Laurie Penny

Pop culture and radical politics with a feminist twist

Forget the "baby boomer" debate, this is about cuts and class

My speech in a debate on inter-generational conflict, attacking team mate David Willetts. We lost.

By Laurie Penny Published 29 October 2011 13:28

Ladies, gentleman and everyone else here present. My teammate, Mr Willetts, has made worthy representations for the motion, and I am honoured to have been invited by Intelligence Squared to follow his points.

Now, the framing of this debate, like the framing of the 'baby boomers' argument as a whole, deserves attention. The older generation, we are informed, has "stolen the family silver'. What does that imply? It implies that the creation and maintenance of the welfare state in Britain, of free and popular healthcare, housing, education and out-of-work benefits were somehow an indulgence - rather than the bare minimum of common inheritance that can and should be the birthright of every generation that is prepared to stand and fight for it.

Yes, many of the baby boomers who were fortunate enough not to have been miners or steelworkers did live through a 'golden age', enjoying benefits and a safety net of which their own mothers and fathers could only dream. It is sad to be living in an age when the political class seems to be doing everything in its power to make that 'golden age' a historical aberration, rather than a baseline for building towards a truly free and equal democracy.

I believe that my parents and their generation had every right to the education and healthcare advantages that allowed them, the children of immigrants, to build satisfying and useful lives. The generation currently reaching adulthood has that right too, as will our children and grandchildren, and that right is being confiscated right now, as we speak, not by the greed of our parents, but by a government desperate to distract attention from its wholesale plundering of the public purse to finance the cannibalistic self-indulgence of a financial system whose time is done.

I am aware that in speaking frankly like this I may be breaking the protocol of this debate. I was invited to make a polite case for why the older generation has sold out the younger for the opposing team to politely contest, presumably without too much reference to class, to the economic crisis, or to persons here present. I feel that the situation here is too urgent to pay protocol or politeness any mind. Mr Willetts, you and the cabinet of which you are a member are screwing the younger generation on whose behalf you claim to speak today.

The rank hypocrisy of standing here and claiming that the baby boomers have sold the family silver whilst, as we speak, an Education White Paper is passing through the House which will allow private companies to rifle through the pockets of all that remains of the higher education system in this country, burns in the back of the throat.

We are talking, let's remind ourselves, about a higher education system which disadvantaged young people are already abandoning in despair because of the soaring costs of university which you have personally overseen. University applications are down almost ten per cent this year, despite your assurances that tripling tuition fees and gutting the teaching grant would not make a difference to applications. Mr Willetts, if you truly care about the young people of Britain, if you truly believe that the Baby Boomers have stolen the family silver and should be made to return it, you would not do these things.

It is not the baby boomers who have stolen our future, Mr Willetts. It's you. You, and your government. And we will not forget it in a hurry.
Phrasing this robbery in terms of generational conflict is a clever piece of misdirection. In your book, Mr Willetts, you draw attention to the fact that the post-war generation is set to get out of the welfare state 'approximately 118%' of what it put in, a statistic that fundamentally misunderstands what the welfare state is about. Here's another statistic for you: the richest 10% of the population of Britain are now more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10% of society, and whilst the people of this country have been suffering the fallout of public sector cuts that have seen their standard of living drop through the floor, the richest 500 members of this society have seen their wealth rise by a fifth.

Mr Willetts also draws attention, as he has several times in public forums, to the fact that the rise in social status of women has, he believes, contributed to the problems of working men - 'feminism,' he says, 'has trumped egalitarianism.' More misdirection. Anyone, it seems, is to blame for rising inequality in this country, except the wealthy. Set the children against their parents, the women against the men, anything to stop legitimate civil unrest as the majority of this nation realises that it has been sold off and sold out by the political and financial elite of which Mr Willetts himself has long been a member.

A clever piece of misdirection, but not quite clever enough. As we speak, the streets of this country are full of angry people who are not fooled for a second by this muddled rhetoric about generational conflict. This is class conflict, and it is being waged by the wealthy against everyone else with the full support of a cabinet of millionaires who see nothing wrong, for example, in claiming hundreds from the taxpayer to change the lightbulbs in their second home whilst claiming that it is the women and the over-forties who are taking the state for everything they can get. My colleague appears to expect that my generation will be fooled by this argument. Mr Willetts, we are not fooled, and we will not forget.

