British Elections 2007

[marshlander]

David Cameron is a more a moderate? no?

He certainly gives that appearance. At times he has attempted to push for inclusivity within the party, although his voting record in the past leaves him with a few skeletons to explain. Being naturally suspicious of any politician though (particularly one who has sought office!) I question the sincerity of his attempts to out-green the Greens and out lib the LibDems.

The chart you included in your last message was fascinating. I'm just Joe Public and have no formal background in political theory, so to see UK parties set out on an x-y grid like this was interesting. Where did you get this illustration? I am not sure I agree with the placements of all the parties mentioned. For example, I am pretty certain that Labour (both new and old) has shown more centralising tendancies than the conservatives. Wouldn't this place it further north on your scale of authoritarianism? Similarly, while I can see some similarities between the authoritarian dynamic of the BNP and the kind of communism practised by some countries in the former Eastern Bloc, the party itself is popularly perceived here as "ultra-right wing". I see also some contradictions. As a former member of the Green Party I can quite appreciate a strong anarchist streak among the rank and (un)file(d). However, in order to carry through their old ecology party agenda they would have to introduce some drastically authoritarian legislation. Of course, some parties are conspicuous by their absence from the chart, including for example, the Scottish Nationalists, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Fein, the Democratic Unionists and new phenomena like Respect (not to mention the Monster Raving Loony Party who were around for longer than many of the others). Parliament does, after all, govern the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I wonder how the author of that piece of theory balanced out the conflicting tendancies within each political party.

The fear of socialism in the North American continent seems irrational. Can "socialist" be the only word left in the language that it so scary that no one is brave enough to assimilate and redefine the term? Fascinating