Quote Originally Posted by kritichris View Post
Well that got a good response, I can see I'm heavily outvoted on here so I'll have to agree to disagree. My socialists views are well entrenched by reading books like The Ragged trousered philanthropists, The Stars look down and Germinal during my misspent youth. I'll keep the red flag flying here as well as the Claret and Blue one. Coincidentally I visited Wigan pier yesterday whilst I was on the road (by the canal).
I have read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists three times at various stages in my life, as well as other books depicting the harshness of life for people battling to survive. I cannot visit and admire stately homes in Britain built on the back of wealth generated by landowners using almost slave Labour in the pits and other industries.

There is no doubt that the Labour movement did a great job in bringing about a fairer society. That does not mean that there is not still work to be done. The NHS was a brilliant concept to take away the fear of not being able to afford medical treatment, which was the case up to its creation.

The problem is that the world keeps turning, times change, as do the needs of the people. I am not in favour of unfettered capitalism as time has shown that greed is alive and well. The rich simply want to get richer. Nor am I in favour of unfettered socialism as time has shown that it fails as a system.

Ideally, one needs a blend of the two - not a competition between big state and private enterprise. This provides checks and balances to the worst excesses of either model, whilst freeing up the good in both.

There are elements of socialism that are good. There are elements of capitalism that are good. These need not be mutually exclusive.

The role of good government should be to recognise these elements and foster an environment that enables these elements to flourish for the betterment of all.