But well done that man. Watching David Cameron speaking before 10 Downing Street, I realised what a long way has been travelled since 2005. For a long time I didn’t think it could be done. Of course, I’m talking about myself, and my achievement of being able to look upon another Tory prime minister without [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Conservatives’
11 May
Answering the question of @samfr: how long can this go on before it’s a bad idea?
Some of you may have heard of Sam Freedman, an excellent chap behind interesting Conservative ideas on education, and top Twitterer . He has asked me and another defender of interparty horsetrading “how long would this have to go for before you decided it wasn’t a good idea?” Well, let’s distinguish a few things: What [...]
10 May
Wanted: a good demonstration of how these things can work out well
There are plenty of places you can go if you want to read about how any deal between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats would ‘kill the Lib Dem vote’ (Phillipe Sands), cause it to be ‘swallowed’ by the Tories (in a more thoughtful piece by Anne Perkins) or could invite a mass-migration of Lib [...]
8 May
Oh, how existential risks focus the mind
At several points in the last few months it has seemed ‘obvious’ to armchair politicians like me that, post election: Labour would indulge in lunatic blood-letting; lose the mantle of CentreLeft-ness to the Lib Dems; do something daft like elect Ismizing Cruddas or not-awfully-popular Balls as leader and that, from a Lib Dem perspective it [...]
8 May
I used to be furious at the voting system; now I’m a bit scared of it
I mean, check out the actual results. Conservatives: increased vote share by about 12% of their previous total (32.2-> 36). Increased seats by over 45% (from 209 to 306). Labour: reduced vote share by about 17% of their previous total, lost 25% of their seats. Liberal Democrats: increased their vote share by 4-5% of previous [...]
5 May
Several more reasons that I am voting LibDem
Let’s cut to the chase Economics No doubt Gordon Brown feels aggreived – he did the right things over the financial crisis, and was right in allowing the deficit to rise to accommodate private sector dissaving. LeftOutside has a collection of quotes from leading US economists wondering aloud about why we would ditch a premier, [...]
5 May
Liberalism is about dissolving power
Reason number two for my support of the Lib Dems is their abiding concern with concentrated power. In Vince’s policies it is about dissolving the power of banks and other monopolies. In education it is about moving power down to where headteachers and local authorities can make decisions. In electoral reform it is about ensuring [...]
1 May
The Keynesian moment cannot last forever
I was thinking about this when skimming through the Times’ endorsement for Cameron. Its basic premise is similar to that of the Economist (see last post): reform of an overmighty and just-too-large State is the essential challenge of the era, and the Conservatives are best for this: Amid the sound and fury, a fundamental philosophical [...]
30 Apr
Two contrasting endorsements
You’ll know this – the Economist has backed David Cameron, though in a surprisingly reticent way: I can’t remember their New Labour endorsements being so coy as to leave a picture of an invisible man on the front cover. For the first time I can recall, the Economist is forced to explain why they are [...]
28 Apr
#bigotgate distracts from important message: IFS very +ve for LibDems
Prior to #bigotgate, I had hoped that the world would tune in, agog, to my take on the IFS’s take on the fiscal situation. Fat chance now. (I think the best observation comes from my favourite tweeter.) Anyway, back to business. You will have read commentary such as this from the Guardian which tends to [...]
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