Gay Marriage

This has hit the news in the UK, as there was an initial vote in Parliament last night to give same-sex partners the right to get married. This was passed by 400 votes to 175 with the Conservatives split, with more voting against than for.

I, for one, think that this should have been resolved some time ago, so better late than never. But don't you think it is rather odd that it is the Coalition with the Conservatives that are pushing for this. It suggests that some (but not all - ed) Conservatives are not as conservative as one might think.  Not looking into the voting records I would presume that it is the liberal part of the Conservatives that voted for rather than against.

As an aside, there was a Matthew Parris article in The Times (online ring fenced by a money requirement - after all it is a Murdoch paper) a few days back which mentioned the historic vote in 1967 to decriminalise homosexual acts in private between people over the age of 21. What surprised me, was that in his article he mentioned that Mrs. Thatcher voted for the act, which upon a little bit of research, wikipedia is a wonderful tool, turns out to be true, and also here is the voting list from Hansard to prove it.

Now, given my perception of Mrs. T,  I would not have thought that at all. It is noteworthy, that she also voted for David Steel's act to Legalise Abortion. So I have to guess that she was more of a libertarian than I first thought.

Mrs T. was, however, a very divisive character in this country. Not surprising in many ways as she had her opinions and stuck to them (the Lady is Not for Turning), whether she turned out being right or wrong. It was the Poll Tax what took her down in the end - well that and a lot of nervy Tory MPs who were worried about the coming election. The poll tax caused enormous upset in the UK, particularly in Scotland where it was initially introduced. The Conservative vote in Scotland has never recovered from that faux-pas.

Strange where that took me, from Gay Marriage to Mrs Thatcher, odd way for the cookie to crumble. Maybe the next post will take me from Chairman Mao to Desmond Tutu, guess we shall have to wait and wonder.