THE lexicon of right-wing politicians and commentators contains several well-worn words and phrases that they reach for when troubling ideas become attractive. The most favoured and glib of these is the phrase “Hard Left”, which is deployed to describe anyone who is to the left of Tony Blair or who insists on espousing anything resembling socialism.

By attaching the word “hard” a subliminal message is sent out; a suggestion, perhaps: a hint. Implicit in its use is a clear warning: the views of this person are not really meant to be taken seriously and can be quite dangerous really. You will never hear the phrase “Hard Right” to describe Conservative supporters no matter how egregiously reactionary their views may be.

Another of these phrases is “armchair socialist”. This is an essentially meaningless phrase and is used to dismiss the views of anyone who claims to be a socialist but who hasn’t yet died of malnutrition. Other words and phrases are often to be found in close proximity to these primary terms of misdirection such as “unsustainable”, “woolly” or “romantic”. Their purpose in a sentence is to convey a sense that this person’s views can’t be trusted or that his or her numbers haven’t been costed. Furthermore, they are rooted in wishful thinking and not in the harsh reality of the marketplace.

Only the free market, you understand, can be considered the final arbiter of the desirability of any financial transaction; not human dignity; physical health or honest endeavour: certainly not decency or any idea of fairness. For these too are “woolly” concepts that rely on the “unsustainable” vision that we are all created equally and thus are deserving of fair and equal treatment.

In the past few years in the UK the ideology of the free market and its eternal primacy has received something of a right good kicking. The global credit crunch which almost wrecked our economy happened because some of the richest people on the planet, their lust for more wealth never satiated, began to take greater risks in their pursuit of more acquisitions and the bonuses that came with them.

Long after the point at which they knew that such behaviour was unsustainable, they continued at break-neck speed in a bid to stuff as much money as they possibly could down their trousers before the inevitable crash came. The financial institutions which had been established to be the first and last line of defence against such avarice abandoned all sense of rectitude and greedily joined in the feeding frenzy. This was the nub of it and let no one tell you otherwise.

It wasn’t socialism or the trade unions or health and safety or unreasonable pay demands which did for the western economy, it was unrestricted and unscrutinised capitalism of the most wicked sort; that which dictated that the welfare of our fellow human beings was deemed to be of much less importance than exploiting them and making gargantuan profits at their expense.

In the years that have since elapsed it is as if none of this ever happened. The bailout of the banks cost ordinary people real money and still these institutions persist in paying out huge salaries and massive bonuses.

While continuing to do so they have clubbed thousands of small businesses into oblivion by cancelling small overdrafts and calling in footling loans. These businesses were largely run on the values of sustainable capitalism where profits were ploughed back into the business and bonuses and perks were pegged at a reasonable level.

The collapse of BHS last year exposed a cesspit of unfettered capitalism and financial exploitation that destroyed the finances of thousands of workers who had done nothing other than exhibit traditional British traits. They worked hard; refused to grumble about pay and conditions; paid Her Majesty’s tax and revenue its due and paid into a pension pot to relieve any burden on the state in their old age. Their reward for doing so was to lose their jobs with little recompense and to see their pensions lining the pockets of an assortment of chancers who had used the capitalist system to suck the lifeblood out of a healthy British retail institution.

In the 12 months that have followed we have witnessed how some of the biggest capitalists in the UK have hidden their assets off-shore as a means of avoiding those tiresome fiduciary responsibilities that stop the little people sharing their wealth. We have seen how a gaggle of affluent Brexiteers pluck figures out of thin air to persuade millions to join them for the sole purpose of furthering their political ambitions. They were funded by companies who eyed a once-in-a-lifetime chance to free themselves from the European Union and all that pesky legislation protecting workers’ pay and employment rights.

And don’t give me any of this nonsense about our biggest companies being wealth-creators and employment providers. These companies are run to make the maximum quantum of profit while paying as few people as possible the least amount they can get away with. Paying the workers is a necessary evil until such times as they discover a way of making money without them.

We have witnessed the dismantling of our nation’s entire rail network prior to it being parcelled out among billionaire operators and their overseas shareholders like a silent auction at a Scotland in Union fundraiser. The trick then is to escape with as much cash as possible before running the franchises at a loss and exacting a higher toll from honest, hard-working passengers who simply want to get to their work and pay their taxes with no fuss. And this week we witnessed the collapse of Carillion, an outsourcing giant which fed off the most succulent parts of our public sector infrastructure. Like the bankers a decade ago they saw this coming down the line and so grabbed as much cash as they could before the little people paid with their jobs, homes and businesses.

This is what unrestrained capitalism and the idolatrous worship of the free market gets you: tens of thousands of lost jobs; the economic destruction of working-class communities and the casual demonisation of immigrants. It is a false credo and an intrinsically evil one which mocks the wellbeing of the many and worships the corruption of the few.

This is why the privately educated Oxbridge elite who control most of the UK’s political parties and its media are aghast at the idea of socialism and renationalising our biggest public services. It’s not that socialism doesn’t work. It works too bloody well. At its heart is a desire to give everyone in this country an equal opportunity to share in its profits and to destroy those institutions who strive to ensure that they remain in the hands of a tiny few.