difference is tho redarmy is that at least Canada still has its industries and will continue to generate wealth from them,whereas we've got nowt. a lot of the wealth thatcher created was done by raping north sea oil and gas and using it for power generation,when it was earmarked for domestic consumption so it would last decades.
I agree about the "massaging" unemployment numbers by reclassifying some of the unemployed as "incapacitated" (I studied Economics and Economic history at Uni, by the way), but what I don't agree with is that Thatcherism encouraged a benefit culture. All I have read on here today is that Thatcher had no regard whatsoever for the poor/disadvantaged/working class, and now someone is trying to say that she was throwing benefits at them. Hmmm. Somewhat contradictory. All I am saying is that the "benefit culture" became apparent to me during my years in Salford / Manchester under Blair, when social benefit spending went through the roof. I was fed up with the benefit scroungers I observed every day so made a move. So glad I did. I just wish I could get to see Barnsley FC more often.
do you think it was all thatchers doing OR do you think regardless of who was in charge of the country at the time,conservative wise. They would have done exactly the same.
the benefit culture created by the tories wasn't apparent to you because you were too young to understand..they started the culture to get people off the dole and onto incapacity benefit so we didn't have 6 million on the dole,
I think they would have all done the same,,,,,,,Parkinson,clark,hestletine,hurd,lamont,britton etc...all pi55 in the same pot
thankyou, i didnt know whether it was just a hatred of thatcher based on the fact she was a woman,who ruined a mans industry
You may have studied your subject at uni but we lived thatchers policies. You may find it hard to believe that she didn't encourage the benefit culture but I can tell you that she did. Older miners were encouraged to sell their jobs for a reundacy fee and a life on benefits he else do you think she got to get people to sell their and the others that would have normally followed their footsteps jobs it was well known to miners that management were encouraging this and the system was geared up for it that is fct
By that 'someone' I shall presume you mean me. The benefit culture may have become apparent to you under Blairs government but it was in existence long before in the government that created it - Thatchers. Now I didn't go to Uni to study Economics but I had eyes in my head that saw miners in the village I'm from go onto Incapacity Benefit and stay on it until they reached pensionable age. I'm not saying all miners did this, not for one minute as some got other jobs and others went to college/Uni to retrain. Some of the Mining and manufactuing towns and villages that were destroyed by the Thatcher government have never recovered and the benefit culture has thrived in some of these areas. I think sometimes it is learned in families and it's sad to see.
Put it this way... You are a miner, or steelworker, or a worker for one of the many industries that service the mines and steelworks. You have been in that job all your life, your dad got you the job when you left school at 15/16 and it's all you know. The Thatcherite government then vindictively and brutally close down those industries to curtail the unions and send out a strong message to the remaining unions and the rest of the world. What do you do? Where do you find alternative suitable employment? Ok, some of the brighter proactive people will re-educate or get on their bike, but the majority are shagged, with absolutely no alternative but to go cap in hand to the state.. The benefit state was kick started by thatcher and her minions.. Absolutely
Absolute rubbish!! The lack of community spirit is more down to Mr Anthony Blair's PC Britain where everyone's scared to intervene in case they end up in court themselves.
Couldn't agree more CT, it's lovely to live somewhere without having to deal with the fully funded underclass that blossomed under Labour, I can now leave my car unlocked, my house unlocked and never have to see smackheads congregated in the town centre. I've got Gordon Brown to thank as if it wasn't for him totally screwing the country up I'd have probably stayed in England. It was 2007 when we decided enough was enough, boom and bust and all that.
The corruption of the working class was purely down to Thatcher's government and it's policies of de-industrialisation and privatisation. It merely becomes evident through the late Tory and Labour years as second generation of the disenfranchised underclass grows into society of crime, drug abuse and an autonomous benefits lifestyle. Cause and effect took a generation. Labour was too busy looking the other way to do fck all about it.
I can't believe you've still got the titty lip on about that, it's time to move on kid. If you think Kipper is one of Barnsley most anti social people you've obviously never lived next door to a house full of smackheads. You're comparing him putting an ice cream on someone's head to serious criminal offenders.