The Brits are SO terribly confused. The foppish Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party is out. That’s the good news. Instead of turning to the right, it appears the UK will swerve further to the left.  Andy Burnham – the former socialist mayor of Manchester (Britain’s Zohran Mandami) – is next in line. God save the King.

As Greg Ip of WSJ, reports: “Burnham’s socialism is the real deal. He wants the state to control more of the means of production. He advocates public ownership of water, housing, energy and transportation.” Burnham calls it “business-friendly socialism.”

Sure. That will make the trains run on time.

What short memories. After World War 2 Britain went through a steady economic decline by embracing socialism. By the 1970s the Labour party had handed over to public bureaucrats and unions the means of production: the Bank of England, the coal mines, the airlines, iron, steel, phone service, to name a few. Prices soared, nothing worked, the Brits got a lot poorer and Britain’s share of world output steadily declined from 11% to 4%.

That was until Margaret Thatcher saved the kingdom, by slashing taxes and privatizing everything she could get her hands on. Britain experienced a temporary comeback.

Now it’s Thatcherism in reverse.

Ironically, what seems to be driving this leap toward “democratic socialism” here and abroad is middle class fury over inflation. The favored solution is government price controls. But as this chart shows, socializing industry doesn’t solve inflation, it causes it. Just look at this UK version of Mark Perry’s famous Chart of the Century: