Finding the language to expose a neoliberal confidence trick | Letters
I have always admired Aditya Chakrabortty's analytical writings and his latest offering (Britain fell for a neoliberal con trick. Even the IMF says so, 17 October) is no exception, apart from one thing, which isn't really his fault. I wish one could say that in the pubs and bars where I live they speak of little else but "neoliberalism", but I can't. I have never heard the word used by anyone in ordinary conversation. Never. And that's a problem for the left if opposing it encapsulates what we stand for. The word is too academic and remote, and too unclear in meaning, to set the pulse of opposition racing.
In order to shift the mass of public opinion in favour of the state and public sector, we need a word or phrase that sums up why, and for whom. Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal did it in 1930s America, and we need something like that here and now. "For the many, not the few" is fine in its way, but already feels somewhat tired and empty. The Tories won the economic argument with their use of the word "austerity", so it's vital to oppose that, but that is not enough. We need something optimistic and positive in language that captures the public mood.
Giles Oakley
East Sheen, London