The Guardian publishes my letter comparing Cameron and Churchill's "can-do optimism" - Churhill USED the state to win WW2

Churchill applied "can-do optimism" to fighting the second world war. He also deployed the state – factories were requisitioned, food rationed, soldiers conscripted, infrastructure built etc. Optimism, while helpful, is not enough. If the ordinary and vulnerable in society have nothing but the patronising "can-do" spirit of a cabinet of millionaires to help them through this economic turmoil, they will soon start listening to Ed Miliband's call for a "new bargain".

John Slinger
Editor, Pragmatic Radicalism: Ideas from Labour's New Generation