Is New Labour’s ‘Third Way ’ New or Just Hot Air in Old Bottles?

Preamble: This paper is presented and published in order to stimulate debate – and have feedback- on the various economic, political and social issues raised. Though the con-text is Britain, many of the issues raised are relevant for other countries. Readers are en-couraged to circulate it among friends and colleagues who might have an interest and contribute to the debate. Summary: The paper discusses the main aims and characteristics of the three Ways in British economics and politics: the First Way refers to the period from after WWII to the mid 1970s; the second Way refers to the Conservative Government period starting from 1979; and the Third Way to the New Labour Government period since 1997. These three Ways are considered in relation to their main characteristics, the policies of the relevant governments and the problems they have encountered. The New Labour policies are ana-lysed in more details by reference to the case of the National Health Service. The reasons why the New Labour Way is different from the second Way as well as the problems it is facing are highlighted. A discussion of why New Labour has taken the Third Way route follows