A few weeks ago I criticised the Guardian for describing Niall Ferguson as right-wing.
Today the authors of The Spirit Level explain how their ideas are being undermined.
See extracts from article below. Full article is at:
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Its authors, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, proclaimed their work a new kind of "evidence-based politics"...
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if The Spirit Level were a punchbag, the stuffing would be coming out at the seams. A posse of rightwing institutes has laid into the work with a wave of brutal attacks.
Professor Wilkinson has admitted that an idea he hoped would escape the "leftwing ghetto" to transcend party politics and make Britain a happier, less-divided, more sociable, healthier and safer place has been made unpalatable for Conservatives by "wreckers" from the right.
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Wilkinson was shocked by what he believes is part of a worrying trend in political discourse, also happening in the US, where a few people, often attached to right wing institutes, have set themselves up as professional wreckers of ideas.
"Do they even believe what they are saying?" he said today. "I suppose it doesn't matter if their claims are right or wrong; it is about sowing doubt in people's minds."
The authors fear the attacks have scuppered any chance of removing the inequality debate "from the left wing ghetto".
Wilkinson said: "It is now something for the left and we would rather have avoided that. People on the right will feel relieved knowing they don't have to treat this seriously and will be happy to know it has been rubbished."