I know that I was invited here to back up your case, but Mr Willetts, ladies and gentlemen, what did you expect? How could you possibly ask me, having seen my friends, my family and my contemporaries have their futures stolen and their life choices decimated by policy decisions which you have personally overseen, not to call it like it is? To speak like this is the only possible response to the many and specific betrayals of trust and mandate enacted by the government of which my team-mate is a member, and by Mr Willetts himself in personally presiding over the largest transfer of wealth from poor to rich, young to old, advantaged to disadvantaged in this country in recent memory.

I hope that leaving him to back up his absurd arguments on his own will help him, in some small way, to understand one of the few remaining lessons it may be useful for him to learn. Mr Willetts, you are more alone than you think. You, and your government, and governments like it across the world, are losing the argument, just as you will lose this debate.

Right now, as we sit here in this beautiful hall, in this prestigious talk which most of you have paid to attend, students who were involved in a peaceful protest against Mr Willetts' savage university reforms in June are going through the courts. Tomorrow, they may be sent to jail, for no other reason than daring to speak out against the bartering off of British higher education by a political class so drenched in self-deceit that it really thinks posturing about generational conflict will fool us. We are not fooled.

Mr Willetts, I do not expect you to listen to me; I do not expect you to apologise to the audience for daring to come here and dissemble, nor to my generation for pretending to speak in our interests whilst mortgaging our futures to your friends in finance. But if you wish to retain a scrap of self-respect, you could start by asking that young people like me not be criminalised for having the temerity to speak against you. Thanks to you and your education reforms, hundreds of thousands of people who voted for you are watching their worlds get a little darker. There is no need to cement that betrayal with cowardice.

More from Laurie Penny

150 comments

Sun, 2011-10-30 12:45 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

And please don't tell me the British rail system is a 'high end one'. You should go to Japan. I lived there for five years and I can't remember a train being late and I rode the trains nearly every day. You can't compare the bullet train with the inter-city crap you have in Britain. The bullet train goes on its own tracks at nearly 300ks.

Sun, 2011-10-30 12:52 — Luddite (not verified)

Mr. Divine
I often travel by train the problem with rail is the endless delays caused by cable thief. Mr. Divine there's a massive difference between Australia and Britain. Australia is after all a continent with only 23 million people. Britain in contrast is a small Island with around 70 million people, and that's just counting the ones we know about. There's probably more people living in and around Birmingham than the whole of Aus..

Sat, 2011-11-05 09:14 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

I've been writing reams and reams of love poems to Laurie today with pencil and paper. Stuart Eels, do you want me to set up a blog so that you can read them?

Sun, 2011-10-30 13:10 — Dickie1

MPs only pretend to speak on our behalf, especially Tory ones, who only speak for tosspot businessmen:

T is for TOSSPOT
T is for TORY

Remember that and you won't go far wrong.

Sorry, but I couldn't be bothered to think very much today.

Wed, 2011-11-02 19:50 — Buckskins (not verified)

Those of you on Laurie's case sound to me like a bunch of jealous losers. You would be much better off concerning yourselves with your own future than attemting snide comments regards Laurie. I think she is a talented writer even although I am a little to the left of Attila the Hun with my political outlook. It's Laurie that is sought out here and overseas for her opinions by major TV networks. It is Laurie that has the superb education that she worked darn hard for. It's Laurie that has the blog and employment with a national magazine, not you. In other words she is a winner with a solid future, and THAT is most of your sorry assed motivating factors.

Tue, 2011-11-01 19:41 — Sciamachy

Read it, fucking loved it, agree with every word. Laurie - you're spot on there.

Wed, 2011-11-02 19:55 — Buckskins (not verified)

"They want to see the U.K. in the sad shape of U.S. medicine which is so hellishly put together it cannot be fully described in simple paragraphs except to say it is killing most people early"

Ok Brenda lets hear all about US health care verses the NHS.

Mon, 2011-10-31 19:36 — SpudMiddleton (not verified)

"You can judge the quality of a New Statesman article by the the extent to which it upsets the loony right wing trolls."

...and you can probably judge the mentality, political sophistication and sense of proportion of some of the commenters by the way they refer to others with right wing or even centrist leanings. 'Right wing', 'free-marketeer', 'economic liberal', 'libertarian' or 'Tory' might all be applicable and even accuarately characterise a particular set of political beliefs.

