Who broke Britain?

[User32459]

Who do you most blame for our downfall as a nation?

A) Tony Blair and New Labour (97-2010)

B) The Tories (2010-2024)

C) The current Labour government

D) Brexit and Nigel Farage's lies

I think the answer is all of the above and the current government are an absolute disaster, but to be fair to them they've come in at the end when the damage is done. It's not 1997 anymore when they can get away with Blairite policies.

Labour have a lot to answer for but i'd probably go B. The Tories just about got everything wrong. Did they do anything good at all? And ultimately their shocking governance led to Brexit as well.

And the failures of the lot of them will need to Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.

Reform are overtaking Labour too. Labour’s policies are looking likely to lead to that switch.

When was Britain great? I don't think it ever has been. There has always been a huge disparity between rich and poor. In the last 120yrs we've had a number of external influences: great depression, 2 world wars, baby booms, commonwealth immigration, end of industrial revolution, interest rate spikes and crashes, financial and housing crashes, medical improvements leading to longer lifespans, pandemic etc. Our Govt (both red and blue) is reactionary instead of proactive, constantly living in the short term and rarely focusing on the long term. I can see why those govts made those decisions at that time but it often bites us in the ass in the future.

Oh yes, but the point is that the Conservatives did themselves in. For the sake of the backbenchers. It was an unbelievable decision

Thatcher & her government. There's nothing they did that turned out well for this country - neoliberalism has broken us and I don't think we can ever be mended.

Broken? Holidays abroad, central heating, food of every description heaving off the shelves at supermarkets, take-away food all the way up the streets, people who have no idea how to cook from scratch, hands that can't wash a pot or pick up the dust with a pan and brush, women with nails which have to be painted by someone else, tests and scans that were never dreamed of in 1948, hardly anyone needing to get around by bicycle, et cetera? Broken be damned. Twaddly cliche. Difficult for some - yes. Broken for all - definitely not.

Were you alive between 1973 and 1979? Why do you think Margaret Thatcher was voted in?

B accelerated the fall especially Johnson giving away billions.

Amazed no one has mentioned Thatcher. She let all the council houses get sold. She also plunged many communities into permanent decline when all the pits closed. No contingency for the workforces.

Thatcher

More pits closed before Thatcher than during her reign. It was a massively declining industry.

I'm not British and can't comment, but public opinion and general optimism counts for a lot. I grew up in a time and place that was a bit shit, then things turned a little economically, and it wasn't quite so shit anymore, but still well behind UK today. But the sense of positivity and enthusiasm for the future is what I remember the most, my parents saw a better life for us and I was raised with a sense of confidence that the world was mine for the taking (it really was not!). My point is that adults these days are experiencing less than they expected and the struggles are real, but children know no better. I think it's really important to not let this negative feeling trickle down too much to the next generation, they need to see that their future is bright. They will rise to whatever challenges face them like every other generation does, but only if they are raised with positivity and pride in who they are and their abilities.

All of Britain?

Or parts of Britain, and if parts, what parts?

Most people and businesses were moving over to oil, gas and electric for fuel. Domestic and industrial coal use was falling off a cliff. The drastic fall in demand for coal is what also caused wholesale reductions in the railway network as the railways had been the prime method of transportation.

Of course they did, eventually just as those struggling now will likely see better times, but as school leavers, things looked very bleak.

But things aren't getting better, that's the point!

This!

Thatcher changed so many things that the repercussions are still being felt now. Little things like cutting the break time milk for all kids, selling off the housing stock but replacement etc.

This graph shows the rapid decline in coal. Surely any sane person wouldn't have wanted to keep open the pits, mining for coal that people didn't want, that would have cost a fortune?

The Tories. The Blair years are the best years in my adult lifetime.

The Tories and then Brexit. Things were much better under Blair. Starmer has not changed Britain very much