Iain Murray notes a Telegraph poll from yesterday. As it points out….
Contradicting the hoary old myth that young people are invariably radical, the above-average swing in the 18-34 age group is not in Labour’s favour but the Tories’.
Without wanting to put a dampener on Conservative Central Office’s new found optimism, there’s an obvious explanation for this isn’t there? Your average 25 year old doesn’t remember Thatcher. If they want to rebel against authority in an election, who have they got? Some smirky guy with big ears and a permasmile. Myself, I’m old enough to personally remember the miner’s strike, the Poll tax, the young Conservative meeting where certain delegates wore “Hang Nelson Mandela” t-shirts.
The winter of discontent, on the other hand, I had to read about in history books. I had no real recollection of what living under a Labour government was like. So during my rebellious phase it was the MP for Finchley I despised (although I’m sure the other side could have done a bit better than a guy in a donkey jacket). Despite everything that I may think about politics now, a large part of my brain still automatically finds the idea of voting Conservative just a liitle bit wrong (and this is before we start taking supporting ID cards and Michael Howard into account). As for my friends in the okay, 30-45 age bracket, even mentioning the idea of maybe, possibly considering not voting Labour is enough to get me embarrassed, pitying looks.
But for those radical 18-34 year olds that Iain and the Telegraph talk about, the establishment that they feel the need to rebel against - well, it’s moved on, hasn’t it? Not sure if it’s enough for the Tories to actually win the election through the “youth protest vote” though…. Blue wedge anyone?
German Word For Today: “Wahlergebnis” - Election result
Song playing as this was published: D-Ream “Things Can Only Get Better”
Umpteen drafts later, and I realise commenting on politics is hard. Especially when trying to keep to it brief.
So from the viewpoint of a not very average, not quite 25 year old:
Thatcher: The past. People older than me say she’s purest evil. They never quite explain why. I was too busy crashing into gooseberry bushes to notice why.
Pre-Thatcher: The past (now with added nostalgia).
Labour then: Hopeless but honest.
Now:
New Labour: Less than honest. Fulfilling the government traditions of folly and hypocrisy.
Conservatives: Have successfully weeded out their tolerable governing branch.
Lib Dems: Um…
Greens: Science is bad. We are good. Peace. People. Planet. Pointless.
The Monster Raving Loony Party (founded by Kilroy Silk): Not today thank you
Which means it’s the Lib Dems with Er…I don’t really agree with some of it, but it can’t do any harm.
Hmm, run that democracy idea past me once again will you?
A brief attempt to help Anyhoo, if I may:
Thatcher favoured Reagan’s ‘trickle down’ effect: make life comfortable for the rich, and their wealth will naturally trickle down the economic scale. She even spent money from North Sea oil and gas to provide the rich with tax breaks. Somehow she helped kill British manufacturing, though - not all her own fault - and the rich spent their money on Japanese products, for instance. Thus, the rich did very well out of her, and they got richer, whereas the poor got poorer, and they had lost much of their voice, as Thatcher had crushed the unions (which needed to be done to an extent, I suppose, but not as viciously as she did it). She did not appear to address the issue of the gulf between the rich and the poor: her trickle down idea had not worked, unemployment veered skywards, and the Tories abused the country’s economy by attempting to use it as a political tool (’boom and bust’…). Norway, on the other hand, spent its money from oil and gas to improve its transport infrastructure: they built bridges and tunnels that would benefit the whole country, and freed money for other routine governmental purposes. The last thing about Thatcher was that she was, in many people’s opinion (including my own), heartless and ruthless.
One of the best things that New Labour did was to hand over control of interest rates to the Bank of England, removing the temptation for the government of the day to use them as a political tool. They did lots of other things that also benefited the many, while keeping the City happy. But perhaps there comes a time when trying to please everyone becomes too much, and your leader hurts his own image by having possibly misled (= ‘lied’, allegedly) the people about the reasons for going to war. Who knows what will happen now…
In other times, with my background, education and, let’s face it, salary, I would be the archetypal Conservative voter. As David says, the unions did need “a bit of a sorting out” and I’m a strong believer in low taxes and that free-market economy thing. But every time I come to vote and see the “c word” next to one of the candidates’ names I just think of those smarmy characters when they were last in power. There’s a whole generation of people out there for whom voting conservative has become something one doesn’t even consider doing. Not out of a rational choice of what their policies are now, but because of that woman… And yes, I know there’s plenty of folk who consider her the best thing that happened to Britain in the last 60 years….
David: I’d somehow missed the oil money into tax breaks bit. I’ll cede that it wasn’t really the wisest idea.
af: Oh, well if you’re being irrational that’s ok then.
Sorry for the general crapness of yesterday’s comment.
Forgot to mention Thatcher’s other ‘great’ legacy: nationalising everything. The next generation down probably don’t realise that we used to have one (1) of lots of companies: one phone company, water board, electricity, gas, rail… Those who already knew about stocks and shares did very well; those who were laid off with the changes, didn’t. Well, I think New Labour supports the competitiveness (whereas old Labour wanted to re-nationalise the railways). Well, there are pros and cons with nationalised industries vs the free market. Thatcher was called the Iron Lady due to her steadfastness - she and her slimy toerags drove their policies forward in the knowledge that that allowed enough to ‘trickle down’ to create the new Tory-voting Essex Man, who would keep them in power. But in the end, a Tory government is not about social justice - hence their often racist, sexist, anti-youth-culture and homophobic legislation (Criminal Justice Act, anyone? Clause 28?). They might claim to be in favour of opportunity for all, but what they mean is that they have nothing against it if people stamp on other people’s heads on the way up. The Tories will never try to create properly equal opportunity in schools, for instance. OK, I’m off!
Now would probably be a good time to say I wasn’t being entirely serious.
However, I don’t think I’ve ever said the Tories were my favourite people. The only ones I’ve comparatively liked are the ones the Tories themselves dislike.
But then I’ve never quite been able to figure out where social liberalism and economic liberalism meet, so I can’t really expect any politician to match my disjointed views.
All this because Blogger hasn’t been letting me post (or even let me in recently).
Anyhoo: “I’ve never quite been able to figure out where social liberalism and economic liberalism meet, so I can’t really expect any politician to match my disjointed views.”
That’s what makes choosing someone to vote for so tricky, isn’ it? I think I just wanted to point out in the post that my prejudices about Thatcher being “pure evil”, as your slightly older friends would say, do still colour my opinions (and those of many of my generation) 15 years later……
Err Okaaay,
Side-stepping the above, Julie Burchill has a great take on the blessed Mrs T in today’s Times.
Where social liberalism and economics liberalism meet? That’s called libertarianism. As a precious 18-34 year old, I will tell you why the swing is to the Tories: because right wing young people are all 35 in their heads and their hearts, even if they still have a squeaky voice and bumfluff instead of stubble. Old people vote. Young people don’t. Tories are all old people, regardless of age. Myself included. I don’t even have bumfluff, but that’s cause I’m a girl.