THAT SINKING FEELING

Labour  rearranges the deckchairs...

So Labour leader David Shearer has resigned before he was pushed. An obviously upset Shearer described this as not enjoying the full confidence of his caucus.

Despite the struggling economy, the persistently high levels of unemployment, the attacks on the welfare state, the further transfer of wealth to the already wealthy , the GCSB Bill and a plethora of other issues, Labour hasn't been able to gain any real traction in the polls. With a general election looming on the horizon Labour really should be doing a lot better.

Apparently David Shearer alone is at fault for Labour failing in the polls. Such a lousy analysis can only come from people who have something to hide - like their slavish support for the 'free market' for instance.

Labour would be doing a  lot better in the polls if it was offering a clear economic alternative that wasn't beholden to neoliberalism. But, with deputy leader Grant Robinson already stating that Labour would not interfere with 'the market', it's not surprising that the public just aren't convinced Labour would be any different from the last Labour government.

But Labour still think that they stand a better chance with yet another market politician leading them  and that market politician is David Cunliffe. He is only left wing if you believe, as he does, that austerity cuts are necessary.

People have had enough of the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum politics of the past three decades but Labour's supporters still don't seem to comprehend this. There's nothing left wing or progressive about saying that capital has the best interests of people at heart and quoting Keynes to 'prove' it.


Blogger and David Cunliffe suppporter Martyn Bradbury for instance seems to be permanently out to lunch. Writing on The Daily Blog he claims that Cunliffe would articulate 'an actual left wing economic and social agenda and take our damned country back!'

He better show us this 'left wing economic and social agenda' otherwise we might all just conclude he's talking out of another orifice altogether.

There's a whole lot wrong with Labour and a change in leadership won't fix its problems.