Scope of today's economic crisis

That might well be said concerning previous crises, including the Great Crash of 1929 with its international repercussions, but even that does not bear comparison with the globalised breadth of the political, economic and environmental crisis that we face today.

In hankering after a modernised welfare state, Meacher even claims that "the neoliberal system is clearly broken" and refers to "the dead-end of neoliberal capitalism."

Following suffrage-Labour, we enjoyed welfare-Labour until neo-Labour began to emerge at the end of the '70s.

Neo-Labour finally came out into the open with the slogan of new Labour, which was promptly used by some of the left to once again claim that anything wrong with the Labour Party could be rectified by a change of leadership.

In what is quite likely to be the final period in Labour's history, neo-Labour continues to uphold the interests of imperialism across the world, with the most appalling consequences for the peoples of other countries.

At home, like the neo-Tories, it is developing "increasingly repressive state control and surveillance," which, of course, is an essential part of a neoliberal state apparatus.

Michael Meacher would like to see "a very different political and social order."

In that, we can be sure he not thinking of curtailing Britain's neoliberal role in the world and most certainly not of a socialism beyond capitalism here in Britain.

Jerry Spring London W5