Poll defies the Economist's Chirstmas wish

Man in a Shed, who has been reading the Economist for about 23 years, has detected that their journalists have started to really buy into the New Labour project - just at the point that its going out of fashion.

The problem may be generational as journalists who started at the end of the Major years and beginning of the Blair years start to dominate our press. Only those with a strong stomach for be denounced could have maintained a Conservative view point in those days.

Economist article talk about "the Tories" - with the easy going disdain that was so prevalent in those days when no trendy student would have been seen dead putting the interests of their country in front of personal popularity. ( I'm not talking down the genuine socialists - but those who travel with the crowd and take the path of least resistance. )

Today the are saying that "the Tories" ( the Conservative party ) hasn't really succeeded as their poll rating aren't high enough. This is standard Labour disinformation and spin right now - to try to undermine the idea of the Conservatives as a potential government. To say they don't have the talent (like Labour does ! ) and to hint at a hung parliament which all trendy lefties know means the Lib Dems propping up Labour.

Well the news today is the polls have reached 45% for the Conservatives . Its the tipping point. organisations that have provided cover and support for the Labour government are now going to have to think about which side their bread is really buttered on - perhaps this is the underlying message of David Cameron's wish to consider using the licence fee for broadcasters other than the BBC. The BBC is, by its own somewhat unique guardianista standards, trying to think wider thoughts, but keeps reverting to type.

It also means that all those soft left journalists, the like of which seem to know work at the Economist, are going to have to learn to think for a living.

I'll give you a brief extract from the toe curling New Labour toadying article in Dec15th's Economist ( UK edition ):

The state of the Tories - Coming ready or not.

DAVID CAMERON, who marked his second anniversary as leader of the Conservative Party on December 6th, knows the wisdom of at least one of Westminster's ancient maxims. A week really is a long time in politics: at the start of his party's conference in October, he looked likely to lose the snap election that Gordon Brown, riding high as prime minister, was expected to call; by its end, he had regained a momentum that has yet to desert him.

He must now hope that another grizzled saying is true: that oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them the implication here - before its justified - is that it can't be anything the Conservatives have done - like their tremendous party conference where Gordon Brown's bluff was truly called by nerves of steel David Cameron - backed to a man and woman by the party and strong performances on all subjects by the shadow cabinet. Recent events have compromised the government's claims to competence (the taxman lost the personal data of millions of citizens) and probity (a party-funding scandal forced the resignation of Labour's general secretary). Labour's support has fallen to about 33% (see chart) - New Labour spin/Meme - if they're not doing well enough now - how could they ever win ?. Yet the Tories have not pulled away decisively: they are polling at around 40%, which is short of both the 45% mark that Mr Cameron has made his party's target and the 60% that Labour scored under Tony Blair in 1995 its just gone to 45%. Labour then was more than 30 points ahead of the governing Tories these were whole exceptional conditions - which shows the lack of experience of the journalist writing this stuff; today the Tories are less than ten points ahead of Labour.

Conservatives note that they face a stronger government than Sir John Major's. None of its recent mistakes has been as ruinous for voters as the recession of the early 1990s Do you think the Economist journalist has seen what's coming round the corner in 2008 ? . Neither is it as exhausted of ideas: Sir John never produced anything as vaulting as the children's plan unveiled on December 11th.The journalist who wrote this should receive immediate drug testing as they must be the only person, not a paid up supporter of Gordon Brown, to believe such a thing.

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To see the full thing in its, ahem, glory see here.

Reading The Economist has been one of the regular pleasures of my adult life. It really upsets me to see how the woolly and dishonest thinking and practices of the New Labour project has corroded its standards.