So Macho

Paul Krugman nails the reason why it's seen as manly and brave to support ruthless cuts in public spending, though economically these are proving disastrous across the board. He links it to the macho impulse to war that led to costly and bloody failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was obvious during the runup to the Iraq war that what was going on in the minds of many hawks — and not just the neocons — was not so much a deep desire to drop lots of bombs and kill lots of people (although they were OK with that) as a deep desire to be seen as people who were willing to Do What Has to be Done. Men who have never risked, well, anything relished the chance to look in the mirror and see Winston Churchill looking back.

This bit, for me, sums up why Labour is so consistently disappointing to traditional Labour voters. To be afraid of being called weak is the mark of a weak man, and that - I'm afraid - sums up Ed Miliband.

Much of the problem in trying to stop the march to war was precisely the fear of many pundits that they would be seen as weak and, above all, not Serious if they objected. Austerity has been very much the same thing — and again, it’s not just the right-wingers who are afflicted.