The Wrong Right
November 23, 2012 2:29 AM Subscribe
5-part series from Conservative Home about weaknesses in how the UK conservative movement thinks and operates. 1: Polling not punditry. 2: The working class has different concerns in 2012. 3: Conservatives need a new attitude to government. 4: Thatcher and Reagan didn't tame the state. 5: Why does the right treat spending cuts as light entertainment?
Only had time to read "2: The working class has different concerns in 2012," but I'm looking forward to reading the others. This seems like a very rational production, albeit not very dense in a negative sense, that could appeal to anyone.
posted by SollosQ at 4:19 AM on November 23, 2012
posted by SollosQ at 4:19 AM on November 23, 2012
From 5:
2013 will see the Coalition's Spending Review, and if this Government - or any future one - can't control its spending (whatever the Chancellor decides to do with it next month), then deficits and debt will persist. If this happens, the point will come when the burden of the cost of covering the deficit and servicing the debt will mean that any government, in the longer-term, will have no choice but to cut spending - and I really mean cut, not simply reduce the rate at which public spending rises, as this Government is doing.
What word is missing from this paragraph, I wonder?
posted by cromagnon at 4:23 AM on November 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
2013 will see the Coalition's Spending Review, and if this Government - or any future one - can't control its spending (whatever the Chancellor decides to do with it next month), then deficits and debt will persist. If this happens, the point will come when the burden of the cost of covering the deficit and servicing the debt will mean that any government, in the longer-term, will have no choice but to cut spending - and I really mean cut, not simply reduce the rate at which public spending rises, as this Government is doing.
What word is missing from this paragraph, I wonder?
posted by cromagnon at 4:23 AM on November 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
Seems the overall conclusion is to actually listen to people's concerns, be a bit human about and be less rabidly right wing. Given the make up of the Tory party, especially the new in take of MPs, I don't think there's much chance of that.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:24 AM on November 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:24 AM on November 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
we need to show that we are a party on the side of people for whom life isn't easy - on the side of people who, every month, are struggling to make ends meet
No, you need to BE on the side of these people, instead of being on the side of your school chums who are now CEOs.
posted by dowcrag at 4:34 AM on November 23, 2012 [14 favorites]
No, you need to BE on the side of these people, instead of being on the side of your school chums who are now CEOs.
posted by dowcrag at 4:34 AM on November 23, 2012 [14 favorites]
This just looks like a re-hash of the compassionate Conservative makeover, with the same agenda hidden behind weasel words, dog-whistles and obfuscation. It's not even coherent, as the "Conservatives need a new attitude to government" article is at odds with pretty much all of the other articles, which uniformly advocate massive cuts to taxation and government provisions.
The "new attitude" article is also a dog whistle in itself, as it appears to quote a compassionate Maggie:
In our generation, the only way we can ensure that no-one is left without sustenance, help or opportunity, is to have laws to provide for health and education, pensions for the elderly, succour for the sick and disabled.
Of course, the point of the reference to Maggie is to recall the real meaning of what she says. From the self-same speech:
I confess that I always had difficulty with interpreting the Biblical precept to love our neighbours "as ourselves" until I read some of the words of C.S. Lewis. He pointed out that we don't exactly love ourselves when we fall below the standards and beliefs we have accepted. Indeed we might even hate ourselves for some unworthy deed.
So we can arbitrarily decide who is worth our neighbourly love and still be good Christians and compassionate conservatives. Jolly good show, chaps, carry on.
posted by Jakey at 5:45 AM on November 23, 2012 [12 favorites]
The "new attitude" article is also a dog whistle in itself, as it appears to quote a compassionate Maggie:
In our generation, the only way we can ensure that no-one is left without sustenance, help or opportunity, is to have laws to provide for health and education, pensions for the elderly, succour for the sick and disabled.
