Oneirocritic oneirataxia...

"Turning the Tide on Democratic Pessimism"...an odd phrase to use: doesn't he know that the tide turns, you can't turn it; you can use it but have to ride it or fight it (and you can survive the fight but you won't turn the tide) OK, OK, I know what he means...

David Miliband had the honour of giving the John Smith Memorial Lecture last night, (published yesterday in the New Statesman) Despite reams of well-written waffle there was the usual soundbites and not a small amount of mistakes, misunderstanding and/or lies. I'll leave you to find out what and where but one phrase was:

"Ironically, one of the things for which the Left has always striven has been an end to deference, an increase in the sense of power enjoyed by people. People want a say not just an answer."

An end to classism maybe but certainly not an end to deference, they revel in it. Also note the "sense" of power, not power itself, oh no, the Left is all about control of the people. Clearly, and par for the course, there was also some not so well written pap:

"If there is no such thing as society, why is there such a thing as Facebook?"

...imagining what Smith might say if asked to participate: this was Miliband suggesting that the Conservatives' assertion that "the 'post bureaucratic' new technology of production, distribution and exchange has rendered progressive politics outdated" was facile. The gist of the whole speech was that they need to change, audit, think forward, reinvent...again. They need to be more like John Smith, more like Obama, more like the Greeks (NO, I'm serious, and he didn't mean the ancient world-changing empire)

oneirataxia n. - inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality
oneiric adj. - having to do with dreams
oneirocritic n. - someone who interprets dreams [luciferous logolepsy]