Things can only get better??????

[BeestonBoy]

Evening!!

Just wondering in the opinion of the general mass that is represented here. Can any one tell me just how the labour party has made this country any better or been a better party (i.e less sleaze and scandel) than the Conservative goverment every one seemed so eager to bannish all them long years ago. And also does any one have an opinion on where we would be now if the election had gone any other way. No hidden agenda here or a chance too air my own political veiws. Just a general wondering all feed back appreciated

Cheers
BB

[Sam Slater]

I've never ever voted in 12 years due to every party being a complete load of shit. At the bottom of that shit pile though, are the Tory party.

What did they have, 14-15 years in power? They did fuck all in that time apart from stand firm against the IRA & Argies.

Do I like the Labour government with it's constant lies & spin? No!
Do I think the Tories would have dealt with the NHS, Education, Job opportunities, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq and 7/7 any better? Hell no!!

Labour are bad, but the Tories are far more incompetent......

[Lizard]

There all a bunch of cunts.

hope this clarifies things.
Liz.

[mrchapel]

Yeah they did some things right since they got in. In their first term there was changes near me such as a new maternity wing to the local hospital along with a refurbishment, my old secondry school was using those old BBC computers when I left in the94, now it`s got upto date equipment.
Other things such as free tv license for over seventies and heating allowance ( and not the ?6 you got if the weather dropped below a certain temp for a week under the tories), encouraging single mothers to get into work and off benefits are all soon forgotten. Why? Because we went to Iraq and deposed a dictator who commited countless atrocities.
I`m not saying Labour are angels, but they have done some decent things in office though you wouldn`t know it the way some people go on about Blair like he was the anti christ

[Officer Dibble]

"What did they have, 14-15 years in power? They did fuck all in that time apart from stand firm against the IRA & Argies."

Sam, you usually talk sense but this is a very silly thing to say. Apart from the IRA and Argies there is the small matter of The Cold War, which was won by Ronald Ragan and Mrs T - without a shot being fired! There have been few (if any) more far reaching and momentous political events in my lifetime than the night the Berlin Wall was all but torn down. Who would have thought, back in the 60?s and 70?s, when we lived with the very real possibility of MAD, that the mighty Soviet Union could one day collapse with nothing more than a whimper ? brought to it?s inefficient knees trying to keep up with the brash, ?can do? west and the no nonsense ?Iron Lady?.

Then of course there is the huge issue of the nation?s wealth and standard of living. Maybe you are too young to remember what life was like in the late 70?s? Yes, there was great music, there were great films and books (and great porn!) but apart from that we were all SKINT, and the country was going to the economic dogs. Strikes were an everyday occurrence, the unions (infiltrated by commies) were determined to destroy industry and bring about the collapse of our society, so that they could then install a Soviet style workers ?paradise?. We were the laughingstock of Europe, Jim Callaghan and his Labour mob had buggered things up so much that Denis Healy had to go begging, cap in hand, to the IMF for a loan to stave of national bankruptcy! Then came the final straw ? ?The Winter Of Discontent? when public sector workers (already favoured by the then Labour government) decided that they weren?t going to empty the bins, put out fires, or bury the dead!

Yes, I think you?re probably to young to understand how appallingly skint we were back then. Ordinary folks could only dream about owning a house, buying a new car or going anywhere other than a caravan in ?Skeggy? for their hols. In fact they didn?t even dream about it the idea was so utterly preposterous. You would ask your mates if they fancied going out for a pint (and I mean A pint) but more often than not they would decline as they had expended all their meagre wages at the weekend and had to save their last 10 bob (50 pence) for their bus fares to work. That was what life was like for ordinary folk before Mrs T. But just 10 years later, after the unions had been kicked into touch, and a new, can-do, positive, entrepreneurial spirit had been nurtured amongst the respectable working class (Essex man) people were buying their own homes, new cars, taking foreign holidays and starting their own businesses! It was an incredible turn around. People were now optimistic because anything seemed possible. They were no longer serfs of the state, having to be thankful for poxy handouts. They were masters of their own destiny and could afford themselves a little self-respect. Yes, SELF RESPECT.

Life is very different now to what it was before Mrs T. The seeds of wealth and standard of living you (and everyone else in Britain) now enjoy were planted by Mrs T and the Tories back in the early 80?s. She made Britain great once more ? a political and economic force to be reckoned with. I think those are accomplishments are worth noting and being thankful for.

Those who decry Mrs T and her Tories are almost always privileged middleclass people who were students at the time of her reign. They didn?t have to worry, they had plenty of rosy career opportunities (and the attendant money) ahead of them. Yes, they could afford to be ultra pretentious tossers, haggin' out at the Students Union, wearing their fuckin? stupid Che Guevara hats and talking romantic bollocks about a class of people and life they knew nothing of. Twats! I guess there are many such people out there who are now doctors, bankers, solicitors, etc who look back with horror as they realise what pretentious berks they were. Well, that?s OK, being silly and naive is just part of growing up ? it?s the people who never grew out of it who we have to be wary of. These are the people who wish to keep the ordinary folk down, keep then as modern serfs beholden to them as agents of the state. They would consign working folk to a never ending nightmare of proletarian drudgery, down some fetid mine or in some skanky tractor factory, and now look on in horror as many working folk make good, cast off their economic shackles and become junior members of the landed classes. Yes, those 1980?s student union whallas can?t keep us down anymore ? because we?ve made our own way, made big wads, and that bestows on us the power to say ?T? fuck with ya!? instead of having to doff our caps, like in the dark days of yor.




Officer Dibble

[Sam Slater]

Tis true that I wasn't born until 76 and that the previous Labour government was some sort of 'Monty Python comedy sketch' but I'm old enough to remember blackouts in the mid 80's due to minors strikes etc..........oh and the caravan holidays in Skeggy.

I'm only 30 so my comparisons between the parties are mainly based on the Tories of 84-97 and the present Labour government.

During the late 80's my mother & father both worked their arses off, and yet still had fuck all. They couldn't afford a car or holiday, and my dad dreaded getting a cold as he'd be off work and unable to pay the rent.

These days, if both parents are working -even at minimum wage- they can just about afford to 'both' have a car, have TV's in every room (with DVD player), they can afford Broadband & SKY, holidays to Greece & Spain are normal, -maybe even the Caribbean or Mexico if they're feeling a little adventurous- and the kids walk around in Nike trainers with mobile phones & iPods. Restaurants are packed in town centres most nights due to families eating out which was unheard of in the late 80's - early 90's for the working class family.

When I left school in 92 there were no jobs at all. I had to choose between college and an annual ?26.25 grant, or a 40 hour, ?29.50 per week scheme. That's 74p an hour for fucks sake! That's the Tories I remember... These days a 16 year old with no qualifications can get a ?6.00ph job within hours.

I'm too young to know any better.........maybe 'Baroness' Thatcher did plant the seeds of what society's benefiting from today, but during the late 80's to early 90's from a working class families point of view, 'it didn't fucking seem like it.' None of my memories from that time are in colour ya know, everything's just grey....... Minors strikes, no European footy, poll tax riots, Hillsborough disaster, Jason Donovan in the charts and then leaving school to 74p an hour..................bollocks to that.

Don't get me wrong, the Tories had some good policies......like encouraging people to buy their own homes, but when I weigh the positives I remember against the negatives, I'd take Tony Blair anytime........

[Sam Slater]

Talking of Mrs Thatcher.........

...........Happy Halloween!