ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that academic frameworks and theories - particularly the 'post' literatures - interacted with domestic and international events to create the present government and its approach. It considers an ironic consequence of both the changes in capitalism and attendant academic theories. The chapter draws some more hopeful conclusions about the current anti-capitalist movement (ACM) and its mode of engagement with the enemy. A version of the postmodern is at the very heart of today's consumer capitalism. Academia's even more ambitious theorisation of newness comes of course in the shape of postmodernism. This too denotes a new epoch, described in predominantly cultural, aesthetic and political terms. Newman highlights the issue of managerialism as the key to Labours welfare and public sector policies. A flavour of the modernising mindset can be found in the White Paper, Modernising Government, with its commitment to 'joined-up government' and deregulation.
