In this world of abundance, most of us in Britain at least are vastly better off than the mightiest potentate ever was.
Politicians claim to be responsible, arguing ever-increasing state welfare provision is down to them.
Some of this seems deceptively true. But as Marx said: "The Philistine considers the gendarme an eternal institution."
Fortunately, Labour's Orwellian dystopia was shaken on May 1. The 400,000 spoiled London mayoral votes alone make one wonder if Robert Mugabe advised them.
George Bridge's election day article in the Daily Telegraph provided a welcome, amusing antidote to the political newspeak.
Despite the verbiage and statistical factoids that passed for analysis, Labour lost mainly for this reason - the British want their country back. After years of using immigration and deceit to abolish Britain, and make us regional minions of a European super-state, Labour came unstuck.
The Lib-Lab-Con axis is part of a thinly-disguised global conspiracy. It represents a callous and ruthless dream, driven by a desire for power. It wants a world labour force in a world state, run by world banks, whose current failings could dwarf even the 1929 economic crash.
The clash between their brave new world and people's experience of it is glaring.
Labour's promises to listen and learn only mean stale wine in new bottles. Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
But to achieve different results requires different politics - something thankfully beginning to happen throughout Europe.
STEPHEN WARD Tudor Close Oxford
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