Political Compass

[WATFORD zero]

probably depends who is answering on behalf of parties, then there's personal preference against pragmatism of public policy.

i'm pretty sure the compass results have been skewed right, there is no way our current and previous few governments are that far right economically (which is supposed to be the measure for the x axis). maybe the metrics have changed, i remember more economic questions.

I believe the political parties are based on their manifestos of the time (hence being primarily based on GEs time wise). And as pointed out above, I wouldn't read too much into the axis positioning, it's all relative.

 

[chickens]

The centre is a load of old nonsense, although -- like the Tories -- it's an extremely popular load of old nonsense. You've pretty much illustrated why it is a load of old nonsense in this post. Mind you, the political compass is a load of old nonsense too.

Have a coffee, and a Snickers if it helps. The centre is exactly as much of a nonsense as “left” and “right” are.

The whole point of having a centre is in trying to achieve balance. Rather than being wedded to an ideology that predisposes a government to use one tool regardless of its suitability, it’s the idea of pragmatic government, that uses the right tool for the job.

We’ve all heard the phrase “when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” - that’s our current government that is.

The Conservative answer to everything seems to be privatisation, for essential utilities and infrastructure this is a nonsense, these are the basic building blocks of a civilized nation. Socialism is the answer here, utilities for all, paid for by all. Not a dirty word in this instance. In instances where there can be genuine independent competition, capitalism is usually the right answer.

To my mind left and right are equally dead ends. They can force their proponents into making poor decisions simply to maintain ideological consistency. Most people don’t care, they just want their public services to work.

This is where (to my mind) Labour should score over the Conservatives. The current Conservatives want the trappings of power, but don’t want responsibility for running anything. Labour should at least be able to appoint capable administrators, and be more willing to be ideologically flexible.

The current Conservative Party is lost in its own culture wars, and nobody looking in from outside is particularly impressed.

 

[Silverhatch]

Have a coffee, and a Snickers if it helps. The centre is exactly as much of a nonsense as “left” and “right” are.

The whole point of having a centre is in trying to achieve balance. Rather than being wedded to an ideology that predisposes a government to use one tool regardless of its suitability, it’s the idea of pragmatic government, that uses the right tool for the job.

We’ve all heard the phrase “when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” - that’s our current government that is.

The Conservative answer to everything seems to be privatisation, for essential utilities and infrastructure this is a nonsense, these are the basic building blocks of a civilized nation. Socialism is the answer here, utilities for all, paid for by all. Not a dirty word in this instance. In instances where there can be genuine independent competition, capitalism is usually the right answer.

To my mind left and right are equally dead ends. They can force their proponents into making poor decisions simply to maintain ideological consistency. Most people don’t care, they just want their public services to work.

This is where (to my mind) Labour should score over the Conservatives. The current Conservatives want the trappings of power, but don’t want responsibility for running anything. Labour should at least be able to appoint capable administrators, and be more willing to be ideologically flexible.

The current Conservative Party is lost in its own culture wars, and nobody looking in from outside is particularly impressed.

The Conservative Party has been lost in its own culture war since Heath took us into the EEC. Farage, incredibly, spooked Cameron enough to grant a referendum. A Brexit victory emboldened the ERG. The Tories do not want to govern. They want to control the levers of power to aggrandise their own narrowing band of supporters with their textbook fear narrative. They ARE the establishment and will do everything to stay in power.

 

[BadFish]

probably depends who is answering on behalf of parties, then there's personal preference against pragmatism of public policy.

i'm pretty sure the compass results have been skewed right, there is no way our current and previous few governments are that far right economically (which is supposed to be the measure for the x axis). maybe the metrics have changed, i remember more economic questions.

Yeah I think that the questions are a bit skewed. I don't have a huge amount of faith in it as a measure.

 

[chickens]

The Conservative Party has been lost in its own culture war since Heath took us into the EEC. Farage, incredibly, spooked Cameron enough to grant a referendum. A Brexit victory emboldened the ERG. The Tories do not want to govern. They want to control the levers of power to aggrandise their own narrowing band of supporters with their textbook fear narrative. They ARE the establishment and will do everything to stay in power.

I agree completely that it was the emergence of Farage that spooked Cameron, he saw the prospect of his vote being reduced by UKIP the same way that the Conservatives have always relied upon opposition votes being split between the Lib Dems and Labour, usually handing the Conservatives the keys to Number 10.

Anyway, we’ve drifted off topic, I quite liked the Political Compass, though will agree with @Machiavelli that it is probably a load of old nonsense.

 

[peterward]

 

[Biscuit]

I've always sat slightly to the left of centre, and this has been reflected perfectly.

I find the far left to be argumentative, self-righteous idealogues - and the far right to be racist thickos.

 

[Biscuit]

EDIT.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I'm surprised. I always thought of myself as right leaning but can't agree with the questions about multi nationals.

View attachment 167371

Likewise - I'd say I was right of centre but I'm not sure the questions really are the correct ones to measure someone's political compass.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

View attachment 167396

Feigns surprise !

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Feigns surprise !

