Prince William goes reformist

Yesterday the heir to the throne promised to solve the problem of homelessness within five years:

“Prince William has launched a major five-year campaign to end homelessness, which he says should not exist in a "modern and progressive society". 

What makes him think that he can solve this problem thrown up by capitalism when the politicians have failed to do so over the years? 

In 1994 a Labour politicians promised that “begging will be consigned to the history books under the next Labour government” (‘Labour to end begging’, Camden New Journal, 7 July 1994).

Labour won the following general election in 1997 and were in government for the next 13 years. When they were kicked out in 2010 there was still begging in the streets. And there still is.

Prince William maybe more sincere than that Labour politician but he too will fail. We confidently predict that in five years time homelessness will still be a problem.

Capitalism is a society where shelter is a commodity that has to be paid for and there will always be people who, for one reason or another, won’t have enough money to buy it. That’s the nature of the system and it can’t be reformed away either by parliamentary legislation or by royal wish.