Of course, the point of the reference to Maggie is to recall the real meaning of what she says. From the self-same speech:
I confess that I always had difficulty with interpreting the Biblical precept to love our neighbours "as ourselves" until I read some of the words of C.S. Lewis. He pointed out that we don't exactly love ourselves when we fall below the standards and beliefs we have accepted. Indeed we might even hate ourselves for some unworthy deed.
So we can arbitrarily decide who is worth our neighbourly love and still be good Christians and compassionate conservatives. Jolly good show, chaps, carry on.
posted by Jakey at 5:45 AM on November 23, 2012 [12 favorites]
I read Conhome almost everyday, for the sake of learning how others see the country's politics. Mostly I disagree with what is said, but sometimes there is something smart and worthy. I never venture into this section though, so I will be sure to give them a read tonight on the recommendation. Thank you.
posted by Jehan at 5:48 AM on November 23, 2012
posted by Jehan at 5:48 AM on November 23, 2012
From 2:
"Blue Collar Tories John Stevenson MP: What, he asks, is the Tory pitch to the working class today? "Cuts in corporate tax, higher rate tax, and public spending are all very well (and all very necessary)", he says but they're not enough....
Wow, this shows how out of touch they are, cuts in corporate and high rate tax, and public spending are necessary? Really? This so helps the working class.
Further to my blog of yesterday I readily concede I'm stumbling around in the dark on these questions. I have some evidence but not much polling. I think I know enough to say that high energy prices, wage stagnation and the level of taxation are top worries for blue collar workers but perhaps the bigger concerns are the cost of childcare (probably not a big issue in 1979), under-performing local schools or even Britain's place in Europe? But I simply can't be sure.
Stumbling around? Yeah, I'm not surprised seeing as it was written by Tim fucking Montgomerie.
Stumbling around? They don't even fucking know what concerns the working class have, and they simply do not care. Tax-credit reductions, wage stagnation, base tax rate doubled and prices shooting up. He is right about Energy companies Profiteering, shops ramming up prices, and taxation, but seeing as it is their rich friends who run these companies and make mony out of them nothing will get done, despite recent government promises. And he doesn't even mention education and the health service being dismantled and sold off.
posted by marienbad at 5:48 AM on November 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
"Blue Collar Tories John Stevenson MP: What, he asks, is the Tory pitch to the working class today? "Cuts in corporate tax, higher rate tax, and public spending are all very well (and all very necessary)", he says but they're not enough....
Wow, this shows how out of touch they are, cuts in corporate and high rate tax, and public spending are necessary? Really? This so helps the working class.
Further to my blog of yesterday I readily concede I'm stumbling around in the dark on these questions. I have some evidence but not much polling. I think I know enough to say that high energy prices, wage stagnation and the level of taxation are top worries for blue collar workers but perhaps the bigger concerns are the cost of childcare (probably not a big issue in 1979), under-performing local schools or even Britain's place in Europe? But I simply can't be sure.
Stumbling around? Yeah, I'm not surprised seeing as it was written by Tim fucking Montgomerie.
Stumbling around? They don't even fucking know what concerns the working class have, and they simply do not care. Tax-credit reductions, wage stagnation, base tax rate doubled and prices shooting up. He is right about Energy companies Profiteering, shops ramming up prices, and taxation, but seeing as it is their rich friends who run these companies and make mony out of them nothing will get done, despite recent government promises. And he doesn't even mention education and the health service being dismantled and sold off.
posted by marienbad at 5:48 AM on November 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also Jobs? where are they? With all the cuts, we were told that the private sector would take up the slack and create jobs, the job creators were given a tax cut, corporation tax was lowered and still unemployment is (officially!) around 2.5 million. Lies, lies lies from Posh scum that hate the poor.
posted by marienbad at 5:51 AM on November 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by marienbad at 5:51 AM on November 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Tax cuts never produce any meaningful number of jobs unless the taxes are so high as to be absolutely prohibitive of business. cf, 'Graft'
posted by BillW at 6:53 AM on November 23, 2012
posted by BillW at 6:53 AM on November 23, 2012
Same old, same old: how to con the way to power for power's sake.
