EC Meeting Papers January 2018

Britain is being stalked by a zombie elite – time to take them on

Aditya Chakrabortty

What to do when our economy benefits only the few, but politicians seem powerless to change it? This new series, called the Alternatives, follows communities who are working out their own answers

Wed 17 Jan 2018 05.38 GMT Last modified on Wed 17 Jan 2018 10.43 GMT

‘British politics has reached the deepest state of zombie-ism: a zombie minority government, implementing zombie economics, underpinned by zombie ideas.’ Illustration: Eleanor Shakespeare This is the age of the zombie. The undead maraud around our popular culture. Stick on the telly, and they’re attacking Jon Snow in Game of Thrones . At the cinema, reanimated carcasses lurch through everything from Resident Evil to World War Z. The headlines might burst with blundering boastful strongmen, but our nightmares are full of blank-eyed walking corpses.

Unthinking, unquestioning, neither alive nor dead, the zombie is horrific. It is also us.

Quick guide

What is austerity?

Show Hide What is austerity?

Austerity is how governments across Europe – from the UK to Greece – tried to clear the overdrafts, or deficits, they racked up in the wake of the great financial crisis.

How did governments try to achieve this?

Their strategy was two-fold. First, cut spending on the public sector, on wages, for instance, or on social security. Second, raise revenue through higher taxes and selling state assets. Greece, for instance, has sold its airports in Corfu and Santorini, among others, to a German company.

What was their reasoning?

Proponents made a variety of arguments for this strategy. It was said that governments had spent too much money, that everyone needed to tighten their belts. The UK’s then-chancellor,