradicate their race, decided the safest thing was to erase all knowledge of their true origins. This is apparently a very common thing. I can't think of any better way of learning exactly how stupid racism is. Re France, isn't Hollande amazingly unpopular? Re austerity, have you read Peter Oborne's attacks on George Osborne in The Telegraph in recent days - when Tories start attacking Tories, perhaps austerity isn't going to win in the long run.
DeleteI think what will win in the long run is investment and training along German lines. Britain's economic success is a house built on sand and is far too dependent on London. The City may be successful today, but money can move somewhere else within seconds and I've seen two property crashes in less than 20 years.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the main challenge is the rising cost of pensions and healthcare for a growing population of retired people. I expect I'll end my days in the workhouse.
I read in the Guardian and the Spectator last week that the Treasury has reverted to allowing the economy to be driven by house prices and sub-prime lending - when two publications from opposite ends of the spectrum express the same concerns I tend to believe that there really is something to be concerned about. Both articles expressed real worry about how flimsy the apparent return to something vaguely like prosperity is and how little (nothing?) has been done to deal with the real problems in the economy. I'll send you food parcels from Australia when you're in the workhouse, if that's any comfort.
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