A time off provides time to assume.

Yesterday was not precisely a time off. Rather a lot was performed, however some pondering occurred as properly. That will probably be obvious on this and one other submit or two right now.

One particular person I considered was Peter Mandelson, or at the very least his consequence for politics.

I made the presumption that Mandelson, now in his 70s, is unlikely to return to front-line politics. He has departed after the third political scandal of his profession. I additionally made, maybe hopefully, the belief that neoliberal Labour will quickly stop to exist, denying him any additional likelihood of excessive workplace.

However in that case, what may his legacy be? The reply appears pretty apparent. If Mandelson has ever been credited with something – other than his capability to commit severe, serial errors of judgement – it was because the creator of spin. He was the unique spin physician. He thought fashion was extra necessary than substance, the message extra necessary than the content material, and the manipulation of the media extra necessary than telling the reality.

On this sense, Mandelson, much more than Saatchi & Saatchi and Tim Bell – who created Thatcher’s messaging – was the archetype of the fashionable political PR agent.

His politics weren’t about substance however about theatre.

He turned messaging into an alternative to political content material.

The intention was all the time persuasion, by no means fact.

The aim was to make the general public align their pursuits with these of the wealthy and highly effective, who had been the folks he belonged to, and the folks whose affection he craved, as did Tony Blair and as does Keir Starmer now.

There are lots of folks in charge for the rise of neoliberalism and the destruction of actual democratic selection within the UK. However Mandelson’s function in creating what is named the only transferable get together on this weblog have to be recognised.

That get together’s existence is now fuelling the rise of fascism within the UK, as folks have had sufficient of the meaningless drivel and dire gruel which it delivers.

By searching for to take away the concept folks had a real political selection, Peter Mandelson performed a particular function in creating extremism on this nation. And that’s very onerous to forgive.