 

[nicko31]

Here's an interesting couple of Compasses. One of where the major UK parties were from 1970's to 2017

View attachment 167375

And one of where they were at the 2019 election
View attachment 167376

I thought Labour were getting pretty authoritarian in the 2000's but the Tories are definitely taking us to another level. Not far behind Trump on the scale

 

[WATFORD zero]

I thought Labour were getting pretty authoritarian in the 2000's but the Tories are definitely taking us to another level. Not far behind Trump on the scale

Agree re Labour in 2000s but It is quite remarkable how extreme the Conservative party had become over the last two elections, more extreme than any time in the last 50 years, as highlighted by many on here at the time.

But a huge number who voted for them didn't give the manifesto a glance, they were sold on their three words and completely ignored the implications. Apparently they knew exactly what they were voting for or it was a price worth paying

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Your Political Compass​

Economic Left/Right: -7.0
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.77​

Show

i think I probably expected that…..

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Have a coffee, and a Snickers if it helps. The centre is exactly as much of a nonsense as “left” and “right” are.

The whole point of having a centre is in trying to achieve balance. Rather than being wedded to an ideology that predisposes a government to use one tool regardless of its suitability, it’s the idea of pragmatic government, that uses the right tool for the job.

We’ve all heard the phrase “when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” - that’s our current government that is.

The Conservative answer to everything seems to be privatisation, for essential utilities and infrastructure this is a nonsense, these are the basic building blocks of a civilized nation. Socialism is the answer here, utilities for all, paid for by all. Not a dirty word in this instance. In instances where there can be genuine independent competition, capitalism is usually the right answer.

To my mind left and right are equally dead ends. They can force their proponents into making poor decisions simply to maintain ideological consistency. Most people don’t care, they just want their public services to work.

This is where (to my mind) Labour should score over the Conservatives. The current Conservatives want the trappings of power, but don’t want responsibility for running anything. Labour should at least be able to appoint capable administrators, and be more willing to be ideologically flexible.

The current Conservative Party is lost in its own culture wars, and nobody looking in from outside is particularly impressed.

Reminds me of that great Indy band of the 90s, Tony Blair and the Art of the Possible.

After Cameron's Blair impersonation meant he deluded himself into having a no-strings (not even a 60% bar for change, as we had when we joined) Brexit vote, the tories have had to lurch onto culture wars in order to provide some pretext for their existence.

Given that the hard left, who still regard Blair as a right wing traitor, have been constantly grumbling about Starmer, I have some hope that his GE win may herald some sanity and decency in our politics for a while.

 

[sydney]

Eco LR -4.75

Lib Auth -1.95

 

[nicko31]

It is quite remarkable how extreme the party had become over the last two elections, more extreme than any time in the last 50 years, as highlighted by many on here at the time.

But a huge number who voted for them didn't give the manifesto a glance, they were sold on their three words and completely ignored the implications. Apparently they knew exactly what they were voting for or it was a price worth paying

You have to give it to them, until now its been a masterclass in persuading ordinary folk to act against their own interests.

 

[Bakero]

Those surprised by their position on the political compass may like to have a go at this for a second opinion: https://www.britainschoice.uk/the-quiz/

It tells me I'm a "Progressive Activist": city-dwelling, Guardian-reading, and highly-educated. More commonly known as the tofu-eating wokerati.

NB. As with the compass, it's just a bit of fun and the results are not binding.

 

[Audax]

Have a coffee, and a Snickers if it helps. The centre is exactly as much of a nonsense as “left” and “right” are.

The whole point of having a centre is in trying to achieve balance. Rather than being wedded to an ideology that predisposes a government to use one tool regardless of its suitability, it’s the idea of pragmatic government, that uses the right tool for the job.

We’ve all heard the phrase “when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” - that’s our current government that is.

The Conservative answer to everything seems to be privatisation, for essential utilities and infrastructure this is a nonsense, these are the basic building blocks of a civilized nation. Socialism is the answer here, utilities for all, paid for by all. Not a dirty word in this instance. In instances where there can be genuine independent competition, capitalism is usually the right answer.

To my mind left and right are equally dead ends. They can force their proponents into making poor decisions simply to maintain ideological consistency. Most people don’t care, they just want their public services to work.

This is where (to my mind) Labour should score over the Conservatives. The current Conservatives want the trappings of power, but don’t want responsibility for running anything. Labour should at least be able to appoint capable administrators, and be more willing to be ideologically flexible.

The current Conservative Party is lost in its own culture wars, and nobody looking in from outside is particularly impressed.

Well said. The centre ground is all about having the flexibility to apply the right solution to each problem that arises without trying to force some form of (left or right) dogmatic political ideology over the top. As you say, privatisation is not always the answer. Public ownership is also not always the right answer. And sometimes, something in between could be the right answer.

It was ideology that inspired Truss to drive our economy off a cliff. It's ideology that's driving Sunak to abandon pro-green policy (outdated ideology too, there's plenty of new right-wing ideology positions that recognise pro-green policy as being important for our economic future).

 

[Chicken Run]

Those surprised by their position on the political compass may like to have a go at this for a second opinion: https://www.britainschoice.uk/the-quiz/

It tells me I'm a "Progressive Activist": city-dwelling, Guardian-reading, and highly-educated. More commonly known as the tofu-eating wokerati.

NB. As with the compass, it's just a bit of fun and the results are not binding.

View attachment 167417

Well you are well and truly amongst your kind in these parts