There you go

Has the counter revolutionary reaction set in? Biden’s poll ratings in the US are consistently ahead of Trump’s, which given Biden’s ’safety first’ persona may or may not be surprising. But it’s worth asking, since we are so often told that the United States is now so politically polarised, how well will it serve anyone to stand in the middle of the road? But it seems Biden is riding a wave of anti-Trump sentiment, so perhaps he doesn’t have to worry. It is reported widely that he has adopted some radical–ish policies on climate change, such as aspects of the Green New Deal.  I wonder how much of this will survive if he is elected. His great strength is perhaps his age. If he doesn’t expect to go for two terms, he may seek to be more transformative in his one term, and there’s a chance Congress could be on his side. It has to be said (does it?) that he would be better than Trump. But who wouldn’t be?
 
Here our counter-revolutionary force is Sir Keir Starmer of course. He sold himself to the party membership with a loud trumpeting of Labour’s 2019 manifesto, but I suspect much of that is quietly drifting off into an autumnal smoke. Is Starmer really intent on re-nationalising the utilities? I very much doubt it. He could easily make up an excuse, e.g. the (alleged) cost after Covid wouldn’t be warranted when government finances will be under  humungous pressure. Covid will provide all manner of excuses for not being radical (ironic that: the pandemic should be an opportunity for a socialist shock doctrine therapy, but I think we can already guess how that’ll go). So far as I can tell Starmer is intent on returning the Labour Party to its managerialist roots, and there’s a huge danger that yet again a great opportunity will be missed. Just as Blair missed the opportunity, that moment in time when politics really could have been reshaped. But Starmer would be better than Johnson, would he not?