Recipe for social decay

Andrew Maxwell, who is a comedian, knows why we're in a mess. He's a comedian, which suggests that the days of the fool speaking truth to power are coming back.

Create a society that values material things above all else. Strip it of industry. Raise taxes for the poor and reduce them for the rich and for corporations. Prop up failed financial institutions with public money. Ask for more tax, while vastly reducing public services. Put adverts everywhere, regardless of people's ability to afford the things they advertise. Allow the cost of food and housing to eclipse people's ability to pay for them. Light blue touch paper. 

Hard to disagree with any of that.

Meanwhile, it's come to my attention that - rather ironically - the Tory Party's 2007 Conference was soundtracked by Jimmy Cliff's 'You Can Get It If You Really Want', which would fit rather nicely with images of looters trashing Carphone Warehouse.

I'd suggest a Rolling Stones track. No, not 'Streetfighting Man', but 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'.