Labour Party Conference

This. I went to the Foulstone which I believe at the time was one of the worst performing schools in the UK. With the support of my parents I got a first at degree level and went onto do an MA. It’s anout the home environment and no one should be disadvantaged because of their financial situation

 

Thats correct.

 

The current Labour Party is to the right of every version of it pre Thatcher. It’s policies are pretty standard across Europe. The happiest and some of the most successful countries follow the Nordic model which is aligned to current Labour policy positions. Thatcher and Blair moved the Overton Window so far to the right that ideas that had been mainstream and continue to be across Europe are considered left.

 

Blair was elected by what would now be regarded as a landslide three times.

 

I know at the time I voted for him and even worked in a very very junior capacity for Labour. He did a lot of good for the poorest in society and for that we should commend him. He suffered from not being bold enough to embrace electoral reform and not being bold enough to cement the changes he made most of which were undone In the first two years of The ConDems.

He got elected then reelected by embracing Murdoch and in the main doing his bidding. Failing to overturn draconian anti union legislation.

His legacy, will of course always be tainted by Iraq and the innocents killed there. Equally damaging from a legacy point of view was his lack of action in the disadvantaged communities which led to a schism between Labour and its traditional base that was filled by far right nationalists.

We also have to factor in the debacle of PFI when assessing his legacy. This has stored up massive and ongoing costs and issues and although the initial PFI contracts were drawn up by Major there can be no escaping New Labours culpability.

Overall despite Blair being the reason I don’t vote Labour I think he did more good than bad and that’s all we can expect from any politician.

The answers that were right yesterday are not the answers that we need today. The Overton window needs wresting back to the centre. Brexit at its root is a reaction to Thatcherism and then Blair where community was destroyed and a vacuum left in its place. We need to reinstate community and national pride. When I travel for work in Europe there is pride in their nationalised industry particularly transport and they do not see any benefit to the community from say the French national railway running UK railways. We don’t have that and it is a relatively easy and cost neutral thing to achieve.

 

Why would you think nationalisation is unachievable? Economists like DAG though not in favour of nationalisation per se see it as cost neutral. Anything that is franchised can be taken back in house. For utilities you can set up your own state owned company and compete in the marketplace. For other areas you have an asset that is equal to what you pay for it and hence is cost neutral.

All the commitments in the 2017 election are easily achievable within the EU.

Don’t see wanting to end the ‘charitable status’ of private schools being a vote loser in its strongholds where they have to compete with Farage for vote share without descending to his level.

 

So are you saying that it will enable more money to be spent on state schools?

Private schools have smaller class sizes because the parents of the people who attend pay considerably more than each student gets spent on them in state schools..

I’m not pretending anything, I know of friends who have a genuinely working class Barnsley background, but have been able to make sacrifices for their children to attend a private school. I’m not talking of super rich people that you seem to despise, but builders, plumbers, etc who have done well for themselves and thought to better their child’s prospects.

Without getting rid of private schools, you’ll in effect price the people out who are attempting the social mobility. Thus keeping the private schools for the ultra rich.

 

Blair also deserves a lot of credit for the Irish peace process. Which is potentially about to be disastrously undone by this madness called Brexit.

 

And Corbyn the closet brexiteer gets his NEC motion through, despite the views of members.

 

"Super-rich people you seem to despise". Not at all and you completely misunderstand the young successful people coming through who believe that there has to be a better system of social justice than we currently have. My mates aren't at the point yet where our kids are at secondary school, and for some of my uni cohort private school will easily be an option, but they would all say that if private school is their choice then it shouldn't be subsidised by the state.

The examples of people you are giving aren't even people from a disadvantaged background. Because some people chose to spend all their money on a private education doesn't make it a fair passageway to social mobility. That isn't an argument even a One Nation Conservative would make.

I repeat again, I'm not arguing there shouldn't be private schools but they shouldn't have charitable status

 

I agree the misreporting in The Guardian has been shocking.

 

Corbyns latest ******** if he gets into power the working week will be 32 hrs that’s ok if your salaried I get hourly pay so i would be worse off the guy is more of a clown than Boris

 

The country needs a viable centrist party, the crazies of the right and left do nothing for me.

 

But millions of pounds weren't being siphoned off by Dutch, German and Italian Railways. British Rail were starved of investment.

 

No crazies on the left. What don't you understand about socialism?

 

Were you actually listening to the Conference? You won't be any worse off. Computers were supposed to reduce our working load but that didn't happen. With automation we could end up with 75% of the Country without work. Resources have to be shared out not just given to the privileged few.

 

An exaggeration, but there’s elements of truth in it. That’s the modern world, for the reasons I explained before. This lot want to take us back 40 years.