Fishburn Hedges

23.01.2012

Three party leaders. Three speeches on the free market. The last two weeks have seen Ed Miliband, David Cameron and Nick Clegg all argue for a more responsible capitalism. Things kicked off last week as Miliband fleshed out plans around making “your society fairer in a world where there is less money”. Clegg followed up this week with a call for "John Lewis economy" in which individuals had "real stakes" in the companies they work for. Lastly Cameron argued that capitalism promotes morality in a “something-for- something” society, as it creates a direct link between contribution and reward.

On the face of it, the speeches were pretty similar. But courtesy of the excellent Wordle, it’s possible to draw out some of the distinctions about the parties’ priorities. Miliband believes that it is that government that should be regulating “predatory” businesses, and promised to cap train fare rises and make energy companies place older pensioners on cheaper tariffs. Clegg believes in structural changes to the way businesses are run, giving people power through models of employee ownership. Cameron was least ambitious, defending the idea of capitalism but calling for some reforms to realise its potential. 

Have a look at the wordclouds and let me know what you think.

Conservative:

 

Labour:

 

Liberal Democrats:

 

Posted by Ben Lyons