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  Keith. Someone can be right on social issues but more left of economic (or the other way round) so it is very difficult to quantify. That said I think there is an attitude of mind that can best determine a left/right spectrum but it is still not perfect.
  
  Left = Big Government - The Labour Party has shown in government that they are proponents of that with high taxation, high spending, a tendancy always to regulate and legislate, to set centrally set targets and so on.
  
  Right = Small Govenment - The Conservative Party has also shown that this is where its instincts are in government. Privatisations, right to buy, and big society being the latest small government catchphrase. They also instinctively want lower taxation and less red tape and work towards that not always as successfully as they would like and will supress the low tax instincts because of the firm belief in 'sound money and finances' when necessary as we have now.
  
  Yes, as in the latter case you can always find examples in each Party where they have acted against base instincts, the Blair government did a certain amount of privatisation for instance and even Mrs T welded a big government approach over local government with rate capping. But overall they run true to type if you dig below the surface.
  
  As for the LibDems - they are a weird lot and I think we can agree on that. Attracting protest votes they try to appeal to whoever gets fed up with either of the main parties because of the tough decisions they make. They will pose as something different to each audience they speak to and now they have trapped themselves in government having to make those tough decisions so they get exposed for what they are. People who prefer to hide from the tough choices in elections have usually hidden away by voting for those cuddly LibDems to feel good about themselves but now they have no home and find their vote actually meant something and the poor dears are getting all pannicky looking for a new home.
  
  So left of centre by way of political affiliation I would suggest: Labour: Green: LibDems (some exeptions)
  
  Right of centre: Conservative: UKIP: Orange Book LibDems
  
  Pariahs none of us want to be associated with - BNP. they have extreme left wing economics supported by thuggish views on race. Well perhaps they should have just their own category of thug then.
  
  Overall I would say most posters are either non-political or 'left' but there remain probably more Conservative political activists posting than Labour activists.

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