Vote Labour

[montmorencyt2w]

It started long before that with the Callahan Labour government where inflation was at 25% and almost everyone in Public Services, the car industry and many others all on strike during the Winter of discontent for those who can remember it.

Steady Barker.

I worked in the public sector then and we weren't on strike, neither were the majority of public sector workers, so let's not over-egg the pudding.

It's Callaghan, by the way.


At the time, I did think Callaghan was a twerp, and I wouldn't have voted for him. It wasn't until years later that, with the benefit of hindsight, I read some of the inside story of how he struggled in those days that I realised I had probably misjudged him.
A committed trade-unionist, he despaired of some of his brothers who seemed to be going on a kamikaze mission.(*)

The so-called "winter of discontent" was a good tabloid headline, but wasn't as bad as is made out.

And in any case, I question whether this was when "the rot set in".
How far back do you want to go?

How about Ted Heath's miner's strike and the resulting 3-day-week?
How about the inflationary "Barber Boom"?
How about the constant stop-go-policies of both Labour and the Tories and the "dashes for growth"?

How about the Suez crisis of 1956 and the Profumo crisis of 1961, both of which probably shattered the illusions of the electorate that they were being governed by statesmen of high principles, and started "the rot" which has led to the ever reducing involvement by ordinary voters in politics and to all-time lows in party memberships.
Not to mention the many spy scandals, where it was seen that men of the "ruling classes" could turn traitor and had morals which were contrary to the then norm.

(*)-If you want to criticise Callaghan then it should be for his earlier lack of support of Barbara Castle back in Harold Wilson's time, when she tried to introduce trade union legislation known as "In Place of Strife". Arguably, had that gone through, then Callaghan might not have been facing union troubles in 1978/1979.

I can still remember the radio broadcast of the confidence debate in 1979 which Labour lost by one vote, and which led to the 1979 election. It was one of the most electrifying political experiences I can remember.

 

[Atilla]

Steady Barker.

I worked in the public sector then and we weren't on strike, neither were the majority of public sector workers, so let's not over-egg the pudding.

It's Callaghan, by the way.


At the time, I did think Callaghan was a twerp, and I wouldn't have voted for him. It wasn't until years later that, with the benefit of hindsight, I read some of the inside story of how he struggled in those days that I realised I had probably misjudged him.
A committed trade-unionist, he despaired of some of his brothers who seemed to be going on a kamikaze mission.(*)

The so-called "winter of discontent" was a good tabloid headline, but wasn't as bad as is made out.

And in any case, I question whether this was when "the rot set in".
How far back do you want to go?

How about Ted Heath's miner's strike and the resulting 3-day-week?
How about the inflationary "Barber Boom"?
How about the constant stop-go-policies of both Labour and the Tories and the "dashes for growth"?

How about the Suez crisis of 1956 and the Profumo crisis of 1961, both of which probably shattered the illusions of the electorate that they were being governed by statesmen of high principles, and started "the rot" which has led to the ever reducing involvement by ordinary voters in politics and to all-time lows in party memberships.
Not to mention the many spy scandals, where it was seen that men of the "ruling classes" could turn traitor and had morals which were contrary to the then norm.

(*)-If you want to criticise Callaghan then it should be for his earlier lack of support of Barbara Castle back in Harold Wilson's time, when she tried to introduce trade union legislation known as "In Place of Strife". Arguably, had that gone through, then Callaghan might not have been facing union troubles in 1978/1979.

I can still remember the radio broadcast of the confidence debate in 1979 which Labour lost by one vote, and which led to the 1979 election. It was one of the most electrifying political experiences I can remember.

Yes I concur. Just as trade unions were excessive in their demands the swing to favour management - the fat cats is well OT. That goes for politicians and all elite class who do very little but run the country into the ground and take the biggest slice of the cake.

Same goes for some public sector workers. Compare how much those who run social services, railways and NHS get compared to all the poorly paid staff who work incredibly hard for low pay. The work effort and reward is very much out of touch with reality imho.

Your average nurse works damn site harder doing critical work compared to many layers of management and gets perhaps 10% of the cake. They also work unsociable hours and do shifts.

