I've always found it difficult to understand how conservatism can be reconciled with the unfettered free market. Or old labour with metropolitan liberalism, for that matter. Probably the electoral system, I suppose.
he starts of by pretending the privatisation of BT didnt improve things, for all its faults its light years better than what it was then. he then goes off on the usual tour-de-rose glasses about how great the country's manufacturing was, ignoring it was in terminal decline from the 70's. we've vastly improved our economy by changing to a different focus, not everyone can do volume manufactuing when someone else can do it cheaper than you. and people like Hitchen's and his readership are the first to object to a factory, wind turbine or new housing estate being built, which is why we cant build anything.