Why is the Left so dominant in academia?

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Reply 120

United1892

Original post by Bupdeeboowah

Mr Corbyn is a fine example.

Yes sure.

Reply 121

Nightwing_

Original post by AlecRobertson

How successful was the Labour party between 1997 and 2005?

Firstly when I asked you about the evidence, this is not evidence. One could argue that there are very few successes of the Coalition and Conservative governments. The main points they keep touting are the cutting of the deficit (which has grown under conservative rule), creating jobs (less unemployment, but people than ever on zero hours contracts, who are essentially unemployed except for casual work), greenest government ever (just released a statement saying it is unlikely they will meet emission targets, especially as subsidies for renewable energy have been slashed). The list goes on and on.

Secondly I do not particularly see the Blair/Brown Labour era as left, they were viewed as left in relation to the Tories, but Blair had made a concious effort, which he was quite open about to shift the party to the right. I think it has been a long time since a truly left Labour were in power. I think after Labour shifted a lot of people pretty much lost sight of being left wing and settled for the centralist New Labour stance as the one they should rally behind more to prevent the right wing Tories getting in than anything else.

Reply 122

The Rad Prince

One other thing is that academics rely on public money so even if they are earning a salary which would make them comfortably middle class, they want new funding for their research.

Reply 123

the bear

academics think that the proletariat are charming scamps.

Reply 124

Llamageddon

It's not as dominant as you would think.

Reply 125

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by The Rad Prince

One other thing is that academics rely on public money so even if they are earning a salary which would make them comfortably middle class, they want new funding for their research.

Yes but why does that make them left wing?

Reply 126

The Rad Prince

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

Yes but why does that make them left wing?

Because the left is more willing to fund public services, I'm not saying the academics are constantly demanding more funding are wrong as such, I'm sure science has many uses which benefit the general public, but they're not really as self-less as they make out.

Reply 127

Gigabit

Original post by Nightwing_

You've mentioned Gordon Brown. Possibly the worst Prime Minister we've had, ever.

Promised an end to boom and bust, borrowed and borrowed and borrowed. The reason our defecit is so high is because of him.

Would you like to try again?

Reply 128

Nightwing_

Original post by AlecRobertson

Oh my god, do you literally only read what you want to read? I said I didn't agree with Blair or Browns leadership. Do you actually have anything to add to the conversation such as an actual structured argument as to why the right would be more beneficial to everyone?

Also, although I'm not sticking up for Labours leadership the financial crisis was a GLOBAL phenomenon, not British, this was not Labours fault, the same way it wouldn't have been the Conserrvatives fault had they happened to have been in power at the time (there were plenty of countries that had right wing governments that experienced the crash so left/right leanings have little to no impact).