Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric
I don't consider myself all that well informed about "New Labour"; but it does seem as if it was a necessary mutation. That is, if one accepts the argument that the working class that existed when I was young (imagine a Bush tv, with a black and white 12" screen, and the whole thing bigger than my Cadillac, and you will get an idea of how long ago that it  ) is no longer there. Perhaps there is an argument that this "progress" was necessary; or that Thatcher deliberately set out to destroy the working class. But in the absence of a true socialist party, where do people who believe in the right of the little guy to have a fair share of the wealth go?
Apart from the fact that they are not given to kissing American ass, our Liberal Party seems a lot like new Labour. It is a party which sits in the centre, but which also favours programs which benefit "average" Canadians. Canadian voters got real po'd at the Libs over a few scandals, but not enough to trust the tories with a majority government.
Still think, tho' it's none of my business, that a Conservative minority would be a good result for Britain in a General Election ... as long as the BNP don't hold the balance of power, which I think is unlikely this time. |
You are of course right.
Old Labour were unelectable, and reformed under Blair, and became a centralist party. A fact which is illustrated by the number of international squillionaires who've relocated to Britain in the last twelve years. The super rich didn't leave Britain, which they did when Labour governments still held socialist principles, instead they came here in their droves.
The 'hug a hoodie' Conservatives have similarly reformed, in order to appeal to the electorate.
Both major parties have come so far to the centre there's really very little difference between them, other than one party seems jaded, and full of the arrogance that comes from having formed the last four governments, whilst the other seems fresh and untested, just as New Labour did in 1997.
You can't imagine Eden or Macmillan's wife having a tattooed ankle, unlike the present Conservative Lite leader's.
How times have changed.
An inked up Tory leader's wife, and a 'socialist' former Prime Minister who's made a £13 million pound fortune since leaving office two years ago.