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Do you remember...?

By *icketysplits OP Woman over a year ago

Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound

Do any of you remember those great halcyon days of the last full Tory governments. Where nothing went wrong with the economy and if it did it certainly wasn't their fault?

Reading some of the stuff on this here forum you would be led to believe that Labour caused nothing but bad and evil to befall this country.

It's funny that my (obviously faulty) memory keeps bringing up the Black Monday in 1987. People accepted that was a worldwide crash and didn't blame the Chancellor at the time for that. So why when there is a worldwide banking crash in 2008 is it the fault of our Chancellor/then PM of the time?

My (obviously faulty) memory remembers a couple of recessions under Thatcher and Major too. People lost their homes (although I benefited from that as I had tried to buy my home, got gazumped with everyone desperately trying to ride the property/flipping bubble and then getting my home for £10k less than my original offer of the year before after it had been repossessed).

I remember people paying 15% interest on their mortgages.

I remember Clause 28. I remember having red paint thrown over me and being told it would be my blood next time because of my colour and being told not to make a fuss about it.

This halycon days of yore.

Then came the evil days of Labour when everyone suffered. Wages didn't go up at all. Everyone lost their jobs and their homes and it was hell living in this country.

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By *igeiaWoman over a year ago

Bristol

I do. I remember being a kid when we were all aware our parents were terrified of losing their jobs and not being able to pay their mortgages. And not understanding how things we all needed like gas, water, electricity and transport were actually being sold. And reading how single parent families like the one I grew up in with a hard-working mum who never claimed a penny in benefits and encouraged me to work my ass off at school so I could be the first person in my family go to university were in fact the type of people ruining our country. I remember a lot...

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

Honestly? No, I'm too young. But I certainly remember a mix of good and bad under Labour. And a mix of good and bad under the Coalition over the past 5 years. There will be good and bad over the next 5 years. I've been told off for saying this recently, but I really think some of the political threads would benefit from a bit of perspective. It's not like Ghengis Khan has been elected instead of Nelson Mandela.

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

And of course, if you were a little older, you could remember back to the 1970s when it's my impression everything was not particularly rosy all the time either (under both Heath and Wilson/Callaghan).

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By *onbons_xxMan over a year ago

Bolton

Those days when decisions were taken to stop school milk, the disparity between haves and have nots becoming ever more apparent, and growing up in an area where families tried so hard to keep afloat but couldn't, along with the systematic dismantling of public sector in favour of a private sector ideology.

I respect others views though, I may not agree with them but yes I remember too.

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By *ouple in LancashireCouple over a year ago

in Lancashire

"Honestly? No, I'm too young. But I certainly remember a mix of good and bad under Labour. And a mix of good and bad under the Coalition over the past 5 years. There will be good and bad over the next 5 years. I've been told off for saying this recently, but I really think some of the political threads would benefit from a bit of perspective. It's not like Ghengis Khan has been elected instead of Nelson Mandela."

i have said similar about the Governments of the past and of the future, they will do some good things and they will do some bad things..

it does make me smile whenever blinkered folks of either side of the debate refuse to accept anything other than what history when viewed objectively tells us..

i do see the point Lickety is making too..

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

i have said similar about the Governments of the past and of the future, they will do some good things and they will do some bad things..

it does make me smile whenever blinkered folks of either side of the debate refuse to accept anything other than what history when viewed objectively tells us..

i do see the point Lickety is making too.."

I do too. But on the same threads referred to I see an awful lot of the same behaviour from those of an anti-Tory persuasion, which is just as rose tinted.

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By *icketysplits OP Woman over a year ago

Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound

I agree.

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By *icketysplits OP Woman over a year ago

Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound

"And of course, if you were a little older, you could remember back to the 1970s when it's my impression everything was not particularly rosy all the time either (under both Heath and Wilson/Callaghan)."

I remember that too.

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

Ooh a politics thread! Yippee!

Let's be honest, most governments whatever their political make up do some good things, and some things not so good.

Whilst you may or may not share the political ideology of any incumbent government at any particular point in time I really don't subscribe to the 'they're only in it for themselves' school of thought. Maybe I'm too naive and trusting of people's intentions but I do believe any government genuinely does try to do what they think is best for the country and some times things will work, others they won't. And your opinion on what YOU believe is the right thing to do may differ based on your own personal morals, ethics and values,

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

[Removed by poster at 14/05/15 22:39:36]

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By *renchbambi xWoman over a year ago

Need to know basis

Only 2 subjects are an absolute tabooo in France....politics and religion! Nobody ever talks about either for fear of loosing their friends...so plesase forgive me for being a thread time waster.....i am just experiencing post party gossip withdrawall...sorry...carry on you lot, i will keep on reading

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

As usual, I couldn't agree more. This is why I tend to avoid political threads. I don't believe that one single government could ever be completely great or completely bad for everyone. It's a tough job and I wouldn't do it and I'm certainly not going to pretend to understand it all....but I do know there are a lot worse countries to live in.

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By *igeiaWoman over a year ago

Bristol

I have managed to avoid all of them so far But I am full of cold this evening and my equanimity has temporarily eluded me.

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By *icketysplits OP Woman over a year ago

Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound

I have spent a lot of my life with politicians of every colour.

Most are extremely hardworking and committed to achieving a positive change for people in this country. They differ in what they think will make that change, and what they think is positive.

I try and counter-balance the cries on here that everything Labour did was awful for everyone because I am more politically left than I will ever be politically right.

I have also told those harping on that everything will be bad under the current government to work on how to influence for the better.

We have to get on with it and you either sit back and let life happen or fight for the things you care about.

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

The electorate is fickle, seduced by the pot of gold in the guise of fiscal "aspiration" and inspired by celebrity. Nobody wants to be "working" class anymore. They all covet the white collar.

The working class in the Lancashire cotton industry sacrificed their security in order to destroy slavery in the USA.

We can't even contemplate giving drowning refugees sanctuary. It is a shameful state of affairs.

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By *ugby 123Couple over a year ago
Forum Mod

O o O oo

Sometimes people use rose coloured glasses a lot.

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By (user no longer on site) over a year ago

Do you remember.. The good ol' days before the ghost town..

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By *erbyDalesCplCouple over a year ago

Derbyshire

I do remember.

To be fair they did get the blame for Black Wednesday, but even so the alternative still seemed even worse.

I think your overall premise is wrong though. There will always be those who will blame Labour for every ill, just as there will always be those who think Tories eat the babies of the poor.

No sensible debate can ever be had with either of these extremes. But to win power, Labour need to convince those who fluctuate their favours. I do not think Labour caused the recession, but I am conscious that Gordon Brown threw away his 'Golden Rules of Prudence' as soon as his electoral chances were diminishing, meaning that we ran a deficit even when, according to his own rules, we should have been running a surplus.

The truth is, rather than berating the electorate for making the 'wrong' choice, Labour simply needs to offer the electorate what a majority want.

John Smith got that, so did Tony Blair.

I'm not old enough to remember any other successful Labour leader.

And to quote Gladys:

"Come to think of it as, as bad as we think they are,

These will become the good old days for our children.

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

Or has time rewritten every line?

And if we had the chance to do it all again,

Tell me,

Would we?

Could we?