Re: Boris Johnson and Classical Studies

Thanks again Mark.  When this dispute erupted in 2016 I urged (as I recall)
attention to what real economists had to say vs folks worried about the
shape of bananas.  Now the list remains largely free of serious
economic discussion, dismayingly.  Now I find  that one "economist
*for* Brexit"
predicted that Brexit meant disaster for workers
<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fcarltonreid%2F2019%2F02%2F07%2Fpiers-morgan-shamed-by-live-fact-check-on-brexit-economists-prediction-uk-car-manufacturing-to-end%2F%232739bca03efb&amp;data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C70b356c7afcc4e150b5808d74b33f522%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C637060558839575231&amp;sdata=nBdyZbu9sBgYBQ9u%2F5MXbVQIvtoj%2FgRkhlq4o1B9HRg%3D&amp;reserved=0>
:

Professor Patrick Minford – of Economists For Brexit – had told parliament
that U.K. car manufacturing would have to be eliminated if the U.K left the
European Union.


We need to be careful in assessing what Brexit means in different parts of
UK.  It will affect housing prices in London more than elsewhere, but
London remains, I think, the site of some of the highest median salaries on
the island* -- I just looked up Sunderand and Cardiff.  This is
especially true of Kensington, Camden, Westminster, etc.  So these folks
are  somewhat insulated.  It's the workers of Wigan and Sunderland we need
to follow, if we're tracking true downward mobility.  The annals of opinion
research since the 1940s are full of evidence that where you sit depends on
where you stand. (I got into this after finding that Paul Lazarsfeld, one
father of the field,a  wrote one of Moses FInley's best recommendations in
1947.  Max Horkheimer did another. One of the least enthusiastic came from
his advisor Westermann.)

Perhaps Brexit supporters might cite a good economist or two?  That would
get us away from tired gibes about which paper one reads.

Dan

*I say "the island" because I remain unsure as to the future allegiance of
Northern Ireland — and Scotland too.


On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 5:46 AM Mark Davidson <[email protected]>
wrote:

> An opinion about Boris Johnson (video below) from a *real* Conservative -
> Rory Stewart. Another Eton and Balliol man, as it happens, and a government
> minister under David Cameron and Theresa May.
>
> He compares the expulsion of 21 Conservative MPs (including himself) with
> the purge of the Mensheviks.
>
> He mentions Kenneth Clarke, who was also expelled from the Conservative
> Party:
>
> "He's the Father of the House, he's been in the House of Commons since I
> guess the time I was born. He has been in Edward Heath's government, in
> Margaret Thatcher's government, in John Major's government, in David
> Cameron's government. He's been Home Secretary, Chancellor of the
> Exchequer, Lord Chancellor. He's voted against the government, I think,
> once in his entire life, and has just found himself thrown out of the
> Conservative Party."
>
> He talks about the dangers of the 'might is right' mindset, 'the end
> justifies the means', ignoring due process and winning at any cost.
>
> Rory Stewart's implicit comparison of Johnson's clique with the Bolsheviks
> makes sense. To call them Conservative is a major error. They are radicals.
> Their aim is not the restoration of an imagined glorious past, but creating
> a new 'Singapore on the Thames' - an unregulated tax haven and paradise for
> billionaires, bankers, and the wealthy elite.
>
> Video:
>
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DcfkkfxT1VKI&amp;data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C70b356c7afcc4e150b5808d74b33f522%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C637060558839575231&amp;sdata=20rIg%2FPRTEF0IZndcFaN6F1ZGesCFgsetME2TZfY5jA%3D&amp;reserved=0
>
> Mark D.
>