The myth of greater private-sector efficiency (2)

Seamus Milne is the latest Guardian columnist to take on busting the myth of privatisation - vital action now that the Government has effectively privatised the NHS: 

"Central to the corporate-driven ideology that dominates this government and public debate is a myth: that the risk-taking, entrepreneurial private sector drives technological innovation and industrial advance, while attempts by state bureaucracies to "pick winners" are a recipe for disaster.

That myth is exploded by Sussex University economist Mariana Mazzucato in her book The Entrepreneurial State. Even in the US, heartland of "free enterprise", the public sector has taken the risk to invest in one cutting edge sector after another: from aviation, nuclear energy and computers to the internet, biotechnology and nanotechnology.

The private sector has come in later – and usually reaped the reward. So the algorithms that underpinned Google's success were funded by the public sector. The technology in the Apple iPhone was invented in the public sector. In both the US and Britain it was the state, not big pharma, that funded most groundbreaking "new molecular entity" drugs, with the private sector then developing slight variations. And in Finland, it was the public sector that funded the early development of Nokia – and made a return on its investment.

The lessons should be clear. States such as Germany, South Korea and China are now spending far higher proportions of national income on research and development into green technologies. Even some Tory ministers understand that only state intervention can drive the new motors of growth – but dare not say so publicly.

That's hardly surprising. But the government's economic strategy isn't working. If Britain is going to rebuild a broken economy, its political class is going to have to learn to turn its back on three decades of clapped-out myths and bankrupt ideology."

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Get the Blessing - So It Goes / Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes. 

Religion is now a potential ally of radical social change

Seamus Milne's comment in today's Guardian is worth checking out. He argues that militant secularists are becoming apologists for capitalism and war, but that the struggle is within faiths, not against them. Responding to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter Day sermon, he suggests that for the future religion can be an ally of radical change and highlights the scope for stronger alliances between the secular left and religious progressives against poverty, capitalism and war.

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The Holmes Brothers - What's So Funny About Peace, Love And Understanding?