IntenseDebate - d77sgw

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 1 reply · +1 points

Whether its local or national government is irrelevant - these are still laws put in place to prevent a free-for-all, curtailing individual freedoms for the wider benefit of society.
As for letting people decide, its a slippery slope with no way back - all of us (myself included) are hypocrites that act in our own self-interest and can't see the wider, long-term impac of our actions.

Its a bit like tax. I want well funded public services. But I also want to minimise my tax payments of course, and will do everything I can to do so. If everyone is allowed to avoid paying (like I want to) lithen the police wont exist, rubbish wont be collected etc etc. In short, we can't be trusted to do individually what is in the interest of the collective - and that extends to protecting high streets.

I would be in favour of allowing small businesses to be open without restriction, as long as their workers receive appropriate protection of choice whether or not to work on a Sunday. and the supermarkets should have to shut.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 0 replies · +1 points

I suspect that what you read here is not the full picture - for many of us the C of E still remains a bulwark of traditional compassionate conservatism. Yes congregation numbers are declining, but still number around 750,000 every weekend. Thats a lot of voters!

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 2 replies · +1 points

That is interesting - very interesting indeed.
No surprise to see the so called Tax Payers Alliance get a transparancy rating of E.
Slightly depressing to see that all the other low-transparancy groups are on the right of the political spectrum - not sure what it says about the vested interests.
I suppose one could point to the fact that unions are more likely to fund think-tanks which pursue so called 'progressive' politics, and they are probably required by law to have a greater degree of transparancy.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 0 replies · +1 points

Quite obviously not.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 0 replies · +1 points

Interesting debate above - not least because it very much shows the division in our party between the traditionalists (Torys) and the liberals (Whigs). Its funny we bandy about the term 'liberal' on this forum like its a dirty word - perhaps thats the pervasive influence of Fox News - but as a party that favours reduced intervention from the state, of 'liberalisation' of markets etc, then we should probably stake a claim to reclaim the term. Some of the left-ist behaviour of the past two weeks has felt anything but 'liberal'!
That said, on the matter of Sunday trading, I am very much in favour of ensuring that one day a week remains for the family, and separate from commerce (with the notable exception of leisure pursuits). This is a personal position, and one anyone is welcome to disagree with. From a party political position however it would seem bizarre if we overlooked the fact that this is a popular position with the electorate also.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 0 replies · +1 points

No. Answered directly above.
We should ensure that staff working in restaurants and cafes do have a genuine right to refuse to work on those days though.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 0 replies · +1 points

Generally I would be in favour of massively relaxing legislation on small businesses of all kind - and by all means allow them to open on Sundays - to level a bit of competition with the 'pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap' bully boys. And whilst we're at it bring in legislation to support small farmers, and only allow fishing-boats of a certain size. Whilst economies of scale drive produced by mass-production bring down the cost to the consumer of produce in the short term, the long-term effect is unemployment, a lack of diversity on the high street and price-fixing.

The 'Tax Payers Alliance' are a joke - a self-appointed guardian of tax-dodgers that act as a rent-a-quote for any lazy journo.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 3 replies · +1 points

Blimey - you've gone down the 'burning witches' route...we've reached Godwins Law already!

No-one is suggesting that we're 'slaves to traditions' - my point here is that its not not just about tradition (and I confess my glib answer above did not make that clear) - its about harm to the fabric of society.

All sorts of social laws matter. I suggest you do, as a Conservative, "expect a government to keep up a tradition by force of law"actually - and curb the excesses of free for all behaviour. Its traditional not to have all night raves in residential neighbourhoods, its traditional to not allow all the shops and the pub in the village to be converted into housing, its traditional to ensure that planning permission is required to build on Green Belt land etc.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 0 replies · +1 points

A valid argument, but one which can be answered simply - on the basis that these are services which are either essential, or based around family leisure pursuits (which generally are only going to be able to pursued at a weekend). Small comfort for the families perhaps, but then that is part of the deal when you enter those professions.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Keep Sunday Special: W... · 3 replies · +1 points

Its not anonymous at all. The backers are listed here: https://www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/contact

I would suggest the vested 'interests' behind the push for extended opening are far more likely to be insidious - a handful of large retail consortiums, most likely based in tax-havens (who have no doubt bled the state through furlough practices....).

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