Government is directed towards invented fears, keeping us safe in protected boxes where dangerous pleasures aren't allowed and a gentle state coddles us from cradle to grave.
I mostly agree with this, although I imagine we would disagree re immigration and the desired openness of borders. I tend to think liberalism can only work if we don’t allow in massive numbers of people who hate the notion of it, hate our culture, and are happy to take advantage of our liberalism in very unpleasant ways.
But yes, there is no proper liberal option. The Tories have gone full nanny state. And the libdems are nuts. The less said about Labour right now, the better.
Amen to all that. I graduated in the mid 80s at a point of political optimism as the Thatcher revolution became embedded and its transformative effects became evident. I now find myself retiring in despair that we have somehow trashed all that was gained with such effort. How did it all go wrong? The devilish Blair who took office pretending to be a softer version of what he inherited but essentially retaining it while gradually and surreptitiously embarking on a programme to transform the country into a foreign place must take most of the blame. His genius was such that he perpetuated his legacy through his outsourcing of much government into self perpetuating quangos built and managed in his image and persuading the Conservative Party that it had to accept and continue the his legacy. But whereas Blair took the opportunity to pretend but then switch, Cameron and his successors appear to have bought the legacy wholesale and been determined to embed it further even when post 2019 they finally had the parliamentary majority to kick back.
My children have now graduated into the new pessimism. I can only hope that the cycle eventually turns again so that they at least retire into a new liberal optimism but I can’t see at the moment what would catalyse that change. Bad times indeed.
“How anyone can look at the last 250 years of tworld history and fail to recognise that liberal economics was - still is - the most effective means to get economic growth...”
Sensible proposals for a happier Britain. Why protect what remains of our farming and steel industries? Conservatism of place means letting all that go to the wall and propping the economy up by further unmooring football clubs from their own fans. Any that can't attract rich foreigners who'll throw cash at them to willywave deserve to go to the wall, I say!
After all, how else will we generate enough nominal wealth and spare land to build not enough homes for 10 million immigrants/year, rather than the current paltry not enough for 1 million immigrants/year?
I mostly agree with this, although I imagine we would disagree re immigration and the desired openness of borders. I tend to think liberalism can only work if we don’t allow in massive numbers of people who hate the notion of it, hate our culture, and are happy to take advantage of our liberalism in very unpleasant ways.
But yes, there is no proper liberal option. The Tories have gone full nanny state. And the libdems are nuts. The less said about Labour right now, the better.
Amen to all that. I graduated in the mid 80s at a point of political optimism as the Thatcher revolution became embedded and its transformative effects became evident. I now find myself retiring in despair that we have somehow trashed all that was gained with such effort. How did it all go wrong? The devilish Blair who took office pretending to be a softer version of what he inherited but essentially retaining it while gradually and surreptitiously embarking on a programme to transform the country into a foreign place must take most of the blame. His genius was such that he perpetuated his legacy through his outsourcing of much government into self perpetuating quangos built and managed in his image and persuading the Conservative Party that it had to accept and continue the his legacy. But whereas Blair took the opportunity to pretend but then switch, Cameron and his successors appear to have bought the legacy wholesale and been determined to embed it further even when post 2019 they finally had the parliamentary majority to kick back.
My children have now graduated into the new pessimism. I can only hope that the cycle eventually turns again so that they at least retire into a new liberal optimism but I can’t see at the moment what would catalyse that change. Bad times indeed.
Edit needed:
“How anyone can look at the last 250 years of tworld history and fail to recognise that liberal economics was - still is - the most effective means to get economic growth...”
Sensible proposals for a happier Britain. Why protect what remains of our farming and steel industries? Conservatism of place means letting all that go to the wall and propping the economy up by further unmooring football clubs from their own fans. Any that can't attract rich foreigners who'll throw cash at them to willywave deserve to go to the wall, I say!
After all, how else will we generate enough nominal wealth and spare land to build not enough homes for 10 million immigrants/year, rather than the current paltry not enough for 1 million immigrants/year?