Fantasy narratives - failing economy

The video of a clip with Tony NcNulty ( Employment minister apparently ) below was highlighted else where at the time, but I've just re-watched it and I think it tells us something important about the current Labour regime.

If you've never seen it before watch it then I'll carry on my point below:



Firstly I have to say I have had the same experience as Tony McNulty's having here with a boss who was a cross between Jeremy Paxman and Alan Sugar. It a mistake you only ever make once, and if your still in employment afterwards you make damn sure your on top of your facts there after.

Tony McNulty is normally a much more assured media performer. But Paxo's right - as employment minister he should have known those details. It rather leaves two possible interpretations:
1) He's not doing his job and should resign.
2) He was not closely involved in the preparation of the announcement and is having to clear up the mess. ( If I were a minister who had been so sidelined I would raise hell and demand assurances that such a thing would never happen again and if I didn't get them resign. )

But now combine this botched announcement with the spin on the graduate internships the government has announced. It proudly used the names of Barclay's and Microsoft - and yet a day latter we discover that neither company will do anything different from what it has done in the past ( ie no new places - just allowing the government to put a cover sheet on their own actions and try to sell it as a new initiative ).

This is the government of the media grid. Establishing the narrative, but neglecting the facts on the ground. Spin before and over truth. Perhaps we should all castigate ourselves that this still shocks us after almost eleven years of Labour.

But worse is to come. The McNulty interview and especially the attention to Rolls Royce with Brown's expensive campaigning on the taxpayers expense visits. We are about to get a reheated version of "the white heat of technology" ploy that Wilson tried to pull on the electorate.

The new jobs will be in green technology, computers etc and from the way he speaks its clear he view it as governments role to bring this about. Or at least it will be the narrative to be used to full the government media matrix's for the next few months.

The reality will of course be very different.

The government doesn't know what its doing. They are making it up as they go along, and anyway what they are really thinking about is how to coble together a narrative that can hold together long enough to get themselves re-elected. As the interview above makes all too terribly clear.

Further: As if to make my point for me - see this quote attributed to an article by Peter Mandelson over on the Daily Dolly:

"Voters know that it is right to plan and invest for the upturn: ensuring that future jobs and growth come from new innovations in areas such as environmental technology, high-tech manufacturing and the creative industries. I am glad that, at least when it comes to the latter, the Labour party itself is now moving to the forefront of new media and online campaigning."

You see the combination of the "White heat of technology" ploy combined with their real interests - not will it work - but can it be used to win an election.

We know government is bad at picking winners (see 1970's), and also that recessions perform an important role in realigning capital to more productive areas. Government interference guarantees the economy will learn little and come out weakened.