What a bargain

The oxford advanced online dictionary gives two definitions for the word bargain:

1 a thing bought for less than the usual price

2 an agreement between two or more people or groups, to do something for each other.

I imagine that the Labour leader in his speech to Conference tomorrow will be referring to the latter when he announces that the country needs "a new bargain based on a different set of values".

But then who can be sure what Labour mean at all these days?   Some of his pronouncements sound strangely familiar.  Such as the assertion that there needs to be radical changes to the welfare system.

The BBC reports that he will talk in his speech of a "quiet crisis" in Britain and the "failure of a system" which too often rewarded "not the right people with the right values, but the wrong people with the wrong values".

Run that past me again.

Labour now want to reform the benefit system.  Will there be firm proposals as to how they want to achieve this?  Because they have been highly critical of the coalition Governments plans to do just that.  In an article which means we are now all but alleviated of the need to actually listen to Milliband we are told he will add:

 "Labour will always stand as the voice of the people, our people. Their values will be heard. And we will challenge the vested interests that benefit when the wrong values are rewarded.

"Never again should they be able to take advantage of a system which doesn't work to the values and instincts of decent people in our country."

Oh dear.  That may come as a bit of shock to many of their voters, and indeed to many of their elected members who got elected primarily by promising people that they would protect their benefits.

Welcome to the real world Ed.