Left wing=liberal
Right wing=conservative
These are common usages of the terms. Finer gradations may occur to express how left or right something is, but it's still left and right.
Yet early Conservatives described themselves as liberal? I am most confused.
In the classical sense Liberals tend to break from the norm. In the days of ancient Greece, a self-ruling society would have been the odd man out amongst monarchies and such. A government designed to keep power in the hands of the governed would have been a most liberal idea in such an environment.
Conservatives however tended to be for the status quo.
With the advent of a Constitutional Republic the status quo became individual rights and freedoms; a change that made Conservatives (supporting the status quo) the champion and Liberals the ones wanting change.
Look back at the Republican fight against slavery, Jim Crowe, etc.; pretty liberal in those times. More recently (JFK - ask not what your country can do for you) the Democrats would have sounded like modern Republicans.
Left and Right were terms based on where each party sat within the Congress and Senate chambers and got associated in media along the way with L/C ideology in a more fixed way than party malleability.
Mid 20th century we experienced what Ike warned us about in his final speech to the nation; the Military/Industrial/(Lobbyist) Complex and it's corrupting influence over our representatives. Today, few (regardless of party affiliation) mean what they say when pandering to audiences and are all for the status quo within the confines of keeping each person in office and each party in primary or secondary power so they exempt themselves from onerousness laws and taxation while amassing personal wealth and expanding government power over the Governed (because that further cements the power and wealth for themselves and their croneys).
The Guardian is scarcely very left wing. More like liberal.
Mmm. I'm not saying it's a bad thing there.
ehh, the British Empire has been ok by itself for quite some time. I'm sure they'll sort this out...
The media whips up fear and anxiety to boost their ad revenue. Dial up your cynicism of the press.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. That being said, there is still a lot of unknowns coming down the road...
The media whips up fear and anxiety to boost their ad revenue. Dial up your cynicism of the press.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. That being said, there is still a lot of unknowns coming down the road...
Yes. Unknowns that capable people with reasonable positions will have to work out in treaties and contracts. It's mostly about business. The human rights stuff will be slightly affected by EU mandates, but we're talking about the UK not Somalia.
The basic problem is that those reasonable people will be working towards goals at odds with each other.
It doesn't serve in the interests of the remaining EU members to give the UK any sort of preferential deal- not even a halfway good one.
It also serves the politicians left standing in the UK no good at all to swallow the deal that's going to be offered to them by the EU, either, and they won't have the ability to set their own terms.
Meanwhile, capital will continue to migrate out of the UK while all this goes on. It won't happen in an instant, but it will happen. If the UK is no longer able to "passport" goods, services and financial instruments, there is no compelling reason do think of it as a base for anything but local demand fulfillment.
The basic problem is that those reasonable people will be working towards goals at odds with each other.
It doesn't serve in the interests of the remaining EU members to give the UK any sort of preferential deal- not even a halfway good one.
It also serves the politicians left standing in the UK no good at all to swallow the deal that's going to be offered to them by the EU, either, and they won't have the ability to set their own terms.
Meanwhile, capital will continue to migrate out of the UK while all this goes on. It won't happen in an instant, but it will happen. If the UK is no longer able to "passport" goods, services and financial instruments, there is no compelling reason do think of it as a base for anything but local demand fulfillment.
So what is your prediction for the UK 2018?
Here's mine: It's economy will be essentially in the same trajectory it was in November 2015. The GBP will be 1.6X USD and both will be favorable trading with the Euro (USD will be approximately equivalent to the Euro and GBP will be 1.6X the Euro).
London will remain the hub of financial industry that it is today.
