LETTERS Intellectual disgrace
Sir: I congratulate Robert Taylor on reveal- ing the intellectual bankruptcy of the so- called intellectuals of the Left (`Chattering against Mr Blair', 19 April). No wonder New Labour no longer finds it useful to tap into their musings. Taylor shows how out of touch with most people they are, with their snobbery, elitism and contempt for con- sumers. They just cannot accept that most people do not want an upheaval in their lives but practical improvements to make life better. Instead, our intellectuals cling to their from the top-down paternalist approach, telling people what they should want. They offer only airy-fairy theorising, remote from reality. They prefer voters to vote out of instinctive and unquestioning habit, and despise a leadership which has challenged and defeated the vested inter- ests inside the Labour party that kept it for so long out of touch with a changing society.
Blair inspires because he knows the dif- ference between values and means, and articulates the aspirations of those who want to make better the daily lives of citi- zens and widen their opportunities to get on. Let us hope a New Labour government ignores the advice of these doctrinaire intellectuals, and governs in the true tradi- tion of Labour as the party of conscience and reform.
George Jones
26 Fitzwarren Gardens, London N19
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