Shirley Williams defects to the Celestial Alliance

[redsquirrel]

A very stupid article, that opens with this crap

To the end, Shirley Williams always described herself as a democratic socialist. In her 2009 autobiography, easily one of the best political memoirs of her generation, she describes a lifetime spent “trying to hammer out a compromise between capitalism and social justice, a compromise that might attract enough public support to be viable”. It is a carefully constructed sentence that still defines the key task facing progressive politics in modern democracies.

And does not get any better.
But one worth reading because it shows exactly what progressivism, or wet-anti-Toryism leads. To be fIr to Kettle he is at least more honest then some in his reason for supporting PR.

What can be done about this? As long ago as 1912, the Manchester Guardian’s Liberal editor and owner CP Scott complained that “while Liberalism and Labour are snapping and snarling at each other the Conservative dog may run away with the bone”. In Scott’s view, the problem “would disappear at once and for ever with any tolerable system of proportional representation”. Failing this, argued Scott, “there is nothing for it but mutual consideration … in a word, compromise”. Compromise – the very word Williams used a century later.

 

[William of Walworth]

I've never liked Martin Kettle --he's been consistently wet as you say

With infuriating on-the-one-hand-this, on-the-other-hand-that tendancies too!

And more generally, virtually all the Shirley Williams Guardian coverage has lacked any criticism of her at all.

There were plenty of Guardian readers back then who hated the SDP and its enabling of Thatcherism, but that view has been nowhere to be found .....

 

[William of Walworth]

Here's the Shirley Williams obituary by the way. Mildly interesting, but again, highly under-critical ....... Unsurprisingly!

 

[Ĝasper]

Shirley Williams brought in comprehensive schools, transitioning away from grammar school educational apartheid, based on 11+ exam results, and lets face it, your class.

Way before my time, but ive taken an interest in it. This is all i know of Shirley Williams. Why the dislike for her?

 

[tim]

Shirley Williams brought in comprehensive schools, transitioning away from grammar school educational apartheid, based on 11+ exam results, and lets face it, your class.

Way before my time, but ive taken an interest in it. This is all i know of Shirley Williams. Why the dislike for her?

Because she defecated to the SDP. Anyway, the Education Secretary who oversaw the bulk of schools becoming comprehensive was Margaret Thatcher.