I can only type very slowly with one finger so won't make a case for or against either. But I'm curious to know, who Swinging Heaven members would rather have for Prime Minister. This is also my first poll on here, but I know that if there was a "neither" option it would be a no contest. Therefore I am looking for one of two possible answers.
Who would you prefer as Prime Minister? Gordon Brown or Margaret Thatcher in her prime?
no point in having maggie back im not sure we as a nation have any thing left for her to sell off and screw us all over with.
x fem x
Would this be a mud-wrestling match or farting competition?
In either case, I'd rather not watch. :giggle:
gordan brown..is not doing a very good job i am first to accept....but he has a slight excuse of global situation don't exactly help him.
maggie on other hand....please lets not forget she closed every last pit in britain...there were still 3 left in cannock until she thought it would be better to import cheap polish coal. lets not forget that the current fad of home ownership and greed was started and fueled by maggie. lets not forget the poll tax riots. Lets not forget 30% interest rates on black wednesday....
whoever we vote for next time, please lets not forget what a mess maggie left industy and this country in.
This is a classic example of a Hobson's Choice !
I do love a bit of a debate! - But I wouldn't start this one down the pub!
:twisted:
Thatcher was/is an evil bitch Brown is an inept...I'll take Brown at least he's not doing it on purpose
Thatcher was what this country required at the time, a strong PM that was prepared to take on the unions. Britain was widely regarded as "the sick man of Europe" with an appalling industrial record. If Scargill had not been the arse that he was and had not been determined to bring the government down, the outcome of the UK's mining industry may have been somewhat different. Scargill was just as bloody minded as Thatcher and did as much damage to the mining industry as she did. Unfortunately, like all governments that are in power too long, Thatcher lost her way and had to go but to blame her for the greed of today is laughable. She may well have been instrumental in the sale of council houses but there is nothing wrong with anyone wanting to own their own home, the lack of new social housing has been a major factor in house price inflation. The current government has been in power for 10 years and has not addressed this problem. Also, the rise of the buy to let market has flourished under this government which has also helped stoke house price inflation.
It's amazing that when Brown was Chancellor and enjoying what we now know was a mythical boom period, the Labour Government were quick to heap the praise for the boom onto the "prudent" chancellor but now that the reality has dawned, the problems are passed off as being due to " global situation". The cause of this global situation was entirely down to the reckless trading of banks and Brown was the major player in the complete deregulation of the banks in the UK, thus paving the way for the recklessness that ensued.
The legacy of Brown ( and Blair) will live long after this generation, as our kids and then their kids will be still be paying for their mistakes.
Thatcher wont be going to the great Parlaiment in the sky she will be going straight down to help stoke the fires of hell for all the evil deeds she done to the poor and needy ,not to mention the hundreds of ppl who are in early graves through her actions
The woman was an abomination and I will personally have drink when she is planted, and I wont apologise for the last remark.
Brown has less backbone than a jellyfish.
Can i vote for Jeremy Clarkson or Joanna Lumley, at least they have opinions and some fire in them, GB is the political equivalent of having a fart and following through :yawn:
You can lay the blame for the "boom to bust" on politicians if you like, but the blame should be laid on the people in this real world.
We/you want everything, for nothing: If not nothing, then just a bit more.
And not next year, but now.
So by wanting to pay less for goods, and have high wages, the goods had to be made cheaply. Now...high wages and low production costs do not go with each other. So the goods are made abroad now.
The results of this are quite simple. The economy has gone from one where manufacturing was (20 years ago) split 75%/25% between manufacturing/service to (now) 25/75 manufacturing/service.
Perhaps it should be remembered that this global crisis (it's just a shortage of money supply really, not a crisis) was caused by people borrowing money they could not afford, and reneging on the dept.
You can blame the banks if you like, or the politicians for having a gutless regulatory regime for the financial industry: But the real blame lies with................us.
I've said this many times, and still nobody (anywhere) bothers to think about it. The people we elect are not the ones with power. That went a long time back. The unelected people who are there no matter which figurehead political system is elected are the ones who run the country and councils.
The drive to "privatise" state industries (sic) was led by the realisation of the amount of money that would (eventually) be needed to pay pensions to those public servants.
If you want dept to think about, think about a dept of one pounds (that's one million, million pounds). That dept is the public service pension. It is the amount of money needed to pay the pensions of those retired public servants, and the ones who will retire, from 1-Jan-2009.
The present crisis was caused by banks giving loans which had a low interest rate for the first cpl of yrs and then soared to a rate that they knew could not be pby these same ppl but the greedy sellers were getting huge bonuses for doing so and even though the banks were well warned what was going to happen the greed took over now we all have to pay while those folk are sitting in luxury in my opinion the ones responsible should be locked up as they knew what would happen in the end.
