I whole heartedly agree it is a scandal that nurses pay depends upon which side of the border they work on. I would like to draw your attention to an even greater anomoly. An optometrist in England is paid £18.85 per NHS eye examination, whereas in Scotland they recieve £36 (soon to be £38), and in Wales the figure is £40. Another example of the English NHS being starved of funding.

Michael Dyer MCOptom, North Shields, England

From a purely UK perspective, I think Mr Baker misses the point.

Mr Blair truly, deeply and lovingly worships Power and Money, especially when their wielders benefit himself. Those are his guiding principles.

Mr Cameron, on the other hand, keeps his true beliefs secret. That is his strength right now. But when he becomes Prime Minister, I would not be at all surprised to discover that his secret is that he is a traditional Conservative.

Michael Smith, Southampton, UK

would not vote for either of them,both are puppets or should that be muppets?

cliff, Southampton, uk

It was thatchers conservatives who decided to call welfare recipients "customers", which is incredibly stupid or incredibly,incredibly evil.

Bill MacLeod, Denny, U.K.

It is with some derision that I read that the government's next con trick is to make nurses smile at their patients. I am a nurse working in the community for a cash strapped PCT. My colleagues and I have endured a recruitment freeze for over two years, which means that month by month we struggle to maintain a service as more and more of our colleagues move on to better jobs outside of the NHS or seek to retire before the job kills them. To add insult to injury we have been stitched up by agenda for change, which far from improving our pay and conditions of service, in many instances has worsened them. How this government is getting away with what they are doing to the health service is beyond me. Despite this most of us strive to provide a high level of care to our patients, and it is a thankless task. Smile at our patients - is that all this cynical government can come up with? Don't make me laugh!

Undisclosed, Undisclosed, Undisclosed

Since so many are feering something, I might as well chime in with what I fear.
I fear that there are no more coservatives in America! Those who are willing to look past the Patriot Act, Federal meddling in education, socialized perscrition drugs for the elderly and the turning of a blind eye to the administation's ignoring the Constitution really shouldn't call themselves conservatives or even Americans. They don't deserve to be here.
Those who are looking for a federal handout or to be protected by a benign police state should try living somewhere else.

Jim Walton, Washington DC,

Where are the "statesmen"???? I don't see a Reagan, Churchill, or anyone that has firm moral beliefs, principles and has the ability to project them and use them everyday. What is one to do? I will wait and see...

Alexandra J, Palm Springs, CA, USA

Maybe you should get out and about sometime Gerard and discover what you mean by conservative, because most rank-and-file Republicans I come into contact with in the US are scary beings and getting scarier. Conservatism there got shoved aside a long time ago by the power and the glory.

Paul McCloskey, London, England

Hobson's choice springs to mind...

Dominic Graham de Montrose, London,

"True conservatives in Britain....rightly see the country on the road to a state-controlled serfdom", Surely you can't be serious? What an absurd exaggeration.

Jamie, London,

How could your children suffer any more than under Bush. America has lost the first decade of the 21st century.

Bill, Atlanta, GA

The US economy is better then ever, not really sure what R. Bourn is talking about. Regarding the war in Iraq, that was won about three years ago. The post-war reconstruction is taking time and resources but then again, what post-war reconstruction hasnt?!?! The weak-bellied people of this world have huffed and hawed from the day that President Bush wanted to have full access for weapons inspectors how could they view the outcome of iraq any differently when they've invested so much time criticizing it. Oh and suprise, surprise, the latest military surge in Iraq has produced already! 80% drop in terrorist attacks in Iraq. George Bush will be remembered as an incredibly strong and able leader who led his nation through the worst attack by a foreign force on American soil all the while saving and restoring the US economy and preventing another terrorist attack on US territory. The rest of the world could only dream of being led by such a great man!

Kevin, Rockville Centre, United States/New York

It's the "Hillary factor"... conservatives are terrified, and increasingly motivated to vote for "anyone but Hillary." McCain seems to have lost his vigor... and Romney is an unknown factor, nation-wide... so it leaves Giuliani... the more traditional conservative candidates find it difficult to gain national and centrist appeal... Before his election to the presidency, I recall that Ronald Reagan was viewed with great skepticism by portions of the right... and now he has become a conservative icon.

