Hopeful signs on the left?

Is it just me or are there positive signs that in response to New Labour control freakery a strand of thinking is developing on the left that is sceptical of government activity rather than always assuming as a default that state intervention in social problems is benign?

In this week's New Statesman, the magazine's political correspondent Martin Bright takes the government to task for its obsessive legislating on education and crime, before concluding:

I have a suggestion: a moratorium on legislation. I suggest the following wording for a pledge in the next Labour (or, for that matter, Conservative or Liberal Democrat) manifesto: “We will introduce no legislation in the next parliament as there is quite enough already. We will make do with our flawed but probably quite adequate existing laws and concentrate on improving our schools, hospitals and railways.” I’d vote for that.

Me too!