It's all wrong. The solution is to hopelessly raise hands in the hair and drown ones sorrows in booze. The outcome will be to reduce income taxes for the rich and raise those on alchol.

 

[dimsdaletraders]

...and lets just throw the withdrawal of support by the IMF into the pot. Support that was withdrawn because the government wouldn't sell out their support base, and the IMF wanted them to cut the budget to the bone in a time of crisis. The Labour government in the 70s got stitched up like a sack of kippers.

ffs, Mountbatten was trying to organise a military coup against Wilson at one point!

Having said that, and having been a Labour voter all my life? New Labour, Tony Blair, and finally Iraq, did for me. I don't vote now. There's no-one to vote for that I believe in.

 

[montmorencyt2w]

...and lets just throw the withdrawal of support by the IMF into the pot. Support that was withdrawn because the government wouldn't sell out their support base, and the IMF wanted them to cut the budget to the bone in a time of crisis. The Labour government in the 70s got stitched up like a sack of kippers.

I can't remember who it is ... not someone all that lefty or radical as far as I remember, but whoever it was, said something like ... "Once you get the IMF/World Bank in, you've had it....."


(or words to that effect).


With 30/20 hindsight, they (the 1970s Labour government) should have leaned very heavily privately on their union comrades to stop ****ing about, for a period at least.

Thatcherism was a direct product of 1970s Labourism/Trade-Unionism, sadly.

ffs, Mountbatten was trying to organise a military coup against Wilson at one point!

I don't know if that has ever been proved. He was a rum cove, and no mistake, just like his nephew.
Never liked the cut off his gib, if you know what I mean... :-

Having said that, and having been a Labour voter all my life? New Labour, Tony Blair, and finally Iraq, did for me. I don't vote now. There's no-one to vote for that I believe in.

Yes, they are all a bit ****e, sadly.

 

[zambuck]

I can't remember who it is ... not someone all that lefty or radical as far as I remember, but whoever it was, said something like ... "Once you get the IMF/World Bank in, you've had it....."


(or words to that effect).

....I think Fela Kuti the Singer summed up IMF very nicely....

....He called IMF - International Mother ****ers....!

 

[Pat494]

At least Blair got the name right " The third way ".

Trouble is he never found out any new policies to put in.
Got elected though. The electorate will catch on sooner or later it was the speech writers ( lately out of work from the BBC ) who won him the election. Just the content was lacking.

 

[zambuck]

The outcome will be to reduce income taxes for the rich and raise those on alchol.

Extract from Leeds Postcard....

...To make rich work harder...Pay them more....
...To make poor work harder...Pay them less....

Modern Politicians have taken this Mantra to heart....To stay in power....keep repeating the mantra why are you losing jobs and getting paid less..?..immigration....?

 

[Trader333]

The only point I was making is that the rot set in well before Thatcher. Brown has also made a large mistake in agreeing to testify on the Iraq issue just before the election. He has managed to dodge all the key questions that mattered before and now he will have to come clean. That alone could deal a fatal blow to the Labour election campaign depending on what he says.


Paul

 

[Pat494]

If the Liberals could throw away their image of long hair and sandals then just maybe they would have a real chance. Too many bleeding hearts and political correctness cr*p too.

 

[Trader333]

If the Liberals could throw away their image of long hair and sandals....

The image of corduroy suits with leather patched elbows didn't help either as well as the Spitting Image of the two Davids and the Legendary Paddy Pantsdown....oh and the image of Norman Scott saying that he just lay there biting the pillow when talking of the then leader Jeremy Thorpe


Paul

 

[Atilla]

Extract from Leeds Postcard....

...To make rich work harder...Pay them more....
...To make poor work harder...Pay them less....

Modern Politicians have taken this Mantra to heart....To stay in power....keep repeating the mantra why are you losing jobs and getting paid less..?..immigration....?

Hmmm...

Economic theory, states there is a trade off between leisure time and work time as incomes rise.

I would say the latter is true but the first point - people work less hard as they earn more money. I'm sure they have us believe otherwise and this is precisely the problem in hand.

