A nation for all the people

I am a great admirer of John Cruddas,I wish that he had got the deputy leadership of the Labour party for I am sure that he would have provided the impetus for them to go on and win a fourth term.

Instead his ideas remain in the inside pages of the newspapers.

This morning he writes a good piece in the Guardian in which he argues the case for a new socialism.

Within Westminster he says

a rather timid critique of the government has emerged, often from former ministers. Its essentials are now almost a cliche: a lack of narrative, too much "initiativitis", and a stalling of momentum as the "Brown Bounce" of 2008 falls away.

Labour he says

lost the language of generosity, kindness and community as it lost the tempo of the country. England's abiding culture was never socialist, but as we misunderstood its essential ethic of solidarity we lost our ability to build a politics beyond the market - to mould a radical hope for the country.

Instead he says maybe this should be the motto going forwards

"A nation for all the people, built by the people, where old divisions are cast out. A new spirit in the nation based on working together, unity, solidarity, partnership. That is the patriotism of the future. Where your child in distress is my child, your parent ill and in pain is my parent, your friend unemployed or homeless is my friend, your neighbour my neighbour. That is the true patriotism of a nation."

The author? a certain T.Blair