[quidnunc]

Here's Mark Steyn has to say in the February 14, 2005 print edition of National Review on the subject of British politics:

If I lived in Britain, I’d vote for Tony Blair’s Labour party. Yes, yes, I know he’s a nanny-state control-freak and you can hardly pull your pants on in the morning without filling in the form for the Public Trouser Usage Permit and undergoing inspection from the Gusset Regulatory Authority. But on the One Big Thing — the great issue of the age — he’s right, and he’s reliable. And, sad to say, the British Conservative party isn’t. Their leader, Michael Howard, has been a cheesy opportunist on the war, supporting it at the time, backtracking later, his constantly evolving position twisting itself into a knot of contortions even John Kerry might find over-nuanced. Most other Tory heavyweights — ex-Thatcher cabinet ministers like Lord Hurd and Sir Malcolm Rifkind — are more straightforward: They’re agin the war. They’d have no time for his frightful American clothes or his ghastly hamburger diet, but, social distaste aside, they’re Michael Moore Conservatives.

[Holden Magroin]

What has happened to the English? They used to be so militaristic and religious. Now they're a bunch of wusses.

[ijcr]

I cannot understand it,the conservatives have so many issues to hit Labour with, yet they seem to be on the left of every issue.

Howard is a failure and the bench is empty.

[Restorer]

He still has some way to go before he overtakes the 11 years and 209 days which Margaret Thatcher held sway as Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

Not to mention the 21 years Robert Walpole served. But I guess it's expecting too much for a reporter to be aware of anything that happened before the 20th century.

[ScaniaBoy]

First time ever that I'm disagreeing with Mark Steyn.

Yes, Blair is fighting the WOT but he is also handing away the British independence to the EU - and then the UK will have to toe the policy line of the EU, which is almost as much against the WOT as Saddam Hussein was.

True the British will vote in a referendum regarding the EU constitution, and will probably reject it. However, a third term Labour government will still be able to override the voice of the people and tie the UK yet firmer to the EUSSR.

For that reason I hope the the Conservatives win in May. Hopefully, the right thinking tories such as Redwood, Cash, Hannan can gain enough influence to keep Howard in line.

[Soul Seeker]

Steyn and I would then be in agreement about Blair.

[Busted]

As usual this American writer only likes Blair because of his support for the war.

Nothing else matters does it.

[hosepipe]

Canada, Britain and URP are all democracys..
Which is MOB RULE.. The largest mob or consortium of mobs rule..
Very primitive governmental structure..

Democracy is a social disease and socialism is a symptom of it.. As Marx and Lenin said, democracy is pre-requisite to socialism.. They were correct.. No democracy ever exsisted that was not a socialist system.. ever..

Iraq is becoming a democracy.. Better they would form states and become a republic.. Even though a Banana republic (which is really a democracy) is not an advance. A real republic would be a better gov't for Iraq.. also for Britain, Germany and France too..

Socialism does not allow competeing parties well.. for good reason.. Socialism sucks..

______________________________________________________
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.~Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Democracy is the road to socialism. Karl Marx

Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. V.I. Lenin

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.- Karl Marx

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams (1814)