What's caused the downfall of this country?

[simmo]

That's the result not the cause



... the cause is the break up of the family.... you only have to look at countries were family is still important and find there social structure is much more durable. Break up the family and it becomes all about the individual's (selfish) rights over everyone else and no repsect for each other and no responsibility for each other. Without that how can you have a country as a country is all about a group working together?

Reading some of these threads are laughable, so many list Thatcher. What a joke! Pre Thatcher this country was so going down the toilet it was unbelievable, it was the total laughing stock of Western World.

Thatcher didn't cause the breakdown of society. The breakdown of society is caused by the break up of a family. The family is the most important unit in a society, if it breaks up all it's members fracture. This is due to numerous continuing changes to the laws of this land which has made divorce easier and easier to be brought about (which were started before Thatcher became an MP, probably before she was even born!).

I wonder if in Catholic countries there is more of a society because divorce is very much frowned upon, legislation against divorce is therefore so much stricter leading to many more parents being forced to stick it together through bad times.

 

[desprateseagull]

too much / not enough of..

monosodium glutamate(sp?) - the powder that makes fast food addictive, apparantly..

depressing tv..

the letter K.

and p o r n.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Steve McClaren

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Reading some of these threads are laughable, so many list Thatcher. What a joke! Pre Thatcher this country was so going down the toilet it was unbelievable, it was the total laughing stock of Western World.
.

So, what has she changed then? As we're still the laughing stock, from my experience, mainland western europe at least.

 

[User removed 4]

So, what has she changed then? As we're still the laughing stock, from my experience, mainland western europe at least.

putting aside our previous differences , tell me where you think we would be now if we had re-elected the labour government of jim callaghan in 1979? what do you think would have happened to us economically?

 

[Nibble]

I think the world wars may have played a contributing factor. During the 2nd world war so many children were left with absent fathers and after post war many were permanantly deprived of father figures. Many kids left to fend for themselves and many left wanting. This huge break-up of the family is in my opinion a turning point in Britains downfall.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Where's the option for 'The Weather'? The worst summer since 1946 means everyone's serotonin levels have crashed due to lack of sunshine. SAD and all that.

 

[drew]

The same one who will go down in history as our greatest ever Prime Minister and the one who put the Great back into Great Britain.

yeah right, she lead us to victory over a couple of islands in the south Atlantic against and inferior military whereas Churchill, sorry, I forget what he did, something to do with WWII.

Freedom is the downfall of this country. We no longer have an English race, we have communities made up of every religion going. We no longer have christian names, they're first names, nowhere on forms asking for nationality is one for white english, on entry forms to other countrys England and even Great Britain is not accepted, it has to say U.K. In the second world war all Germans living in England were detained and you fought for your country. What the hell would happen now we have religious groups not nationalities.

You bang on about having a christian name but you are plainly not a christian judging from your intolerence. I don't believe in God and am therefore happy to have a first name. I am white english but don't care about that.

A whole host of things. The main thing for me is how the law seems to favour perpetrators of crime rather than the victims.

E.g. life imprisonment should mean life imprisonment. Not this crap where if your good you get to serve an 1/8 of your time and given benefits subsidised by the tax payer.

Couldn't agree more so we need more prisons which are being built.

Due to immigrants becoming residents of the U.K. or obtain British citizenship I always call myself English. Every time you hear of terrorists being detained around the world they never seem to be called Smith or Jones always Abdul or Rahman. I do not wish to be associated with these people, but as I've said this identity has been taken away from us. Being a monarchy and having the Queen as the head of the Church of England, we are a christian country. My first name has always been my christian name, however to appease the other religions we now have to refer to it as a first or given name. This is my point about too much freedom, we've allowed everyone who comes here to not only live their own life but let them change ours.

We are not a christian country, we have the freedom to chose which religion we want to worship. Isn't that what was fought for in WWII? You really must stop referring to yourself as christian. You probably don't have a clue about any religion.

Reading some of these threads are laughable, so many list Thatcher. What a joke! Pre Thatcher this country was so going down the toilet it was unbelievable, it was the total laughing stock of Western World.

Thatcher didn't cause the breakdown of society. The breakdown of society is caused by the break up of a family. The family is the most important unit in a society, if it breaks up all it's members fracture. This is due to numerous continuing changes to the laws of this land which has made divorce easier and easier to be brought about (which were started before Thatcher became an MP, probably before she was even born!).

I wonder if in Catholic countries there is more of a society because divorce is very much frowned upon, legislation against divorce is therefore so much stricter leading to many more parents being forced to stick it together through bad times.

Thatcher and the tories of the 80s/90s did help cause the breakdown of society as they advocated personal greed and self interest. Making as much money as you can for yourself. Society broke down and the family is now following.

 

[Seagull73]

So, what has she changed then? As we're still the laughing stock, from my experience, mainland western europe at least.

Laughing stock to who?? We are still one of the most revered and respected countries in the world, and that could not be said in the late 70's.

This really makes me laugh, it's so f***ing easy to blame Thatcher and all policies that she supposedly put in place to 'cause the breakdown of society'. You as individuals still had choices, and yet MOST people decided to follow that gravy train. And now because people PERCEIVE that the country is going to the dogs or a laughing stock (which it patently isn't!!), it's all Thatchers fault. She left office 18 years ago, there have been 3 Prime Ministers since then, I'm sorry, but that is plenty of time to change they way we think.

There is nothing wrong with this country, other than getting people to have a bit of respect for others. Just because we are in an economic downturn, people think we are going to the dogs.

f*** sake, get a grip some people.

