Osborne thinks he could run the IMF. Maybe gaslighting a country is a useful skill | Faiza Shaheen

Only in a culture that sees power as white, posh, male and western could the man who masterminded austerity be considered for a top job

Imagine: you have been very publicly sacked from your job and the mistakes you made have had dire consequences for society. When planning your next steps do you a) rethink your career goals and consider doing something different with less responsibility; b) go for a job you’re completely unqualified for; or c) go for a big promotion with even greater stakes for society? I assume most of us would go for a), and even if we wanted to, we wouldn’t have the option of b) or c) without facing rejection.

However, that’s not the case for our former chancellor George Osborne, who after presiding over the worst economic recovery in recorded history, with severe and deadly public spending cuts, went for option b) and managed to become the editor of the Evening Standard – a job for which he is totally unqualified. And how has that gone? Losses of £11.5m aren’t too shabby. So, sensing now is the time to cut and run, he’s in the running for the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Yes, it’s yet another example of a privately educated white male failing upwards. But it also shows us how without an ideological change at the top we are stuck with the same pool of arrogant neoliberals.

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