However, "loony right wing trolls" does just the opposite. It provides no clarity, is far from accurate...since some of the comments are motivated by well-founded and sincerely held principles...and, far from accurately depicting the posters concerned, paints, instead, a portrait of the author as inept, naive, uninformed and woefully immature. Referring to anybody who significantly differs from you politically as a 'loony troll' screams 'pretentious sixth-form airhead'.

Tue, 2011-11-01 19:46 — Sciamachy

By the way, what difference does it make, O trolls of right-wing Toryness, what Laurie's background is? Is it not *more* of a decent thing to do, if you come from privilege, to forsake that privilege & stand up for the rights of those less privileged? Doesn't it make you all look like unutterable idiots to criticise this altruism? Let's look at the flipside - if you're a child of a deprived family who's constantly harping on about how our lords & masters should have all the best of everything & you're constantly trying to undermine other deprived people, isn't that the most ignoble, the most idiotic thing?

Sun, 2011-10-30 14:02 — SpudMiddleton (not verified)

"Here in Australia there are wide roads, no traffic jams, easy driving."

...well of course the fuckin roads are empty...they don't lead anywhere; there's nowhere to fuckin go. It used to be just behind bars in London, now the fuckin whole country's full of them: smart-arsed Australians whinging about how everything's so parochial and fucked-up...and how Australia's sitting eating Angel Delight in the golden Dawn of a glorious tomorrow. So why the fuck are they over here?

Here's why: Australia's got nothing going for it; it's a big empty house in the suburbs-with a landscaped garden and 'interesting' neighbours; but the rest of us are living in town mate; bars, clubs, bookies, late-night mini-Tescos, kebab shops, cuddly toys...

I'm living life to the full, Divine, you're fucked if you run out of milk during Coronation Street.

Fri, 2011-11-04 10:28 — Tim Mann

Totally agree with your comments about the present government's deplorable higher education policies, but don't forget to save a mention for new Labour, who contributed heavily to this awfulness. Be gentle with Mr Willetts though. Remember, he's the guy who couldn't understand why most universities charged £9000 max. when he'd just starved them all of funds.
Yours sincerely,
A Baby Boomer

Thu, 2011-11-03 15:57 — Buckskins (not verified)

Mr D. I don't mind your trying to sound like me. In fact it's very understandable. If anyone has a crush on Laurie it sure ain't me. I don't even know her. Unlike some contributors to this blog I live in reality and my love life is well taken care of. Now stop playing with that Sheep in one hand and a pic of Laurie in the other. Don't they have laws about that in Australia?

Mon, 2011-10-31 20:26 — Julie (not verified)

A touch hypocritical to whinge about private interference in universities when Laurie Penny went to an independent school. Left wing guardian activist attitude and yet she must come from a reasonably wealthy background herself.

Wed, 2011-11-02 21:27 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Sciamachy: 'My point was it's a ridiculous standpoint from which to attack her'

That's your viewpoint. Other people will attack her because of her personal background and appearance etc. Imagine if some bloke, ex-National Front, wearing a Nazi uniform complete with tatoos says he is a 'Socialist' ...would you take him seriously?

I judge people on backgrounds and appearances all the time. I think you're stupid not to. I look at people's faces very carefully especially their eyes. People can easily say things that they don't mean but it much more difficult to betray your face.

People have all kinds of prejudices. Whether one prejudice is 'right' or 'wrong' doesn't matter as what matters is that it exists.

Sat, 2011-10-29 13:49 — Arthur O'Connor

I don't expect that anyone will read that verbal diarrhoea.

Sat, 2011-10-29 13:53 — Marcus Bessner (not verified)

See www.marcusbessner.co.uk

Wed, 2011-11-02 21:42 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

I would say it is impossible for Laurie to counter some people's hatred unless she did a truly heroic act. People here in Australia like to knock down those who are in the spotlight..they call it the tall poppy syndrome here. In Japan they have an expression, 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down'.

You could say it is human nature cos you need conformity in a tribe. Maybe it is 'good' sometimes to hammer the nail.

@Stuart Eels: Hi. When have I not been delirious?

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:04 — Spam in NS comments (not verified)

Read it. Agreed with it.

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:21 — James (not verified)

bravo

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:36 — AllyF (not verified)

This was excellent Laurie. Good on ya.

