Random Variable

John Quiggin points out the one positive element of New Labour being in power. They were once social democrats, and therefore can even contemplate socialist solutions, unlike their American counterparts (Paulson’s still contemplating non-voting equity):

It’s fascinating to wonder how Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling must feel about all this. Having long abandoned their youthful leftism, they have suddenly been forced by circumstances to implement something that looks superficially like socialism, and might even lead to a genuine restructuring of society (utopian I know, but who would have thought a month ago that we would have been wondering what to do with a nationalised finance sector). At the very least, Brown and Darling must have found it easier to adapt to the sudden collapse of the existing order than those who have never imagined anything else.