A couple of very strange things happened today in Britain. Andrew lansley signalled a long overdue retreat on NHS reform and Stephen Hester finally refused his bonus. Both took some time to come about while politicians postured, prevaricated, tried to look ministerial and contradicted themselves and each other. What is going on? Why is it that these things happened while the likes of Ian Duncan Smith were busy trying to explain that they were impossible? The answer seems to be public opinion or rather an inability to manipulate it as easily as some have assumed. MP's fell foul of it three years ago over their expenses, Rupert Murdoch more recently when he discovered that sheer arrogance is no defence and now Tories and bankers in one fell swoop. Its what happens when people discover in rapid succession that politicians, newspapers and bankers cannot be trusted and that they are no smarter than the rest of us after all. David Cameron and his cronies have proven to be slow learners and have given a good imitation of rabbits caught in the headlights as their hubris has been revealed for what it is - the complete confidence of the utterly stupid. The crisis in capitalism has thrown into sharp relief the arrogance of those who pretend to be our betters and now the genie is out of the bottle it cannot easily be forced back in. As the old saying goes, "Don't piss on me and tell me its raining."
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