Talk about a baptism of fire: my first experience with a televised panel debate put me up against Tony Benn, a leftist former cabinet minister famous – in part – as perhaps the most formidable debater in the country.

“You’re going to get killed,” said my wife, ever supportive. And rhetorically, perhaps I was – he masterfully trotted out his favourite sound bites, regardless of whether they pertained to the question or not.

This was almost two years ago, and one of Benn’s sound bites has had me thinking ever since. He pointed out that “in a democracy, everybody gets a vote. In the market, the poor and the homeless don’t get a vote.” Ergo, government provision of, well, anything, is preferable to leaving it to the market.

But the concept of a “vote” is meaningless when it comes to the market. If Benn’s claim means anything at all, surely it means this: that a poor person has more influence over the service he or she receives from the government than over the service he or she receives from the market. That claim means something, but it is also hard to sustain.

The remainder of this column can be read here.

November 10, 2007 9:41am in Undercover | Comment