No they didn't. They fell for Tory scaremongering about The Scots. Wait until the July budget,they are going to cop it!
Yes, they did. Everyone knows they were going to make big cuts. The Scots thing was just a part of it. The over riding fear was Labour's economic failings and lack of trust.
A lot has changed in our society since the days of Thatcher. I don't think that when people discover the extent to which they have been conned by Cameron that they will take it quite so equitably. In the words of the Kaiser Chiefs - I predict a riot.. If I had a business in London or one of our Northern cities I would be checking my insurance policy.
I doubt very much those who voted Tory will be rioting. The trouble with Labour is there are not enough poor (despite there best efforts) to vote for them. It will take a heck of a lot for me to go back to them.
The NHS is the most cost-effective health service in the world, no hyperbole, when funded by government borrowing. Under a system of privatisation, it doesn't function anywhere close to that reputation.
Tories were sneaking in new legislature to remove even more of our freedoms before the election even took place. http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-polic...rewrites-hacking-laws-to-grant-gchq-immunity/ They claim it is because of "Terrorism". What a load of horse ****. I'm still genuinely in shock that this is our government, this is what the people wanted.
Right, final post, because it seems no one wants to talk about these things anymore. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of the reason conservatism is a terrible and damaging ideal that will essentially make everyone's lives way more difficult from now on, especially for the GEN-X kids: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/36cush/serious_what_is_an_alarming_fact_that_the_next/ I'm sure JWM will come on and say it's all bollocks or something like that because he hates to here the truth about the way our planet and our society is being destroyed for the benefit of a tiny % of people. Those that voted Tory are either complicit or ignorant. I don't know which is worse.
Speaking of which: Fossil fuels subsidised by $10m every minute, says IMF Revelation finds $5.3tn subsidy estimate for 2015 is greater than the total health spending of all the world’s governments http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=42940.0 "Ohhhh, renewables aren't economically viable because they have to be subsidised too much!" Well, it seems fossil fuels are subsidised to an even greater extent. And yes (before anyone claims otherwise), by definition tax-breaks are a subsidy.
Since the 70's the world has gone crackers. The sad thing is that materialism has been proved not to improve your quality of life and yet we still have the pursuit of it as if it is some kind of holy grail. Come on let's be honest here,when did you last get a feeling from a watch or a new car that compared to the one you got when Berra handled Redmond's shot on the line? (Or in JWM's case as bad)
There were some great comments about how the post war boomers always claim they had to work they're way into their position, yet they had some of the best social programs in history (Thanks to Atlee) and probably the best opportunities in the history of the human race to get jobs and to grow as there was a declined population and a lot of rebuilding to do. Then in the 80's the essentially decided that the future generation shouldn't benefit from it and have been reducing social programs ever since. This is why pretty much all of JWM's arguments annoy me so much, he makes out like he is the special person who worked his way to the top and that makes him better than all those that can't. It's such a different society we live in now. And it's one that has been slowly destroyed over the last 30 years, right under the noses of people like JWM and KIO who think it's all been fine. Just believing the huge amount of right wing propaganda that floods this country. Anyone remember the Sun headline "Turn the lights off" and "It was the Sun that won it".
It's all about money nowadays, that's the be all and end all of everything and I personally find this a pretty sad state of affairs. Money, money, money, if you've got it you're great, if you haven't then tough. That's why Labour and the Liberals will always struggle against the Tories, corporations and 'wealth creators' (who are apparently the most important people in our country, the ones who apparently must be bowed to to stop them all moving abroad and taking their wealth elsewhere, sod the nurses and the little people who are the real cogs in our society) don't make money out of fairness and equality and, dare I say it, socialism. The right-wing media have spent a generation demonising the unions to the extent that it is almost a four letter word, despite the fact unions are the there to protect the rights of the people, so the vast majority of our population see unions as a bad thing and Labour now has a very difficult decision to make should it want to have any chance of challenging the Tories in five years.
I think that there is a fundamental problem for Labour going forward and it is this. Going back 30 or 40 years we had massive nationalised industries and huge companies like GEC, Marconi, my old firm Corah (textile industry) employed 5,000 in Leicester alone. What has happened? Those firms are all leaner and dare I say meaner (except for Corah which has gone completely!) and many hundred of thousands of employees have lost their jobs and gone on to form their own small businesses. It is my guess that at that point, they instinctively move from being Labour voters to Tory voters as the go-to party and that trend is not going to be reversed. When people feel fairly comfortable then they may feel less tribal and vote for other parties but at this time I think that many people were genuinely worried about the prospect of a Miliband Government and what Labour might do with the economy again, and the Tories played the SNP card exceptionally well, the result is where we are today and that prospect is a little scary, but it is what the country voted for and there is no denying that fact. I also look at the Labour frontrunners for the leadership and think that they look a really poor bunch with noone that is going to motivate an immediate fightback. Liz Kendall and Mary Creagh are lightweights at best and then Burnham and Cooper still have the aftertaste of the last Labour Government where they failed to admit that they overspent. With that level of denial, these people will never be forgiven by the British public at large. So as to where we go from here, the sad truth is not looking great and with the boundary changes which will take another 20 seats off Labour, the road back is very long indeed. We could be blue to 2025 unless something 'happens' but on a depressed note I have no real clue as to what that might be.
Labour lost the election in the six months from 2010 when they failed to kill the lie that the Labour government had been responsible for the global meltdown, and that everything that happened in the US, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal etc. etc. was the Labour government’s fault.
The Labour Government was not responsible for the global metdown but their irresponsible over spending made matters worse and it's only now after their bad election showing that they're finally admitting to it.
I agree with you here KIO except that Messers Miliband, Burnham and Cooper are still denying that they overspent. In the final leader's debate, I really think that this was what finally did for Ed's chances as the statement just beggered belief and there was disquiet in the Leeds based audience. Throw in the threat of the SNP in possible cahoots with a floundering Labour minority (probably going further left as SNP don't accept austerity on any level) and people went out in their droves and voted Tory.
Shame it's not true . http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/11/the-tories-have-piled-on-more-debt-than-labour/
You're right to an extent, but I can honestly say I did get a degree of elation from getting a new (Well new old car) the other day. This was mostly due to the release from a near constant fear of breaking down! (Land rovers now join anything french on the list of what not to buy!) But like you say it is experiences that truly stay with you, first pint with your Dad down the pub, first crab caught off cromer pier, first fish off north denes, first kiss with a fair maiden (OK not so fair! but still memorable) and you can't beat a good Bradley Johnson! Bah!
You are confusing overall debt with the annual year on year position. The interest on the overall debt (which Labour contributed to significantly even in good times) becomes a larger part of the annual budget the year after it is only when we reduce the overall burden that we may begin to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
Borrowing more than Labour did in 13 years in less than 4 is not very good. So they borrowe So the cons borrowed more money in less than 4 years than Labour did in 13 but spent less ?. Not sure how this is good especially as Brown had to piss away billions on failed banks.
