British Right-Wing Pundits

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outsourcing prisons to eastern european countries in the EC - who will be the first New Labour or Tories?

― djmartian, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Send 'em all to Botany Bay.

I think for historical reasons the U.S. has this strong libertarian streak (ie right to bear arms etc.) coupled with a strong religious/puritan streak. Put the two together and they coelesce into a very strong, very dynamic right-wing culture that simply doesn't exist in the UK. And that's why rightwing pundits don't have so much sway. I mean David Cameron would be quite a bit to the left of most Democrat candidates.

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:27 (seventeen years ago) link

I mean David Cameron would be quite a bit to the left of most Democrat candidates.

Not where it matters he isn't

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Rightwing pundits have an absolute fuckload of sway, party politics is an irrelevence here. Ask White Van Man what he thinks about asylum seekers.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

I would say that liberalism was progressive not left- wing per say. And whether or not you think 'welfare capitalism' is of the left or not, the centre is to the right of even that now.

― Ed, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost to Tom D.

Where it matters? Well for a start I'm guessing Cameron's not going to dismantle the NHS in any fundamental way. Can you imagine a serious Democrat candidate proposing universal, free-at-the-point-of-service healthcare?

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

british reactionary right is xenophobic and defensive rather than on constant attack like the americans?

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Where it matters? Well for a start I'm guessing Cameron's not going to dismantle the NHS in any fundamental way. Can you imagine a serious Democrat candidate proposing universal, free-at-the-point-of-service healthcare?

We'll see how good that guess is when he wins the next election. Cameron isn't proposing universal, free-at-the-point-of-service healthcare either, we've already got it. Cameron is only "radical" when it comes to wearing a wind turbine on your head or cycling backwards on a bicycle made entirely of radishes

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:35 (seventeen years ago) link

You sure you're not mixing up David Cameron with John Otway?

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link

And Wild Willie Whitelaw?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link

upthread are you dudes talking economic or social liberalism? or both?

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link

both

― Ed, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:42 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost

Sure, Cameron didn't come up with free healthcare! But the political climate is such that he'd have a hard time getting rid of it. Which underlines my point about the political background being skewed more leftwards in the UK, despite years of Thatcher/Blair.

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:43 (seventeen years ago) link

"Cameron isn't proposing universal, free-at-the-point-of-service healthcare either, we've already got it."

well except for things involving teeth or eyes, ie the only two things i ever go in for...

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:44 (seventeen years ago) link

just going to say

― Alan, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link

We'll see how hard a time he has getting rid of it, it'll be less hard than you think once he persuades the middle classes it's in their interest (xxpost)

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, I think if it were politically possible to get rid of the NHS, it would have already been done. Anyway, doesn't Cameron have a disabled kid or something. He probably uses the NHS more than the average Tory.

― underpants of the gods, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:49 (seventeen years ago) link

They are getting rid of it already, piece by piece

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:49 (seventeen years ago) link

um guys the nhs is already on the way out...

xpost!

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:50 (seventeen years ago) link

BUT immigration is the no 1 concern of uk voters! apprently. maybe my first hypothesis was v v wrong.

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Not according to the most recent polls.

― Ed, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Being tough on immigration didn't do Michael Howard much good last time round did it?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link

... and wasn't Cameron one of those responsible for that policy?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:25 (seventeen years ago) link

parties don't campaign on 'number one concern of voters' in general but the voters who will swing the election, ie middle england blah blah blah.

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Middle england (according to the polls) cares about health and house prices.

― Ed, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:30 (seventeen years ago) link

healthy ~~and~~ house prices

fixed

― onimo, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:31 (seventeen years ago) link

what on earth could their problem be with house prices!? they are winning that war. it would be interesting to know the nature of middle england's concern w. health -- taking my parents as barometer of same, their problem isn't exactly lack of service but quality of it: hospital bugs etc. a move by the tories towards increased private provision probably wouldn't phase them too much.

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link

their kids getting on the property ladder?

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Having to live near poor people?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:52 (seventeen years ago) link

are the right wing pundits repping for "middle england" thou? as dom points out Littlejohn is, or at least was, the voice of white van man. all the big scares of recent years have focused on working class fears as much as middle england haven't they?

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:02 (seventeen years ago) link

the fact that homeowners who actually rent their houses from the bank think theyre rich overnight and are spending the paper money they dont have?

― 600, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Ha ha, who cares about "working class fears"?

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Difference between white working class fears of immigration and middle England fears of immigration? Straightforward difference of economics vs culture?

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:08 (seventeen years ago) link

also theres a sense that rightwing british pundits dont really believe that much in what they right, so it all comes off a bit geezer down the pub, who says one thing one minute and another the next

― 600, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:08 (seventeen years ago) link

a decent education system in this country might mean people writing right instead of righting write

― 600, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:09 (seventeen years ago) link

If nothing else, the French election campaign makes me feel nostalgic for the days when one party stood for something and another party stood for something else, clearcut with no ambiguity and no chasing after the same limited and overrated floating electorate.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:09 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.gosh.org/news/celebrity/comedians/images/al_murray_lrg.jpg

― never acid again, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

perhaps with a decent university system that keeps the poor out, some of them may even write correctly

― 600, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

"the fact that homeowners who actually rent their houses from the bank think theyre rich overnight and are spending the paper money they dont have?

