Levelling Sideways, And not in a Good Way...
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOGUfEqh8N1ScMpdXKRicKLZhBSL5Wjt3F0AfPBjBYMs9S1YwJBfCdPBISX5UEukdxEV7ccvfp0JmRq0tsioxAuefeXA8wO6hl4Qzw-QXEd41qYVJeJm5EOAWAhqd-3tNQb6NqoJtQZ0Ct1YMW8XeK4Hsdi0V0kRBOvIV18khHbPnnF3ToeYjG9uPfNM/w480-h640/IMG_1207.jpg)
Is it just me, or are we at a very strange pass in UK politics, right now? We have a Tory government refusing to cut taxes, and a Labour government-in-waiting refusing to raise taxes: what on earth is going on here? On both sides it would seem to be a question of image and a desperate need to appeal to some notion of 'the mainstream' of public opinion, in order to placate as broad a church of voters as possible, whilst not poking the establishment, corporate bear of the markets into hostile action against them. Where this leaves the rest of us remains to be seen: but both tacks could be interpreted as laissez-faire in approach and essentially comparable, and begs the question: what are governments for, if they aren't proactive economically? The situation that currently obtains is substantially that faced by Marx in the 19th Century: a point made succinctly in this week's New Statesman by Harry Lambert: the UK tax system is still heavily skewed to favouring capital ove