Mark Seddon's view was that it is not, and never can be. He thought it a poor substitute for the idealistic commitment which once characterized the Labour Party, and regarded it largely as a vacuous exercise designed to conceal a lack of commitment of any kind. Those who espoused it and mouthed its slogans were covering an ideology which amounted to little more than pragmatic opportunism combined with the most meaningless management speak. If the third way was anything at all, it was as a kind of parking lot where those who had abandoned their beliefs could rest for a while before they espoused those of their opponents. Mark Seddon, Tribune Editor, with members of The Next Generation Risky Stuff Government behaves as if it should eliminate risk from our lives.
Every time there is an accident or a mishap, newspapers demand action.
The result has been a whole series of measures designed to eliminate risks of even vanishingly small likelihood. The banning of beef on the bone was one such case, given scientific estimates that the risk might be of the order of 1 in 2 billion. Professor John Adams of University College, London, is an acknowledged expert on the subject. He authored Risky Business, the ASI's publication on the subject. His answer is that we must pay attention to a hierarchy of risks which are perceived subjectively, according to the temperament of the subject.