rugbymatt

You see thats where I disagree, and just hear me out. As Billy Boy says, they are all as bad as one another, you know I'm not naive enough to think any different, but I am one of the few people I know who thinks that they shouldn't be allowed to just keep running on and on and on. I am a Conservative supporter, but a lot of that is because of their stance on the countryside, they support what I do, day to day more than Labour ever have and in fact Labour have done nothing more than completely screw up this countries Agricultural Policy, its a mess, a complete and utter mess, and as is always the case, we judge things from the way we see things.

Now, my point about their terms is thus, if they know they only have two terms, if they know that in two terms they either have to make a difference or they are out on their arse then it will make them focus and they will HAVE to follow their promises..... the other point I was making is that I think its a good thing to have a change of regime, it keeps the tossers on their toes, makes them less complacent and thats a good thing.

Mitzyboy

Im afraid I still remember the Thatcher years. I believe as lot of people will, as time grows nearer. OK, its a different regime, and as always it's a matter of opinion. I don't think the Conservatives will make a difference of any kind

Think of it as a business. Theres only so much in the pot to do things. If they spend on something they have to claw back on another thing. It applies to them all. Without hiking taxes, they are both in the same boat

rugbymatt

Mate, you and I both know that if they win again they will be as smug as you can imagine... they have already, against the overwhelming public opinion, dragged us into a horrendous war against Iraq and pretty much do what they want, with another term they will be even bloody worse!

jimenato

I also remember the Thatcher years. These are similar circumstances in some ways to when she came to power - we are deep in the s**t following a period of Labour government. Last time it was Labour not dealing with the unions and the employment situation in general that got us in the do, this time it's a different combination of factors some, but not all of which, are Labour's fault.

Whatever, nasty medicine will be required and it will likely be the Tories which have to administer it - again.

rugbymatt

20 years ago people, jeez, move on!

jimenato

30

rugbymatt

She stepped down in 1990, am I missing something?

jimenato

Probably a crossed post. My post which yours immediately followed was about the dire Labour government which preceded her and her then coming to power - in 1979.

HBG

I remember John Major, the Chancellor, putting the interest rates up to 15 percent, and I had just extended my successful business but my borrowings were three percent over base, although on a low gearing.

My accountant gave me some good advice, maybe unorthodox, but it got me a sun tan not too long later.

bil

What can you say? The tories gave us Black Wednesday, privatisations and corruption. Labour, Iraq, corruption and expenses.

Matt, I know it was a long time ago, but to this day I can still remember where I was standing almost to the inch when it was announced that the mortgage rate went up 50% in one day under Lamont. Jesus, even writing this makes me feel ill. Had I not had a fixed rate, I would have gone under. As it was, my financial problems were spread thin enough for me to recover in the steady period of growth hosted by GB. For that reason I will drink his health and hope he gets in, if only to shut up the people who keep saying he has never been elected.

Privatisation. An indelible black mark against the tories I'm afraid. To sum it up in one word, RAILTRACK.

Corruption, well that pretty well cancels out, however given that Labour campaigned on that they get extra hypocrite points.

Iraq. T Bliar took us in to Iraq on a lie, and his hands will always be stained by the blood of every person who died as a result of his bumsucking Bush. Here the Tories get bonus bad points because they didn't demand to see evidence before backing the lurch into Iraq, and for declaring after the lies were made public that they would still have backed Bush.

Unless a miracle occurs, we are going to get butt*****ed raw in Afghanistan. Look forward to many more of our soldiers dying there. Had we all focussed on the justified invasion of Afghanistan, and not wasted time and manpower on Iraq, we might have subdued Afghanistan instead of ending up with a modern day Vietnam. Blair's war.

At the end, there is no real way of distinguishing between the two classes of scumsucking, dishonest bastards. If I vote it will be Labour. The reason?

Well, it goes like this. I like most of us here can probably be described as the 'common man' some would say more common than most. People like us have the rights we have because people fought, suffered and died for them.

Look back, and every one of those people would, at that time have been described as left wing trouble makers.

In all honesty, I cannot think of any right we have that was not taken by force from the Right, whether church, crown or state.

Can anyone name any freedom like that which was given freely by the right wing to the common man?

So, I won't be voting Tory any time soon.

I don't believe they are much more corrupt, if at all than Labour, but I don't think they have the magic beans to cure the problem, and their hearts will always be in enriching the well off at the expense of the less well off, no matter what they say.

Not for nothing are they known as the Selfservatives.

rugbymatt

Golden Brown sold all our gold...

In the last 12 years how many of our water companies/power companies/ service companies etc have been sold to the French and Germans?

They are all at it Bill and as I said, kick them out every couple of terms and it refreshes the country, revitalises it, invigorates it.... brings new ideas to the table.

bil

Matt, I cannot argue with any of that. Selling the gold was a dumb idea (with hindsight) as were a number of decisions. Privatisation of essential services was, is and will be IMO the most dumbass thing to do. They were sold off at a pittance, we ended up paying yet more tax into the new owner's pockets, and worse of all the quality of eg our drinking water is now defined at least partly by profit margins. Not good, not good at all. No matter WHO does it.

Gotta say, you are right when you say kick them out regularly to keep them keen, but I would add this. When an MP gets a job like Min of defence, whatever, he should be stuck with that for the duration, and if he has to be changed, that goes down on his record as a failure, instead of swapping them around everytime they are swamped in the sh*t.

rugbymatt

To further add to that, having an ex education minister in charge of the Armed Forces, and in the case of something close to my heart, having the head of DEFRA as a frigging vegetarian makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, not least because he is an inner city "kid" and came from prisons, via international development, so what the hell is he doing running something as important to this country as agriculture....

HBG

I’ve actually voted for all three parties at different times, and for different, selfish reasons, I well remember queuing up for those privatisation shares without any thoughts about the consequences. I was waiting for Maggie to sell the air, and I would have bought shares in that too.

Seeing I want the pound to go up, I should vote for Cameron, and I might, who cares about principles, they don’t pay the rent.

Or should I try and repair my damaged principles and vote Liberal? They’re the ones who didn’t want to invade Iraq, and nor did I.

Or are we just sheep? I remember watching them down in the West Country. Whenever they were put into a new field full of luscious grass, they queued up at the gate to get back into the old field which they had cleared of every blade.

I watched them go up to the edge of cliffs in Bude, not a blade of grass in sight, and topple over in their curiosity.

I’m not that curious about Cameron.

bil

Amen to that.

Margaret Beckett, unattractive she may have been but she was also as rude as hell to the Welsh Farmer's representative when he travelled to London to see her.

I cannot understand why someone would think that sort of attitude was acceptable.