There is an argument that British politics since 1994 is a historical freak, a product of a period of ever-increasing prosperity which allowed politicians to avoid the hard choices that typically define politics. As Charles Moore puts it in today’s Telegraph,
“our two main parties have both been caught facing the wrong way. Their policy preoccupations, their political positioning, their promises have depended on perpetual prosperity. Now these look as relevant as estate agents’ freesheets offering timeshares in Spain. When a really big crisis hits, it takes people a surprisingly long time to understand the basic point, which is that Everything is Different Now. Fear makes people reluctant to admit this, and plays into the hands of those in charge. The difference lies in this: debt is an opportunity when values are rising and a crushing burden when they fall.”
As Charles argues, if everything has changed then some things are going to need to be thought-through from first principles again:
“If everything is different, and everything is bad, everything must be looked at afresh.
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