As my late Mother, born in a different age before the Great War, said about clothing “blue and green should not be seen… brown should never be worn in town”… the refusal to engage with Reform will cost the left dear… people who voted Reform will never forgive the moral superiority of the left… but it begs the question why does the left think that their values and ONLY their values are morally right? It is indeed perverse that the left today ground their morality on individual autonomy, be it trans rights, immigrant rights, abortion, euthanasia, etc. the very principle that the left historically found abhorrent. I know that Thatcher never said “ there is no such thing as society” but it is very curious that the left today extol that moral view in their ethical compass. It is not simply that they despise those on the right so much that they will not engage with them, it is that they base their morality on the right of the individual to be and do whatever she or he wants and anyone who extols social traditions, the traditional moral mores of a society, is the enemy. In the end that vision of individual autonomy and the concurrent rejection of social norms has caused many of the problem of fragmentation today. The classics professor turned politician Enoch Powell, much vilified by the left today but friend of many of the old left back in the 50s and 60s, saw this coming. He compared the decline of the Roman Empire, its fragmentation, the rejection of traditional values by the young, its reliance on foreign cheap labour to fill jobs that they young think beneath them, etc., to the decline of the British Empire. And he lamented. It has come to pass… but few on the new left do not see their values are grounded in anti-social individualism.
Just to add… Enoch Powell was a Wolverhampton MP… I am reminded that when Churchill was elected as PM in 1951… Powell was asked what job he wanted in the government. He replied Viceroy of India. The press then said India is now independent. To which Powell replied… where there is a will there is a way! He had wit that few politicians have today.
As my late Mother, born in a different age before the Great War, said about clothing “blue and green should not be seen… brown should never be worn in town”… the refusal to engage with Reform will cost the left dear… people who voted Reform will never forgive the moral superiority of the left… but it begs the question why does the left think that their values and ONLY their values are morally right? It is indeed perverse that the left today ground their morality on individual autonomy, be it trans rights, immigrant rights, abortion, euthanasia, etc. the very principle that the left historically found abhorrent. I know that Thatcher never said “ there is no such thing as society” but it is very curious that the left today extol that moral view in their ethical compass. It is not simply that they despise those on the right so much that they will not engage with them, it is that they base their morality on the right of the individual to be and do whatever she or he wants and anyone who extols social traditions, the traditional moral mores of a society, is the enemy. In the end that vision of individual autonomy and the concurrent rejection of social norms has caused many of the problem of fragmentation today. The classics professor turned politician Enoch Powell, much vilified by the left today but friend of many of the old left back in the 50s and 60s, saw this coming. He compared the decline of the Roman Empire, its fragmentation, the rejection of traditional values by the young, its reliance on foreign cheap labour to fill jobs that they young think beneath them, etc., to the decline of the British Empire. And he lamented. It has come to pass… but few on the new left do not see their values are grounded in anti-social individualism.
Just to add… Enoch Powell was a Wolverhampton MP… I am reminded that when Churchill was elected as PM in 1951… Powell was asked what job he wanted in the government. He replied Viceroy of India. The press then said India is now independent. To which Powell replied… where there is a will there is a way! He had wit that few politicians have today.
Think I agree on best of luck to Councillor Pritchard, all things considered!