Properly speaking a conservative ought to be someone with the basic philosophy that if, it ain't broke don't fix it, and that unless it can be demonstrated that any proposed change is necessary, and represents a clear improvement, it'd be better to stick with the old ways.

That seems to me an excellent philosophy, and that many people who are left-wing or liberal or whatever you like to call it share. Especially people who value old songs and old music and old customs.

But it is a philosophy which is poles apart from that of the kind of conservatives who would tear the world apart to make a bit of money, and who think the sun shines out of the rear end of the rich and the powerful. Call that kind of thing progressive or call it regressive, call it conservative or liberal, either way it's the road to hell.

And in England at present, that's an attitude which is just as characteristic of New Labour as it is of Conservative. Which means that both parties are betraying their principles and their traditions in a different way. (And in America it appears to me much the same story, but perhaps with even less regard for the deserted principles.)