Just Seven Weeks.
So Teflon Tony has finally resigned. He'll be gone as Prime Minister by the end of July. How I loathe that man - let me count the days.........
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12 comments:
how i loath that man
as compared to John Major -a man so boring he ran away from the circus to become a banker
or Wiiliam Hague - not only unelectable but cmpletely inept in the political world at home, let alone abroad,
or David Cameron - the man of the poeple who attended Eton, and as soon as he had the opportunity put as more old etonians into his shadow cabinet that in the previous century
No to mention Ian duncan smith (I'm tebbit reincarnated really) or Howard *shiver* who fortunately both failed to remain leader long nough to fight a general election.
If Blair, or even Brown had shown the slightest belief in democracy & called a general election following his announcement - who would you be voting for? Cos I sure as hell won't vote for Cameron!
I still loathe him - and will not be voting Labour (New or otherwise) for a *very* long time because of him.
um, you do understand that by retiring, it means he on't be votale for anyway right? *grin*
Actually, i didn't vote for him last time, but I am to blame for the first two. And I have to say I am not wholly ashamed of it. Leaving the issue of Iraq aside, he's not been that bad. Economically we've never had it so good (OK, I personally have had it better, but that is by choice - sort of), the public services are stunningly better than they were 10 years ago - so is education, the NHS and until Iraq - our world standing. There is still a way to go with all those things, and there have been some lost opportunities, but you are old enough to remember 15 years of Tory rule. Where would you rather be now? In the England of 1995 or the one of 2007?
Of course, I dont think he's done the best job - security is definitley in decline (although i STILL feel MUCH safer than I did as a youngster in the 70's and early 80's), the home office doesn't kow who, where, what or why it exists, public transport is a joke - except we're all crying instead of laughing, and worst of all imo, he has supported the US to the detriment of the whole word, and the UK specifically.
But on the whole, he could have been worse. The others would have been worse. Until we break from party politics we are stuck with not too bad, bloody awful or uknown. Not too bad, is not too bad!
I was curious what your reaction was going to be. They were talking about it all quite a bit on NPR this morning.
So um, help a Yankee out.
What's the difference between Labours and Torries?
In theory:
labour (red) is on the left, and stands for nationalisation, workers rights, aganist big-busness and for state control of the population, the welfare state and unions
Tories (blue) are on the right, and stand for individual responsibility, capatalism, minimal state interference, and the open market.
The Lib dems (yellow) were once in the middle and stood for regionalisation, political reform and the stuff taht everyone else was too scared to say:-)
In the current reality labour has tried to walk both sides of the political spectrum, introducing plenty of employment laws (although mostly to do with European legislation), increasing funding to the welfare state, cutting off the unions power, andstabilising the economy, while the tories are still trying to recover from 15 years under Thatcher and have oscillated between scary fascism to psuedo-liberalism, while consistetly failing to keep hold of any policies or leaders long enough to make anyon believe they ae in any shape to do anything.
the Lib dems are still the other ones - now sitting happily on the left of the party spectrum in most areas, and providing a third voice in opposition, but still with very little hope of gaining any real power and totally untried in goverment.
Thats my brief take on it anyway - i'm sure others will disagree. The UK political system is quite a minefield tbh.
JM said: but you are old enough to remember 15 years of Tory rule. Where would you rather be now? In the England of 1995 or the one of 2007?
Not only old enough to remember the Tories in the 80's but old enough to vote for them too [grin]. Oh, I *hated* them with a passion. I really did. I almost wept with joy when New Labour got in power in 97. I had a smile on my face for weeks and weeks afterwards. Who would've thought that they'd turn out to actually be Conservatives in different suits?
scott asked: What's the difference between Labour and Torries?
That's a *very* good question scott.... [rotflmao]
That's a *very* good question scott.... [rotflmao]
Ah, based on your laughter I assume the two parties are as "different" as our magnificent two parties.
um, no.
whereas labour have wandered so far towards the right they have lost the right to call themselves socalist, and some of their policies smack of the conservative - especially fiscally, there is no doubt they are still fundementally a left wing party. £billions have been raised in taxes and put into state education, welfare and health. They have passed more laws than ANY other gov't in British history - most of which have been "nany state" laws, they intrduced the minimum wage, civil partnerships and european subugation.
