Austerity and Media Studies

The most obvious manifestation of the government austerity which has been imposed on us in the past quarter century is the potholes in the roads.

However, an article in last Friday’s (6^th March) Guardian by Aditya Chakrabortty claims that a much more serious consequence, largely ignored by the media, is a fall in our life expectancy. and especially our expectations of a health life.  He writes:

Our healthy life expectancy has been dropping for years; it is now the lowest since 2011, when records began.

For most of the past 100 years, the UK and other rich countries have made outstanding progress on life expectancy. Year after year, decade after decade, the outlook has just kept getting better. Whereas a century ago the average life expectancy was about 50, today you can hope to live into your 80s. And now in Britain one of the great success stories in human history is going into reverse. Over the past 15 years, improvements in life expectancy have essentially stalled, while our allotment of healthy life is getting shorter.

Mr Chakrabortty lays the blame firmly on the shoulders of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition from 2010 and writes:

The fact our healthy lives are now  getting shorter is also a political choice.    Much of the choosing was done by George Osborne and David Cameron,  by Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander. . .Tory and Lib Dem policies  effectively killed ordinary Britons.”

Sadly, it cannot be denied.

However, what Mr Chakrabortty fails to mention is that their policy of austerity was also shared by the Labour Party.  Here’s a section of the Manifesto which Gordon Brown and  Alistair Darling presented to the electorate for the 2010 election

The Manifesto reflects the tough choices that we will make to secure Britain’s future in a way that is fair to all:

·       * Tough choices for £15 billion efficiency savings in 2010-11

  * Tough choices on cutting government overheads: £11 billion of further      operational efficiencies and other cross-cutting savings to streamline government will be delivered by 2012-13.

·       * Tough choices on pay: action to control public-sector pay including a one per cent cap on basic pay uplifts for 2011-12 and 2012-13, saving £3.4 billion a year, and new restrictions on senior pay-setting.

·       * Tough decisions on public sector pensions to cap the taxpayers’ liability – saving £1 billion a year.

·       * Tough choices on spending: £5 billion already identified in cuts to lower priority spending.

*T*Tough choices on welfare: our reforms will increase fairness and work incentives, including £1.5 billion of savings being delivered.

* *Tough choices on assets: £20 billion of asset sales by 2020.

*T•Tough choices on tax: a bonus tax, reduced tax relief on pensions for the best off, a new 50p tax rate on earnings over £150,000 and one penny on National Insurance Contributions.

If you don’t believe it see for yourself on the original: https://manifesto-cymru.cavendishconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TheLabourPartyManifesto-2010.pdf

It’s on Page 0.6*

The truth is that the mistaken belief that “savage cuts” in government  expenditure  were essential was “group think” held by most of the political establishment and commentariat.  Cries of outrage from minor social liberals such as myself and even major voices  such as the eminent economist Joseph Stiglitz and others, that to cut public expenditure as we entered a recession was to ignore the teachings of Keynes (along with the welfare tradition of Beveridge) made no impression, and so we all suffer.

 Our problem is that we have a hugely biassed press, largely owned by the rich, some whom don’t even live in this country, who find the neo-liberal doctrines of low taxation, low government expenditure, privatized public services  and minimum regulation highly convenient –  for themselves and their financiers. The pretence that that this will result in prosperity that will “trickle down” to the masses, goes unchallenged.

Which brings us to Media Studies, which that same media, and a large part of the political establishment, ridicule as a “Micky Mouse” area unworthy  of being  regarded as a serious  academic discipline.

 In his 2025 account of “Baltic: the future of Europe” Times journalist Oliver Moody points out that Finland, long subjected to “fake news” from the Soviet Union, takes a different view.

“ Finland was the first country in Europe  to introduce compulsory media literacy classes in schools, building on decades of experience. ‘It starts from kindergarten, and then it’s part of the official curriculum, first of all to learn how to use media and how to differentiate advertising  from other media content’  says Anneli Ahonen, a Finnish expert on information warfare . ‘Then in recent years concepts like fake news and disinformation  were added there as well.  I had it as a kid – I was born in 1981 – and now my kids have had it too, right from first grade.’  (Page 65)

Given that even the Guardian** can’t be relied on for balanced reporting, and the party led by the gifted communicator responsible for most of our present  economic woes is stubbornly ahead in the polls, we desperately need it here.

 *Full disclosure: The original has only (sic) seven “bullet points” itemising the areas destined for Labour's “Tough choices.”  The “cut and paste “ device I used to transfer them to this blog  has translated them into eight.  I don’t know why and can’t manage to correct it.

** To be fair, the Guardian did publish, yesterday (11th march) my letter pointing out Labour's complicity in this mistaken policy.