Blairism and "enlightenment" - but signs of economic hope

Filling in a survey about the future direction of the RSA. The RSA is too smug about "enlightenment" and Blairism and should reflect much more deeply about the serious downsides of these ideas. It is not an accident that the "enlightenment" launched the reign of terror and that Blairism lead to disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan and a vast increase in government expenditure coupled with a deterioration in the UK's standing in almost every international league table.  In both cases the fundamental problems are intellectual arrogance coupled with such a strong belief that "we stand for PROGRESS" that evidence-based policymaking is suspended.

There is a serious problem with long term unemployment and I still think we need something like Opportunity Credit Vouchers. The economic outlook is highly uncertain and could be a bit dire over the next 6 months, but I'm not entirely sure it's as bad as people think.

• The US economy seems to be growing nicely, and US Consumer Confidence has shot up. The US is our largest export market so growth there will boost UK business.
• The German economy also seems to be defying the Eurozone gloom. Again Germany is a very big export market for us.
• The FTSE 250, which is more reflective of the UK than the FTSE 100, is somewhat (2.4%) up from it's 2011 low (Oct 4th).

We shall see...

PS Interesting quote from this post on Labourlist:

The upper echelons of the Labour party is dominated by brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, and friends. They are a group and tribe of their own and they don’t speak to or for modern Britain.