The Labour Party was, as is said "born out of the bowels of the Trades Unions". It had a socialist heart with the central principle of 'from each according to their ability - to each according to their needs'. (Fair shares for all.) This was 'lifted' from Karl Marx and remains the first principle of any true socialist movement even today. It cannot be otherwise.
The Labour Party has evolved over the years to abandon this central principle as can amply be seen in hindsight when examining the time Gordon Brown was Chancellor and Prime Minister. He presided over an already huge gap between rich and poor returning almost to Dickensian levels. In effect he out-Toried the Tories.
In RCT that 'chwarae teg' principle (fair play) has never actually been applied or even attempted. It has instead become self serving and displays openly what George Bernard Shaw called "The arrogance of affluence." Power, when in the same hands for what seems forever, stagnates and becomes self-serving. Almost totally insulated by guaranteed incomes and detached by a new found affluence it becomes 'us and them'.
The other day the First Minister at the Assembly was caught on the hop when asked to condemn the RCT Leader's 5 jobs and £102,000 pay packet, all of which comes out of the public purse and pocket. Your purse and pocket. He would not - because he could not. How do you defend the indefensible?
RCT is officially classed as being much the same as a Third World country by the EU. That's why we get Objective One money although it's never seen. I think it was Action on Poverty who stated in a report that 48% of children in RCT are living in poverty. We even have 'food banks' where people who can't afford to live for the rest of the week can go to get some tinned or dried food to eat. The people of RCT give to that in abundance and that's because most of us were breast fed socialism in what were close knit communities, and still apply that central principle of 'Chwarae Teg'.
It's lost on some when the wallet intervenes.
