Another non-electoral milestone
Peter Hoskin 1:48pm
A leader in today's Guardian is another entry for the Cameroons' list of non-electoral milestones. Entitled "Progress in Blue", its case seems to be that the Tories are pushing the kind of progressive agenda that Guardian readers should consider voting for. Here's the nub of it:
"There have been moments in the postwar history of Britain when people who would naturally be inclined to vote Labour have been driven to ask themselves whether the return of a Conservative government would be the worst possible outcome for the country or for the general cause of progress? For those in Britain who think of themselves as progressives, the answer has usually been an unhesitating yes. Nevertheless there is a reasonable and sober body of historical work which reaches the judgment that there have, indeed, been times when Labour has deserved to lose.We may be approaching another moment for difficult questions. As this week's Guardian series on the Conservative party, three years after David Cameron became its leader, has shown, Conservatives are once again making a pitch for the progressive vote..."
I'm sure Team Cameron will be delighted with the notice. If nothing else, it suggests that they appeal to a wide coalition of voters. But - as Mike Smithson points out over at Political Betting - not every Tory will share in that delight. There are those for whom anything like a Guardian endorsement is anathema. And whilst today's editorial most likely won't provoke them into action, it will certainly cause them to view the party leadership with even more suspicion.
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Wily Trout
September 10th, 2008 3:56pm Report this commentPerhaps the Guardian have cottoned on to what John de Finchley mentions two blogs down - that their public employee recruitment pages are going to need a customer if Labour lose.
ACT
September 10th, 2008 4:11pm Report this comment"The Tory Party: fit for Guardian editorialists". Well done Dave. Achieved at no cost whatsoever, eh?
Nicholas
September 10th, 2008 10:11pm Report this commentProgressive? To me it's a dirty word. Why? Because it means the progress of the Left in trashing what was good about the old together with what was bad and replacing it all with crap that doesn't work at all.
I'm surprised that the Conservatives are buying into and peddling this BS. Don't they believe in conservatism any more?
Nick Kaplan
September 11th, 2008 1:43pm Report this commentI’m a Progressive!
I just believe in a different progress to the left. For me progress is about actually helping the poor to help themselves (e.g. with grammar schools, assisted place schemes and school vouchers) instead of whacking the rich to pay for the votes of the poor. Progress is about advocating Capitalism, the only system to have done anything to end poverty and satisfy the needs of man without the use of coercion and mass murder. It is recognising that wealth creation and rising living standards for all even if at varying speeds is a worthy aim then equality which is code for levelling down and envy. Progress is opening up trade to poor countries that need investment most, instead of protecting the jobs of (and votes of) people in declining industries at home, whilst spreading the lie that aid rather than Capitalism can cure poverty. Progress is about widening liberty by reducing the intrusion of the state. It’s about giving people responsibility over their actions instead of keeping them in a state of perpetual childhood by endless (and expensive) nannying. It involves allowing individuals to keep more of the money they earn to buy the things they need, instead of pursuing grand schemes that only a tiny elite in government bureaucracies and the media can see any value in e.g. subsidising the arts. It involves supporting the right to life and actually trying to determine, on a philosophical level what constitutes a life, rather than banally asserting that progress is about women’s right to choose, even if that choice is to kill a baby. Progress is about reducing crime whilst guaranteeing rights of the accused (but not proven guilty) instead of protecting the rights of the criminal and treating the whole of society as villains (monitoring them with ID cards). Progress requires free and open discussion and sensible debate rather than hysterical accusations that all those who disagree are closet racists or misogynists. Finally and most importantly it is the recognition and celebration of the fact that the culture which has best promoted all these “progressive values” is western enlightenment culture (which is enshrined in the American constitution) rather than asserting that all cultures are of equal worth, for fear of offending those who believe nonsense like ‘Women are second class citizens.”
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