Hugo Chavez - the final word

I notice that on the day of Hugo Chavez's state funeral, Anglo-American journalists are still being highly disrespectful, with snarky comments about who attended the service, with smug references to their human rights and foreign policy records.

As with many democrats, I am not comfortable with the concept of charismatic personality cults either, such as the one Chavez built, even though, ironically, we do it with our own (highly cherished) royal family. The right-wingers, who often befriend authoritarian regimes sympathetic to their goals, had a tendency to knock the Chavez government in Venezuela though. Why was this?

The reason is that right-wing politics, which has sadly become as much populist discourse in the UK as it has been in the USA for decades, is against the redistributive policies that were championed by Chavez.

This is sad for one significant reason. After the Second World War, the British public actually voted for democratic socialist politics. Labour was elected, and the NHS, an education system, the welfare state and social housing were built, albeit under the much quieter and thoughtful leadership of Clement Attlee. I am convinced that nowadays, such policies, along with a major nationalisation programme, would lead to spiteful vilification in the press along the lines of that subjected to Chavez.

Hugo Chavez may have few friends in the neo-liberal West, but he has now passed away. He deserves a little more than the same obituary that was given to Kim Jong-il, Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, with only the names and a few local details altered.

His status was sufficient enough for our own Conservative Foreign Secretary, William Hague, who is by no means a socialist revolutionary, to pay his respects to Chavez and his family. It was also remarkable that despite the constant criticisms in the UK media, the British public nonetheless still had enough independence of thought to ensure that "RIP Hugo Chavez" was a statement popular enough to briefly trend on the Twitter website.

RIP Hugo Chavez indeed.

Every day is a bad news day under this government

Living in Britain at the moment is a tougher experience than we have been used to. While we continue to struggle to make ends meet, every day it seems as though there is another piece of news that is a slap in the face to us all. Each helping of gloom is supported by a source, which cumulatively are broad and inclusive.

Wednesday 27th February

Centrica, the private company that owns British Gas posts a tasty £606m residential profit in 2012 - up 11 percent on the previous year. In November 2012, the company put up gas bills by 6 percent.
Source: Which (consumer group)

Thursday 28th February

The bank that needed to be bailed out by the government, the Royal Bank of Scotland, made a pre-tax loss of £5.17bn. Many of the losses were due to PPI claims and fines. Bonuses remain set aside for staff. Astonishingly, the hapless organisation has been praised by the government.

Source: BBC

Friday 1st March

The pound plunges to a two-and-a-half year low against the dollar following a "shock" fall in manufacturing output. I place the word "shock" in quotations on purpose, for many of us would hardly be shocked by a fall in manufacturing under a Conservative-led government.
Source: Sky

Saturday 2nd March

From the file marked 'how to win friends and influence people', Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Defence decided to suggest that spending cuts should be made to welfare rather than his war chest. Great. We can all starve, but at least our military will be kept strong. Nothing like North Korea at all, of course.
Source: Independent

Sunday 3rd March

The Conservatives are now making noises about withdrawing from the European Court of Human Rights after the next election, in what is seen as a populist move as a knee-jerk response to some high-profile defeats for the government regarding the deportation of terror suspects. A move would put Britain in a minority of two, alongside Belarus – at present Europe’s only remaining dictatorship.
Source: Independent

Monday 4th March

Government policy to encourage banks to lend in order to breathe life into the economy is a catastrophic failure after banks and building societies slashed lending by £2.4 BILLION in the three months to December. The government’s “Funding for Lending” scheme was meant to encourage the banks to lend.
Source: Evening Standard 

Tuesday 5th March

In a slap in the face to all those struggling to make ends meet, George Osborne went to the European Union finance ministers’ meeting to fight the corner of the bankers by voting against a cap on bankers’ bonuses. He lost 26-1.
Source: Telegraph

 

And you wonder why Labour are 13 points ahead in the polls.