Are New Labour failing "to make capital out of an avalanche of positive news"?
Is Britain actually doing well? According to Polly Toynbee's latest article in the Guardian, that's exactly what's happening: "This week an avalanche of good policies tripped over each other so fast they fell into oblivion ... Scrapping the 2p petrol-duty rise hardly registered - nor the excellent first-time buyers' boost, so they pay only 80% of the rent on a property until they can put down on the mortgage; the army gets a GI bill with free university on demob; Whitehall goes carbon neutral; mayors are given the police ... This week's crime figures ["the best crime figures ever"] are the best evidence. High employment and many more staying on at school after 16 are part of the reason why; 600,000 fewer children are poor, while Sure Start and nursery schools will change many lives (though results won't show until the children grow up); an NHS with no waiting lists, schools rebuilt and staffed with better-qualified teachers, while the Every Child a Reader scheme will cut illiteracy in primary-school leavers".
True?
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