Polly Mackenzie: in defence of the possible
Polly Mackenzie who is Director of Demos, a leading cross-party think tank, wrote an article on "Unherd" recently about the "Politics of Impossible Promises," which is a robust defence of Possibilism.
This is the idea that politicians should try to limit their promises to things they might actually be able to achieve rather than make aspirational pledges which are unattainable.
She writes that
"The problem is that possibilism is much more boring than populism, in the same way that a pony is more boring than a unicorn."
Quite.
You don't have to agree with her on any specific point to recognise that there is a great deal of force to her central argument that politics both here in Britain and around the world has been in retreat from reality, with hosts of "unicorn" impossible ideas put forward from every part of the political spectrum.
The most obvious case is Brexit, on which almost every actor appears keen to point out the points on which those who they disagree with are failing to take due account of reality but fails to confront their own blind spots.
But the whole issue of the environment is another example. Most people appear to be coming to accept that the preponderance of evidence suggests that human actions are contributing to climate change with potentially very serious consequences. The UK government has - rightly in my view - committed to an extremely challenging objective, which might just be achievable but at a very considerable cost, of making the country carbon-neutral by 2050.
Instead of thinking seriously about what which other cherished ambitions or policies will have to be modified for Britain to have any chance at all of hitting this already very challenging target, too many people have engaged in an absurd auction about whether that date can be brought significantly further forward.
Unless they are going to go back to wearing animal skins and living in caves, they might as well promise to build a new bridge over the English Channel with their bare hands.
This is the idea that politicians should try to limit their promises to things they might actually be able to achieve rather than make aspirational pledges which are unattainable.
She writes that
"The problem is that possibilism is much more boring than populism, in the same way that a pony is more boring than a unicorn."
Quite.
You don't have to agree with her on any specific point to recognise that there is a great deal of force to her central argument that politics both here in Britain and around the world has been in retreat from reality, with hosts of "unicorn" impossible ideas put forward from every part of the political spectrum.
The most obvious case is Brexit, on which almost every actor appears keen to point out the points on which those who they disagree with are failing to take due account of reality but fails to confront their own blind spots.
But the whole issue of the environment is another example. Most people appear to be coming to accept that the preponderance of evidence suggests that human actions are contributing to climate change with potentially very serious consequences. The UK government has - rightly in my view - committed to an extremely challenging objective, which might just be achievable but at a very considerable cost, of making the country carbon-neutral by 2050.
Instead of thinking seriously about what which other cherished ambitions or policies will have to be modified for Britain to have any chance at all of hitting this already very challenging target, too many people have engaged in an absurd auction about whether that date can be brought significantly further forward.
Unless they are going to go back to wearing animal skins and living in caves, they might as well promise to build a new bridge over the English Channel with their bare hands.
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