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:42 — CPJ (not verified)

Two hearty thumbs up

Mon, 2011-10-31 21:10 — Suzanne (not verified)

Laurie Penny gave a reasonable snapshot of the current economic and political climate and was subjected to a tirade of personal insults as usual.
What jumps out at me is the usual people who seem to wait for any discussion of economic matters from a progressive perspective who are trying to normalise what in my opinion are extreme right wing opinions. Given that the New Statesman is a publication with well known progressive roots it's somewhat surprising why there should be so many vociferous right wingers.
I for example wouldn't dream of joining Conservative home and hurling abuse at columnists there. Underpinning all of this though is that I don't truly believe that informed people of good conscience could seriously believe that after 30 years of Chicago school economics that the problem is that we haven't been right wing enough and that the solution to our problems is to drive down real wages further, erode workers rights and continue to widen the gap between the rich and poor which is something that is gaurenteed by this government's economic policy (as happened with the last).

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:47 — SpudMiddleton (not verified)

OK Laurie well done...well said..needed saying etc.
And, although it might seem a bit ungenerous of me to point out, scoring ethical points from a smug-faced creeping Jesus like Willetts is not exactly hard; inducing visions of fat carp in barrels and Uzis...none the less, congratulations for giving morally bankrupt piece of crap a good long burst.

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:56 — SpudMiddleton (not verified)

I was b bit disturbed by this though..

The title: "Forget the "baby boomer" debate, this is about cuts and class" led to think maybe you'd actually transcended your own little bourgeois liberal bubble and accepted class conflict as a relevant and legitimate reality.

However, by 'class', and 'class conflict'..."This is class conflict, and it is being waged by the wealthy against everyone else with the full support of a cabinet of millionaires who see nothing wrong, for example, in claiming hundreds from the taxpayer to change the lightbulbs in their second home whilst claiming that it is the women and the over-forties who are taking the state for everything they can get."

...you seem to be alluding to a small sinister cabal of millionaires waging war on the rest of 'us'. Two points immediately come to the fore.

a) there are still stark gradations of class within the 'us' you present.
b) blaming things on 'small sinister cabals' has a far from unblemished history and neither has it proved accurate or useful. Inequality, like charity, begins at home.

Sat, 2011-10-29 14:58 — SpudMiddleton (not verified)

"I was b bit disturbed by this though.."

Sorry...'A' bit disturbed

Sat, 2011-10-29 15:02 — StevConnor

I'm a baby boomer.

I'd like to apologize for being born but it wasn't my fault.

We have to deal with the world as the way it is and not the way we'd like it to be.

If we can change things for the better then go for it.

Sun, 2011-10-30 15:51 — In_Negative (not verified)

@Spud

"OK Laurie well done...well said..needed saying etc. "

I was about to say 'I hope spud's around to see this...' When she's on form, she's on form.

As a workin class lad though, reckon I'd find it hard - nay, impossible - to stand up in some palace of opulence and bang on at millionaires about rights and futures. You need to feel like the world is yours to do this stuff. For some of us, the state is a mechanism that they have vested interests in, for others, it's as natural as the sky and the trees.

Sat, 2011-10-29 15:02 — Paddy (not verified)

Wonderful, Thankyou

Mon, 2012-02-27 19:02 — Taggart

Other people will attack her because of her personal background and appearance etc. Imagine if some bloke, ex-National Front, wearing a Nazi uniform complete with tatoos says he is a 'Socialist' ...would you take him seriously? http://www.freearticleshq.net/

Sat, 2011-10-29 15:12 — kristhellde65

Wonderful.

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Sun, 2011-10-30 16:03 — In_Negative (not verified)

@Spud
"just as with the anti-capitalist campaigners, there'll be divisions, cries of 'selling out', dissenters claiming the demands are unrealistic and go too far...in other words, the normal business of politics. "

The post I took that from was pretty well expressed, and probably mirrors what I said above about needing to feel vested in the world before you feel you can change it. 'The business of politics' marks precisely that sort of faithlessness in any sort of meaningful change in the nature of the future - and it's always the middle class making the case. (Cept for Bob Crow ;) ). The above article to me read like a rhetorical crowbar attempting to widen a chasm between the political system and those who feel outside it. In the short term, the consequences of that could be quite interesting, but it's hard to have any sort of faith that there's anything better beyond the rhetoric. It's still middle class oxford givin speeches to middleclass oxford, and we'll always need new kitchenettes.

Sat, 2011-10-29 15:39 — sarah (not verified)

But these words will fall on deaf ears, won't they? They will not matter, because they are just words. Until the commentariat realises she is just as complicit with Willets, as long as she speaks using his language it will all carry on, calmly, as before. SHAME

Sat, 2011-10-29 15:51 — Stephen (not verified)

Good on ya, girl! The young need to take control. The old have cocked it up and they should be made to step aside.

