Tag Archives: Right?

It Used To Be No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish, Now It Is No Tories

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The election results of 2015 were shocking, but not as shocking as the reaction from the left. The level of bile and hatred has been truly shocking. I have seen signs on shops saying no Tories, signs requesting that Tories declare their political beliefs so they can be charged more, calls for Tories to be fired from their jobs. More famously the Women of World War Two memorial on Whitehall was vandalised.  by anti-Tory protesters who graffitied ‘Fuck Tory scum’ on the monument. Could there be a more disrespectful way to make a statement? I am not so sure. Although leftie darling Laurie Penny didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

My husband was sure Labour would get in and that there would be a coalition. You are wrong I said, you are forgetting about secret Tories. The truth is, tories have been openly discriminated against for years. In fact, they are one of the few people you can openly discriminate against and it is ‘okay’. The other is white working class males. (See Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class for details). There certainly is an irony there.

In 2010 I campaigned for Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith.  I campaigned for Zac because I thought he was a good, decent guy who could do good. I would have campaigned for him no matter what political party he was running for. The amount of abuse I got for campaigning for a Conservative was quite something. I lost friends and even work (I am an writer and actor. Both professions are notoriously left-wing). Even my own father commented that I was ‘no longer his daughter’. To this day we never talk about politics or my campaigning.

Social media is ablaze with comments about the destruction of the NHS (Spending actually increased under the last Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition) and comments about welfare cuts. The amount of status updates and tweets I have seen saying how anyone who voted Tory should be ashamed of themselves and are now responsible for the cuts and coming destruction is shocking. My friend Jeremy Drysdale referred to it as an ‘echo chamber’. People with the same thoughts and beliefs following other people with the same thoughts and beliefs, living in a bubble of their own political making. ‘You are an actor’. another said, which explains just how much left wing abuse and bullying I saw. But I am also friends with Conservatives so I get a more balanced view. My Conservative friends have been dignified in their silence. They are also some of the most decent, generous, caring and moral people I have ever met.

Truth is, I don’t hang my mast to any specific political party but I believe in Conservative values: small government, aspiration, working hard. What I don’t agree with is 11.3 million people being called ‘Tory scum’ just because they have a different political belief. There are even calls for a new voting system even though Labour won with less votes in 2005. Where was the protesting then? The Labour majority in 2005 was 66 with 35.2% of the vote and the Conservative majority in 2015 was 12 with 36.9% of the vote. The alternative voting system was rejected by the British Public four years ago. Now because some people did not get the outcome they want they are crying foul.

Truth is, as this excellent article by Byrony Gordon says, the left are just bad losers. You can’t abuse people with different opinions from you just because you didn’t get what you want. The truth is, both Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg were gracious in defeat. If only their followers did the same.

 What do you think?

 

 

 

The Privileged Are Always One-Step Ahead, Right? By Josh Edwards

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We have been reminded in the press recently, that the privately educated and the rich seem to get a better deal than the rest of us – but why is this?  Perhaps it is to do with the social network they are able to build. The cliché, ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ certainly has some truth to it.

Let me give you an example. Pretend for a moment that Beatrice’s father Edward has just floated his new tech company on the NASDAQ, and made a fortune. Beatrice bumps up from a comprehensive to a private school in Windsor, where she is surrounded by oil magnate heirs and the like. Overnight she has entered a network of potential contacts. Opportunities will arise, and it is probable that Beatrice will be in a better position than the rest of us.

We cannot blame the elite and the privileged for accessing the doors that are open to them for surely we all would, in a similar position. For the majority of us, however, who are on the other side of that white picket fence, how can we compete?

For me it was about using the opportunities that arose around me. For the people who know me, the past three years of my life has been a mixture of both University and Starbucks.

 

 While working for Starbucks I soon realised that customers from a multitude of backgrounds come into the store, in search of their caffeine fix. It became apparent to me that I could kill two birds with one stone, I could both work and network at the same time.

While some customers would rather order their coffee with a minimal amount of personal interaction, others would engage in conversation.

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I made an effort to remember names and in time found some to be genuinely interested in my plans, even offering me opportunities to enhance my C.V and further my career. Through networking with customers, I have been offered a number of open doors, including the opportunity to write for Frost, – the online magazine you are reading now – and I have become involved with the charity Words for the Wounded (W4W), and now help look after publicity and all social media.

 

 I have been able to talk about my work with Frost and W4W during a recent interview and it has definitely enhanced my application – and given me something different to talk about, not to mention improving my skill base and my understanding of how different organisations work.

So if you are in a similar position and work in an environment where you meet a variety of people,  have an open mind. I have found generosity from customers in spades. Are the rich and privileged one step ahead? Probably, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us are too far behind.