We did make £10,000,000 out of one energy company last week - It was a fine because the company was basically stealing homeowners money.
Isn't Thatcher's funeral going to cost £10m...? Have I just made this thread go full circle and back on topic?
leeds fan in peace, you lot make me laugh how many of you lot remember the winter of 1979 ???? your fukin preciuos unions were reponible for rubbish piles high in the street, the dead being unburied, cancer patients being turned away, and that twat scargill and his other union bullies stood buy and grinned whilst the WORKING class were intimited bu there boot boys, maggie stopped all that, read your history and get over yourselves , lverppol is a great city but **** some of your lot have got more chips on your shoulder than harry ramsden, you desreve that cock brenda as a manager
You brother (said in most fraternal tones) should go and learn your history. Just ask yourself why the Winter of Discontent happened and you'll find that workers did not go out on strike without good reason - despite what the Sun and the mail might say. BTW in 1979 Arthur Scargill was ensconced in his office whilst his miners were either in the club or 'grabbing ovies'. It's silly people like you who supported the biggest rape of the truth wealth of this country - one that is still on-going today.
clarkeyking... You do realise that its not just people from Liverpool on here right? Also, feel free to check in on other boards, there are plenty of Thatcher threads about PS...come in peace but couldn't resist a BR jibe eh
"Companies can't be wasteful and inefficient as they go out of business." What utter ****ing comedy when you consider rail franchises. They're set up so that the government subsidises the fares so that they have to make a profit, and even if they can't manage that they simply hand the keys back over at no extra cost and the government has to take back the franchise, as in the East Coast Main Line. But this doesn't stop the same firm bidding for other franchises - that depends on who gets the best backhander at the DfT, and which civil servants who decide the franchises will then move on to directorships on the winning franchisee.In 20 years over £35bn has been siphoned out of the railways into the shareholders of private companies, and not through any magical 'efficiencies' - in real terms the overall subsidy to the railways is twice what it was in 1994 per passenger mile travelled. Complete garbage to talk about private companies being more efficient. Just Google Jarvis rail, or read some back issues of Private eye, and you'll read all that needs to be said about the subject.
My respect for Liverpool fans has gone up after those banners yesterday. The only people that believe she was good for Britain are the blind patriotic idiots in the South and the people she brainwashed via the media. She destroyed Britain and created generations of people that are blinded by money thanks to her neoliberalist ideals. We now have to "sell" ourselves and have become slaves to employers with 500 people fighting over every job with **** pay with workers rights resembling that of Stalinist regime. I've come to blows with many for comparing her to Hitler but there is a direct comparison. She tried to destroy industry, she hated the North and tried to break communities in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Merseyside, Yorkshire and the North East in particular. She believed in ethnic cleansing of the Irish and was a compatriot of Keith Joseph who believed in sterilising the poor. She won't have to explain her links to Paeodophiles like Savile though nor funding of terrorism (Saddam) and murderous dictators (Pinochet) Utter filth
The unions were striking for better pay and conditions due to inflation being out of control which doesn't seem too much to ask given the fact we can fork out £10m for a funeral nowadays. Put your copy of the Daily Mail/The Sun in the bin and observe the facts. This is what the Tories wanted all along, divide and conquer. We should all be together not fighting amongst ourselves.
A question clarkeyking, have you ever worked as a Miner, Binman, Nurse? Do you think they should have the right to fair conditions of work, to make enough money for a basic standard of living for themselves and their family? I'm not personally one for Unions but they have their place, you don't serious think those strikes happened for a laugh do you?
In a job where it's a proven fact lifespans are shortened maybe the miners just wanted better pay to fight the ridiculous rate of inflation and enough money to support their families should they pass. Guess that's too much to ask for though.
I see you've proved Godwin's law. Having served in Northern Ireland on numerous tours, I cannot remember carrying out any ethnic cleansing or witnessing this either. I'm not going to argue that her policies didn't destroy communities, I do however believe that what happened to the industry in this country was inevitable as the global markets opened up. Yes there's a very strong case that she should have been more sensitive to the communities that were most effected, but I think the ill advised aggressive unions didn't do themselves any favours and excaberated the situation further too. The unions have done some great work over the years, but I do think that some leaders are now so out of touch with their own generous pay packets and perks that they misrepresent their worker's rights.
Strange isn't it that the same type of industries that Thatcher destroyed thrived with help in countries such as Germany and Holland and withstood the Globalisation challenge. However, Thatcher was such a great strategic expert that she honoured and promoted those who ensured that this country is now incapable of producing the goods that it needs let alone feed itself. I don't argue that things had to change in the late 70's. It was the way that it was done and the blatant class favouritism that accompanied it.
I don't disagree with what you're saying, however any direct comparison with other countries may be unfair due to the variables involved. There has been quite some time past since she was in power and the sad thing is that successive governments have not addressed our over realiance on the financial and service sector to achieve a more balanced economy.
I have never been an advocate of Globalisation - especially in the way that it has been enacted. It never made any sense to me to lose productive capacity and skills on nothing more than a cost basis. Once skills and abilities are no longer used, they are lost very quickly. Certainly we did have problems with both over-manning and productivity but with an increase in investment budgets and management training (OK training in general) those problems could have been overcome. Globalisation has been driven under the supposed banner that customers demand low prices. Anybody who truly knows anything about Marketing knows that this is in fact an untruth. Customers actually demand 'fair' prices where they believe that they will profit from the exchange of their money for goods and services. Low prices of themselves are more usually associated with poor value and quality.Now I'm not going to try and argue that the UK produced good quality goods as a matter of course. However, we could have aimed to follow the same type of true quality standards that the Germans were already employing by 1980. I truly don't know how or even if we can re-balance our economy. However, I do know that we have to find a way of addressing the massive imbalances in both power and wealth that all governments have endorsed since Thatchers time.
With countries like India, Brazil and China emerging extremely quickly I unfortunately think that globalisation is here to stay . I agree on your point that customers demand fair prices rather than necessarily low prices, however as incomes continue to drop it will be interesting to see whether this remains to be the case. We certainly need to rebalance our economy, especially as London seems to be in the sights of the rest of Europe. Unfortunately until we can do this we remain at the mercy of the financial sector.
