Neal Lawson article in today's Guardian
Neal Lawsonin the Guardian today - http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1791203,00.html - won't win any prizes for logic with his assertion that the Tories have acquired their current 10% lead in the opinion polls because Labour is "so rightwing".
Those of us who spent April canvassing to re-elect Labour councillors found that whilst there are indeed middle class switchers to the Greens or Lib Dems who feel the same way as Lawson, core Labour working class voters and the skilled owner-occupying demographic who decide general elections are either relatively happy or if they are switching away from Labour it is because the Home Office meltdown in April meant Labour is not seen as having got to grips with immigration, crime and anti-social behaviour.
The Guardian's readers and columnists sometimes ought to remind themselves that it and the Independent have a total circulation of just over 500,000 whereas the Sun and the Mirror have a total circulation of over 4.5 million - Lawson's political strategy foolishly pays more attention to the concerns of the 500,000 than of the 4.5 million.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 8:49 am
2 Comments:
Not only are there more Sun and Mirror readers, surely more of them are the people the Labour Party was originally created to deliver better living standards and opportunities for - the working classes - even if people don't so readily identify with class-based labels these days?
If it comes down to a choice, although I am middle-class in background and lifestyle, I feel that the needs and aspirations of people and communities who haven't had the same opportunities should weigh more strongly in determining Labour policy than the views of the more privileged.
However, the Labour Party seems to me at its best and strongest when it recognises that it is a coalition of different communities of interest all broadly seeking progress (small p!). The fact that it's a coalition means there will always be factions and groupings within it, because we won't always agree with each other all of the time. Just so long as we all remember that Labour's primary objective is to win political power in order to deliver improvements in the lives of working people, something this government has genuinely done, whatever one thinks of Blair. Or is that too old-fashioned?
Mind you, I'm neither one of the 500,000 nor one of the 4.5m - I find my newspaper-reading needs are amply catered for by the Local Govt Chronicle, What's Brewing (newspaper of the Campaign for Real Ale) and Heat magazine, and I get my news from the internet and TV... I suppose that means no political party needs to listen to me!
6:01 pm, June 19, 2006
I've just seen that you have a blog yourself Luke.
If I'd have known, I'd have linked to you with this comment on my own:
http://nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com/2006/06/hard-centre.html
Cheers
Paul E.
2:37 pm, June 23, 2006
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