Reminder – Corbyn government an extremely bad idea

On Saturday I undertook what is usually one of the most distressing and confusing of tasks attempted by men over the age of 40, that is “shopping for holiday clothes.”

Against all expectations, it went relatively well to the extent that there were, at least, no disastrous purchases.

No hats were bought. Why do some men think that the summer trip renders a hat – those white/cream strawish hats – acceptable or even compulsory? Women can get away with a summer holiday hat. Men can’t. And don’t – if you are a man and own such a thing – say that it is a question of protection from the sun. Nonsense. You see many of those hats worn on the concourse at St Pancras station, indoors.

The male wearer of a holiday hat is sending a social signal. The hat, worn at a rakish angle, says: look here, I am an Englishman well used to international travel; I have literary tastes; I have a cream cotton jacket; we’ll probably look in on the arts festival in Avignon; I’ve still got a dash of panache; here, look at my holiday hat.

And so what? Go for it. The consumer society offers us these choices and we make them and enjoy doing so. Viva capitalism. The wearer of the hat can point to the fetching trainers I bought in a bewildered state at Niketown on Regent Street on Saturday and say with justification “no-one aged between 30 and 70” should be wearing trainers outside of a gym. Fair enough. But it is a free country, for now. Ignore me. You wear your hat, holiday hat man.

I must admit though that when it came to buying t-shirts my faith in capitalism almost broke down. “Those polo shirts are non-sale, sir, and £95,” said the man at an exclusive store on Jermyn Street. I left in a hurry, and mercifully found an alternative two doors down selling nicer versions at a quarter of the price. Again, the wonder of markets and choice in action.

I didn’t on my shopping trip see any t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “literally a communist” but it can only be a matter of time, considering how popular that phrase has become among Corbynistas in recent weeks. A young and highly smug Communist supporter of Jeremy Corbyn uttered the phrase on breakfast TV in an interview with Piers Morgan, the British communications chief for President Donald Trump.

While Piers Morgan can be annoying, that is no justification for endorsing an ideology responsible for the deaths of somewhere between 80 and 100 million people, that everywhere it has been tried leads to tyranny because the heads of those who disagree with the approach (state ownership of everything, even ownership of the personality of the individual, and zero economic freedom, and no free exchange in a market system) must be broken in case they give other people ideas about freedom and prosperity.

The staggering – really disturbing – idea that there are people out there who against all the evidence endorse Communism, does, however, serve as a reminder that a Jeremy Corbyn government would be an extremely bad idea for Britain. The Tories are in a mess and they are botching Brexit. But if you think this is bad, try a government run by Marxists.

Around Corbyn are clustered genuine Marxists and Communists. A leading soft-left figure told me the concern is over done, as Corbyn would have little scope to do anything beyond a mild manifesto.

Wrong, dead wrong. Governments have huge power in the financial field in an emergency, simply by executive order. See the financial crisis. During a run on a new government, a Marxist Chancellor would have little option other than to impose capital controls to stop the flood of wealth out of the country. The excuse would be emergency measures against enemies of the people. The script writes itself. The impact on our open economy combined with epic tax rises would be catastrophic.

The security impact of a Corbyn-led government would be just as calamitous. At a time when the West is under combined assault from President Trump and a hungry Russian regime that menaces the Baltic states, Poland and Sweden‎, the appointment of a UK Prime Minister who does not believe in NATO, whose main aides are pro-Russian opponents of the West, would be, to put it mildy, a sub-optimal development. Perhaps Corbyn could do it with the help of the SNP which so dislikes NATO and wants to break up the UK. Perhaps pro-Putin Alex Salmond (of Russia Today) could be Foreign Secretary in a Corbyn coalition from hell.

On which happy note…

I am taking a few weeks off and this newsletter for Reaction subscribers returns in mid-August.

Thank you for supporting Reaction and our brilliant young team of editors and writers, and our peerless veteran scribblers too. If you’re going to France on holiday may your claret be of the best vintage (2005) and your Provencal pink stuff be as pale as Theresa May watching Michel Barnier dish her Chequers proposal. If it’s Germany may your Riesling be dry as a bone. If it’s Italy, don’t over do it on the Limoncello. If you don’t drink wine, try to have a nice time anyway, somehow.

Iain Martin,
Editor and Publisher,
Reaction.