The extrapolation from now to 2064 in a climate change vacuum was concerning. No real need to worry about that massive projected 2064 age pension burden. The seniors will be well perished. There's always that.
Nor was there any mention of foreign policy or foreign investment or bilateral, multilateral or global trade agreement plans or philosophy ... no sophisticated recovery plan for the UK in a global economy at all, just a plan to win a majority to rule unimpeded by a coalition.
Totally archaic and uninspiring. Why bother?
posted by de at 7:00 AM on November 23, 2012
The extrapolation from now to 2064 in a climate change vacuum was concerning. No real need to worry about that massive projected 2064 age pension burden. The seniors will be well perished. There's always that.
Nor was there any mention of foreign policy or foreign investment or bilateral, multilateral or global trade agreement plans or philosophy ... no sophisticated recovery plan for the UK in a global economy at all, just a plan to win a majority to rule unimpeded by a coalition.
Totally archaic and uninspiring. Why bother?
posted by de at 7:00 AM on November 23, 2012
Hey, the pension problem will be solved by the climate problem, don't sweat it!
Pun intended
posted by Mister_A at 7:03 AM on November 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Pun intended
posted by Mister_A at 7:03 AM on November 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
To be fair, the article on spending cuts does point out the pension problem, and proposes raising the pension age as a possible solution. (I would tend to agree with this point myself). However, all of the sub-articles that supposedly deal with detailed budgetary proposals completely ignore this in favour of the usual foreign aid/housing benefit/human-rights-act/EU budget hobby horses.
I also note that many of the proposed solutions involve privatising provisions rather than abolishing them. There are not even the usual implications that these private solutions will be more efficient - it's just a case of moving them off of the government budget. You and I are still going to have to pay for them. As has been pointed out by others before, the austerians are exploiting an issue of the balance between taxation/expenditure to pursue a small-government agenda.
posted by Jakey at 7:27 AM on November 23, 2012
I also note that many of the proposed solutions involve privatising provisions rather than abolishing them. There are not even the usual implications that these private solutions will be more efficient - it's just a case of moving them off of the government budget. You and I are still going to have to pay for them. As has been pointed out by others before, the austerians are exploiting an issue of the balance between taxation/expenditure to pursue a small-government agenda.
posted by Jakey at 7:27 AM on November 23, 2012
In order for the Cons to get a majority they need to address the Lib Dems scuppering the redrawing of the constituency boundaries in the Tory's favour, the haemorrhaging of votes from Lib Dem to Labour tipping the balance in a lot of Tory/Labour marginals and UKIP increasingly chipping away from the other side of the political spectrum.
Their new politcal guru Lynton Crosby is going to have to do a lot better than the 'Are you thinking what we're thinking?' slogan he came up with last time.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:37 AM on November 23, 2012
Their new politcal guru Lynton Crosby is going to have to do a lot better than the 'Are you thinking what we're thinking?' slogan he came up with last time.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:37 AM on November 23, 2012
/Wonders vaguely what they will be like without the Lib Dems as human shields.
posted by Artw at 7:50 AM on November 23, 2012
posted by Artw at 7:50 AM on November 23, 2012
/Wonders vaguely what they will be like without the Lib Dems as human shields.
You've seen the end of Inglorious Basterds?
posted by fullerine at 9:17 AM on November 23, 2012
You've seen the end of Inglorious Basterds?
posted by fullerine at 9:17 AM on November 23, 2012
They're going to carve a swastika into Cameron's forehead and let him retire to New England?
I have to say, I wouldn't be surprised.
posted by Grangousier at 9:22 AM on November 24, 2012
I have to say, I wouldn't be surprised.
posted by Grangousier at 9:22 AM on November 24, 2012
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Cheers.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 4:11 AM on November 23, 2012