Starmer`s 21st century patriotism

Listening to Starmer`s speech (18/02/21) it would seem he took Mandelson`s advice, sadly, and judging by a recent televised political broadcast, wrapping the Labour party in a union jack flag as well as kowtowing to business appear to be Labour`s current direction. If, however, Starmer is to embrace patriotism, as some think tanks have obviously suggested, at least it should be a 21st century version, not the one advocated by the right wing press and Johnson`s government. Their patriotism is straight out of Victorian school books, designed not only to foster jingoism and exceptionalism, but to encourage young men to volunteer for battle when required, and young women to wave their white feathers..... Starmer could outline what a patriotic prime minister should be doing - pursuing policies of justice and fairness which reveal genuine concern for all of the UK`s population. By challenging the Tories on the role patriotism played when governing this country for the last decade, the Labour leader could at last be seen to be doing the job he was elected to do. Is it patriotic to neglect public health infrastructure to such an extent the country is totally unprepared to face a health crisis? Even when a dummy run of a pandemic is tried, should a patriotic government ignore the findings, as the Tories did in 2016 after Operation Cygnus? A government that cares for its country as much as Tories claim to do would have all the PPE and ventilators necessary for any crisis, not to mention ensuring the 100,000 nursing shortages were filled. Caring for the British people, ensuring they are safe from disease, is clearly an essential role for a patriotic government, but so is providing a decent education for all of the population. Yet the last decade has witnessed an education policy aimed only at making sure the so-called "top" universities are dominated by students from private schools, whilst state schools have been seriously underfunded, and consequently, understaffed. Strangely, none of the Tory concern we hear so much about for underprivileged children was evident from 2010-2020, and with serious cuts to council budgets, hundreds of Sure Start centres have been forced to close. Patriotism does not mean only caring about the education of the over-privileged! Looking after the economy, taxing fairly, and spending taxpayers` money wisely are all the duties of any government wanting to be considered patriotic, but what we have seen in the last ten years has been nothing of the sort; cutting taxes for the rich whilst imposing the most callous and cruel austerity policies on the least advantaged in society cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be showing love for one`s country! What have we seen during the pandemic crisis? An incompetent administration more intent on giving government contracts for urgently-required eqiuipment to friends and party donors than controlling the spread of the virus, too concerned with helping tax avoiding companies like Serco and Deloitte than getting things done properly by experts in the public sector. It`s all very well for Starmer to want to work in partnership with British businesses, but it would make more sense if that partnership was conditional, and applied only to companies that were willing to prove their patriotism - by paying their taxes in full, by having reasonable pay ratios, by allowing all workers to join unions, by ending their short-termism and instead used profits to create new jobs and apprenticeships, and,of course, by cutting carbon emissions and working towards a green economy. How much more patriotic would it be than Johnson`s policy if government contracts were only given to firms if they met these criteria. "Patriotism" for Labour need not be the test the Tories envisage.but a means to embarrass Tories in general, and this government in particular. Starmer would be foolish to waste this opportunity.