1 day ago
10
Bravo! I never thought I would find myself in full agreement with that woolly liberal Rowan Williams, but I do now (When politicians tell us to focus on growth we need to ask: ‘Why, and for whom?’, 8 March). As a green social democrat, I am appalled by the intellectual vacuity of our neoliberal growth orthodoxy, so enthusiastically pursued by Labour. We seem to be oblivious to how the neoliberal revolution since the 1970s has immiserated most of our population. It has led to inequality and soaring rates of poverty and illness; a largely non-unionised, exploited workforce; impoverished public services; knackered infrastructure and an environment in crisis.
Instead of the trickle down of wealth created by rentier capitalism, to be taxed and invested in better infrastructure, public services and general wellbeing, we have had this wealth from growth sucked up into the top 1%. Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah (Opinion, 7 March) outlines how 38% of all turnover of non-financial businesses in Britain went through foreign companies, especially US businesses. He quotes Angus Hanton as rightly saying that we have become a “vassal” state, with our assets being destructively exploited by US economic predators. We need Labour to begin a counter-revolution, not further servility to this economic madness, by taking back into full public ownership our precious infrastructure, public services and strategic industries such as steel-making and green power generation and distribution.
Furthermore, we need to demand that firms such as Amazon allow unionisation and pay taxes fully. After all, it has contributed to the hollowing out of once-thriving high streets. Turbo-boosted online consumerism has not created more public wellbeing, just abject dependency. Algorithm-driven lives have enslaved the under-40s, with no real upsides of personal and communal thriving or resilience.
Philip Wood
Kidlington, Oxfordshire
The government’s definition of what growth is for has been to fill the Treasury coffers to pay for public goods. And the measure of growth has been gross domestic product (GDP). With few exceptions, the media conspire to reinforce this measure of success. The most likely way of changing the government’s single-minded focus on GDP, and instead focus on Rowan Williams’ wishlist of cleaner skies, dependable public services and affordable housing – leading to a sense of belonging, dignity and stability – would be a recession.
Only if GDP were to fall for a number of accounting periods would the government be persuaded to move the goalposts. If the new goals were those more closely related to individual, societal and environmental wellbeing, then economic recession could be regarded as a good thing.
Daniel Scharf
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Growth demands increased burning of fossil fuels and neocolonial extraction of minerals and natural resources. Our depleted planet can no longer cope. This is the root of the climate crisis, which is the biggest threat to humankind. We need to focus on reducing our use of the world’s scarce resources in excessive consumption in the global north, so that basic living standards and social wellbeing can be distributed more equitably. Rowan Williams talks of “stable, successful, confident and positive societies”. I would add cooperative and caring to that list. We are talking about transforming society.
Sheila Triggs
Orpington, London