 

[Pat494]

It's a little known fact that back in the Cold War days some young red blooded Marxists at University hatched a plot with the Kremlin to defeat the West and Capitalism by breaking them financially. They would get the West involved in unwinnable wars - which were Vietnam and now Afghanistan abroad and get the bankers to keywosh their own banks, Job done ! Well nearly. Except they didn't foresee the collapse of Russian Communism, so

A new TV series was born leading up to the terrible truth

Bring on Blackadder 1V where
Baldrick is Chairman of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Britain
His pet slug is Prime Minister and what came outa his nose makes up the Cabinet.
What came out his ar*e is unmentionable in polite circles, but apparently according to Gorbles Bown the information minister, the proletariat lapped it up !

Lets hope the gullible public will wake up to the ******s in Government this coming election but I'm not betting on it

 

[Pat494]

Politics here in UK is devoid of Ethics, Morality and Substance...

Whats more important imo is the lack of finance, jobs etc. You can't eat morality.

Since those "hot air " merchants got us into this fine mess - why I ask, don't they do the decent patriotic thing and take a 10% pay cut ? And there is Ann Widecombe suggesting the so-called " Honourable " Members should get a pay rise. Their effrontry beggars belief.

Personally I would set up a Star Chamber and get back loads of money wasted on MPs, bankers and various other parasites.

Blair and co. should have the millions they stole, taken off them. They could get along on the minimum wage nicely.

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Well at least Andrew Rawnsley (Observer, Guardian) is dishing the dirt on them nicely.
It goes well beyond just Gordon Broon's uncontrollable temper.

 

[Pat494]

Politics here in UK is devoid of Ethics, Morality and Substance...

Who in their right mind is going to employ a twat like Stephen Biaz, Jeff Hoon or the Hewitt woman for £5,000 a day !!
And what a cheek trying to copy Mr. Blair into the world of riches beyond their wildest dreams.
Got stung good and proper these Labour not so Honourable Members

 

[Atilla]

Who in their right mind is going to employ a twat like Keith Vaz, Jeff Hoon or the Hewitt woman for £5,000 a day !!
And what a cheek trying to copy Mr. Blair into the world of riches beyond their wildest dreams.
Got stung good and proper these Labour not so Honourable Members

This is a stitch up by Gordon and Co against the coup plotters Hoon and Hewitt. Remember this event => http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8444782.stm

I'm sure this is a deliberate setup... Not that I feel sorry for either party in this fiasco.

Also, who remembers the raising of the terror alerts a week before Blair was to give his account. What's happened to the heightened alert???

Bleeding politicians.

 

[counter_violent]

Labour really need news like this weeks before an election The cons ought to milk this right up to polling day....they deserve not to win if they don't
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8582093.stm

 

[Trader333]

This is a stitch up by Gordon and Co against the coup plotters Hoon and Hewitt

Yes the correlation is significant in my view as well.


Paul

 

[counter_violent]

Yes the correlation is significant in my view as well.


Paul

Puzzled by this view to be honest.

We are weeks away from election...Gordo can hardly afford crap like this coming out tarnishing the party even further. The only thing he could do was what he has done...try to stamp on the story and the offenders before it gathers momentum. Still makes the whole party look corrupt and shabby though doesn't it.

The timing of these stories is the real story. The public ought to be influenced and galvanized into action. So who is orchestrating all this bad news ! Certainly not Gordo or the party machine...i'm sure they would prefer a clear run up to polling day...not having to be putting out self started fires...makes no sense to me.

 

[Atilla]

Puzzled by this view to be honest.

We are weeks away from election...Gordo can hardly afford crap like this coming out tarnishing the party even further. The only thing he could do was what he has done...try to stamp on the story and the offenders before it gathers momentum. Still makes the whole party look corrupt and shabby though doesn't it.

The timing of these stories is the real story. The public ought to be influenced and galvanized into action. So who is orchestrating all this bad news ! Certainly not Gordo or the party machine...i'm sure they would prefer a clear run up to polling day...not having to be putting out self started fires...makes no sense to me.

Not if he comes back and kicks them out the party and looks good on anti-corruption... :idea:

They are not significant names.

Also, it may be a double trap. Tories come out criticising labour - only to have more film footage of Tory MPs in the hot seat...

I guess in election time anything goes... :!: