When was the last time you felt the UK was in good hands?

[honeybeetheoneandonly]

I watched the debate yesterday and while I think one person would probably make better decisions for the general public than the other, I wouldn't entrust the country to either.
Looking across Lib Dem, Brexit party or Green there is nobody, I feel, who would make the country a better place.

This made me think, when was the last time you felt a government in charge made things significantly better and left the country better off than it was before?

Blair was fab. Shame about all the murdering.

Lovely smile though.

Blair.

Early days of Blair as PM/Brown as Chancellor.

Blair 1997. First election I ever voted in.

Due to age not apathy I should add!

Exactly the same as MyEnormousTurnip above.

I think the 1997 Labour landslide was helped by swathes of people who'd grown up during the Thatcher years getting their first vote and thinking a Labour government was the answer to all of society's ills.

In later years I realised it wasn't that simple, and I am now something of a floating voter.

John Major.
Blair was one of the worst PM's we've ever had.

Blair, I wad a kid and we went from starving to managing so quickly. I remember opening a full fridge for probably the first time in my life and my mum being excited she'd got tax credits. It really bothers me that the global financial crash and that stupid war means that people forget how good we had it under the last labour gov.

Thanks to @derxa for a concise summary.

I can understand why so many are saying Blair in 1997.

I'm too young to remember anything about Margaret Thatcher in detail, but I remember the strikes and the fights with the unions. I don't remember the 1970s at all but I am told it was great socially but awful politically?

Maybe I'll get flack for this, but I'm tempted to suggst the 2010 coalition as the last time there was some sanity at number 10: the UK hadn't then started to lose its world standing. The Lib Dems held back the crazier bits of Tory policy. Austerity was always going to be unpopular, but the country did get better off as a result in the wake of the 2008 crash, which could all have been very different. The demonising of Nick Clegg over university tuition fees seems almost quaint now; what a good problem to have compared with brexit!

Interested to hear what people think.

Agree early Tony Blair

1938

I was a Police Officer under Blair, three of our stations closed due to funding cuts and Police numbers declined but the figures said differently due to including PCSOs who were civilians in a uniform in the early years.

Didn’t Blair also introduce student loads?

Loans

No, student loans came in in 1990 under John Major.

I think people forget how bad things were, and actually they are all useless in one aspect or another

I thought Tony Bliar was ok until he lied to us about weapons of mass destruction ... so Margaret Thatcher would be my choice.

I think people forget how bad things were, and actually they are all useless in one aspect or another

Yes, that's the conclusion I've reached over the years. I really struggle to find a reason to vote for any of the parties now. I find myself dissecting policies for the least evil ones, or basing my vote on what the candidates are offering on a purely local basis.

Maintenance grants or loans? The Student Loan company was bought in to replace the grants making previous grants now repayable loans.

Tony Blair

Early days of Blair as PM/Brown as Chancellor.

Is that when they was following the previous Conservative governments spending plans for 2 years?

Or was it after that that has contributed to todays problems, even under Labour the NHS was asking for more money to be spent.

There is no 'good hands', it's just rose tinted glasses and thinking that somehow the Uk and Global economy just resets itself every couple of years.

For example, under Blair and Brown they introduced the WTC despite much backlash from labour back benches, it led to the magic 16 hours and zero hour contracts, they also did nothing to address an already acknowledged over cooked housing market, because in Brown's own words they had done away with boom and bust..

This thread is just a modern day 'back in my day' thread and no one can see it.

Definitely loans. I went to university in 1992.

Agree @KittenLedWeaning I’m waiting for the manifestos it’s quite worrying how many people seem to be deciding on Social media memes.

1997

I’m waiting for the manifestos it’s quite worrying how many people seem to be deciding on Social media memes.

It's generally grass routes activists who spread things via social media. Labour have the upper hand on SM but the internet didn't provide the enlightened promise that it did in the early days. People have just surrounded themselves into echo chambers.

There is still unironic threads on here where people try and pull the I've never met a tory, or Tory voters think about no one but themselves. It's all become a black and white situation and we need to get rid of FPTP so that we can honestly discuss the murky grey areas of policies.

I've seen a user on here moan about some Tory voter implementing the previous labour government as being over a decade ago and without a second breath invoke the Thatcher is the route of all the problems without even a hint of irony.

Political discussion has become a joke, there obviously was a reason why discussing politics openly was considered crass, the internet has shown why, the mental hoops all sides jump through is toxic.