Red States & Blue States

 

1. Allan, that little map looks awfully familiar - sort of like another map of another recent election. Good margin too. I wonder how many conservatives will feel the need to move to....Fwance....or Bellgum....or, ummm....Canada, eh?

   -Dan D,
   Canuckistan

   Posted by Dan D       05/06/2005  at  06:53 AM  



2. If only the winner was the one who took the most square kilometers of area.  Pity.

   I am heartened by the liberal democrats’ continued marginalization as a political force in the UK, though.

   What’s green?

   Posted by ztucka       05/06/2005  at  07:42 AM  



3. Are the Liberal Democrats in any way connected with separatist sentiment in Scotland and Wales?

   Posted by Tannenberg       05/06/2005  at  07:45 AM  



4. Good new is that, by that table in the upper right hand corner, conservatives picked up more seats than the other parties.  That means, I think, that a lot of ‘Labour’ (British spelling - yuk!) voters moved to conservative.  Probably getting fed up with taxes. 

   I read something in the Weekly Standard (required reading, BTW, for anybody who likes this site) that Conservatives - Tories, as they say - were opposed to the war in Iraq.

   Posted by ztucka       05/06/2005  at  07:49 AM  



5. I think I’m going to be sick...I supported a Labor party over a Conservative party. That just doesn’t seem right.

   Posted by Don       05/06/2005  at  09:58 AM  



6. 4 - Nope, they supported the War in Iraq… they have been critical of the way the country was taken to war though. In fact, Michael Howard - the Tory leader - said he would have gone to war simply to remove Saddam irrespective of the evidence of WMD (something Blair has never said...)

   2 - Green is Plaid Cymru (the Welsh nationalist, aka seperatist, party)

   1 - I’m a Conservative and am happy to stay in New York, doing my bit from here and voting by mail, until the socialists are gone

   PS: Hope everyone reading understands that the red and blues are reversed in the UK… Red & orange being socialist and blue being Conservative…

   Posted by Grahame Curtis       05/06/2005  at  11:33 AM  



7. I appreciate the insight, Grahame.  I take it there is no official Scots nationalist/separatist party, then?

   Posted by Tannenberg       05/06/2005  at  12:14 PM  



8. Actually there is: The Scottish National Party. If you look carefully at the map, there are several lighter-yellow constituencies… these are held by SNP MPs. In total they won 6 constituencies and Plaid Cymru were decimated, losing one seat to hold just three.

   Posted by Grahame Curtis       05/06/2005  at  12:24 PM  



9. I see.  Thank you again, Grahame.  Now I have one other question.  Are the Liberal Democrats in any way descended from the old Liberal Party of a century ago?

   Posted by Tannenberg       05/06/2005  at  12:48 PM  



10. No problem. As to the LDs, they are indeed related to Lloyd George’s old party.

    In 1981 the Social-Democrat Alliance was formed as a party by “centrist"-ish left members of the Labour Party who broke off in disgust at the Looney-left in their own party, who held the party’s reins-of-power.

    The Liberal Party of the time (also btw unelectable) were a mixed bag of lefties, libertarians and weirdos. Since they couldn’t win an election alone they joined with the SDP to create the LDs.

    Although they took many disgruntled centrists from the Tory party in the 90s, their lurch further to the left, support of drug legalisation and opposition to the Iraq War has sent many of their voters back to the Tories, while attracting many on the looney-left from Labour.

    Posted by Grahame Curtis       05/06/2005  at  01:05 PM  



11. Thank you again, Grahame.

    By the way, I see that you are a new member here.  Please accept my most sincere welcome to BMEWS, and my wishes for many good times among us here.

    Kindest regards.

    

    Posted by Tannenberg       05/06/2005  at  01:19 PM  



12. Yup, Grahame and I are in the same boat (but different countries… ).

    This result was pretty much what I expected. You can’t overturn a majority of 160ish in a single election. It was always going to be a two-stage plan.

    But it’s very bad news in Northern Ireland. Sue to the IRA continuing their criminal actitivities, the voters have swung back and the moderate Protestant parties have been forced out, with their leader losing his seat.

    About the record level of bankruptcies - I’m not surprised. There has been a boom in spending over the past few years, largely financed by house price inflation and home-owners cashing in their equities. This now appears to be running out of steam and I feel that this train will hit the buffers soon. There are also thousands of small businesses who are folding, because they are simply swamped by hostile tax-hikes and all the new red tape issued by this Labour government. 

    Posted by DWMF       05/09/2005  at  04:13 AM  



13. I have a link for my Irish comment:

    http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2412405

    Posted by DWMF       05/09/2005  at  09:03 AM  

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