WOKING

Today, I read about Gartner's Hype Cycle for new technologies here.

I thought that was mighty funny.

This image from Gartner scares me a bit - but you get the idea.

I followed the link from that article about class below to "renewal" magazine; in this article: 'Putting class back into British politics', I quite liked this point:

"Time will tell whether Cameron can get his bandwagon rolling in way that locks dissenting voices into lasting silence. What can’t yet be detected in the Tory Party is the utter desperation Labour had after 1992 to do anything to win again. The reasons for this are important. Thatcherism saw its task as the dismantling of the apparatus of social democracy. Trade unions were attacked along with local government. Nationalised industries were sold off along with council houses. Life for the left was painful. Where and how has New Labour made life uncomfortable for the real forces of Conservatism? The ban on fox hunting is probably as bad as its gets."

I think he means:
* The tories won't tolerate Cameron's 'triangulation' move to the left, in the way that labour tolerated Blair's move to the right.
* It's not analogous because the tories are not as desperate as labour was in the early 90s, because.....
* because life for a tory under new labour isn't bad, and nothing that worries them is happening.

I think this is an interesting point - one I hadn't heard before. I'd been thinking that labour party tolerated Blair because they were desperate for power, because they wanted power per se, rather than because they were watching terrifying things happening.

Dave sent me this link today:

This nation of shoppers needs to talk about class, Neal Lawson, The Guardian

I agree that crap jobs as contract cleaners and in call centres are on the rise - replacing traditional manufacturing. Ie , the bad jobs are getting worse. I agree that there's a new super rich elite of bankers spraying champaigne, who are immute to taxes and revolting. But, I'm not sure what the evicence is for his claim that the middle class is shrinking. Are mangement jobs and public sector etc shrinking ?

I agree that it is blindingly obvious that class does exist, and is a problem (or, lack of social mobility is a problem). But he also, I think, wants to say that class is somehow the solution; I found this statement intriguing but sadly totally opaque:

"The alternative is to recognise class as part of the answer to how we change our world together....The emerging hourglass economy creates not just a swelling lump of poorly-paid service workers, but also a shrinking and insecure middle class, the effective organisation of which demands the rebirth of a trade unionism... "

Does he mean that the shrinking middle class are going to realise that they're shrinking, start their own trade unions, and that this would stop the alleged shrinkage? Or, does he mean the middle class is going to suddenly ride to the rescue of the contract cleaners by joining their unions? I don't get this at all - I'm not saying I don't agree - I'm not yet at the agree or disagree point - still at the 'whasat?' point...