In his editorial in the New York Times this morning (14 September 2015), Paul Krugman writes about Jeremy Corbyn and the British Labour Party. The establishment politicians in Labour are none too happy about Corbyn's victory. Krugman criticizes these establishment politicians for accepting Tory canards on recent economic history in the United Kingdom, with the former Labour government supposedly being at fault. Krugman's concluding paragraph is:
"Beyond that, however, Labour's political establishment seems to lack all conviction, for reasons I don't fully understand. And this means that the Corbyn upset isn't about a sudden left turn on the part of Labour supporters. It's mainly about the strange, sad moral and intellectual collapse of Labour moderates." -- Paul Krugman
I have no comment on the substance of Krugman's editorial. However, when I read "lack all conviction", I hear an echo of W. B. Yeat's poem, "The Second Coming". I have in mind the following lines:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity." -- W. B. Yeats
This allusion, if intended, is backwards from the article. That is, it would suggest that Labour establishment is composed of the best, contradicting the rest of the article.
I do like Krugman's previous allusions to Talking Heads lyrics.
Not bad. Both Clinton and the New Democrats, and Blair and New labour had an unprecented success. Jeremy Corbyn is more or less the return of Michael Foot. It would be similar to the return of the Democrats to the ideology of the Great Society. It makes Labour a part of the problems, and not a part of their solutions.
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