[b said:
Quote[/b] (Firestorm @ May 05 2005,14:01)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ May 05 2005,11:58)]since this current lot (Tony's mob) are sh*te.
Sorry Matt
Apology accepted.
Seriously, I'm a rather too busy now to discuss the hugely different states of the world and national economy now and when Thatcher took over in 1979.
Perhaps I should have clarified "sh*te". I meant:
*Lied to the nation over Iraq
*Used an atmosphere of fear over terrorism to table some of the most draconian anti-civil liberty legislation seen in a supposed free democracy (detention without charge - something which, thankfully, the Law Lords had the good sense to see was illegal).
*Also used that atmosphere to promote their pernicious ID Cards legislation - another penalty and tax on the law-abiding
*Wasted hundreds of hours of legislation time in pushing through an Act banning Hunting when 95% of the country didn't give a sh*t, so that the old Left could get their revenge on the Tories for the Miners' Strike.
*Totally back-tracked on a previous manifesto pledge not to charge students for tuition fees
*Focussed on hospital waiting lists whilst failing to deal with real problems such as MRSA
As for the economy... well, let's see what Gordy does about the pensions black hole he's created for himself, together with the fact that the high street has already significantly slowed down in Q1&2 of 2005.
When Tony came into power in 1997, it was an incredibly exciting time. Here was a young, new PM who would change things... change the self-serving culture of government, change the problems in the Health service, change the new-yobbish culture of petty violence and criminality in our cities, improve hospitals and schools...
So why has it been such a disappointment? Schools may be better - but that's about it, isn't it? Hospitals are MRSA-riddled, ABSOs are handed out like sticking-plasters over the deep wounds in our society, it's still jobs for the boys with Mandelson now a Euro commissioner.
I reckon ORM was right when he called this lot the new Tories. Nothing has changed. Brown has steered the economy well - but through a period of pretty damn sunny waters. The major restructuring of the world's economies had already taken place - in the 70s and 80s.
Don't get me wrong - I don't think either the Tories or Lib Dems are electable (albeit for wholly different reasons). But it's not much of a positive mandate for Labour when the only reason they'll get in is because neither of the other parties are up to the job.
Matt