Listening to a distinguished European social democrat leader and becoming convinced that the poverty of our politics also results from the narrow intellectual hinterland of contemporary politicians. Far too many don’t go beyond the airport bookshop.
Now, social democrats like to latch on to the idea of Abundance and the bogeyman is regulation, red tape. Everyone forgot that the main reason why Europe stop building houses, railways and so on was because apparently we couldn’t ’afford it’.
We still, apparently, can’t afford social justice and investment in growth, etc (on side note, of course we can). But this new war on the new bogeyman - regulation - will not renew social democracy.
When the super-annuated commentator gently mocks the young woman’s question about the possibility of degrowth, because the current model fails young people, you understand why social democratic parties are doomed.
Feb 3, 2026 19:57The question may not be very sophisticated but let’s face it, social democratic parties don’t offer intellectual sophistication to the young; they think that nebulous thinking is sophistication.
