Euston Moment

Alan Johnson, the political theorist and editor of the dreadful Democratiya website/tarted up blog is distinct from Alan Johnson, MP, New Labour clone, minister and no qualifications boy who did good - but you'd be pressed to tell the difference in the way they write and the things that they say. The material fed to MP's to regurgitate to the popular media and the stuff oozing out of academia are part of the same corporate-think engine. One might as well call them both the same aspect of a kind of acamedia department at the governance's centre.

Thus for a while I gave the 'Euston Moment' piece in the Guardian the benefit of the doubt. If the guy had no GCSE's give him his due he has remembered his lines and even got a few intellectual quotes to give his banalities a weighty aura. After a brief echeck, though, I was mildly surprised to see that the essay was written by another kind of Alan Johnson, one who is cited as being a political philosopher. The essay is quite risible. It is asupposed attack on the left. Johnson believes that the left's "theoretical collapse" and "loss of sensibility" stems from its reductivist response to the new complexities of the post Cold War world. The left has simply applied the ideas of imperialsim and resistance and collapsed into anti-Americanism, self-hatred and "demented anti-zionism".

His rant is not directed against ant particular figure or element of left wing thought, of course, but is just a 'critique' of the 'left' that exists in Johnson's imagination.
His argument veers from the accusation that John Rees' (supposed) unconditional support for Saddam Hussein (generally, when I hear any 'decent' describe a left winger 'supporting' i) terror, ii) the latest bogeyperson or iii) oppression of unions in soon to be invaded countries, I always wonder how the decent really thinks a left wing writer can actually materially support any of the things he is being accused of supporting and how, in fact, the actual nasties being talked about have in the end Western governments behind them), an argument that Johnson provides no evidence for, to Albert Camus - quoted wildly out of context - to the crass claim that criticisms of Western foreign policies are evidence of 'self-hatred' to Bladerunner (!) and then to the truly awfully expressed idea that criticising America means 'Along this road madness lies'. I really hate that phrase.

The guff ends with a long sales pitch for the democratiya site and the claim that the Euston moment is not a movement but whose ideas should be important in helping to define the shape of the left.

Euston moment sounds a lot like 'senior moment' - one of those moments of forgetting. Thus Johnson claims that the Manifesto (if you can call the back of a beer mat scribbles that make up the wretched thing a 'manifesto') was 'agnostic on economics'. So, nothing left at all then. How can you be remotely 'left' if you efface economic injustices? But to do that would unravel the whole sorry facade Johnson is mixed up in.
If this is the best "left" wing acamedia can dredge up then they'd best stick to writing propaganda for their Nu Labout masters. Thanks to K-Punk for drawing attention to this cry for help though.