Comments on: Top 10 Tory Terrors

By: Auld Yin

Auld Yin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:15:45 +0000

I was talking to a couple of people about this and the point was made that in the UK abortion has never been an issue that political parties have made pledges or had policy on, it’s always been a matter of ‘individual conscious’. So it’s not the Tories as a party that have made statements on abortion on or have made pledges on policy, it’s individual Tories, in this case Nadine Dorries, who will try to have another go at reducing the time limit.
The problem is that there are anti-abortionists in every political party, particularly in Labour in Scotland and of course none other than George Galloway is a hardline anti-abortionist.
The biggest threat to women’s reproductive rights will be the huge cuts in health service spending that are on their way, cuts that will be made regardless of which government is in power.

By: TheWorstWitch

TheWorstWitch — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:52:49 +0000

Sarah – originally, one of the top 10 was about homophobia, but when I was looking for a link to back it up with all I could find was Dave saying he’s totes not a homophobe – they’re obviously worried about this, and trying really hard to portray themselves as being for lgbt equality – despite nearly all individual tories thinking that gay people are unfit parents and shouldn’t be allowed to care for children.

By: Liam

Liam — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:11:38 +0000

I remember the same argument coming up during the us elections, with people hoping for an obama win mainly because the other guy was anti-choice. I pretty much agree with that logic. If labour wins, I’ll probably be slightly relieved, though I wouldn’t advocate votong for them. It’s going to be horrible no matter who wins, so we’ll be better off having a horrible government with some womens’ rights than without.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:50:11 +0000

The same goes for LGBT persons I think

By: TheWorstWitch

TheWorstWitch — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:16:04 +0000

Auld Yin – Longest comment we’ve received thus far. Blimey!

Anyway – yes, Labour have done some terrible and awful things and will continue if given half the chance. The Tories have, and will, too.

I recognise all of the awful things Labour have done, but I think that the issue of abortion IS enough to consider the Tories to be worse, if in every other issue they and Labour are one and the same.

It doesn’t mean I’m happy to be living under a Labour government. But I’m not ashamed to say that if Labour (or any party other than the Tories) do win the General Election, I (and a lot of other women) will be breathing a big sigh of relief. The struggle will go on, but I’ll sleep a lot easier at night knowing that my reproductive rights are intact.

By: Auld Yin

Auld Yin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:53:10 +0000

You are absolutely right Lynsey, my partner tells me there is division in Abortion Rights campaign between those who want to keep it that way and those who think it should become a devolved issue.
None the less I think any idea that the Tories represent a quantitatively more reactionary government on key issues is badly mistaken.
I think the lives of women, men and children are going to get immensely worse on every count over the coming years, regardless of which government is elected.
Back in 1997 I was joint editor of the magazine of the Scottish Socialist Alliance, ‘Red’.
We decided to go with a line that said that Labour would actually be WORSE than the Tories.
http://www.lumison.co.uk/~walkerslater/ed/rednet/issue2.htm
In 1997 that went totally against the narrative of the time, Blair was supposed to be the great bringer of relief from the nightmare of the Tories, “Things Can Only Get Better”.
But we were right to do that because just 3 years later we were able to produce a poster of Thatcher morphing into Blair that was to become a symbol of the way that people felt about the betrayal of hope;
http://scottishsocialistparty.s3.amazonaws.com/images/posters/thatcherblair.jpg

I think what I’m driving at is that I think it’s dangerous to get sucked into a oh no the evil Tories are coming perspective.
The logic of it sucks you into defending the indefensible, how can you argue against re-electing a Labour government ?
Because the plain fact of the matter is that the Labour government elected in 1997 has done far more real damage to the lives of people around the world than even Margaret Thatcher could have dreamed of.
Thatcher crushed and destroyed trade unions and working class communities.
Blair took up the mantle of Thatcherism and projected the UK’s military power, steadily built up under the Tories, to bring death and destruction to millions of people around the world.
It was with Labour in government that the British State worked with the US to kidnap and torture Muslim caught up in the War On Terror.

We were right, the worst was yet to come.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:14:08 +0000

No, it is not. Abortion being kept under the control of the UK government was one of Jack Straw’s little pet projects, and he succeeded. We are still under the auspices of the totally stupid Two Doctors system.

http://news.scotsman.com/devolution/Jack-Straw-accused-of-coverup.5903407.jp

By: Auld Yin

Auld Yin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:52:33 +0000

On abortion – if you live in Scotland health is a devolved issue.

By: TheWorstWitch

TheWorstWitch — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:54:57 +0000

Labour and the Conservatives are the same in terms of being right wing capitalist fuck bags.

But there is one key difference – women’s rights.

The Tories want to make it really, really difficult for me to have an abortion – and then after they’ve forced me to have a child I’m not ready for, they’re going to tax me more and give me less benefits for being a single mum.

If you’re a woman, living under a Labour government looks a hell of a lot better than a Tory one.

By: Auld Yin

Auld Yin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:58:51 +0000

To be perfectly honest I don’t see an iota of difference between Labour and the Tories.
The logic of the Tories are the most evil people in the world brigade is that at the end of the day you have to vote Labour.
I thought we’d put that particular mistake to bed well before 1997.