Chuck Jones, the creator of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and a host of other great cartoon characters once explained that the inspiration for his Wile E. Coyote character (all his efforts to capture Road Runner fail but he never ceases to work on his ineffective plans) was a remark of the philosopher George Santayana who said “A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim”.

I am reminded of this quotation when I hear Labour Party politicians dismissing debate about deep long-term radical change as an indulgence on the grounds that nothing can be done without winning power which must therefore be the governing aim. My Labour MP recently told the General Committee of the Constituency Party “the core purpose of the Labour Party” is  “to help us win elections”. Note, “the core purpose”. The core purpose is not, it seems, to develop a clear view of the sort of society we want to create (apart from a few platitudes about fairness and inequality”). Such a long-term view is virtually never discussed in the Labour Party. Instead the focus is on a programme that is slim enough and untroubling enough to ruffle as few feathers as possible. In other words trying to establish Labour as ‘not the Tories’ but without being so different that “middle England” might get nervous. Continue reading →