“The neoliberal shift was never about shrinking the state… It was about crushing collective power.”

Grace Blakeley is very clear sighted about how we got here, and what we can do to escape. Full interview here

@illrev2 Thatcher and her Pinochet inspired attack on the working class, rights and industry coupled with her and Reagan's revival of neoliberalism is the reason most countries have such high debt to GDP these days. Siphoning taxpayer money to the private sector.

Exactly this. It was about restoring power to capital and destroying the means by which Labour could push on for higher wages.

It’s not funny but I had a conversation with a CEO of a MAT - a guy who’s on a 6 figure salary and has been these past 10 years. “I will crush that school when I take it into my MAT” Nice guy. The language is interesting and is similar in all Our institutions now.

I can’t understand how the unions still sponsor Labour MPs for the return they get in Parliament. The dilution of trade union laws under the Tories over the yrs not to be reinstated by Labour when in power is mystifying.

I hope you are on @bbcquestiontime this week!

Indeed. Privatisation was all about eliminating the public sector workforce as a class. A relatively well paid, well pensioned, well organised group that covered ~30% of the economy, and frankly set a bad example for the rest.

Neoliberalism is redistribution of (public) wealth + resources upwards, concentrating power in the hands of a neoliberal elite.

I totally agree wholeheartedly