Who?
No, I've been 'sootyandjim' for a very long time.
BTW, I'm no conservative voter, am a union member, am a supporter of socialist policies and have never considered myself a fan of Thatcher, but I'm not so blind as to not see what a mess this country was in when Thatcher took power and how much better it was for many when the reins were handed back to Labour.
Of course not all the current mess is down to Labour, but they have spent along time in power doing pretty much sweet FA other than tinker with Tory policies, enter into dubious wars and spend like drunk chavs with an Amex card in Elizabeth Duke whilst we should have been putting money away (as a country I mean, my wife and I saved a fair chunk but unfortunately its not worth as much now due to the slashing of interest rates).
Then colnagokid, I just pity you.
The reality of it is if nu-lab were that convinced that the policies were wrong they had plenty of time to at the very least begin to unwind them. However, Gordon was very lucky in that his tenure as chancellor coincided with a period of almost unprecedented economic growth both locally and globally. It was almost impossible to fail as chancellor in that period. And that was built on the concept of economic freedom. However, gordons gambles are as much of a folly as everyone who took the huge mortgages based on the expectation that things would continue to improve, and he has effectively allowed this country to be mortgaged up to it's arse. Retrospectively it all looks a little bit stupid, but hey, let's blame thatcher anyway, as it must be all her fault because she led the country back to economic prosperity and took on the bloody minded and righteous indignation that people were owed a living by the state.
Obviously now we have the largest generation of poorly educated people to support and rebuild the nation economically to look forward to. Educational reform, you've got to live it. Must be thatcher fault I guess.
FFS! The politicians ****up big time ... well all the time, the bankers got super greedy and everyone is miserable. Things never change for good.
As for the guy who smashes up his flat the reasons can be many but whatever that reason may be he is in pain.
Possible reasons ...
1) House repo.
2) Two timer partner.
3) Being made redundant.
4) Being back stabbed.
5) Mental health.
6) High on crack.
7) Family bereavement.
8) Got bullied at pub.
So why not call the police for his own safety?
😯
the Conservatives left the country in a better position when Labour took over than it had been when Labour were last in power.
Well you could argue over that statement endlessly.
But probably the best gauge of the state of any economy, is the level of unemployment.
When the conservatives left government in 1997 unemployment was higher than it had been when they first came to power. This would have been quite impossible if the economy was indeed healthier.
Unemployment isn't always a useful guide to the state of a countries economy.
Increased mechanisation in industry means less jobs and an increased technical aptitude being required in those jobs remaining means that the unskilled labour market has been getting smaller for a very long time.
Without retraining for some there are just no jobs available and for the rest they have mechanisation and foreign labour/production to compete with. But of course certain industries do thrive in such time and contribute towards the GDP.
No, unemployment is a very good guide to the state of a country's economy.
Unemployment isn't today now rising up towards 2 million because we're experiencing an "increased mechanisation in industry".
It's going up because the economy is getting less healthy.
And it will continue to go up as the economy gets worst.
So would you say was potential for more unskilled jobs in 1997 than there was in 1979?
Taking one industry as an example, the car industry say, were cars built the same way in both 1979 and 1997?
Yes, you're quite right. Many of the jobs which were lost under Thatcher were skilled manufacturing jobs.
Which is one of the many reasons why Britain was worst after 18 years of Tory rule.
And also one of the reasons why Britain has been so badly hit by this recession.
An economy based on 'financial services' ffs ?
Of course keeping the pound artificially strong for the last 11 years hasn't hurt manufacturing in this country at all, no siree.
Good, we're getting somewhere. Apparently you no longer want to talk about how "well" the Tories did between 1979 and 1997, and instead you now want to change the subject and talk about the last 11 years.
P-k ripper dont waste your time pittying me. You dont know what I think, maybe you think you know what I think,but you dont thankfully.You and me are different, and you probably havn't seen what I've seen(no simpathy thanks)
And what different would it make to gordons plans when Im dancing on Maggy Thathers Grave
falkirk mark no S&J isnt- hes a good lad not an insensitive EDIT.
[i]I really do question this obsession with home ownership.[/i]
Paying twice the value of the house just to say you own it before you die and leave almost half the value back to the state? Agree. In Germany they think we are mad for our focused-obsession with ownership.
Who owns all the property in Germany then?
The Teutonic Knights Templar. They also control who gives birth, to whom and take signals/directions from Martians who in turn are directed by Ron Hubbard and John Travolta.
The reason people like home ownership (rather than being obsessed with it) is that a) you get something back for your money in the end, unlike renting and b) you can modify the house to make it nicer.
Two reasons why we bought. Fed up of handing a fat chunk of money over every month for the privilege of being treated like scum by a landlord who won't even bother to talk to us.
Houses are a good investment. The house my parents bought in 1980 for £23k they sold for £160k 20 years later. If they'd put their mortgage payments in the bank they'd not have made anything like that amount of money and they'd still have had to pay rent. And our family would've been at the mercy of the landlord.
So don't give me this 'obsessed with ownership' crap.
How much was 23k in 1980? Factor in the interest on repayments etc and I bet intotal/like for like its similar to 160k. Im not arguing against ownership. There are many factors pro-ownership. The only pro for renting has to be the current crisis/economic climate. Otherwise its pro-buy all the way.
It'll be a house repo...it probably all started off by him asking random nutters on an internet forum for mortgage advice 😉
hora - Member
How much was 23k in 1980?
£23k.
gwaelodIt'll be a house repo...it probably all started off by him asking random nutters on an internet forum for mortgage advice [;-)]
😆
But savings don't take account inflation. 5% on savings is still just 5%. £50k ish (when you take into account interest) turned into £160k in real money. They sold the house, retired and moved to France, buying cash - they wouldn't have been able to do that if they'd rented.
Where abouts in Edinburgh was this mate?
I have a friend that has a penthouse place down at western harbour...
wonder if it was him!
Next to the stadium-lit track (if this helps?). Im not very good with street names etc!
That would have to be Meadowbank? Not him then. Western Harbour is down next to Ocean Terminal in Leith.