James O’Brien has proven himself to be a rare gem amongst a sea of monotone mainstream political commentators in Britain today.
Whilst those on the left probably won’t agree with all of his views, the LBC presenter regularly produces forensic political analysis that cuts straight to the heart of the matter, routinely exposing the huge and ever-widening disconnect between establishment and public opinion.
And O’Brien’s latest anti-Tory tirade may just be the best of the lot.
The LBC host begins by exposing exactly how little the Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, and the Tory party actually understand about why people are flocking to Jeremy Corbyn’s policies.
O’Brien states:
Something really symbolic happened at the weekend.
Jeremy Corbyn gave a speech where he said that Phillip Hammond had accused him of wanting to ‘dismantle the economic system’, and Jeremy Corbyn said ‘you’re absolutely right, Phillip! I do!”.
And that to me is the absolute fulcrum of British politics at the moment.
Philiip Hammond thought he was doing damage to Jeremy Corbyn when he said that, and Jeremy Corbyn agreed with him!
So disconnected are the two positions from eachother, that one man thinks it’s a vote winner for him (Corbyn) and one man thinks it’s a vote loser for him (Hammond).
It’s fascinating that!
The LBC host then goes on to do what a huge amount of mainstream commentators have been completely unwilling to do thus far: address the anger of the young as actually being motivated by REAL PROBLEMS, rather than ‘entitlement’ or simply a ‘lack of trying’.
Referring to a huge lack of job prospects, a massive housing crisis, soaring student debt, and a whole host of other government-created problems burdened on today’s youth, O’Brien goes on to say that:
I think it speaks to this generational gap.
If you don’t actually think that having ‘capital’ is in your future, what’s the point of anything in a ‘capitalist’ society?
The LBC host goes on to completely destroy the Tories’ approach to the dire situation, saying that Phillip Hammond’s proposed policies of simply giving young workers in their 20s and 30s a tax break – to be paid for by cutting pension tax relief – would just alienate traditional Tory voters whilst failing to address the actual problems young people face today.
After this O’Brien turns his ire to the mainstream media, saying that they ‘simply don’t get it because they’re old’.
Whilst we agree with O’Brien to an extent, the notion that this is simply a case of older people not realising what a mess they’ve left behind them is missing one other crucial point. The lack of connectedness is as much an inter-generational problem as it is a class-divide – especially in our media.
Without addressing the glaringly obvious problem of classism within our mainstream media, O’Brien then refers to how independent pro-Corbyn media such as ourselves, The Canary, Skwawkbox, Novara Media et al, see Corbyn’s egalitarian policies as a ‘no brainer’ – a phrase we have specifically used on several occasions.
The LBC host said:
If you’ve managed to immerse yourself in news sources that are essentially online – and managed to steer clear of the white supremacist, far-right, nutty Russian Kremlin sponsored ones, you’ll find a very different tone of reportage. As if the Corbyn position on the economy is a no brainer.
‘Well yeah’ ‘Of course he wants to dismantle it’ – ‘I live in a capitalist society with no prospect of ever accruing capital!’
You can watch James O’Brien’s irrepressible deconstruction of the current inter-generation class divide below:
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