Gentleman Jim Callaghan has died

[Blackadder]

Yes the Welsh windbag became over confident and threw it all away.

Well All Right !

Well All Right !



Sad to see Jim pass on but his Govt was in a real mess!

Heralded the famous "Labour isn't Working!" poster before Mrs T came in...

Unemployment rocketed then...

 

[Gwylan]

He sat by his wife Audrey's bed as she pased away just 11 days ago ..... a good age


always to be remembered for "Crisis, what crisis?"

...except that he didn't say those words. Thet were invented by a Sun journalist. What Sunny Jim actually said was "I don't think other people in the world would share the view [that] there is mounting chaos." The Sun's headline, along with a picture of Callaghan jetting in from Guadelope (he'd been attending an IMF conference), was devastating for him.

At the time he was roundly reviled: by the left for his attempts to curb the unions and his adherence to anti-inflationary polices (ie pay curbs and rising unemployment), by the right for his refusal to tackle union power. His failure let in 18 years of the Tories.

I have no great memories of him, Im afraid, I remember a bumbler who doomed Labour to 18 years in the wilderness while we watched the destruction of whole industries.

 

[colinpants]

See that Thatcher...

YOU'RE NEXT...

 

[The Great Cornholio]

See that Thatcher...

YOU'RE NEXT...

I have never understood how people can have so much bile for politicians - especially Thatcher. Much as I disliked the old bag, no one has stood up for this country more than she did. She stuck by her beliefs (no good for anyone apart from rich people) and for this, people wish her dead. Dislike her, dislike her politics - yes. But wish her dead? Child molesters get PS2's and widescreen TV's and people who run the country are wished dead. I wouldn't wish that on Archer or Bellotti. I would like to see them living on the streets selling Big Issue but to wish someone dead - .

Each to their own I suppose.

 

[SussexHoop]

Originally posted by simonsimon The only senior Labour figure at the moment with any constant credibility is Gordon Brown.

Constant credibility? So when Tony Blair said in 1997, there were no plans to raise taxes, did Gordon Brown come out and say 'Er actually Tony, there are!'

In 2001, when asked about plans to increase NI contributions, did Gordon Brown say 'Actually that's exactly what we're going to do'?

When an independent body reported on a piece of legislation introduced in a budget and gave it an overall rating of 3/10 and 0/10 for fairness, did Gordon Brown listen and review the said legislation? Did he bollocks!

So desperate is he to take over from Bliar, he's even resorting to i) smiling ii) trying to be a man of the people and appearing on SoccerAM ffs. He's as much of a clown as the rest of them.

 

[Tooting Gull]

The death of Callaghan has given a lot of coomentators/obituary writers a bit of a headache. He was liked/respected in most quarters (apart from a few ex-union buddies - but there's nowt so bitchy as some 'comrades' accusing each other of selling out).

But as a Cabinet and Prime Minister his record was littered with high-profile failures. Quite a few people are trying to be generous about his Premiership, saying things like 'it was at a difficult time, inflation was high' etc etc.

The fact is that those three years were a disaster, and let the Tories in.

The hypocrisy surrounding political deaths never ceases to amaze, though. Thatcher and other Tories are now saying he was a formidable foe and a great opponent. In 1979 they were saying he'd shafted the country with the winter of discontent, as well as 'If you want a ****** for your neighbour, Vote Labour', and 'Labour's not working'. Hmm.

 

[Gwylan]

.
The hypocrisy surrounding political deaths never ceases to amaze, though. Thatcher and other Tories are now saying he was a formidable foe and a great opponent. In 1979 they were saying he'd shafted the country with the winter of discontent, as well as 'If you want a ****** for your neighbour, Vote Labour', and 'Labour's not working'. Hmm.

Don't disagree with you about the hypocrisy, but the "if you want a ****** for a neighbour" campaign was 15 years earlier, during the Smethwick by-election in 1964 - the Tories were never quite as blatant as that again. Although in 1979, Thatch did talk about being "swamped by alien culture".