An appeal to Jack - British politics?

[Lomadia]

All right, Jack. The situation is this: in conversation with my British friends, the topic of politics comes up fairly frequently, and I am feeling hopelessly ignorant. I thought Tories were contemporaneous with the Stuart dynasty, and what's all this about one's newspaper subscription being an indicator of one's political leanings?

Would it be too much for me to ask for a quick overview of the major parties/factions, who their constituents tend to be, and what they stand for? Or perhaps you could point me to a useful webpage (or other resource - I'm certainly not adverse to the printed word)? Any help would be appreciated.

[[Aeria-Gloris]]

wow, that's quite the question!

quite simply, read this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_political_parties.

it can explain it far better than me and is far more objective than I could possibly manage (being a big trade unionist labourite). the "Joke political party" section is interesting. see "Church of the Militant Elvis Party" for a laugh.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_political_scandals is also quite entertaining.

this quote from wikipedia should go part-way to answering your other question:

"Tabloid newspapers in Britain, collectively called the tabloid press, tend to be simply and sensationally written, and to give more prominence than broadsheets to celebrities, sports, crime stories and even hoaxes; they also more readily take a political position (either left- or right-wing) on news stories, ridiculing politicians, demanding resignations and predicting election results. The term red top (as in "News International red tops sweep the board") refers to tabloids with red nameplates, such as The Sun, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Star, and distinguishes them from the black top Daily Express and Daily Mail. Red top newspapers are usually simpler in writing style, dominated by pictures, and directed at the more sensational end of the market. Tabloid newspapers are sometimes pejoratively called the gutter press."

As far as I'm concerned, all popular British tabloids are right-wing. some are just more obviously right-wing than others. I hate to do it but you can generally categorise British readers into 3 stereotypes:

Sun readers - often uneducated men who believe that asylum seekers are taking all our jobs and using every opportunity to try and blow up all the nice white people. they also care very much about football and like to look at topless schoolgirls on page 3.

Guardian readers - is a person with leftist or liberal politics rooted in the 1960s, working in the public sector, regularly eating lentils and muesli, living in north London (especially Camden and Islington), wearing sandals and believing in alternative medicine and natural medicine.

Daily Mail readers - near-fascist, "Boy's Own" rag with overtly bigoted and racist front pages, read by scout leaders, women's institute members and nationalist party leaders. Please read the following for similar opinions from people wiser than I en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Mail#Common_satirical_target

I have a pin on my jacket that simply reads "Hated by the Daily Mail" if you're left in any doubt as to my opinion of them!

I don't read the papers. ANY papers. I might have a flick through a copy of the Morning Star or Searchlight - (which are socialist and anti-fascist papers), but I try to avoid as much of the press as I can outside of conference season when I often broaden my reading in a hope of "understanding thine enemy"

Hope this has been of some use (as aggressive a criticism as it is), but if you have any further questions, let them fly!

[A-G]

p.s. Do we still have a Politics section we could move this discussion to??

[Lomadia]

Thanks! That's precisely what I was looking for. I can't pretend to make sense even of my own country's politics at times, but this helps a lot. Now I'll have an idea of what people mean when they accuse someone of being a Daily Mail reader!

And I believe the politics section fell prey to our purge last winter.

[[Aeria-Gloris]]

Glad to help!

Well let's not think about kicking the Politics section off again eh? I think this is the only topic in about 3 years that matches the description.

[Elanor]

Yes,sorry to be narrow minded,but politics suck

[Beren Erchamion]

That's not too narrow minded. Actually, it's a pretty well-rounded opinion.

[[Aeria-Gloris]]

It's not politics that sucks. It's the sleeze who make it their business that spoil it.

Thats why you should GET INVOLVED!

Because that's the only way to change it!

[Lomadia]

For the first time in my life (which, given, has not been all that long), I'm getting involved (little by little) in a political campaign - namely, Barack Obama's presidential bid. And I'm doing it for exactly the reason you've stated, Jack: I'm sick and tired of the greedy idiots who're ruining politics, and I think Obama will do much to change that.