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Are 'traditional values' set to make a political comeback?

Many are turning to the kind of social conservatism put forward by the SNP's Glasgow East victor, says John Haldane, professor of philosophy and the director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs in the department of moral philosophy at the University of St Andrews.

The trajectory from social justice, solidarity and Christian family values towards social engineering and lifestyle individualism is all but complete; yet the direction taken by Labour is not carrying it up to a newer Jerusalem, but precipitating it to a crash in metropolitan Babylon.

So what now? For the political commentators, the story is one of the end of Brown's premiership, the defeat of Labour at the next election and, by default, the coming to power of the Conservatives. But that is, at most, the beginning of another chapter, which may also be trouble-strewn, and for much the same reason. David Cameron has sought to "decontaminate the Tory brand", and that has involved aping the modernising liberalism of New Labour.

In Scotland, social conservatives are looking with new-found favour upon Alex Salmond's SNP, which is increasingly tolerant of traditional values, while socialists also see merit in a party that favours public services. That coalition of interest will further erode Labour north of the Border, but it may also put pressure on Mr Cameron to reconsider the virtues of social conservatism. A new politics may be beginning.

Full story at The Scotsman.