The Tories & the press relentlessly attack & undermine the @nationaltrust & the @BBC, two of our most loved & quintessentially British institutions, not because they're "woke" or "anti-British", but because they're two of the only assets we have left which haven't been sold off.
Contrary to popular belief among the fewer than 3 in 10 of the electorate who voted Tory in #GE209, deregulated free market capitalism is not about "efficiency", 'driving down costs' or 'driving up choice & quality': it's about short-term profit & is not in the national interest.
Most countries have polices restricting foreign ownership on the grounds that there are strategic sectors which should be kept in domestic ownership.
Not the UK: public utilities, the media, manufacturing & property are in the hands of foreign companies & foreign billionaires.
Alex Brummer in ‘Britain for Sale: British Companies in Foreign Hands’ estimated that no less than half of all British companies have been sold to foreigners.
The Right flaunt their nationalist credentials, while selling Britain down the river.
In the 1980s, the irresponsible Thatcher Government embraced privatisation as its primary policy, arguing that 'opening up business' to the "free market" would make them more efficient & productive, & give British capitalism the competitive edge in Europe & the global economy.
The Tories sold off Jaguar, British Telecom, British Rail, British Aerospace, Britoil & British Gas, British Steel, British Petroleum, British Airways, Rolls Royce, & public water & electricity companies - it was sheer bloody minded ideological vandalism.
Thatcher’s reign was built upon a reckless post- nationalist faith in the global free market, enterprise culture & competition, as well as a reactionary belief in Great Britain’s imperial past.
Continued by subsequent Govts, asset-stripped Britain's cupboard is now almost bare.
Thatcherism ushered in a dangerous relationship between Govt & monied powers. MPs increasingly rendered powerless in relation to the City sought personal gain with corporate positions & memberships. The UK Govt is now mainly a vehicle for the the interests of the rich & powerful.
Most UK think tanks, radio stations, TV channels, newspapers & magazines are just the #propaganda wing of powerful corporations & libertarian billionaires; our public institutions are headed by their representatives; & our Government is full of lobbyists, bankers & hedge funders.
So after forty years, what does Britain have left to sell off? The "woke" museums, Universities, #NHS, #BBC & #NationalTrust.
Having got their Brexit, the ERG, Tufton St & now Andrew Neil's hedge-funded TV channel aim to turn public opinion against them, so they can be sold off.
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Just imagine the response had PM Corbyn overseen 150,000 deaths! 🤯
A short #THREAD on the *REAL* causes of Britain's mass deaths.
Despite the brutality & disarray of the current Government, the causes of Britain's catastrophic response to #COVID have been brewing for decades.
Since the 2008 financial crash — caused by the reckless irresponsibility of a greedy & woefully under-regulated & deregulated financial sector — our once genuinely world-beating public services have been utterly decimated, with tragic consequences for millions of decent people.
Following the imposition of ideological #austerity, council funding has been cut by 49%.
Essential public services have either been privatised or replaced with faceless profit-motivated corporate outsourcers, with only a superficial concern for the places in which they operate.
The elite want more deregulated free-market capitalism.
Yet despite the best efforts of newspaper owners, broadcasters, politicians, lobbyists & think tanks, 67% of British people strongly support MORE REGULATION of business, compared to 53% in Germany.
British people also desire a much more expansive role for the state: 62% deem it “very important” for the Govt to build more public housing, & 53% want to increase benefits for the poor - higher than other countries. 50% want a Universal Basic Income - much higher than elsewhere.
The fake 'culture war' fought every day by "Libertarians" & free-market supporters in the press, on radio & on TV, is designed to distract voters from the multiple catastrophic failures of deregulated free market capitalism by keeping us outraged, obsessed with trivia, & divided.
Various bankers & journalists have recently been very upbeat about the prospects for Britain's economic recovery:
"The British economy will be booming. It is not yet widely appreciated just how big this boom will be" - Andrew Neil.
My advice: don't believe the hype.
Last week the Bank of England said: "Economic growth in Britain this year should not be confused with a normal boom... economy shrank almost 10% last year, biggest slump in 300 years".
While the opinion polls show a 'vaccine bounce' for the Tories, again: don't believe the hype.
A fascinating new opinion poll by the respected Pew Research Center, discussed in the Financial Times, tells a fascinating story about how a clear majority in the US & Western Europe support large scale, systemic change.
Today, Boris Johnson meets only the 2nd EU leader since Brexit: grotesque far-right racist authoritarian, Viktor Orbán, who doesn't want "our" colour mixed with others.
The Biden administration describes Hungary as 'a totalitarian regime'.
No 10 calls Orbán 'our friend'.
Meeting a corrupt far-right anti-democratic authoritarian, with strong links to the deregulatory free-market think tank network which uses dark money to roll back worker, consumer, democratic & environmental protections, sends an awful signal to the world. opendemocracy.net/en/5050/dark-m…
As we now know, Boris Johnson & his chaotic Govt care not one jot for truth, minorities, or morality: they lie with impunity; deny structural racism; hand multi-£million contracts to their mates; & prioritise money & power over tens of thousands of lives.
Tomorrow, the UK's PM Boris Johnson talks to his "friend" #racist far-right anti-democratic authoritarian PM Viktor Orbán, who has spoken of not wanting "our" colour mixed with others & of Hungary "defending itself against the migrant flow & invasion”.