-- 600, Tuesday, April 24, 2007 6:05 PM (4 minutes ago)"

lol 8080

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link

There are a lot of rent-a-rightie types on the op ed pages of the Times who you know cynically knock out 500 words of half-hearted spleen on the turn of a dime and really don't give a toss one way or the other - stand up Stephen Pollard, Ross Clark, Mick Hume and Rosemary Righter, which latter name could have come straight out of Kingsley Amis.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link

oh i think mick hume cares a lot. he's sinister fucker with a scary team.

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Since when was Mick Hume on Sinister?

Still, never trust an ex-Marxist.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:23 (seventeen years ago) link

i think saying they don't actually believe what they're saying is a bit dangerous. cf that thread about melanie phillips and the missing WMDs.

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I've said this before elsewhere on ILE, but Peter Cook used to write a fervently right-wing column for the Daily Mail in '76-8. He said he didn't agree with a word of it but he thought that was the kind of writing the editor of the Daily Mail wanted, and it paid good money. Most notoriously, he gave a scathing denouncement of punk rock which he'd written with Malcolm McLaren the night before.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

what thread was that?

i know what you mean acrobat. but melanie p means every word of what she says. she is less of a menace than the others, partly because that imo. which sounds odd but basically i don't think many guardian writers are really very committed to any kind of politics, they, like their right-wing counterparts, churn out perversely 'reassuring' copy each day, confirming their readers' half-thought out prejudices. polly toynbee and jackie ashley exist solely as government mouthpieces, for example.

crosspost

the cook columns are really funny though!

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link

He also mocked the idea that Martin Luther King was a good person because he used to sleep around, some of the columns are in that "I Was Born An Only Twin" collection.

xp

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Does this guy count as a rightwing pundit? Or is he a bit too button-down for the raving loon aspect?

He's the kind who's exported to america, at least, since he's over here on a book tour.

― kingfish, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:01 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=53352#unread

this thread. i flicked through the spectator for the first time ever last week. it was really horrible.

xpost

― acrobat, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Upper class twit (xp)

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

he's crazy like a right-leaning fox.

good parody of him in last week's private eye.

xpost

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

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The BBC's decision to relentlessly platform murderous transphobes is entirely neutral and accidental, no doubt

― i love a man in a unicorn (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 8 June 2024 17:07 (one week ago) link

Helen Lewis is a sociopath.

― guillotine vogue (suzy), Saturday, 8 June 2024 17:12 (one week ago) link

The power of Christ should have compelled Brand to take an occasional shower.

― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 8 June 2024 23:46 (one week ago) link

Not British but..

I am in London for the first time in 5 years. Unrecognizable. Grotesque huge modern buildings looming over historic neighborhoods. No sign of British culture except for vestigial pubs. Huge LED screens in formerly beautiful peaceful streets. People sleeping, living on the… https://t.co/kuyVds5Nr9
— Dr Naomi Wolf (@naomirwolf) June 10, 2024

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 10:34 (six days ago) link

Don't think there was much rough sleeping in London pre-2010 but its so long ago I can't remember.

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 10:36 (six days ago) link

I've been working in London since 2021 and just in these three years there has been a very noticeable increase in rough sleeping.

― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 10:38 (six days ago) link

I moved here in 2009 and the number of visibly homeless people has skyrocketed since 2010.

― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 10:41 (six days ago) link

There are usually at least five and sometimes more than 10 homeless people on my walk from my front door to, say, Holborn tube.

― guillotine vogue (suzy), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 11:43 (six days ago) link

it was bad in the mid 90's when I lived in Woolwich. I always characterised it as a London thing, like you'd never see the same level of homelessness in Manchester or Leeds back then. Now everywhere is like London. It's so easy to become homeless these days and it's not really a complex issue: Universal Credit is a benefits system that was conceived of and designed by evil cunts.

― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 11:46 (six days ago) link

London has been a dump for years, in fact for the entire time I've lived here, but the levels of homelessness has gone through the roof. However, it's exactly the same in Glasgow which has probably never looked worse and more rundown.

― Poets Win Prizes (Tom D.), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 11:52 (six days ago) link

Lots of rough sleeping in central London in the 80s, 90s - remembering travelling to and from the suburbs into Charing Cross and seeing lots of rough sleepers under the station arches, long since cleaned up and cleared out.

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 11:57 (six days ago) link

Yeah my timelines are shot but I'm sure went way down in the noughties and then shot up again sometime after 2010 - really noticeable by 2015 at the latest.

― woof, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 12:08 (six days ago) link

Strangely occurring in tandem with Tory administrations then

― prog's nearly man (Matt #2), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 12:10 (six days ago) link

Who'd have thought it?

― Poets Win Prizes (Tom D.), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 12:20 (six days ago) link

"We tried absolutely nothing to beat fascism. Lets elect them, then they will only beat themselves."

The last best hope against populism is to expose it to government https://t.co/DylV2rLRhV
— Financial Times (@FT) June 11, 2024

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 13:40 (six days ago) link

Genius.

― ILX: a violent left-wing mob who hate our country (Tom D.), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 13:49 (six days ago) link

still calling fascism "populism" so they can continue with their horseshoe bollocks, fuck the lot of them.

― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 13:50 (six days ago) link

I frequently Deliveroo diet cokes and mini magnums to my home when the Tesco is a 30 second walk away https://t.co/OHvYBIIH9y
— Noa Hoffman (@hoffman_noa) June 12, 2024

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 15:11 (five days ago) link

Um I think he's talking to *wealth creators*

― nashwan, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 15:39 (five days ago) link

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