The trouble is Fabio is that this subject will always be talked about, and you either loved her or hated her.
I hear all the time about how she killed off our manufactoring industries, are those the same ones that the unions were running into the ground already?
What would it be like now if those same companies like steel and coal were operating in 2009 in this current financial meltdown?
We would have had to bail them out too, as well as the banks.
Whatver you or I might say about her, she had some guts and under her this country was envied and she had respect big time from other world leaders...plus she WAS voted in more than once by the electorate, unlike Brown who took up his seat from Blair, without one public vote. He will be out when the election comes around next year.
Also whether we agree or not, she WILL be given a full state funeral when her time is up, and that to me tells me everything about her, for that has only ever been afforded once before, and we know to who and why that was. So obviously a lot of people hold her in the same regard as that once great man.
Politicians come and go but very few will be remembered 100 years on, and I think people will still talk about her then, that is a true sign of a great leader.
British industry was killed by ineffective, inefficient, poorly educated and stupid management.
Along with a lack of investment in new machinery and modern manufacturing regimes.
Coal mining was killed-off by cheap eastern European and Australian coal. It's still cheaper to buy from abroad.
We still, even with a Labour government, have not got a government that recognises that the country needs a manufacturing base.
In 20/30 years time, when cheap goods are no longer available from abroad (or even sooner) that basic fact will be seen.
It will be a bit late then.
Anything run by a government, even itself, is inefficient and a waste of time and money. But since their income is guaranteed ..............................................
While Germany MAY be considered out of recession at the moment, their position looks very rocky. Their "green" industry is suffering from the "it's cheaper to buy from abroad" syndrome (photovoltaic cells are cheaper from Taiwan, to the extent that their home production may collapse soon). A lot of their "home production" is underpinned by the PARTS used being sourced from abroad (the same story as our "home" production).
Japan has heavily susidised its production base for some time.
France operates a home industry protection regime.
Coal production in this country is increasing at the moment, with several open-cast mining operations being started, and more planned (council planners have been "throttled" by government....good...).
It's very easy to deride the unions for their stance on jobs years ago. However, look at what they warned was going to happen...factories closing, jobs going abroad ?
Meanwhile, the government was building the house-of-cards services and financial sector dream.....now a nightmare.
Unfortunately, there is no dream solution: the country faces decades of uncertainty, leading to inevitable stagnation.
As India, China and other eastern countries increase their production base, their people will want to enjoy the fruits of their labour. They will want television/cars/fridges/etc. In fact. they will want what we have. All based upon lowering oil production and other resource scarcity. Soon countries will be bidding against each other for oil purchase (this has been happening for a while, but will get more open and vicious). We may, at one time, have had the option of building more nuclear electricity production, but even that industry has collapsed here....so it will be off to French producers...who are already operating at capacity...so, back of the queue again.
JTS I think we will have to disagree on the influences the unions had on our productivity> I fundamentally believe if Maggie had not chnaged the laws on ballots and picketing we would have arrived at a far darker place than we are at now.
I do agree with a lot of what you say in your last post in particular the projections you make for the future. It is fundamental that we take action now to prepare this country for the future.
We need to reinvent industry in this country based on climate preservation and Oil free technologies.
I recognise your comment on France and I am inclined to believe it as I have seen evidence myself of French production capacity kept open when it was more expensive than uk capacity. What I don't understand is how this is allowed to happen in an organisation that is supposed to eliminate national protectionism.
The unions had already started to make changes to their rules and operation before M. Thatcher and crew started their changes. Since the changes the unions have embraced more change, and gone further (without legislation). They now utilise the very law that was intended to control and neuter them, to the benefit of their members.
Reinventing industry to fight against "climate change" (formerly global warming.....but since it has cooled demonstrably !) would be futile....there is no money to be made from fighting an unwinnable fight...the climate will change as it will, driven mainly by the sun and planetary rotational/orbital change. Instead of climbing onboard the "reduce CO2" train you need to research the subject more. We could double the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and notice no temperature increase (crops would grow faster and bigger though)
As for oil free tech...great...nobody wants nuclear near them...and renewables just won't fit the bill...there will always be a need for baseload generating capacity, and then more capacity to account for plant down-time etc...we could plant tens of thousands of wind turbines on top of every hill....but what happens when there is no wind ?
The economics of renewables effects the economics of fossile-fuel-based generation: I suggest a read of
As to France: they look after themselves, as we should be doing. There's no point in being a sociable pauper, which is where we're going: Fast.