Nutmegger

I believe you were talking about a move to Houston -- supposedly the largest conservative city in the US????

Yorkie100

Having done the expat bit once before in Singapore, it made us more appreciative of all that is good with the UK and opened our eyes to what truly right wing governments are really like. I'm no under no illusion of the US, a 3 month stint back in the 90's, plus US family who regard Europeans as dangerous commies made sure of that.

I suppose all the election does is loosen the ties to here for me.

hungryhorace

??? The Conservatives ARE a 'truly right wing government'. It was only the Liberals - now obliterated - who held them back.

Theresa May is just itching to reintroduce Stasi surveillance legislation in the new Parliament to further spy on the population.

SultanOfSwing

Who are themselves right wing anyway. Just about all major European parties are, even the Scandinavians.

Pulaski

??? What?

The UK Liberal Democrats have had benefits and redistributive tax policies in recent years that put them to the left of the Labour party. ..... I have never before heard any describe the Liberals in the UK as a right wing party!

SultanOfSwing

They may be to the left of Labour, but all three of the traditional major parties in the UK are right wing economically. The lib dems are slightly left wing on the social side but that's about it.

The only truly left-wing, non-authoritarian parties in the UK these days are the Greens, Plaid Cymru and the SDLP.

petitefrancaise

eh? I know France has the FN but there's absolutely nothing about actually living in France and the french government that is right wing. Taxed to the hilt to provide for tout le monde......

SultanOfSwing

Neoliberalism. Right wing economic policies with an authoritarian slant. It doesn't quite follow the traditional 'left-right' axis, nor does 'right wing' automatically mean fascism.

Plus, I think the 'centre' has shifted a little to the right in recent years as well.

Pulaski

Quite! I have always considered that most (all?) countries in Europe have a mainstream "right wing" party that is somewhere near the political center ground, and may be even slightly left of centre. They then have a mainstream left wing party that is much more socialist than most politicians in the UK - and in the case of Italy the left wing party is close to communist in its stance.

Obviously the UK and the US are different, with the US positioned further to the right, but the UK is politically, as well as geographically, positioned between Europe and the US, i.e. the UK is significantly to the right of Europe but to the left of the US. And it is this that explains why the UK has historically been the US's best ally and why countries in Europe eye the British government with suspicion because Britain is buddy-buddy with the US.

Derrygal

The health care system here is a joke. I have insurance through my job, but so much is not covered. I was recently diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. In the past few months, I have paid $1,500 in out of pocket expenses. I don't earn a lot of money so this really hurts. I am seriously considering moving back to N Ireland. The thought of leaving my kids and grand-kids here breaks my heart. If I stay here, I don't think I will ever be able to afford to retire.

london_calling

Didn't we have this conversation before, where I explained how this was complete nonsense and you simply carried on repeating it like a mantra? At least you're consistent.

Pulaski

Your explanation was nonsense, and did not fit the observed behaviours.

See here for a comprehensive explanation, which you chose to ignore because you were hung up on some irrelevant question about the status of the European Parliament.

london_calling

You were talking about the Conservatives' failure to form European 'alliances' which made little sense unless you were referring to the EP. Since you clearly weren't, I have no idea what you meant.

The days of mainstream European politics being anything other than centre-right and economically liberal are long gone. The Conservatives fit that mould quite neatly, as do Labour and the Lib Dems. This idea that other Europeans are "suspicious" of us because we are "close" (we aren't) to the US is based on nothing of any substance. You can't even be an EU member state without a solid belief in free markets.

Pulaski

Parties and party politics - taxes, benefits and other matters of wealth redistribution, regulation, govt control/ownership, military intervention and foreign policy etc.

The British Conservatives are out of step in all these key areas with the "right wing" parties of all the significant countries in Europe, and probably all the insignificant ones too.

It makes no difference whether you are talking about inter-national government conferences, the European Parliament, or any other political forum within the boundaries of Europe, the British Conservative party get no cooperation. Labour fair little better!