Me and my views

To anyone reading I first of all say "welcome!". I just wanted to start this as a memo of my thoughts on the political world as it currently stands because everyone else gets to express their opinions so why not me as well? To be completely clear here these are my own personal views; they may line up with yours and they may not and I welcome and actively encourage discussion and debate but always respectfully. We all have our own opinions and we are allowed these.

Before my first real post, a little about me to get an idea of why I lean the way I do politically.

I am (at the time of writing) a 29 year old gay white male living in a major city in the U.K. I was raised on a council estate in what could generously be called a less affluent area, attended state schools, university with student loans, maintenance grants and a bursary and went on to post graduate study. I trained to be a barrister but didn't enjoy it so now I work in financial services. Between training and working I was unemployed for two years. (and I say all of this so that my biases or lack thereof are made clear). In terms of the political spectrum I would say I fall slightly to the left of centre-left so I see myself as falling somewhere between socialism and capitalism. I have always had a deep interest in politics and will always continue to have such an interest as I believe politics is of vital importance to everyone and not something to be ignored. It affects literally everything we do in our day to day lives. I identify as a "liberal" but I vote based on policy rather than personality (although that does play a part) and as such I'd say it is unlikely that I'd ever vote Conservative (they're typically too right wing and conservative with a small c for me) if they released a manifesto I agreed with I wouldn't rule out voting for them. As it is I tend to vote Green/Labour/Liberal Democrats though I have voted for an independent candidate in a local election a few years back.

So this is where I stand politically. Any posts in this blog are personal views only and not linked to any political party or other individual so if I support any party above another it is based on research alone.