delusions of gandeur

   It is a long time since I blogged. This is because nothing seems to change and therefore there is nothing new to say. However reading about the splits in the Labour Party and the Conservative party almost take me back to my youth.  Consider Trident and wars and the fighting within the Labour part party.

  Why do we get so worked up about these issues/ Because we have delusions of grandeur and think it matters what we do. Would the Iraq war been any different if Britain had not get involved. Whether we bomb Syria or not will make absolutely no difference to the outcome. It might give some succour to the USA and the French but for the people of Syria the label on the bombs is irrelevant. Similarly Trident is an irrelevance in terms of world nuclear weapons. I am reminded of Bevan's line about going naked into the conference  chamber, what conference chamber.

 Corbyn and his allies are stuck in the rhetoric of the late fifties and early sixties. He is right but we need a different approach. We need to be more internationalist and try, and it it will not be easy, to move the United Nations so that it becomes more effective. The first step is to remove the permanent members of the security council and their vetoes. I have not heard one British politician making this point, hopefully I have merely missed it. The second step would be a properly trained permanent United nations force. People would join this force, not be seconded at the whim of national governments. The funding would come from a levy on each countries defence spending.

 Neither of these objectives would be easy to achieve but if we want as a Labour Party and as a country to move towards a more peaceful world this is the only way I can see us moving forward. Let Corbyn et al come forward with some genuine new proposals to move us forward and stop arguing about whether we renew Trident, which I am opposed to, which is largely a minor pimple and the backside of a minor country. The most influential country in Europe seems to be Germany, perhaps not having nuclear weapons is relevant.

Now let us turn to the issue that is tearing the Tory apart and hopefully will not tear the Labour Part apart. Whether we remain in the European Union. This again is based on delusion of grandeur that Britain as an individual country is so important that everyone will be knocking on our door as supplicants if we are not part of the European Union. Most of the other countries want us to stay and will bend on some minor issues to help Cameron campaign but do not think the Tory Party will support staying in. Those against staying in somehow think things will get better, I am not sure what things will get better. We will become a supplicant in the antechamber of Europe, much as we seem to be with respect to the United States.