This Vampyre Government

I prefer this rather obscure spelling for ‘vampire’, as it seems more gothic – just like the Government’s economic policy in fact - creatures of the night both. One of these of course is fictitious; the other, alas, is only too real.
We suffer this as if it wasn’t bad enough already having a richly populated private sector necropolis of bankers, power companies, fuel firms, whiplash lawyers and telecomm providers to name but a few. These are joined by a growing legion of corporate tax dodgers (some now boasting of their avoidance) we have to have a dark Chancellor intent on draining yet more lifeblood out of the economy and a Treasury that could have come right out of Transylvania.
The corporate ethics and social responsibilities of yesteryear are but a fading memory and the national government similarly continues to sap the more vulnerable of its citizens. Nevertheless, we need not resort to garlic or Christian icons and, in taking the brakes off the recovery we could put a stake through the heart of austerity.
But where are we to find the modern vampire slayers? The followers of John Maynard Keynes of course would be numbered amongst them, as we have explained elsewhere in this blog. But also enter the beleaguered potential heroes in the form of Local Government.
We must find ways to ensure that our services, public and formerly public, put the ordinary people first – bemused, exploited and treated with contempt as they are. And we should restore former services such as a Birmingham Municipal Bank that would offer both savers and borrowers a simple and trustworthy alternative to the financial creatures of the night.
Oh for the days when the City of Birmingham also had its own water, gas and bus companies and a highly visible and locally accountable police force. Surely a line-up that would ward off the bloodsuckers and remove the supposed 'need' for centrally imposed savage cuts in services delivered by Local Government.
But when will the country be rid of the Count, his acolytes and the scourge of economic vampirism? Naturally I hope sooner rather than later but I suspect that we may have to endure the predations of Vlad and Co. for another two years so perhaps we should hang on to the garlic for a while yet.