UK: Howard's Tories show their true face

[Michael Z]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3274245.stm

David Davis backs reintroduction of death penalty.

Just as I predicted. The Tories under Michael Howard are descending back into the cynical right-wing populism the Conservative party was hated for during the Major era.

What price on Charles Kennedy being leader of the opposition in 2005?

[Michael Z]

RP and English are absolutely right there. Furthermore, it's no so much the fact that David supports the death penalty which vexes me - it's the fact that he is indulging in lowest common denominator politics of the worst kind. His statements were blatantly designed to attract headlines and appeal to the basest instincts of the British people. I hate that kind of populism. It's patronising and insulting.

In a way I should thank Mr. Davis, because he reminded me of why I would never vote for the Conservatives.

[Michael Z]

I'm with RP here. Making it illegal wouldn't stop women who want to have an abortion from doing so anyway; if anything, it would ensure that hundreds of women will undergo illegal and therefore unsupervised, and therefore extremely dangerous procedures.

I generally share the sentiment expressed above, that abortion is abhorrent (what people also tend to forget is the serious emotional trauma women can go through), but perhaps a necessary evil in the case of rape or serious medical concerns.

Some regard abortion as murder, but ultimately that depends on whether you believe that life begins at birth, or at conception.