Almost completely wrong on every count. Thatcherism didn't kill working class Northern communities - globalisation did. Thatcher realised that you could no longer continue to spend huge subsidies on expensively producing products (coal, steel, British Leyland etc) that customers did not want, and could buy far cheaper elsewhere. Maggie was actually a humane visionary in the way she euthanised these failing state monoliths in the 80s. We all benefitted at taxpayers as a result. Do you remember how long it took to get a new phone line installed in the 1970's ? Weeks. Do you remember what happened when you bought that nice Austin Allegro in the 1970's? It fell apart. As for privatisation, don't make me laugh. Remind me who introduced the Private Finance Inititave (PFI) into the NHS, and who took the huge public debts of Railtrack/Network Rail off the National balance sheet by 'privatising' the company?
I am far to young and possibly naive to know what people like Thatcher or Atlee done. I just about remember Desert Storm (and I was a wee kid).
I'm making the point that I'd rather have a Thatcher figure in charge than Tony Blair (the champion of champagne socialism), who single-handedly swamped this country with unneeded immigration and human-rights legislation. Having said that, all political parties and politicians are a shower of ****e. I'm moving to the jungles of Borneo to escape the madness of modern Britain.
It will take this country decades to recover from Blair's two monumental errors - He made the UK and the world a lot less safe by taking us Into war based on a lie. He wilfully openly the floodgates to mass immigration (admitted by Lord Mandy) because they were looking for new Polish voters to replace coal miners and ship builders as their core vote.
And immigration has reached record levels under a Prime Minister who fought TWO elections as the man who was tough on immigration, and would bring it down to tens of thousands "NO IFS NO BUTS" were his exact words. I wonder what you 'd be saying if this was the record of a Labour government which had been in power for over 5 years?
i dont care what anyone says, but we're overcrowded now. it's a fact. yes, media will say that migration will add to our economy. it probably does, but it isnt being spent on the schools or hospitals. they've all had major cutbacks to their income and as a result we're all suffering. labour kept the funding, at a suitable level of funding based on the income the economy bought in at that time. it wasnt their fault there was a global market crash. it's been proven that it's the conservatives that have run up the most debt in recent years, and this old "blame labour" routine is just a smoke screen for the tories continuing to cock stuff up. weren't our deficit supposed to have been gone by now? what happened to that promise?
The foundations for this crisis were put in place by a careless Labour government, and the problem has been perpetuated by the stewardship of a spineless nerk. I shall say it again: all politicians are useless twats.
Don't think anyone would notice. Tabloids would be: "Posh Nobs on Strike: No-one cares!" Actually put a £1 that the country would actually run better.
That's why I'm a firm believer in Anarchism. Not what people think it is, that's mindless thuggery, but true Anarchism. The state is too big, unnecessary and harmful to good society. Doing away with most of it would probably improve us as a culture significantly. Britain would be run by the people (multiple de facto heads) that'll work on singular projects, people would contribute to what they believe would be necessary (if you feel military was the main priority then that is what you pay into, similarly with health system, agriculture). In theory, we would get rid of bureaucracy and "waste" and the people would be held accountable to the people. True sense of a true democracy and ultimate freedom.
The effect would be that we could sack them, deport them, and get our lazy, work shy people off benefits and into their jobs. We do not need to import people from Poland to clean our toilets, make our coffees and push our hospital trolleys. It is madness and morally wrong.
The problem is FHB / Ken that we cannot control our own borders because of a fraudulent economic sham called the "EU ". Free movement of labour has become, in reality, the free movement of low grade unskilled labour from backward racist peasant countries, as well as scroungers and criminals. The collapse of the Berlin Wall was a disaster for England. It should have stayed up.
I've never heard anyone say that before, although I've heard plenty of people say it about Hadrian's Wall!
Ponders - Thatcher spawned Blair in a laboratory Nick - PFI was introduced under Major in 1992. I wrote my dissertation on its effects on public sector construction
I think Vol is praising the introduction of PFI to the NHS. Having shed a tear at the site of Peter Fechter's death, I can't imagine why anyone would regret the fall of the Berlin Wall.
first pfi school John Colfox in Dorset 1999 - Blair first pfi hospital Ninewells Dundee? 1999 Blair Public Private partnership on the Tube - Blair 2002 Major may have put the facilitatin legislation in place but Blown &Brair put the first contracts in place
