Exactly! I hope he corrects it in the end.

As for Dem Labour, I know what you mean and I would have counted him as a glorified independent if it wasn't for the fact that Democratic Labour did play a pivotal role in the SDP by laying the foundations for the creation of a fourth party.

LOL!

Haha - I like the cold war detail.

Yes, her father is a black American, his name was Preston King and he was a "civil rights activist". Her grandfather was "Clennon Washington King" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clennon_Washington_King,_Sr.) so I guess they haven't come over from Africa anytime recently.

As for -Americans, one of the popular topics of "bumper stickers" and slogans used by Republicans and conservatives is "I'm not a hyphenated American, I'm an American-American", so I guess it is a cause of annoyance over there as well.

What are you talking about? He simply doesn't answer the question. If that's called "not understanding" the question, you'd better consult a dictionary.

Judging by their readership figures, their readers tend to disappear in their thousands. Perhaps the only people who read it are pixies or some other magical fellows.

Thanks - and you're right, while left parties from the centre to the commies are always different in inspiration etc, they are based on general reforming-revolutionary principles which are more or less transferable from country to country, and, the point Finkelstein is trying to make is that institutions are the basis for conservatives. Actually, this is reflected in two quotes on my side-bar:
-To me a Tory is a person who believes that authority is vested in institutions - Enoch Powell, 1992
-respect for age, for hierarchy and for institutions, patriotism and monarchy - Peter Hitchens, 2009

So, yes, conservatives can inspire each other - Burke is still widely quoted today in the US, a completely different world, but still in the anglosphere. Writers from Latin countries are quoted and inspiration for each other, but we wouldn't draw upon, say, Mexican conservatives as the Spanish writers do, because it's not our culture and we don't have the same set-up as Mexico. For leftists, the simple messages and phrases like "No pasaran" or "vive/viva la resistance" are worldwide.

And no, there is no real international body for conservatives. I suspect once upon a time the jokey answer to that would have been NATO, but now I guess the closest thing is the EPP - but you know how much conservatives here and many in France hate the EU!

I try not to get involved in the detail - it's depressing - but I think Cameron was right to apologise for a bad incident in the Troubles. My stance is Irish (rather than Ulster) unionist and I take the view that nationalists in N. Ireland are just as British as everyone else, and that, given the army was there to protect the minority Catholic community, who are mostly nationalist, in the first place, it was a cruel episode for the trust of nationalists to be broken in such a violent way.

Going forward, I have faith in the Conservatives' adventures in Northern Ireland. Everyone mocked their results, but given they got 10,000+ votes in many places, that's pretty damn good for a party's first election in a country. The Ulster Unionists, back when they sat with the Tories, had no electoral links as such, so this Ulster Conservatives and Unionists outfit can genuinely be seen as a new force in NI politics, and I feel confident they will win seats next general election.

This is related to the issue of nationalists because if members of the nationalist community can accept Cameron as being less belligerent, more trustworthy - in the light of the honest Savile aftermath - perhaps moderates of both sides will vote for him, especially as UC&U are less partisan than the SDLP, and the message of NI being allowed back into national politics clearly worked for many thousands of people. There is also a need for a free-market party in NI. The DUP, SF and SDLP are all very statist and very supportive of the massive public sector employment in NI. While that may have been necessary for a while in a troubled environment, perhaps it's time for a state-cutting party for younger, university-educated moderates, so they can be drawn away from the factional nonsense of Adams and Paisley etc.

Yeah exactly, bluelion1922 - I will fiddle over the weekend.

Ampers - all the young "progressives" of the world are on Twitter too.

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