Tony Francis, Wichita, KS/USA

The question isn't whether principles or polls shall prevail (polls always do), but whether in appealing pragmatically conservatives dilute their principles. Moreover, an attempt at renewing conservatism is as likely to reinvigorate as it is to retard. The problem with the notion that Mr. Baker here expresses, "a scaled-down conservatism is still better than no conservatism at all," is that it establishes precedent - succeeding conservatives may be, as a result, less conservative. Each election establishes a sort of ideological trajectory. Voters on either side of the Atlantic should certainly not forsake the good in pursuit of the perfect, but if they wish to see conservative policies enacted they ought to put forth more effort in securing genuinely conservative candidates.

Derek Andeson, Denver, Colorado, USA

It is when conservatives accept the ideas of the Left that those ideas become entrenched and real damage is done for the future. As long as the conservatives keep their heads and wait for the inevitable economic collapse the lefties create, there is a way back from the brink. It was not Atlee who made the NHS a sacred cow, but Churchill accepting it; and it is still with us thanks to him, slowly draining away the economic vitality of this nation. Global Warming and all the Green claptrap Mr Cameron has chosen to follow has the potential of doing the same for the next generation. Any conservative leader following those ideas is just making it more difficult for his successors to do away with the mistakes of the Left when the time comes to fix the economy once again. Do not forget that what propelled Reagan and Thatcher to power was not their own abilities, but the dismal failure of Carter and Callaghan.

Frederick Davies, Oxford, UK

The American economy is not spluttering. Unemployment is low, despite the last few weeks lows, the stock market is at unprecedented highs. Yes not everything is rosy--see the housing market, but the American economy is pretty solid. What America does need is someone to reel in the spending (which means the democrats can't win) and you're correct, someone to regain some diplomacy and garner more respect & cooperation from our allies. Right now, I think Mitt Romney has that experience and background and the personality to do it.

Fred Garvin, Mission Viejo, California

I think in America the Conservatives are FINALLY beginning to get it together again. Frankly, the writer was spot on in assessing some of conservatism's problems. But I think our problems are more with "the delivery", rather than with "the message". Conservatives have to remember the basic principles that we stand for, and that individual integrity is where it all starts. We need to give it some time, but 2008 is just around the corner...

Bill Sanford, Grand Rapids, USA, Michigan

I'm a thoughtful conservative, born in Kent, Cambridge grad, and in 2004 naturalized as a US citizen. Despite the low Bush polls and 2006 elections, I still feel bullish about conservatism in the US, and I like Giuliani a lot.
Cameron?
Oh my goodness! I don't think the Tory party would know a conservative if they fell over one.

Simon Tavanyar, Nashua, NH

Very well stated. In the USA, conservatives need to throw out the "purity" tests of old and realize that this is a NEW era, which doen't mean it has to go back to the bad old days of left-wing control IF conservatives/Republicans realize Rudy G. may not be perfect, but he is still in line with at least 80% of their views on key issues. Can they say the same about Hillary/Obama?

Richard B. Czechowski, San Diego, USA/CA

As one of the Christian Right, albeit Catholic rather than Protestant, it is tiresome to once again read commentary that assumes those who are proper conservatives are onlythose who worship tax rates and money. Instead, I submit, a true conservative is a social one. As a consequence, there's no place for Giuliani or Romney at the top of the Republican ticket, although I waver a bit over McCain, disliking his eliteist Leftism but willing to accept him for no better reason than he's a fellow Viet-Nam War veteran.

dave Livingston, El Paso county, Colorado, USA

Mr. Baker, in my book true conservative politics has to be resting on principles (stableness, trustworthyness, reliability, respect for international law before all). Reviewing the legacy of Bush/Blair tells us a lot about the fatal consequences if those principles are getting violated.

Rolf Joachim Siegen, Kiev, Ukraine,

It seems conservatives in Britain and America are losing out, but for different reasons, old British conservatism is suffering from a worrying trend of knifing their leaders in the back when they fail once, which is why dave cameron has sacked one of his front bench for saying racism is ok because people might not mind it much. Conservatism in America is suffering from the record of the most incomptent president in recent history. George Bush has done America no favours in domestic or foreign policy. The disaster in New Orleans showed how unprepared his administration was to face any disaster, and his foreign policy has alienated and enraged the majority of industrialised nations, even those that have followed Bush's crusade into the middle east have done so because they felt they had to in order to gain economic or political support from the US. America needs someone who will respect international organisations, and do something to shore up the spluttering economy.

R. Bourn, Hull, England

You are spot on.

I fear the leftist may win and my children will suffer for it.

James Troscinski, Grosse Pointe Park, USA