Sunday 16 April 2023

Then What Are They, And Why?

Of course, I never expected The Observer to publish this:

All sorts of things are invisible from the inside but obvious to everyone else. If you believe that there is no such thing as the liberal elite, then you must be a member of it. If Will Hutton does not consider himself part of that, then what, exactly, does he think himself to be, and why?

He goes off on a rant about GB News, but on the last two occasions that I have seen it, then it has featured Dr Aaron Bastani in one case, and Dr Lisa McKenzie in the other. One begins to suspect that it is not really to the right-wingers that Hutton objects. Those are on the BBC, Channel 4 News and Sky News all the time. Not so either the author of Fully Automated Luxury Communism, or the editor of Lockdown Diaries of the Working Class.

Hutton berates the Government for placing its supporters in positions such as chairing the BBC and Ofcom, but he had no objection to that kind of thing under Tony Blair, nor would he have any under Keir Starmer. We all know who would be high on any list of potential nominees by a Starmer Government to regulatory and cultural bodies. If the people in that position are not the liberal elite, then what are they, and why?

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