Dreaming of Simplicity

There's an interesting article at Harry's Place about the evils of faith schools, one person commenting says "the leader of the Labour group and the Conservative Cabinet member responsible for education have not replied. I would imagine that they know the situation is unjust, but they want to maintain it to appease the Christian establishment". This raises a good question, why does Labour listen to the Christian special interest groups and others like them? Some would argue that it is because we are a Christian society, however, this does not wash as we are in fact a secular society and few people pay much attention to churches anymore. It is actually part of a larger picture, for Labour does not just bow to churches, but also to a wide range of other groups of questionable intentions.

It has long been know that Labour is a slave to the City. Indeed, Polly Toynbee noticed last week that "the same day Purnell cracked the whip on [so called] 'scroungers', Alistair Darling retreated on closing key tax loopholes on foreign earnings, under pressure from the City". The question is of course why does Labour bend over to please the City when it receives nothing in return. It is startling that for all Labour have done for the City, the fat cats still support the Conservative party and throw ever larger wads of cash at it. What is even more perplexing, is that Labour continues to do the biding of a group that supports and finances its opponent.

It is not only the City, as mentioned above Christian leaders have a good time under Labour; notice how Jack Straw's Lords reform proposals include the retention of bishops. One does wonder why Labour is not corrupt. If it was then you could understand it bowing to the wishes of churches, big business, the banking industry and the City. The thing is, as its finances show, it is not. In the US, you can understand the Republicans positions on abortion and gay marriage because pro-family groups are big financial supporters. You could understand the Tories pandering to special interests baring mind the amount of support they receive from big business.

Labour receives 90% of its funding from unions, yet instead of doing their biding, it listens to those who oppose the unions. It has got to be the oddest politics ever encountered. This is one of the major flaws of New Labour, it gave out favours to special interest groups while allowing them to continue to fund the Conservatives. I never cease to be amazed by the complete incompetence of the Labour leadership. Its really hard to know whether to laugh or cry.