The Tories barking as the caravan moves on

It was interesting that when Michael Gove was having a go at "Lads' Mags" today, he was also complimentary about women's magazines:

Gove told the Institute for Public Policy Research that women's magazines, by contrast, aim to address their readers in a mature and responsible way.

I think he is putting himself in a ludicrous position by setting himself as a judge of taste like this. I am surprised, for example, that he didn't mention the impact of "size zero" models, pictured in women's magazines, on young women.

I also notice that he didn't mention the Sun's Page Three - seen by far more people than Lad's Mags.

When challenged on the radio, Gove said he didn't want to ban Lads' Mags or censor them - just have a "conversation" with them. This is disingenuous. He knows that these magazines are driven by fierce competition. I remember seeing a documentary about them. They basically have to show alluring pictures of women to sell copies. I don't condone that. But Gove obviously understands those market forces - after all he is a Conservative. His party has spent much of its time teaching us about the inevitability of market forces.

So, the Tories realise that their complaining about Lads' Mags and "feckless fathers" is not going to change anything. As A Lanson Boy pointed out this is a cynical attempt to curry favour in certain quarters - and certainly not with young men. Lanson Boy is right about the aim to be popular with women - Gove specifically mentioned that he had received favourable feedback from women, in his radio interview.

(I should also mention in passing Gavin Whenman's excellent deconstruction of the Tory hypocrisy on lads' mags - given Cameron's front page photo in GQ recently.)

But this Lads' mags example seems part of a trend - the Tories seem to be acting like dogs howling at the moon, in complaining about the modern world - without actually proposing anything feasibly concrete to correct it.

-We've had Ed Vaizey raising the cosy spectre of John Major's maids cycling through the mist to Holy Communion.

-We've had Boris Johnson saying he'll bring back the Routemaster bus - a probably daft promise which he'll end up reneging on or at least delivering in a very modified form.

-We've had Alan Duncan saying that we must hold on to red telephone boxes at all costs.

-We've had Michael Gove today bemoaning the fact that many people have tatoos these days.

It seems the Tories are like the dogs that bark as the caravan moves on. Much of what they complain about, they were responsible for engendering in the first place (eg the reduction in phone boxes must have something to do with the privatisation of BT, which they executed). But what is remarkable is their pretence that they will do anything about the things they complain about. Who are they trying to kid?