My fantasy Labour Party

I'm watching the Labour shadow cabinet implode this morning with emotional detachment. There was a time, in my twenties, when I was tribally Labour; later I confess I voted for Blair. But it's all been downhill since then, Gordon, Ed and Jeremy.

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My ideal, fantasy Labour Party

1. Puts its hands up for capitalism, predatory and destructive though it is, as no other economic system can take us forwards. My Labour Party supports technological innovation and accepts there can be no equality of outcome in a successful capitalist society.

Yes, we can and should do mitigation.

2. My Labour Party controls immigration on the basis of individual skills, talent and character according to national needs. No uncontrolled admission on the basis of which nation state the enquiring immigrant happens to reside in.

The most salient reason for this is that both our social fabric and the functioning of our institutions are critically dependent on our human capital. We need more people who are smart, skilled, conscientious and prosocial. They're hardly the majority of those wanting in.

3. I'd rather like the Labour Party to exhibit, or at least partially reflect, the value system of its mass base. Hampstead champagne-socialism and Islington bien-pensant liberalism doesn't do it for me.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't actively ban readers of The Guardian from joining or leading my Labour Party - I do believe in toleration.