Why did the British press make the Tories Blue and Labour Red? To confuse us over here?

Captain Hilts

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 07:43 AM
Original message

Why did the British press make the Tories Blue and Labour Red? To confuse us over here?

Just when we thought we had the 'red' and 'blue' references all dug in - as a result of the 2000 election - Britain comes along and does this.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Odin2005

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 08:08 AM
Response to Original message

1. In most countries it is Left = Red and Right = Blue.

It was the same in the US until the 2000 election, a lot of old election maps and charts tend to have the Dems as red and the Pukes as blue.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

SoCalDem

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. Didn't the red v blue used to indicate incumbents v challengers n/t

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Odin2005

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 08:31 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. I can't remember.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Recovered Repug

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 09:08 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. I believe that it was after the 2000 election that

colors became associated with specific parties. I seem to remember screen shots of past elections with the incumbents sometimes red and other times blue, so it might have been a network thing.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

muriel_volestrangler

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 08:11 AM
Response to Original message

2. I blame the French

Edited on Fri May-07-10 08:17 AM by muriel_volestrangler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXOjm95WWo

From:

The red flag on the Champ-de-Mars, 1791

In July 1791, King Louis XVI and the Royal family attempted to flee France, dressed as ordinary people. They were arrested in Varennes, on their way to Germany. It is often said that the son of the post house's owner recognized the king after a coin. Other said that the royal princesses were recognized because they were not able to walk correctly without a servant to assist them. Betrayal might be a more rational explanation.

The king was brought back to Paris. A "Republican petition" requiring the overthrowing the king was deposed on Champ-de-Mars, where the F�te de la F�d�ration had been celebrated on 14 July 1790.
A lot of people gathered to sign the petition. On 17 July, when the meeting turned into a riot, the Mayor of Paris, Bailly, ordered to hoist the red flag, which meant at that time that the mob should disperse. The National Guards shot without warning. More than 50 rioters were killed and immediatly considered as the first martyres of the Revolution. The red flag, "shed with the martyrs' blood" became the symbol of the Revolution by a weird inversion of its initial symbolism.

Source: M. Pastoureau Les embl�mes de la France

http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/fr_revol.html#red

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

truebrit71

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 09:14 AM
Response to Original message

6. They've been that colour for as long as I can remember...

..not a recent development..

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

MgtPA

(390 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 09:15 AM
Response to Original message

7. Bluebloods?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

WeDidIt

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 09:18 AM
Response to Original message

8. Actually WE changed the way we reference the parties

It used to be Blue = Incumbent party and Red = Party out of power.

That paradigm held until 2000, after which Red became the color of Republicans and Blue became the color of Democrats.

We'll see if that new paradigm holds when they report the elections in 2012. My bet is that the color references are now too entrenched for any news agency to go back to the old way of designating via color.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

alcibiades_mystery

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 09:22 AM
Response to Original message

9. That's the traditional way in England - it's the US that is topsy turvy

Billy Bragg, from Red to Blue Lyrics

Another day dawns grey, its enough to make me spit
But we go on our way, just putting up with it
And when I try to make my feelings known to you
You sound like you have changed from red to blue

You're a father now, you see things in different ways
For every parent will gain perspective on their wilder days
But that alone does not explain the changes I see in you
The way you've drifted off from red to blue

Sometimes I think to myself
Should I vote red for my class or green for our children?
But whatever choice I make
I will not forsake

So you bought it all, the best your money could buy
And I watched you sell your soul for their bright shining lie
Where are the principles of the friend I thought I knew
I guess you let them fade from red to blue

I hate the compromises that life forces us to make
We must all bend a little if we are not to break
But the ideals you've opted out of,
I still hold them to be true
I guess they weren't so firmly held by you

-------------------------

US election colors used to switch every four years. It was the Bush-Gore election that cemented the idea of a 'Red State.'

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

LeftishBrit

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 10:04 AM
Response to Original message

10. No, it's always been that way here.

Labour = Red; Tories = Blue; LibDem (or Liberal in the past) = Yellow.

In fact, Red generally means left-wing in Europe, which makes it seem very funny to us that Republicans would call themselves 'red' - seems like the last colour with which you'd expect them to be associated.

The Labour Party's traditional song is called 'The Red Flag' and begins 'The people's flag is deepest red/ It's shrouded oft our martyred dead' and the chorus is:

"Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Beneath its shade we'll live and die.
Though cowards scoff and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here!'

(A bit inappropriate when sung by most modern Labour politicians, especially the sneering traitor Tony Blair, but still...)

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

SidDithers

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri May-07-10 10:22 AM
Response to Original message

11. Liberals are red, Conservatives are blue in Canada too...

New Democrats are orange :)

Sid

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Fri May 03rd 2024, 04:16 AM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.