Well, the next leader of the conservative party will be called ‘David’ – whether that implies ‘our’ for you will depend on far too many things for a blog subject line.<\/p>\n
I’m glad Cameron is doing well. He speaks my language, and – if I were a member of the conservative party – I’m sure I’d vote for him rather than Davis. I’d have preferred to see a Cameron – Fox fight though, would have been a choice between two positives. Davis is just IDS with a sten gun (or SA80, whatever they have these days).<\/p>\n
Interesting set of articles at the Guardian which Cameron wrote when he was just becoming an MP. See this one<\/a> in particular – great quote, “if you cannot control the agenda in a leadership campaign, what chance have do you have when it comes to the real thing?”<\/p>\n My political affiliations have wandered during my lifetime. Grew up as a card carrying conservative – even ran in a mock election at my school in 1987 wearing a blue ‘I love Maggie’ rosette – but then went deeply green, and briefly became a member of the Liberal Democrats. My politics now are a deep turquoise – I don’t like the state, hate it in fact, but the green agenda requires a certain amount of state action. And I am convinced that the denudation of social capital requires a response, reaffirming much of the ‘traditionalist’ agenda – but nothing like what ‘Conservatism’ in the UK has looked like for the past twenty years. I like reading Peter Hitchens and Melanie Phillips, but I also like Timothy Garton Ash whose book ‘Free World’ I thought was excellent. I also like Noam Chomsky and I’m a ZNet (paid up) supporter…. In the US I’d definitely be a Republican, but I think the ‘Religious Right’ are neither. I don’t put much faith in any political platform – bit of an end to independent thought if you have to sign up to a party slate – which is why my initial ambition of becoming a politician was doomed to fail – I like nuance just a little too much to be a politician. But I remain fascinated with power and it’s working out.<\/p>\n And I shocked a friend the other night by saying that the English will never vote for Gordon Brown, simply because he is Scottish…..<\/p>\n Oh yes. I’d love to see a Giuliani v Clinton fight in 08. I’d vote for Rudi, but it would clarify a few things. Rudi has proved himself. Hillary? Yeah, right, uh huh.<\/p>\n Is it possible to be a libertarian traditionalist? (Only in the Anglosphere…..)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, the next leader of the conservative party will be called ‘David’ – whether that implies ‘our’ for you will depend on far too many things for a blog subject line. I’m glad Cameron is doing well. He speaks my … Continue reading