 

[simmo]

So, what has she changed then? As we're still the laughing stock, from my experience, mainland western europe at least.

In the Western World Britain was known as the "sick man of europe" in the 60's/70's and we were dying on our feet.

Wikipedia says this about this time
Beginning in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, the United Kingdom was sometimes known as the "sick man of Europe" because of industrial strife and poor economic performance compared to other European countries.

Why do you think people called us this?

Does anyone in the world (apart from you probably) call us that any more.

Just look around you I mean Britain is so undesirable to immigrants now a days.

There has to be a reason for so many people trying to come here. I have someone from Poland two seats away from me. Why is he here if this country is the laughing stock of Western Europe then like you suggest? Why isn't he in France/Germany where he could also be?

 

[simmo]

Thatcher and the tories of the 80s/90s did help cause the breakdown of society as they advocated personal greed and self interest. Making as much money as you can for yourself. Society broke down and the family is now following.[/QUOTE]


This is just utter, utter nonsence, it is drivel that is peddled out by left wing teachers/lecturers and is repeated by the masses.

The breakdown in society is caused by the break up of the family unit.

This primary cause of disintergrating families in the UK is legislation that has made it easier and easier for couples to divorce. These legislations started way before Thatcher became a politician.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think the Poll missed out the main cause - "Bad parenting".

Economically, we've enjoyed good times under New Labour, we're still globally influential, culturally we're still up there, we've got the Olympics in 2012 but I still think there is a "f*** you" selfish mentality that pervades our society.

I don't just blame young people either. The most selfish drivers on the roads are the Post-War baby-boomers, those people who lived it up in the Sixties, went on strike in the Seventies, voted for Thatcher in the Eighties, sacked people of my generation in the 90s and then cashed in their chips and f***ed off to live in France/Spain in the Noughties.

 

[glasfryn]

Two words:

Margaret Thatcher

her and all the other options you would need a huge thread to put your finger on the demise,but basically its mostly down to world oil prices and the American mortgage fiasco

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

The same one who will go down in history as our greatest ever Prime Minister and the one who put the Great back into Great Britain.

There may be better claimants to the title of greatest ever Prime Minister but I guess this depends on everyone's individual values and personal priorities.
I've always found the "put the Great back into Great Britain" phrase interesting because it completely ignores Northern Ireland. Perhaps, in view of the very polarised views on MT that exist throught the country, "took the United out of the United Kingdom" might be more accurate (at a macro and micro level)?

 

[drew]

I think the Poll missed out the main cause - "Bad parenting".

Economically, we've enjoyed good times under New Labour, we're still globally influential, culturally we're still up there, we've got the Olympics in 2012 but I still think there is a "f*** you" selfish mentality that pervades our society.

I don't just blame young people either. The most selfish drivers on the roads are the Post-War baby-boomers, those people who lived it up in the Sixties, went on strike in the Seventies, voted for Thatcher in the Eighties, sacked people of my generation in the 90s and then cashed in their chips and f***ed off to live in France/Spain in the Noughties.

You are right, and look at the example given by our head of state, the Queen. Four children and three failed marriages. I don't necessarily blame her as it is the way she was brought up as well.

As for Simmo, perhaps he should learn to read. I did not blame Thatcher entirely. I included the tories that followed her and I said 'help cause', not were the sole people responsible. However, it is a bit simplistic to blame legislation making divorce easier. There is a lot more pressure on families than there used to be and you have a lot more working mums than before which adds to it. You can't stop them working because most of them need to work just to survive.

 

[British Bulldog]

It's impossible to vote on that poll because it's a culmination of all of them plus other factors all coming together thats causing a decline in this country.

 

[drew]

her and all the other options you would need a huge thread to put your finger on the demise,but basically its mostly down to world oil prices and the American mortgage fiasco

And that is the reason kids carry knives and kill each other!!!

 

[simmo]

Laughing stock to who?? We are still one of the most revered and respected countries in the world, and that could not be said in the late 70's.

This really makes me laugh, it's so f***ing easy to blame Thatcher and all policies that she supposedly put in place to 'cause the breakdown of society'. You as individuals still had choices, and yet MOST people decided to follow that gravy train. And now because people PERCEIVE that the country is going to the dogs or a laughing stock (which it patently isn't!!), it's all Thatchers fault. She left office 18 years ago, there have been 3 Prime Ministers since then, I'm sorry, but that is plenty of time to change they way we think.

There is nothing wrong with this country, other than getting people to have a bit of respect for others. Just because we are in an economic downturn, people think we are going to the dogs.

f*** sake, get a grip some people.

I totally agree with you. Is it just lazy thinking? Do they think something's wrong let's blame Thatcher.

They blame Thatcher (interchangable with the USA if anything occurs in the international arena) for everything, eventhough she left power nearly 18 years ago.

Here is an example, when he was London mayor, Ken Livingstone blamed teenage knife crime on Thatcher eventhough the kids that were knifing each other were born after she left being Prime Minister. These kids whom are stabbing each other probably don't even know whom Thatcher is!

 

[User removed 4]

her and all the other options you would need a huge thread to put your finger on the demise,but basically its mostly down to world oil prices and the American mortgage fiasco

i dont think this thread is primarily about the current economic malaise.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

It's not just England, it's Australia and the like too.

Once you get the soft cock left wing civil libertarians infiltrating your systems the softly softly approach takes over and any fucker and his dog can then go do what ever they want to whomeever they want.

Safe in the knowledge their punishment won't be too severe and some stupid lefty twat will defend their rights over the victims.