Nanny state is the deregatory term for it, its definitely from the left.

It was actually a good idea, police have basically agreed not to prosecute unless the offense actually warrants prosecution - they have been given discretion. It came about after somebody beat their child with a riding crop and got away with it under the old 'reasonable force' law.

So spanking your kids probably isn't illegal?

Spanking your kids is theoretically illegal, but you almost certainly won't get in trouble. Its kind of like how everybody here drives 5-8 km/h over the speed limit - the police just choose not to enforce the law as strictly as they could.

No, its called liberalism.

Liberalism, nor conservatism fit into a true ideology, as they mix values that are usually polar opposites of the eachother:

Conservatism combines mostly free-market ideas with certain social constraints (gay marriage, abortion, drugs, ect)

Liberalism combines moderate economic ideas with fewer, but existing social constraints (corporal punishment, smoking bans, hate speech,ect)

Neither party is actually 'conservative' (which should be authoritarian, since conservation wuld seek to constrict social principles and economics for fear of major changes) or liberal (which would be libertarian, since liberal is derived from the word liberty).

The real polar opposites are between libertarianism (classic liberalism - free to do whatever, but be responsible) and authoritarianism (free to do little, with responsibily to and by the government). Most ideologies fit somewhere in those constraints.

If you want to understand the ideologies, head over to politicalcompass.org

Conservativism is whatever it is in context, much like Liberalism. Currently the order of the day in America is a mostly free market economy with social values that can generally date back to the 70s or so, and relatively few controls for wealth disparity. Liberals envision progress as institutionalizing new cultural values towards gays, birth control, etc., as well as putting controls for wealth disparity in place, conservatives want to hold the established order.

Liberalism in 19th century Europe was very, very close to our perception of Libertarianism, whereas the Conservatives of 19th century Europe had ideas that would seem downright barbaric today. Theirs is a contextualized ideology

come to scotland.

trashleg said: come to scotland.

It's -16 degrees at the moment isn't it? Maybe a tad too cold for Mafoo

trashleg said: come to scotland.

I've actually considered doing this, one day

How's the food

Khuutra said: trashleg said: come to scotland. I've actually considered doing this, one day How's the food

Amazing! 

Haggis is really nice. Aberdeen Angus beef is probably the best beef in the world. The fish is also great. Britain has some of the best produce in the world.

tombi123 said: Khuutra said: trashleg said: come to scotland. I've actually considered doing this, one day How's the food Amazing!  Haggis is really nice. Aberdeen Angus beef is probably the best beef in the world. The fish is also great. Britain has some of the best produce in the world.

See I've always figured that. I'd like to try haggis, but I'd need to make my own and do you know how hard it is to find sheep stomach in Toronto

The answer is very.

I can't eat barley, though

God, not being able to have anything related to wheat sucks