This isn’t just Bullingdon Boys running amok – they’re using austerity to transform irrevocably our politics, our public realm and our societyEver since the crash of 2008, every economic argument worth having has been political. Rows over what to do about Greece or bankers may come swathed in a tarpaulin of jargon, or bearing a roof-rack of technicalities, but really they’re about the big stuff: who gets what and from whom, and what makes a society worth living in.Which makes austerity the biggest political debate in Britain today. Last week George Osborne vowed at Mansion House to make budget deficits all but illegal; next weekend there will be a national demonstration against the cuts. These events will look very different – a bunch of penguin suits discussing finance over a slap-up dinner versus an army of trainers tramping in protest at the human fallout of the past five years. Yet they are the yin and yang of the debate over what kind of country the UK should be. Continue reading...
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