100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

[JamesWales]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Wales relationship with the Labour Party really is quite extraordinary.

Of course, prior to 1999 there wasn't a homogenous Welsh political institution for people to vote for, but even since then it's very rare in a global context for people to keep returning the same government.

The norm in most successful economies and societies is periods of centre-left government followed by centre-right and repeat..

Not so here.

[Rjk]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Wales relationship with the Labour Party really is quite extraordinary.

Of course, prior to 1999 there wasn't a homogenous Welsh political institution for people to vote for, but even since then it's very rare in a global context for people to keep returning the same government.

The norm in most successful economies and societies is periods of centre-left government followed by centre-right and repeat..

Not so here.

there's a pretty obvious reason for that.
most democracies will naturally fall into a system where there is at least a semblance of balance between left and right wing parties. that is because they are all competing to win and operating left or right the centre ground for any particular given country give the parties their best chance of success.

in Wales we don't have a political system that operates in isolation. it is very intertwined with that of the rest of the UK.

if we were independent then you would probably find that the tory party would shift considerably to the left in Wales to become competitive, based on the demographics of the Welsh population.
they cannot do that as they would be going against the Westminster Tory party l, who do not want to lurch to the left, as they have a large right wing support base in England.
this hamstrings the opposition in Wales, and means that labour will have a much easier ride here.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

there's a pretty obvious reason for that.
most democracies will naturally fall into a system where there is at least a semblance of balance between left and right wing parties. that is because they are all competing to win and operating left or right the centre ground for any particular given country give the parties their best chance of success.

in Wales we don't have a political system that operates in isolation. it is very intertwined with that of the rest of the UK.

if we were independent then you would probably find that the tory party would shift considerably to the left in Wales to become competitive, based on the demographics of the Welsh population.
they cannot do that as they would be going against the Westminster Tory party l, who do not want to lurch to the left, as they have a large right wing support base in England.
this hamstrings the opposition in Wales, and means that labour will have a much easier ride here.

Plaid becoming arguably more socialist than Labour is proof of this.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

It's from The National

In fairness to LOM I think the The National have a paywall

The link I posted works without a paywall.

[goats]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Wales relationship with the Labour Party really is quite extraordinary.

Of course, prior to 1999 there wasn't a homogenous Welsh political institution for people to vote for, but even since then it's very rare in a global context for people to keep returning the same government.

The norm in most successful economies and societies is periods of centre-left government followed by centre-right and repeat..

Not so here.

Also that there’s only really been 1 Labour government in 50 years in the 70’s which ended in disaster by all accounts, My old man never forgot it. Of course I’m discounting the Bliar gov as everyone tells me he was a Tory anyway…..

[City123]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

The link I posted works without a paywall.

Well that's me proven wrong, I seem to recall a paywall but maybe that was for specific articles/if you go over a certain number

[JamesWales]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

there's a pretty obvious reason for that.
most democracies will naturally fall into a system where there is at least a semblance of balance between left and right wing parties. that is because they are all competing to win and operating left or right the centre ground for any particular given country give the parties their best chance of success.

in Wales we don't have a political system that operates in isolation. it is very intertwined with that of the rest of the UK.

if we were independent then you would probably find that the tory party would shift considerably to the left in Wales to become competitive, based on the demographics of the Welsh population.
they cannot do that as they would be going against the Westminster Tory party l, who do not want to lurch to the left, as they have a large right wing support base in England.
this hamstrings the opposition in Wales, and means that labour will have a much easier ride here.

I know what you mean, but whilst Wales is wedded to the Labour party, I don't think Wales is some bastion of left-wing politics, certainly not in the cultural or social sense in which it tends to be most associated nowadays. I dont for example view Wales as being particularly left wing on most social issues, in fact we are arguably one of the more socially conservative parts of the UK.

Definitely agree that the relationship with Westminster complicates it all though.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

https://www.thenational.wales/news/1...r-party-wales/

it's an opinion piece, I don't know much about the author

Thanks to you and TBG for posting the source. I don't know much about the author either.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Well that's me proven wrong, I seem to recall a paywall but maybe that was for specific articles/if you go over a certain number

You are merely human, old fruit. No-one died :-)

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

...and, even though LoM didn't post the original source, we got there in the end and I found a few more articles on the site about The Green Party and Plaid Cymru, so *group hug everyone*

[stan butler]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Why not just not click on it? Let alone going to the effort of commenting twice

Why not just post the boring shit in the politics section in the first place.:thumbup:

[delmbox]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Why not just post the boring shit in the politics section in the first place.:thumbup:

Yeah but why not just not click on it though

[stan butler]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Yeah but why not just not click on it though

Because you have to click on it to post your opinion that it should be posted in the politics section :hehe:

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

Because you have to click on it to post your opinion that it should be posted in the politics section :hehe:

I'm disappointed Stan. I thought you were here for the group hug mate!

[Kind of Blue]

Re: 100 Years Of Labour ( Interesting read )

I know what you mean, but whilst Wales is wedded to the Labour party, I don't think Wales is some bastion of left-wing politics, certainly not in the cultural or social sense in which it tends to be most associated nowadays. I dont for example view Wales as being particularly left wing on most social issues, in fact we are arguably one of the more socially conservative parts of the UK.

Definitely agree that the relationship with Westminster complicates it all though.

I think it also depends how you define left wing and how this has changed over time. I think you can - or could once more commonly - been happily described as left wing (economically) but culturally and socially conservative and it wouldn’t have been seen as some contradiction.

I think that’s definitely how I’d describe my grandparents’ generation that lived in industrial south Wales who would have all considered themselves “Labour” and “of the left”. I still find this streak in my parents’ generation too but slightly less so. But granted accepted definitions change and develop of course.