The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Link: CF Diary: Martine Martin: How to make a “Tory Girl” from scratch.

Martine Martin’s experience of education turned her from Labour to Conservative. I found her CF article quite touching. It reminded me of my own counter-educational experiences at the hands of the Labour Party, which I have blogged about ad nauseam.

I didn’t win an assisted place. None was on offer then. My local authority was red to the core and an early-adopter of the comprehensive fallacy. I struggled at a bog standard comp, as did my wife. We didn’t go to the Universities we should have, but we still found our “way out.” We were lucky. Perhaps we were tougher than most. Perhaps it was because we met so young and supported each other in the face of anti-educational “peer pressure.” As I said; lucky.

My conscience still troubles me about the many young people from my background who, just like Martine’s siblings, don’t get the life chances they deserve. Tony Blair’s conscience won’t be troubling him, because that utter fake never met any such young people at his school.

The Guardianistas have a nerve to claim a monopoly on social conscience. The Labour Party, and its despicable middle-class fellow-travellers in particular, have done more harm to the life chances of working class kids than anyone.

Martine is working on a research project into “conservative-ish political blogs”. If you have one of those, head on over to her site and volunteer to answer her questionnaire. This is a young woman who has earned the right to our support and encouragement.