The word value, it is to be observed, has two different meanings, and sometimes expresses the utility of some particular object, and sometimes the power of purchasing other goods which the possession of that object conveys. The one may be called ‘value in use ;’ the other, ‘value in exchange.’ The things which have the greatest value in use have frequently little or no value in exchange; and on the contrary, those which have the greatest value in exchange have frequently little or no value in use. Nothing is more useful than water: but it will purchase scarce any thing; scarce any thing can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.

New Statue unveiled today…

The BBC report falls for all the right wing shite and claims of ownership of Smith and his legacy. Ignore it - it’s balls and shit — Smith was a figure of the Enlightenment - proto-capitalism - what we today would call capitalism he thoroughly despised - “a vile maxim of the masters of mankind: all for ourselves and nothing for other people”. The BBC snippet doesn’t mention the part in ‘The Wealth of Nations’ where after praising the ‘division of labour’ for the benefits in productivity it brings, he then, hundreds of pages later, goes on to say that the very same process of labour divided will destroy human beings and turn them into creatures as stupid and ignorant as it is possible to be. And, therefore, in any civilised society the government is going to have to take measures to prevent division of labour from proceeding to its limits.

Thick rightist tossers can fuck off — the Enlightenment is the possession of us lot - never forget it.