en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/22668190 Comments by decide https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/03/coronavirus-2-ryan-bourne-beware-it-being-used-as-a-cover-for-promoting-protectionism-and-socialism.html#IDComment1087404900 FDR Thu, 5 Mar 2020 07:37:22 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/03/coronavirus-2-ryan-bourne-beware-it-being-used-as-a-cover-for-promoting-protectionism-and-socialism.html#IDComment1087404900 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087087972 Interesting, I hadn't come across this perspective before. I'd always assumed Gove had strong ambitions to become PM (no that there's anything wrong with that) Wed, 26 Feb 2020 08:52:20 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087087972 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087063095 While the headline 30% is true I think you have to factor Scotland into that, a truer figure is really to look at England and Wales alone, and for the moment at least voter distribution is in our favour However we approach this issue we do have to face facts that the NHS is grossly inefficient and badly mismanaged. What the solution ends up being I don't know, but we are going to have to be realistic and look at all the options eventually Tue, 25 Feb 2020 14:00:47 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087063095 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087061482 If Long-Bailey thinks trans politics are a vote winner then thats her lookout, but as you say it is a worry if Boris goes anti-science with the climate change stuff. I think it is mostly for show though to be honest, we do have almost 5 years ahead of us, I don't think he's going to waste much of his political capital on that Tue, 25 Feb 2020 13:01:46 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087061482 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087060902 Labour are an irrelevance. The media are struggling to generate sufficient interest in their leadership election, even the anti-semitism reporting seems to have fallen by the wayside Tue, 25 Feb 2020 12:39:22 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087060902 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087059252 This enduring popularity of Trump is a sight to behold. He beats every Democrat in head to head polling, think Sanders is the only one that even comes close. Head to head polling for the others doesn't look good for them at all Tue, 25 Feb 2020 11:30:10 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087059252 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087058518 well ok we would never say Remove, it would always be Reform I think before the election we couldn't be sure so it made sense to lean left on the NHS issue for pragmatic reasons. But the sheer scale of the victory meant we might have been overly cautious on that messaging. People weren't as concerned about the NHS as other issues. And as we have seen in recent years the public is gradually changing opinion on the NHS, seeing the gross waste and inefficiency, and the numbers of people taking advantage of the system. The reality on the ground with this issue isn't what it was even 4 years ago Tue, 25 Feb 2020 10:58:50 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087058518 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087057486 Yes, it's probably a combination of factors, I'm just not sure we're particularly serious about addressing this issue. We're storing up problems for the future (electorally it doesn't matter due to concentration of younger voters in urban areas but surely it has knock on effects for the intellectual standard of our schoolchildren and graduates). Yet we seem happy (complacent?) enough with the situation and seem disinterested in even looking at it (other than a few articles here and there about blue haired SJW's or whatever) Tue, 25 Feb 2020 10:14:22 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087057486 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087057360 I agree but we have plenty of time, and there is still some residual affection for the NHS amongst red wall ex-labour voters. I know the election is won now and it doesn't matter but I still think its a case of more haste less speed Tue, 25 Feb 2020 10:09:33 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087057360 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087057027 I think we will start to make moves on the NHS but not so soon after the election. Don't forget we have 5 years to play with here, and we just collected a bunch of red wall voters, many of whom are probably still a bit uneasy about ditching the NHS (I actually think the fear of losing those voters is overstated, and we would have won even if we had said we were removing the NHS but I do understand caution on this front) Tue, 25 Feb 2020 09:53:14 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/02/john-redwood-in-this-post-brexit-budget-sunak-should-be-willing-to-spend-more-cut-taxes-and-raise-borrowing.html#IDComment1087057027 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087056227 But is the left to blame for the lack of diversity of thought in academia? Or is it actually us? If 10 leftists go in a room and then we stand outside and say "look, groupthink!", who's fault is that really? If some of us had gone in then that would have created diversity of thought. They can't force us to go in, at the end of the day its up to us isn't it? I think at some point we have to start taking at least some responsibility for our lack of representation in schools, hospitals, universities etc. Our we really saying we need to rely on government to mandate it? Even if they did they can't force Conservatives to work in universities! Tue, 25 Feb 2020 09:19:09 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087056227 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087055730 I believe self-interest on Gove's part was the primary motivation for that particular course of action. Tue, 25 Feb 2020 08:58:13 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/johnsons-sex-problem.html#IDComment1087055730 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087055533 Agree with this, there are deep underlying questions about why higher education leans so far left and if its healthy for our future as a country (the age at which people leave the left has been creeping up for years. Thankfully people are living longer and the proportion of voters that are pensioners is also increasing, which mitigates against that to an extent) Why aren't there more Conservatives in education (both school and university)? Is this really healthy? Are we serious about doing anything about it? It would seem not! But then I see the counter-argument too, relying on government to correct this bias may also be a trap. We may have to look ourselves in the mirror and say we're not prepared to walk the walk and go and work in these places. Its worrying when you consider our future and the need to compete in the global marketplace Tue, 25 Feb 2020 08:49:16 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087055533 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087052973 While this is true, the fact of the matter is that young voters are already not voting for us so I'm unsure what difference this really makes? Don't get me wrong its not a good state of affairs, but the fact of the matter is younger voters are concentrated in urban constituencies which means their votes don't really count as much, as we saw in the last election where our vote share really went a long way on the electoral map Tue, 25 Feb 2020 06:57:33 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087052973 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087052136 We stopped using it for a long time ago. The thing these leftists corporations don't realise is, we'll tolerate their woke nonsense but only up to a point, at which points we'll simply start withdrawing our custom. This is the great thing about capitalism, the market decides, something corporations seem to have lost site of in recent years. The majority of the public will simply withdraw their custom, and the invisible hand of the market will make some of these so called reforms unviable. After all, the market does't care about your feelings Tue, 25 Feb 2020 06:21:36 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/02/if-you-go-transgender-rights-are-our-big-thing-you-are-going-to-lose-that-culture-war.html#IDComment1087052136 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087045123 Agreed, each cycle has a number of elections within it! Tue, 25 Feb 2020 01:45:25 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087045123 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087034614 Our students aren't learning anything of note at Universities, which is why we are falling badly behind much of the rest of the developed world when it comes to technology, research and innovation. Your point about reducing University course length may seem counter-intuitive at first glance but may lead to greater innovation in the long run Mon, 24 Feb 2020 19:14:43 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087034614 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087034504 Thinks change over time. What was true yesterday is no longer true today, and what is true today won't be true tomorrow. The electorate of today isn't the electorate of 25 years ago. Labour abandoned its core voters in the red wall, but it didn't abandon them in 2019, it abandoned them in 1997 (and with the majorities they had in those seats it could afford to - it wouldn't hurt them there for....a generation). Where the important voters are changes with time. The important voters aren't currently in cities or large towns. They don't matter The voters Labour chased in 1997 were important then. They're not important now, and they sacrificed the ones that didn't matter then but do now. Its possible we're doing the same thing today, but it probably won't hit for another 15-20 years either Mon, 24 Feb 2020 19:10:42 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087034504 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087030924 I think we only have to look at the standard of our STEM graduates in comparison to other Western countries where this dogma isn't so deep seated Mon, 24 Feb 2020 16:56:17 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087030924 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087030899 And as we see from the last election the public respected us for it. Yes there is something of a generational divide, but as long as left-leaning voters cluster in urban constituencies they are electorally insignificant Mon, 24 Feb 2020 16:54:55 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2020/02/neil-obrien-how-the-conservatives-can-do-better-with-younger-voters-and-remain-a-compassionate-party.html#IDComment1087030899