The tories, as I said, have oscillated between going so far to the right that there was little difference between them & te BNP, then when UKIP nicked all their fascist supporter, they decided to drift towards the centre a little more, and Camerons "new tories" have spouted their green credentials (I'll take a private jet out to greenland to have my photo on a skidoo next to a melting iceberg, then fly back home again - no carbon footprint there then), and have admitted that the NHS is actually a good idea and needs to be funded (under previous leaders there was definite polices to kill the NHS), if you listen to their few policies, rather than the gumpf that cameron pads his speaches out with, they still stand stringly for reducing/removing much of the welfare state, personal responsibility and big business.
they are still very diferent imo! it's just that thee is no longer the same issues dividing them - ut plenty of new ones, and still some of the old ones create an enormous divide. If we are stupid enough to vote the tories in again, we'll soon see just how "centrist" they re!
JM is correct when she says that New Labour have lost the right to be called Socialists. Back in the 80's there was definitely 'clear blue water' between the two parties which made 'old' Labour pretty much unelectable. To give themselves a chance of actually getting into positions of power (in Government rather than perpetual opposition) the needed to shed some of their ideals - or ideology - and move to the centre ground [actually to the Right]. This they did very sucessfully and were elected in 97. They've been in power ever since.
Unfortunately what they gave up is what made them the Labour party. Some of which, I agree, they should have given up - like Nationalisation of the major industries and public services - but I think they have moved *far* too much to the right to please the electorate [Yes, I know there seems to be little point holding onto principles that deny you the opportunity to exercise those principles but I'm from the old school who thinks that political principles and ideology matter and that parties shouldn't morph themselves into whatever shape the electorate think that want. That's not politics, that's fashion!]
There may indeed be real differences between New Labour and the Conservatives but I do wonder how long they'll last. We've have massive privitisation, speech after speech about 'the right to choose', pushing of nuclear power and nuclear weapons [something 'old' Labour would never have done], a seriously disturbing drift to authoritarian policies and infringements of personal liberties [with more to come]and of course Iraq.
If you ask me if I'd rather have had another 10 years of Thatherite Conservatism I'd say NO. But the Labour party of today should, I think, be stripped of that name. They are certainly not the Labour party that any of their founders would recognise.
But it's Tony Blair himself that I loathe most. He's a sanctimonious lying bastard and he knows it. OK, most politicians are lying bastards but Blair just makes my blood boil. He says that he did what he believed was right (even if it involved fabrication and deceipt on a grand scale), well that's the kind of politician we can do without. Maybe he had never heard the phrase that 'the road to Hell is paved with good intentions' or maybe he just didn't care as long as he assured his place in History and 'belived' he was doing 'the right thing'. I for one will not be sorry to see him go and will continue *not* to vote Labour.
oh, I am absolutely not sorry to see him go. And I am not so niave as to think Tony is the labour party - but it will change wit a new leader. Maggie did that, if nothing else, to British politics. She instigated the cult of the leader, and Tony has followed that and expanded on it. So a new leader will take the labour party in a slightly different direction. I will wit and see what that direction is before deciding who to vote for.
If there was general election called today, could you, in all consciance, vote the tories into power? It's not like 1979 - there are some bad things, but not that bad!
If there was a geeral election called today, there would be little choice for me I think.
of course, I'm hoping that Ming is only there as a caretaker and will be gone by the next general election, which will hopefully offer a littl more choice. But the tories in power again? I hope not!
He's a sanctimonious lying bastard and he knows it.
But the bloke about to take over is even more of a sanctimonious lying bastard! I'm no fan of Tony, believe me, but Gordon Brown is so much worse (if that's even possible). I am actually quite worried about the future of this country if that man ends up at its helm. He's a cunning, secretive, power-hungry liar who has introduced more stealth taxes and wasted more money than anyone's even begun to realise. Half of the new laws he sneaked in (mostly tax-related) didn't get so much as a mention, and wham! - he's draining more and more out of honest businesses and people trying to earn a decent living. And it's not just his tyrannical stint as Chancellor. I can't stand the general smug two-facedness of the average politician, but there's something far more sinister about Brown. The man gives me the serious creeps. I think I'd vote for any opposition rather than him.
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