Saturday, January 26, 2008

What's Left: a blog project

Over the next week or two, I'll be concentrating on Nick Cohen's book "What's Left?". The reasons for that will become apparent, but suffice to say Mr Cohen elucidates many of the same criticisms of the 'left' I have made and continue to make. He does so from the position of someone who has been, and claims still to be, of the left.

"What's Left?" is a compendium of interesting issues concentrating on the decline and in some cases fall of the principled left; some dealt with to my satisfaction and some not, but all of which I'd like to get to grips with. The reason I care so much about the left is because they have formed the opposition to traditionalists and conservatives in Britain for the last 120 years, and if they no longer do so, who will form that opposition? And what will be their alternative vision for Britain, if any?

I estimate that I agree with Mr Cohen on about 90% of the issues he discusses. What are the implications of that, given that I deem myself to be on the right (although what that means today is almost as murky as Mr Cohens 'left')?

I will be taking the issues in the order they appear in the book, and then moving on to the reviewers and critics responses to them. Needless to say, I have been deeply impressed by the book, and hope that my comments might encourage other people to read it.

No comments: