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Saturday, March 19, 2005

Budget

Have a read of Gordon Brown's speech in the Budget statement of 16th March. It covers many of the achievments of this Government and any Labour supporter can be proud of our record. http://www.parliament.uk

Compare it to the Tory record and then decide if you really want to risk losing the most successful Labour government in history.

Hello Clive, Sorry to read you will not be standing again. It is impossible to guess what you might do next. Could be anything. Winston Churchill did not become Prime Minister until he was in his sixties. The world is your oyster. Even if you left the country, it need not stop you from blogging. I would like to see you start up a second blog for an autobiography in post size installments. It would be interesting to read about your views, personal interests, travels, anecdotes, people experience, etc., and when it is complete, you could get it published in hardback. Here's looking forward to seeing what you have got up your sleeve. Heh. I have a feeling it is going to make us smile.

"The Tory record and the most successful Labour Government in history"

We'll have to wait and see, but I think history may judge that it was the pain of the Thatcher years that led to the later economic success that Gordon boasts about.

As far as I can recall, Margaret Thatcher had a habit of not going in for medium or long range planning. She was intent on short term planning for political gain. And to remain in office, went to war over the Falklands and moved the voting boundaries. As I recall, she did nothing much for women, except change things so she would not need her husband's signature when filing her own tax returns. Apart from standing up to the unions, I cannot remember anything she did for manufacturing, ship building, steel works, coal mining, information technology, science, education, transport (except for the Channel Tunnel which she wanted her name on) or what happened to all the money from our north sea resources and the sales of our country's silver. Did it get reinvested back, and if so, into what? The Welfare State? It certainly was not spent on an efficient transport system to get people to work.

Margaret Thatcher made lending and credit attractive, encouraged people to buy their own homes and sold off council houses without using the money to build affordable homes. There was a time when people in need of a home ended up being housed in B&Bs at extortinate prices paid by the taxpayer. Mortgage interest rates in latter half of the 1980's were around 15% and ordinary folk found it impossible to find affordable housing near their jobs. They had to split from their families and roots and move to where the work was, especially if they lived in rural areas. Even today, as a result of Tory policies, traditional gypsies have few places to go and live legally and in peace; Labour is having to sort out a big emotive mess and hellish complaints from nomads and homeowners [in the Sudan the government would just eliminate the problem by killing the nomads and people who argue].

Then people started having difficulties getting decent eye and dental care, not to mention an NHS dentist (no wonder the Brits have a reputation for yellow and bad teeth). It's surprising how much it costs to get glasses, dental treatment and perscriptions under the NHS. All of these changes caused a huge amount of form filling and bureaucracy. A newspaper in South Africa, when reporting on the Mark Thatcher story, titled the piece "Son Of Milk Snatcher Arrested". [I thought that was pretty funny].

Selling off prime land that housed institutions, hospitals etc., may have enabled people to live more independently, but the Labour Government must have had a huge and at times near to impossible task of picking up the pieces of such a far reaching policy while working to improve the NHS. Paying for private medicine just means that those with money jump the queue, leaving those in need waiting longer. Thatcher and her pension deals opting out of (serps or something I think it was called) meant the hard earned payments I made into a pension fund over years came to nothing much and I may not have made enough contributions to get a full state pension. I would have been better off setting aside the money and investing it in art and antiques.

Thatcher's legacy is a "look after number one" society that feels each must own their home, regardless of whether they can really afford it. As a result, the majority of people are overstretched financially and stressed which has a knock-on effect on health, family life, drinking, gambling and, in short, the whole fabric of society. During Thatcher's premiership the whole country went mad on credit cards and spending sprees, many got into debt, went bankrupt and had homes repossessed. Some people I know are still paying for it today.

My memories of Margaret Thatcher are that she created a society of must-haves that spent more than it saved. I worked and lived in London throughout the Thatcher years and cannot identify with what Rob here means when he says the Thatcher years led to economic success that Labour boasts about. But I agree wholeheartedly with Clive when he refers to Tony Blair's government as the most successful Labour Government in history.

Hi Ingrid,

"and the sales of our country's silver."

I noticed you mentioned silver, but not gold.

:-)

Regs, Andy

The one-off 200 pound council tax rebate for pensioners was worse than no rebate. It looks like a piece of electioneering opportunism to bribe the voters. Not impressed.

Clive: I thought you should read the following link, which concerns you and the Notting Hill Housing Trust. It accuses you of being a racist, of driving people out of their homes and other accusations. The article was written by your constituent in anger and frustration about your behaviour as an MP, although it steps over the line as far as libel is concerned.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/307581.html

Clive whilst this Labour party has many wonderful achievements of which to speak, to somehow decide that we should fear the return of the Tory party (due to their 'record') is not particularly balanced when one considers the record of their 17 years in control immediately prior to this parties 'most successful' period in its history.

It was my understanding that at the time of the Tory party taking control in 1979 the leaving Labour party had a record of being bailed out by an IMF loan (and their strict spending controls), a winter of discontent, a three-day-working week and was informally labelled the 'sick man of europe'. Yet 17 or so years later, when the tory party left office, the nation was once again one of the strongest in the world, the economy was relatively stable and the fiscal policies introduced were embraced by a revived Labour opposition, indeed the nation was altogether healthier. But hey, who mentioned political parties past records?

It is not easy to forget how the unions and Old Labourites befell the last Labour Government. I lived and worked in London during the three-day working week. The unions brought Britain to its knees and did so much damage they can never be allowed to wield such power again. Tony Blair and I are the same age. No doubt he can recall how the unions forced Britain to stop work and conserve fuel. We had to check in our local paper for the hours we were allowed gas and electricity and how get to work. In our offices we were forced to use gas camping lamps for lighting. Inspectors patrolled to check that offices weren't using more fuel than permitted. It was winter, cold and dark, and grim. The tubes and buses were on go slows or non existent. Union workers were striking everywhere causing chaos, confusion and fear for ages. Some nights I walked home from work in the City of London EC1 to Regents Park NW1. Garbage was piled high on the streets. The miners union forced other union workers to follow in sympathy. The unions forced the country into the gutter. That is why I clearly recall Margaret Thatcher standing up to the unions which I believe was her greatest success. History will show that Tony Blair has carried out an amazing job of making Labour electable and modernising it with New Labour. Too many voters recall the old days of unions holding the country to ransom and the long years of Thatcher, the school milk snatcher, who people rose up against over the Falklands war and poll tax. Thatcher fawned over America while getting Britain relegated to the bottom of the page as an asterisk on important European committee minutes, meetings and agendas. Even the Queen did not approve of her. After the Tories ousted their meglomaniac leader, Old Labourites would never have succeeded in winning power after John Major. Those who seek to pull down Tony Blair are doing the Party and voters a disservice. Tories or Liberals will get in to power before Old Labour ever does. Old Labour is dead and the sooner those who work within Labour to eliminate Tony Blair realise this, the more chance there is of the most successful Labour Government in history remaining in power, enabling us to evolve into a more fair and compassionate society that does great things for our country and the world's poorest nations.

Certainly the most dishonest and duplicitous as well. Not to mention sleaze. For all you Lbaour MP's like to boast history will not be kind to you. Mandelson, Ecclestone, Blunkett, etc

Not to mention 100 000 dead Iraqi civilians and the trashing of international law. I can understand why you are leaving. Head bowed in shame no doubt.

Dave here, I forgot to ask you Clive,

Clive, why do politicians lie?

Am I naive or too innocent?

Why did you lie and tell everyone in the party that we had to agree to fight an unlawful war.

Why did you act as a racist or was this another way of trying to control others?

Maybe I said when I was half asleep or on the weed that you drove people out of their heads by killing others by an illegal war which you voted for. So did you?

I saw something that said it was written by you and your friends and when you were angry and had lied to the voters for a war that we all knew was illegal your behaviour upset many of us of the party so you and your friends set up another victim?

Why did you do it? Is that true?

The internet is not independent as i have seen words changed and words are getting changed very quickly on websites and I know it is not a very secure medium is it?

Did you step over the mark? Or is it only your friends who step over the mark? Do you tell them what to do and they use very nasty tactics and harass others? Others who you can abuse? Do they also change the words that other people write on the internet?

These nasty tactics, Is this the way of the coward? Or is this the way of the bully?

I know politics is a very dirty game but is that why you were made senior prefect in the party to control all the other bullies and cowards or were you the main bully?

Once a politician, always a politican.
Politicians can never be trusted, even i know that. It is a very dirty game, look what happened to dr david kelly.

Do you ever think if it was ever necessary to do what happened to him?

Is it true dr david kelly was murdered?

Were other innocent people murdered?

The way of the coward or the way of the bully?

The Labour Party was the best political party of all in this country. But now... what have you turned it into. I salute Brian Sedgemore. Can I salute you?

Can I trust you? Could I ever have trusted you?

Did you recommend the postal ballot to try to win this general election or did you think that gerrymandering would swing the vote or did you think that all devious tactics have to be used...in order to win...at all costs, even if it went as far as bullying a person or several people to death?

Am I too naive or too innocent?

Clive, why do politicians lie?

Dave

To embark on an unlawful war means that some people have no conscience.

It appears that the new candidates will emulate the lies of others.

As the new labour candidates support the unlawful war in Iraq.

I've told labour i'll vote for them but I won't. Let them have a bit of their own lies.

Seems like clive was very many things - i can believe he was worse than only being racist - that sounds really lame in the circumstances - whoever said that -or was it clive's mouthpiece? What about being someone who bullyingly voted for innocent women and innocent children to be killed. A killer really takes the biscuit if you want to say something with substance.

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