The Tories have been playing a game that looks a lot like the bar room argument from an old Simpsons episode. <\/p>\n

At Moe’s Tavern…<\/p>\n

Barney: And I say, England’s greatest Prime Minister was Lord Palmerston!
\n Wade Boggs: Pitt the Elder!!
\n Barney: Lord Palmerston!!!
\n Wade Boggs: Pitt the Elder!!!! [pokes Barney]
\n Barney: Okay, you asked for it, bud! [punches him out]
\n Moe: Yeah, that’s showing him, Barney! [scoffing] Pitt the Elder…
\n Barney: Lord Palmerston!!!! [punches Moe] (from www.snpp.com\/episodes<\/a><\/em>)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Except in the Tories’ case, it’s a survey on “greatest Tory ever”<\/a> and the Conservative Party show less understanding of political reality than Barney and Moe.<\/p>\n

(I won’t make any jokes like “the only good Tory is..” Some, eg David Davies, have even been known to do the right thing on occasion.) <\/p>\n

Ironically, given the present global meltdown of the financial system, they chose Mrs Thatcher over alternative Tory leaders such as Churchill and Disraeli. Hmm. (Lord Palmerston was both a Tory (Conservative) and a Whig (Liberal) according to wikipedia, so maybe he doesn’t count. Pitt the Elder was a Whig so he definitely wouldn’t count anyway.)<\/p>\n

You can’t just blame Margaret Thatcher – you can blame the idiots who fawned on her and voted for her, for a start. Mainly, you can blame the global tide of neo-liberal economic policies. <\/p>\n

But it was her mission to dismantle most of what remained of the UK manufacturing sector, giving people the bizarre ideas that <\/p>\n

\n
• as long as the rich are getting ever richer, the economy must be sound<\/li>\n
• messing about with money is a reliable basis on which to base a national economy<\/li>\n
• rising property prices are somehow putting wealth into the economy as a whole rather than making a few property speculators wealthy<\/li>\n
• private companies are so much more efficient than nationalised companies that the taxpayer will magically save money by letting private companies profit from providing public services<\/li>\n
• and plenty more than doesn’t stand the test of a moment’s consideration, if you factor in the awareness that markets fluctuate<\/li>\n
• but makes lots of sense if your backers are going to profit from your “reforms”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  (Amazingly, the nuLab part of the Labour Party is also mesmerised by this tosh.)<\/p>\n

  It’s quite funny that the Tories are choosing the moment at which the mad vapour-industries of finance are self-destructing to align themselves with the personification of the stupidity that allowed these industries free rein. Not as funny as the Simpsons, admittedly. Moe and Barney could probably form a more effective government.<\/p>\n

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      The Tories have been playing a game that looks a lot like the bar room argument from an old Simpsons episode. At Moe’s Tavern… Barney: And I say, England’s greatest Prime Minister was Lord Palmerston! Wade Boggs: Pitt the Elder!! … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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