Sat, 2011-10-29 15:54 — Stephen (not verified)

@ Arthur O'Connor.

You were wrong - people are reading it.

Sat, 2011-10-29 16:10 — John (not verified)

Wow, that simply oozed integrity. Thank you, Penny. That was truly inspiring to read!

Sat, 2011-10-29 16:11 — Martin (not verified)

Nice one. Brave.
How can feminism trump egalitarianism anyway?It IS egalitarianism.

Sat, 2011-10-29 16:16 — John (not verified)

@Author: Just for the record. I read it. And loved it. Go speak take your privilaged, I-can-speak-for-everyone attitude elsewhere.

Sun, 2011-10-30 17:29 — Mark (not verified)

Pretentious doesn't begin to describe the articles by "Red" Penny who will no doubt be a tory in 10 years

Mon, 2011-10-31 22:27 — Dooki (not verified)

I come by to wonder at anyone who can blame the Chicago school for a government funded bailout and then refer to this as capitalism which should be changed by more government interventions which started the problems......oh dear.

The mind boggles

Sat, 2011-10-29 16:29 — pbpositive (not verified)

Kudos Penny, this is excellent. Great analysis, great delivery, great courage. Hope the BBC broadcasts the full debate very soon. I agree with every word, and admire your hutzpah very much.

Mon, 2011-10-31 22:52 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Dooki: the thing is that a government is a group of people, often elected by bigger groups of people. People by themselves and in groups change things. People created the problems and so people can remedy them.

Mon, 2011-10-31 22:57 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

@Suzzane; 'I for example wouldn't dream of joining Conservative home and hurling abuse at columnists there.'

Why not? Maybe you realise that it wouldn't make any difference hurling insults alone. But perhaps you could go on there and argue your case ... you never know you might say things that stick in people's thought patterns that will change what they think and say to other people.

Mon, 2011-10-31 23:10 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

And Suzzane; You've hurled abuse at the people who have hurled abuse at Laurie Penny. Do you play that game in Ireland that Liz plays ...what's it called 'Hurling'?

About 16 years I had a conversation with my aunt and she said that black people were more stupid than white people. Being an ex-hitchhiker I didn't react by yelling at her "Racist Pig" because she would have chucked me out of her will. However, I laughed and pretended to agree with her. Then I started questioning her on the lines of '"How do you know that?" "Are their brains any different to ours" .

Forward wind 14 years the same conversation comes up at a party when someone else makes a racist comment about blacks. My aunt uses the exact same words to that person that I used to counter her racist point of view. I said to my aunt, " You've really thought about this haven't you?" which made her very happy with me. She couldn't remember it was me that said it to her.

Sat, 2011-10-29 17:15 — karmar

Excellent comment by Penny. Now what do we do about it?

Sat, 2011-10-29 17:18 — Yonmei

Yay Penny.

Fri, 2011-11-04 14:26 — Stuart Eels (not verified)

Mr Divine

Sadly I'm not going anywhere soon but hey it could be worse, I could book somewhere on holiday and find that I sharing the same Hotel as the gangsta, fake Rancher or heaven help me Laura Penny!

Sat, 2011-10-29 17:36 — PeterC (not verified)

How on earth did you lose the debate

Sat, 2011-10-29 17:42 — Michael Edwards (not verified)

Wonderful speech; glad you and he "lost". You certainly won my vote.

Born in 1942, I benefitted from a middle-class starting position+ free university plus one job for life (almost) with poor pay but brilliant pension on which I now live. I am supporting the occupation and other moves for change because there is plenty of output in the world for everyone to have these basic material securities. You put t brilliantly.

Sun, 2011-10-30 20:18 — Luddite (not verified)

Mark so true, but probably with Red Penny it's more likely 11 years...

Tue, 2011-11-01 00:02 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Hi Spud ..been doin bit of buildin work up North lad? Is your white van still motoring? I bet you have lots of idiots trying to break into the back of it to nick your tools. You don't have that problem where I am ...maybe you can start understanding why I'm here without a white van marked "Here I come. Watch out it's me".

Of course you think I've had it easy living in the lap of luxury by my pool while everyone else does the dirty work. But I have had my white van broke into ...'metaphorically' speaking ... and it wasn't just the head casket that blew.

All you've got to do is stay strong.