The Bank of England's Mervyn King says....

[User removed 4]

Teenage gangs did not obtain firearms prior to Thatcher destroying the social glue of British Society.

you're a f***ing idiot

 

[Simster]

Thatcher discussion should be off-limits, just like the BNP are. She is too divisive, everybody has made up their own minds on the stupid mad batch, er I mean lady.

 

[El Presidente]

Sorry, I am not sure where I said that Brown caused all those economies to fail at the same time. He was only responsible for the UK recession. As Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Mininster over the last 13 years (of what is still one of the major economies of the world), I am not sure how anyone can attempt to distance him from it.

I'm no Gordon Brown fan but you are a right f***ing idiot if you believe that he is solely responsible for the recession.

We are a global trading nation, what happens in the outside world affects us too, unless you live in a lighthouse and think nothing exists outside your little building of course.

 

[User removed 4]

I'm no Gordon Brown fan but you are a right f***ing idiot if you believe that he is solely responsible for the recession.

We are a global trading nation, what happens in the outside world affects us too, unless you live in a lighthouse and think nothing exists outside your little building of course.

a post worryingly free of sexual references

 

[El Presidente]

a post worryingly free of sexual references

I'm losing my touch, which is exactly what the wife said last night too

 

[User removed 4]

I'm losing my touch, which is exactly what the wife said last night too

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

you're a f***ing idiot

Hopefully simonsimon will offer to fight you for that kind of personal abuse...

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

by turning a booming economy into th worst recession in living memory. Great.

think you must have lost your 'torch' too

 

[The Oldman]

Problem is no one government gets everything correct. The Thatcher years got some things right and others wrong. The winding in of union powers was IMHO good for the country and by the end of Tory rule they had put the nation's economy on a much sounder footing. But they got desperately wrong their attempt to turn public services into "market force" organisations. Health, Education, and Polic, Fire and Ambulance have lost the concept of serving the public. Instead they serve their political masters.

Labour in power always seem to end up with economic problems. Often it's not their total fault but they do seem to have a knack of spending more than they raise in tax. They have thrown money at the NHS but in so many cases the extra cash has not ended up at ward or surgery level but frittered away on creating management and monitoring systems as well as IT solutions which were far too ambitious and not really needed.

As for the Lib Dems, well still untested in power at national level. Where they have power at local level only the local population can say if they are any good.

So you pays your money etc. All I know is that whoever gets in will get many things wrong but if it is "The Economy Stupid" I would be wary of another 5 year term under Labour. History does not suggest success .

 

[beorhthelm]

The Bank of Englands Meryvn King is claimed to have said... we dont know if he really said this, in what context or with what qualification.

 

[beorhthelm]

Sorry I'm with the others I remember leaving school with Thatcher in power and having no chance of a job. As they say she laid the foundations for the decline of morales and social awareness in this country.

just like today then. and could you please point to the policy or policies that caused the decline of morals and social awareness? im seriously interested becausetoo young to have been a voter and not read anything that sought this as an objective. i would like to be enlightened.

otherwise, as Simster said, lets just leave Thatcher out of it. most have their opinions and most of those opinions are founded in dogma.

 

[User removed 4]

Hopefully simonsimon will offer to fight you for that kind of personal abuse...

 

[Simster]

just like today then. and could you please point to the policy or policies that caused the decline of morals and social awareness? im seriously interested becausetoo young to have been a voter and not read anything that sought this as an objective. i would like to be enlightened.

otherwise, as Simster said, lets just leave Thatcher out of it. most have their opinions and most of those opinions are founded in dogma.

At the end of the day, whatever your thoughts on a woman who was the most devisive PM we've ever had and are ever likely to have, we've had nearly 20 years to change what she did.

Blaming lack of social cohesion in 2010 on Thatcher simply doesn't wash anymore.

 

[User removed 4]

Problem is no one government gets everything correct. The Thatcher years got some things right and others wrong. The winding in of union powers was IMHO good for the country and by the end of Tory rule they had put the nation's economy on a much sounder footing. But they got desperately wrong their attempt to turn public services into "market force" organisations. Health, Education, and Polic, Fire and Ambulance have lost the concept of serving the public. Instead they serve their political masters.

Labour in power always seem to end up with economic problems. Often it's not their total fault but they do seem to have a knack of spending more than they raise in tax. They have thrown money at the NHS but in so many cases the extra cash has not ended up at ward or surgery level but frittered away on creating management and monitoring systems as well as IT solutions which were far too ambitious and not really needed.

As for the Lib Dems, well still untested in power at national level. Where they have power at local level only the local population can say if they are any good.

So you pays your money etc. All I know is that whoever gets in will get many things wrong but if it is "The Economy Stupid" I would be wary of another 5 year term under Labour. History does not suggest success .

excellent post.

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

At the end of the day, whatever your thoughts on a woman who was the most devisive PM we've ever had and are ever likely to have, we've had nearly 20 years to change what she did.

Blaming lack of social cohesion in 2010 on Thatcher simply doesn't wash anymore.

Spot on.

That is the shame of this Labour government - I really wanted some 'big' changes, some real decisive policies to change our society for the better. All we got was bland spin.

No longer can we use the Thatcher as an excuse.

 

[Working class pride]

This wont be popular but IMO too many people work for the state in some form or other which stifles innovation and flair. One good thing about the recession is that whoever get in will have to shrink the public sector. We have policeman that retire i ntheir early 50s , claim a final salary pension and then get a job at a new station to get paid another full time salary, firemen that work 2 days on 4 days off and can work about 100 days a year if they work a bank holiday. We also have massive council and civil servent staff especially in London but also think how many people you know who work in some almost pointless job for a local council. Teachers are like a sarced cow that cant be addressed but the facts show they have at least a weeks holiday (and some holidays between 2 to 6 weeks). As fo balance, yes nurses are treated appallingly. Take a big knife to the public sector and get an efficient public service.If th state takes money off hard working people then they are trustees of that money and they have no right to piss it up the wall. Oh and before people start, no I wouldnt have bailed out the bankers. Secure he deposit holders money, let those that fail ail and sell the profitable elements of the banks in the administration is what should have happened.

 

[1066gull]

I find it amazing that Cameron wants to get Britain back manufacturing seeing that it was Thatcher and the conservatives did so much to close it down and force it abroad not so long ago.

exactly. reasons why i dont believe in them nor labour.

i know my vote wont make a difference to my constituency, but the overall number of votes may make a difference if we have a call for an early election

 

[withdeanwombat]

I don't think too many use Thatcher as an excuse,but people WILL respond to others who claim her to have been the best Prime Minister ever.As has rightly been said,this is a matter of opinion,and the trite political history put forward by those in power at the time and endorsed by a Tory dominated press.

Most people who have a vehement dislike of the wicked witch of Grantham have this imbued in them by their EXPERIENCES of her time,rather than DOGMA.

To me,and very many others she was responsible for some of the worst excesses of right wing DOGMA translated into bitter EXPERIENCE for many.

When the spineless suits who put her in power because they could not settle their differences over who should be the next party leader finally ousted her,there was relief in Tory camps,and delight just about everywhere else.And rightly so.