Inaction in the face of scandals: Question on alternatives less relevant

For many years, certainly since the collapse of 2008, any discussion about how our economy is managed, about how social justice and accountability might be made tenets of Government rather than occasional afterthoughts, invariably reaches the point where the performances of the conventional parties of power are questioned.

Their commitment to those ideals, despite grand manifesto after grand manifesto, is invariably dubious. That, in turn, leads to the defenders of convention playing the dog-eared card that has sustained them for generations and asking: “What is your alterative?” And so the circle remains unbroken.