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The only time I supported the IRA was when they tried to blow the
Tories up.
>The only time I supported the IRA was when they tried to blow the
Tories up.
Nice! What a pleasant chap you must be.
Yes and an honest one too! 😉
Yup, internment was not the solution. Funny how Brown and Blair introduced similar measures in their fight against terror (freedom fighters). Lock people up without trial and their communities get upset. Management of the troubles was not a Thatcher strong point.
Scargill built Thatcher. He gave her the green light to break the unions, and the NUM in particular, through the illegal strike. Andrew Marr put it nicely in one of his recent history shows - Thatcher was very, very lucky with who her enemies were. Derek Hatton was another one, like 10 Christmas' rolled into one for the Tories. I've heard it argued that both Scargill and Hatton were MI6 plants - tounge in cheek, but certainly you couldn't have invented two more effective tools for furthering Conservative policy in 80s Britain.
I fail to understand how anyone other than an Essex barrow boy could give the tories the time of day
+1
"The only time I supported the IRA was when they tried to blow the
Tories up"
+1
Their remodelling of Manchester city centre was better IMHO
The only time I supported the IRA was when they tried to blow the
Tories up.
I remember thinking, as a child when that happened, how it would have been great if they'd got Maggie.
As a grown-up, I can understand that there were also many other people who were simply doing their jobs; aides, secretaries, catering staff, cleaners etc, who were in no way responsible for anything in NI. Did they deserve to die?
Maggie and the Tories may be scum, and I for one won't mourn her, but I can't condone any act of war or terrorism where innocent people are killed. That's Human Life we're talking about.
LOL When has a Torie been human
Falklands.
Riots.
Miners' strike. I remember being out on a night out in Wakefield mid 84 and seeing van after van after van of police setting off just before dawn - it was almost military in its scale & coordination.
13% interest rates meaning £300+ repayments on a £30k mortgage.
unemployment - way higher per capita than it is now, or certainly seemed so at the time.
the death of heavy industry, including one that I worked in for a while. I think that particular company's demise was more about biting off more than it could chew in terms of acquiring competitors, than directly as a result of the government, but I could be wrong.
Gulf War I - never finished the job off
Militant Tendency, Scargill & the Socialist Workers' Party, among others. The death of the GLC
I could go on for hours
One thing people forget, Thatcher ran an environmental agenda way before it was cool. To hear a lot of people (largely tories funnilly enough) speak you'd think that environmental policies are a nu-labour creation and a recent development, Maggie's early policies seem to be completely forgotten.
Not to say that she wasn't an evil space robot, but she did have her moments.
Edukator what exactley do you know about coal mining apart from the 'economics' that you read about in the Telegraph? Yeah you had a summer job in a car plant-- big deal. as one of your beloved said "put up or shut up"
13% interest rates meaning £300+ repayments on a £30k mortgage.
I think you'll find that interest rates hit 17% under the Tories.
Give credit where credit's due ........ the Tories certainly know how to give us sky-high interest rates - not just sky-high unemployment. Although obviously both go hand in hand.
I'm sure they probably did; but I'm thinking of [i]my[/i] first mortgage here, taken out in 1990.
Only just sold that b*stard f*cking house too.
I remember when there was a couple allowance tax when buying a property
and the Tories put a panic for people to rush through to buy and then shortly after the dead line the intrest rates went up and then through the roof.
Also I remember walking down Wapping High rd and came upto the Sun news
paper and there was a print strike at the time A peaceful one at that. Then Thatchers Army of Police working with Murdoch Charged at the
people on horses and causing alot of injuries.
grantway nothing much has changed! murdoch runs the tory party 🙄
murdoch runs the tory party
I believe that Rupert Murdoch also had a quiet word in Peter Mandelson's and Tony Blair's ears about what a New Labour government could, and couldn't do.
Not bad for a foreigner without even a vote in UK elections. Don't believe for a moment that the Sun's "support" for New Labour for 13 years came with 'no strings attached'.
Which is ironic considering that the Unions had no influence at all despite bankrolling New Labour.
Rather tha ask for my credentials colnagokid and Mitch, test them. It's easy to make a laughing stock of people who haven't got a clue. Go on, make a fool of me. So far I've made contributions that are a mix of fact and interpretation. Challenge my facts and argue against my interpretation if you disagree with me or think I'm bullshitting.
Edukator how old are you?
One thing people forget, Thatcher ran an environmental agenda way before it was cool.
???????
I must have missed that. Maybe you could explain?
I must have missed that. Maybe you could explain?
It was when the Greens started making impressive gains in Europe and Thatcher responded by making very vague green noises in an attempt to pre-emptive any simular developments in the UK. She didn't actually do anything - just talked a little on the subject.
