Tony Blair

[Jemimap]

I vote conservative and always have and i'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

My hatred of Mr Blair is nothing to do with him being labour and a lot to do with Iraq

[raiye]

Just for once I would like Prime Minister that doesnt run out on us when the going gets tough. Its like hes made a mess in his room but is expecting his little bros to clear it up for him

My OH is one of those folks that dont vote and then complain about the state the country is in. But then at the moment I dont feel there is anyone up to the job from the options we have.

In my old hometown, for the first time ever, BNP have been voted a seat and I can only hope its because people feel they have no where else to turn

[kimthecat]

I would vote LibDem if I thought they'd get in.

I think Teflon Tony is deluded and deluded people are dangerous so it's a good job he is going before he decides to invade Iran.

Robin Cook; he acted with honour and integrity.

 

Joke in the Mail today -

Retirement means never having to say sorry.

 

Alison

Edited May 11, 2007 by kimthecat

[EAD]

For those of you who didnt agree with Tony Blairs decision about Iraq......what other choice did we have?

 

If he had said no and we didnt support the USA were would that have left us?

 

I dont follow the news generally so im possibly quite ignorant to all this but maybe someone could explain

[elricc]

I was so full of hope when he came into power, but feel he has been a huge disappointment.About the best thing that happened was independence for the Bank of England (where I used to work).

I would never have believed a labour government could take from the poor to give to the better off (as happened this budget), and am sad that the state of politics and the reputation of politicians is at an all time low.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I could easily believe that we are part of some social experiment, where the aim is for us to be either permanently drunk (new licensing laws), or in debt ( university fees, supercasinos), so we are all full of our own misery that we don't care what 'they' are getting up to.And the fact that we all pay the same taxes but can expect different health services / drugs according to which country we live in is just wrong imho

 

Totally agree, I remember when Labour got in after years of the tories, and the absolute horror of Thatcher. I sat up all night to watch the election and I was euphoric, especially the way Neil Kinnock lost. I still think it was a tragedy that John Smith died I think he would have been fantastic.

[kay_w1]

I vote conservative and always have and i'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

me too!

[JoC]

I vote conservative and always have and i'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

My hatred of Mr Blair is nothing to do with him being labour and a lot to do with Iraq

At the time, the tories supported going into Iraq. The only reason they object now is because it's popular. They jump on the bandwagon of whatever is in the papers at the time.

 

I want a Government that makes the news, not follow it like sheep desperate for popularity.

 

I vote lib dem, I know they wont get in but for every vote they get it shows the people in power that I support their policies. I was reading their manifesto a while ago, it was a few years old but one of the reforms they said they'd bring in is to remove BSL

[Sheplover]

Totally agree, I remember when Labour got in after years of the tories, and the absolute horror of Thatcher. I sat up all night to watch the election and I was euphoric, especially the way Neil Kinnock lost. I still think it was a tragedy that John Smith died I think he would have been fantastic.

I agree Laura, he made it so much easier for Blair to step in and win the '97 election.

 

Elaine, I think we had an easy choice - support an illegalwar for regime change based on very poor 'intelligence' or not.

 

ETA: Off topic, but just wondered if the tory voters own large estates (land, not car, lol) or businesses or have salaries over the six figure mark.....I seriously do not understand why any working class folk could vote tory - sorry.

Edited May 11, 2007 by Sheplover

[Maria]

Despite being hugely disappointed with Labour, I would never, ever consider voting conservative. Margaret Thatcher stated there is 'no such thing as society', and that is why we have the selfish, me,me, me world of today.She ruined this country with her policies

Also, privatisation was the biggest con trick of the last century - had public utilities been allowed to use commercial accounting conventions,(ie having a P&L and Balance Sheet and not just income and expenditure) rather than having to charge investment immediately against income, then public utilities would have gone from loss making to profit overnight, as low and behold they did when 'privatised'. Simply change the accounting conventions and a whole different picture emerges.Those profits would then have flowed into the public purse rather than private hands like they are now. How different it could have been had they been allowed to do this (as the Bank of England had always been allowed to). Money would have flowed back into public services without having to over tax everyone else. Can you tell I'm an accountant who had to do a case study on this? All us students (and the tutors) were amazed at how everyone fell for such a simple con trick, just because they might get their hands on a few shares........

Also, any party that would bring back hunting won't get my vote.

