The Christian Critique of the Politics of Left and Right

I came across these interesting articles discussing both conservatism and liberalism from the Christian point of view and identifying the problems Christians might have with both the politics of the Right and the Left as traditionally understood.

First, a discussion of Liberalism (left wing politics): http://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/03/001-the-problem-with-liberalism 

Then an equally interesting critique of conservatism (right wing politics): http://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/04/the-problem-with-conservatism

These are fairly long and detailed reads, but they helped me remember that the way of Jesus is not the same as any secular political philosophy. Although written against the backdrop of American politics, in which the poltiical spectrum is much further to the right than in the UK, they are still relevant to the British political system as well.