Via a speechless Matt Wardman, I’ve come across this week’s Normblog profile of ex-Labour MP Harry Barnes. Just read his answers to these questions:
What is your favourite piece of political wisdom?
> ‘Democratic Socialism… is based on the conviction that free men can use free institutions to solve the social and economic problems of the day, if they are given a chance to do so.’ From Nye Bevan’s In Place Of Fear. His terminology was also meant to cover women.
If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be?
> To limit the use of private transport to emergency services, with public transport being publicly owned and freely available, whilst planning for the huge economic and social consequences which would follow.
What would you do with the UN?
> Restructure it to run world-wide military and financial controls.
What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world?
> A wide range of totalitarian dogmas.
Yes. Now read it again.
He actually said that he would make private transport illegal for everyone except emergency services and to give all military and finacial controls to the UN… and then said that he considered the “main threat to the peace and security of the world” is “a wide range of totalitarian dogmas”, without even a hint of irony. If what he is proposing isn’t a totalitarian dogma, I’ll eat my hat*.
You can’t believe in outlawing private transport and in opposing totalitarianism. Only the former - which makes you a totalitarian - or the latter. the Harry must be either thick or senile. Or both.
Rather than having any belief in democratic socialism, Harry Barnes actually has a belief in totalitarian socialism. Just like Gordon Brown.
* I don’t wear a hat.
2 Comments
Trackbacks / Pingbacks
-
[...] Barnes, ex-Labour MP, who yesterday earned the ire of Freeborn John, Matt Wardman, and myself for his inconsistencies in his Normblog [...]
http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/2008/09/dull-possibly-inconsistent-never.html