So old I haven't worked for eight years Pigface.
[i]Yeah you had a summer job in a car plant-- big deal.[/i]
Even if you do provide interesting relevant credentials on this site you will be mocked.
Although the hole in the ozone layer and tackling CFCs happened on her watch I suppose?
Met Eddie Shah last night.
For those who don't know him he revolutionised the newspaper industry.
His terrifying stories about the unions confirmed my suspicions.
Utterly fantastic chap; 'fraid I'll carry on voting tory unless someone more right wing whose not totally bigoted come along.
The Tories - for those of us old enough to remember 1st hand
For those who are old enough and are bitter. Aren't you just angry about how your life turned out in general? What do you expect, spoonfed and hand-held through life? No one owes you anything. People loose their jobs, shit happens, you never know what lifes going to throw at you, take life as it comes.
Heck, its part of life. You can't spend your life blaming 'Maggie'. Who are people going to blame for the last 10yrs? 'the greedy Bankers'?
Move on. Bitter old men existed for hundreds of years. I hope I don't become bitter until I hit 60.
Hora that is just rubbish
That was my nephew from LSE being interviewed on Sky News a few minutes ago and making pertinent comments on the press coverage of the election. Is that a credential?
I remember our phone being tapped for about 5-6 years after my dad talked to some miners during the strike. I remember the food and clothes runs during the strike. I remember the violent attacks on the peace convoy. I remember the rewarding of greed and dismantling of the civil society.
Scargill was a far cannier operator than you realise edukator and knew the stakes that were being played for extended far beyond the mines.
Is that a credential?
What? you're related to someone who was on Sky? Erm. no.
[i]was a far cannier operator than you realise edukator [/i]
Eh? How can you say that of someone who failed in everything he set out to achieve as a communist and union leader. Canny suggests succeeding using ruse and wile. He battered his head againt a brick wall and knocked himself out.
He was instrumental in the strike that brought down the Heath government. How canny was that? He stood for anti-democratic communism when communism was seen as the enemy by the vast majority of the British populaton.
I hope I don't become bitter until I hit 60.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think it might already have happened.
take life as it comes.
The rallying-cry/excuse of people without imagination or ambition.
ernie_lynch - Member
13% interest rates meaning £300+ repayments on a £30k mortgage.
I think you'll find that interest rates hit 17% under the Tories.Give credit where credit's due ........ the Tories certainly know how to give us sky-high interest rates - not just sky-high unemployment. Although obviously both go hand in hand.
And inflation peaked at 26% under labour in 1975.
25% inflation when interest rates were 11% destroyed many small investors' savings and led to one Britain's upteen property booms and crashes hence the 40% negative equity another poster moaned about.
So what we are saying is that both Labour and the Tories have had sh*t economic policies then?
Good, I'm glad we sorted that one out. 🙄
How about concentrating on the impact that said economic policies have had on society then. (Tories may need to run away now)
Nope, read back, we're saying Labour had especially lousy economic policies and that the Tories, though far from perfect, did significantly better. My previous post also refers to 1975 when Labour were in power.
scruzer - Member
Ya dont need a long memory... Their (HERS!)legacy still sits infront of me right now. Deprived South Yorkshire mining communities (all around Donny at least)and no investment to replace what they destroyed. Anyone know Stainforth??
So a Labour govt has gained your communities exactly what in the last 13 years if there has been no investment to replace what the Tory policies of the 80s & 90's created?
Cost my old man his life after they shut the pits down!
Cost my old man his life after they shut the pits down!
The pits cost many more their lives when they were open.
empathy not your strong point then backhander.
You're not my friend today are you pigface?
Just making a point that whilst the pits may have bought economic advantages to some areas, they were unhealthy and dangerous places to work.
I'm not saying that they should or shouldn't have been closed.
Of course i am your friend just happen to find the above comment a bit crass. No offence intended 🙂
Backhander, should we close the forces down, for the same reason? 😐
westkipper;
I'm not saying that they should or shouldn't have been closed.
Really, this covers it mate.
In reflection, my earlier post could seem a bit harsh. I certainly didn't mean to upset anyone by it. Apologies to creaser.
Unless you lived in the mining areas, you have no idea of the bitterness the dispute caused - I hadn't understood it until I moved up here. I spent the Thatcher years in a non-mining, non-indutrialised town where we actually did OK through the 80s. Now I'm a bit older, better travelled and a lot wiser.
Of course, all this Tory hating pre-supposes that CallMeDave and his cronies won't have learnt anything from the mistakes of their Tory predecessors. I mean, it's not like Blair/Brown have repeated the mistakes of the Wilson/Callaghan era and left the country in a huge financial hole with growing industrial unrest and rising unemployment, is it?