Edited May 11, 2007 by Maria

[elricc]

Despite being hugely disappointed with Labour, I would never, ever consider voting conservative. Margaret Thatcher stated there is 'no such thing as society', and that is why we have the selfish, me,me, me world of today.She ruined this country with her policies

Also, privatisation was the biggest con trick of the last century - had public utilities been allowed to use commercial accounting conventions,(ie having a P&L and Balance Sheet and not just income and expenditure) rather than having to charge investment immediately against income, then public utilities would have gone from loss making to profit overnight, as low and behold they did when 'privatised'. Simply change the accounting conventions and a whole different picture emerges.Those profits would then have flowed into the public purse rather than private hands like they are now. How different it could have been had they been allowed to do this (as the Bank of England had always been allowed to). Money would have flowed back into public services without having to over tax everyone else. Can you tell I'm an accountant who had to do a case study on this? All us students (and the tutors) were amazed at how everyone fell for such a simple con trick, just because they might get their hands on a few shares........

Also, any party that would bring back hunting won't get my vote.

 

I could never vote Tory, cultural heritage from my family would makeit impossible, Labour are flawed, butnothing on the scale of the tories, think John Gummer feeding his kids burgers and Aitken and horror of horror that writer of absolute shite Jeffrey Archer.

[ClazUK]

Totally agree, I remember when Labour got in after years of the tories, and the absolute horror of Thatcher. I sat up all night to watch the election and I was euphoric, especially the way Neil Kinnock lost. I still think it was a tragedy that John Smith died I think he would have been fantastic.

The loss of John Smith was so untimely and so tragic.

 

Despite being hugely disappointed with Labour, I would never, ever consider voting conservative. Margaret Thatcher stated there is 'no such thing as society', and that is why we have the selfish, me,me, me world of today.She ruined this country with her policies

Absobloodylutely. I am always amazed at people who tell me how marvellous that harridan was. You either slept through the 80s or had a very privileged lifestyle if you remember things that way. All I remember is the 3 Rs - redundancy, rioting and reposession.

 

I wanted to answer this thread a little more coherantly but Maria and Laura have done it for me, anyway

[kats n greys]

The loss of John Smith was so untimely and so tragic.

 

 

Absobloodylutely. I am always amazed at people who tell me how marvellous that harridan was. You either slept through the 80s or had a very privileged lifestyle if you remember things that way. All I remember is the 3 Rs - redundancy, rioting and reposession.

 

I wanted to answer this thread a little more coherantly but Maria and Laura have done it for me, anyway

 

And me. I find Thatcher totally abhorrent

[kimthecat]

This link shows how life changed in the Thatcher years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/4447082.stm

 

I remember the poll tax riots and the miners strikes. I don't remember the reprossessions starting until about the early 90s.

That happened I believe, because of the high interest rates and Black Wednesday

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2259648.stm

The 80s for me were good because we bought our council house

 

Thatcher sent troops to the Falklands because it was British soil and it was invaded.1982' There was the scandal of the sinking of the Belgrano.

Blair led us to believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that by invading Iraq we were removing that threat and also releasing the Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant who invades countries and imprisoned people for years without trial and tortured them and I dont mean Bush.

 

I remember c.1970 under when there strikes all the time , a 3 day week , no rubbish collected , no bread in the shops and electricity cuts when there were no street lights , and that also meant no heating or light in your house.

Harold Wilson (Labour) was PM and then Ted Heath (Tory.)

Alison

.

[Maria]

Thatcher sent troops to the Falklands because it was British soil and it was invaded.1982' There was the scandal of the sinking of the Belgrano.

Blair led us to believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that by invading Iraq we were removing that threat and also releasing the Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant who invades countries and imprisoned people for years without trial and tortured them and I dont mean Bush.

 

The Falklands were invaded because Thatcher (through defence cuts) had cut back on the military there, and naval defences, so the Argentines thought it was fair game. Another war (and deaths) that needn't have happened.

I was also completely against the Irag war.

I'm glad you have good memories of the 80's (although I don't agree that council housing should have been sold at discounted rates thus causing social housing problems of today).

I remember the 80's as being a time when my Dad died (when we were all fairly young, and one still at school) leaving my mum in fear of being made redundant due to Thatcher's reforms, so not being sure how she would keep our household (with 3 kids at home) together. Her workplace wasn't unionised, and had to suffer real wage and condition 'cuts', and I can remember her crying at nights with worry when she thought we were all in bed.All this while yuppies made money on betting (the stock exchange), and wasted it.

Edited May 11, 2007 by Maria

[kimthecat]

I could never vote Tory, cultural heritage from my family would makeit impossible, Labour are flawed, butnothing on the scale of the tories, think John Gummer feeding his kids burgers and Aitken and horror of horror that writer of absolute shite Jeffrey Archer.

 

John Gummer feeding his kids burgers was truely awful

Parkinson getting his secretary pregnant too ! but I dont think they were worse than labour,

Blunkett getting a married woman pregnant , Prescott shagging his secretary Euw! Mandelson , cash for honours , Iraq dossier and Dr kelly.

Alison