A chara, – The Irish Times editorial (November 5th) on Kemi Badenoch’s Tory leadership victory had a somewhat unfortunate heading: “Lurching further right”. With all the negative connotations surrounding “far-right” politics and ideology, both here and in Britain, as well as elsewhere in Europe, I would have thought that your newspaper, once renowned for its own brand of conservatism, might have chosen a more balanced headline.
While “conservatism” does, indeed, lie to the right of the political spectrum, “further right” contains its own connotations, as in “How much farther is far right?” As for “lurching”, the dictionary definition is unkind: “abrupt, unsteady, uncontrolled movement; stagger”.
Perhaps a “swing” to a more “conservative” outlook would be beneficial, all things considered? After all, as your editorial implies, conservatism could be described as “right-thinking”, could it not? – Is mise,
PETER DECLAN O’HALLORAN,
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Belturbet,
Co Cavan.
Sir, – Concerning the Conservative Party leadership, you say that Margaret Thatcher was no scion of Oxbridge.
In fact, she was a daughter of Oxford University, where she took a degree in chemistry, and her tutor was Nobel Prize-winner Dorothy Hodgkin. Thatcher was prouder of becoming the first prime minister with a science degree than becoming the first female prime minister.
Kemi Badenoch is the first leader of any political party to have a degree in systems engineering. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.