I was once told by someone working in the Civil Service that when determining policies a Conservative government is led by their ideology, whilst a Labour government is led by evidence and facts. This would appear to be reflected in these political threads, where the more left wing posters back up their opinions with research (although this is on occasion not the most reliable evidence), while the more right wing ones appear to go with their gut instincts. This is not to say all Conservative ideology is wrong, but evidence based policies do seem to me to be preferable for the good of the country as a whole. And, the name calling and personally derogatory remarks on here come from both sides. Perhaps that is one thing we could all agree we have in common - we haven't actually grown up yet? 