1. The UK government’s pursuit of GDP growth at all costs is an assault on our natural wealth, which will impoverish us all. It might be able to massage the headline figures by converting the living world into money, but it does not improve our lives.🧵 2. The last Prime Minister to fetishise growth to this extent and to attack and insult all those who challenged her brutal plans was Liz Truss. You might have imagined that would give Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves some pause for thought. Apparently not. 3. There are many potential measures of well-being and social progress. As the man who formulated the concept of GDP, Simon Kuznets, pointed out, it shouldn't be mistaken for such a measure. But it has become an idol, to which everything must be sacrificed. Including the very fabric of the nation. 4. Starmer’s rhetoric, and the government’s plans, are actually worse than anything the Conservatives came up with. It’s hard to get your head around it, after a succession of Tory disasters. But we seem to have stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire. theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com
5. What’s most alarming is that it’s so crude and Trump-like. Highly complex issues are reduced to slogans. Crude labels are slapped onto objectors, regardless of the merits of their arguments. Crude measures replace nuanced policy. How many Labour voters voted for this? The thread on one page: skywriter.blue
skywriter.blue