To wonder what the best goverment you have lived under is?

[malificent7]

And also the worst? My older family members werent impressed with the socialist goverments they lived under

Someone said, Never been so cash poor and hungry as I was under Blairs government. But then I had a young family.

I find that really hard to believe given that TB brought in tax credits.

tax credits, maternity grants and child trust funds

bring back labour ffs

You breed it, you feed it. Ffs

From a skilled working class family but now probably lower middle.... We did well out of the Thatcher era and then we continued to thrive in the 90s and into New Labour. I went to university in the early 00s and things continued to be good when I trained as a teacher and then it all just fell apart under the coalition. Had managed to buy a house under Brown but couldn’t afford to move on afterwards because wages stagnated and now me and DH (both teachers) are in real terms worse off than when we were Newly Qualified Teachers under Blair. Terrible really. I fear for our young children, God knows what their future holds in terms of education and general public funding.

I have lived with 8 Labour governments, 7 Conservative and 1 coalition - and they have all been crap

We were in Vietnam covertly

thevietnamwar.info/united-kingdom-involvement-vietnam-war/

I find that really hard to believe given that TB brought in tax credits.

Tax credits are just subsidies for employers to pay less though aren’t they?

And any extra income they gave people was mainly swallowed up by rocketing housing costs.

Child Trust funds - biggest waste of money ever. Costly to administer, and upon maturity wouldn't even pay for a set of driving lessons. They really were an example of Labour being allowed loose with the piggy bank and spunking money recklessly.

MyBrilliantDisguise Wed 28-Feb-18 17:16:12
Someone said, Never been so cash poor and hungry as I was under Blairs government. But then I had a young family.
I find that really hard to believe given that TB brought in tax credits.

That was me. Didn't qualify for them, working married women always get fucked over big time. High mortgage's and rents are not a new phenomenon. I can remember hoping it would be someones birthday at work so I could have a slice of cake and something to eat that day.

The one thing I've taken away as a life lesson, if you have nothing and come from a zero aspiration background, the state will support you - but if you are not part of that underclass who somehow know every benefit inside out, you have no access to any help should you ever need it.

I can’t believe people are saying the coalition. What they did to the sick and disabled was disgusting. People died as a direct result of their policies and it’s still happening.

For us it was Blair/Brown. We didn’t qualify for tax credits, child trust funds etc but as a frequent flyer in the NHS knowing I wouldn’t be in pain for months because waiting lists were short was a god send. It’s all changed now though.

The Blair years, definitely. He threw it all away towards the end though, and he and Brown have probably doomed us to another few terms of Tory government.

Sorry, they've all been Swedish governments. In this country, would have been the Blair government- if it hadn't been for Iraq. But that always makes me feel bad about admitting how much easier things were in this country during those years.

Thatcher

Dh and I were poorer during the Blair years. But that's because we were younger and were going through a more expensive stage of our lives. But there was more hope.

Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher messed us up so badly we have never really recovered.
I was a teenager when she was PM. Ghastly time. Makes current lot look like angels.

Best: Blair up til Iraq

Worst: Thatcher/Major

I was a teenage mum under Thatcher. Me and my 20 year old husband got a council house no problem. We didn't get any benefits, but the rent was cheap and I could afford to be a SAHM while H worked. I also went to evening classes at minimal cost, and on to University. No fees, I was at the tail end of maintenance grants, so didn't get much in that respect, but appreciate how lucky I was compared with today.

I was horrified when they started selling off council houses. I still think it is the root of many problems we have now.

Blair years were great for the NHS. I'm shocked at what this lot are doing to it. I'll never forgive him for Iraq tho.

Going by Prime Minister, probably Gordon Brown.

Thatcher and Major, well I was too young to remember them well.

Blair was OK on domestic policy but ignored the biggest protest marches in decades and sent the British military into a pointless war in Iraq.

Brown was PM at an unfortunate time, with the global recession, but I feel his policies were at the very least mostly inoffensive. The bank bailouts were a bitter pill but probably better than a banking collapse.

Then Cameron came in and begun crushing public services. There were easy savings to be made but when they ran out "austerity" has resulted in deteriorating policing, prisons, NHS, military, and more.

I was a young single mum under New Labour and we got a lot of support - council house, extra grants and bursaries at uni, income support until DS was 16, tax credits, council tax benefit paid 100%, lots of free activities like Children's Centres.

Under the Coalition and the current govt things have got a bit tighter, but due to our personal situation we've qualified for more disability benefits, so we've ended up pretty well protected. We still get a high level of tax credits (actually even higher) and our benefits aren't capped as we claim PIP (which has been awarded with ease due to the nature of our disabilities), no benefit sanctions as I get carer's allowance so no need to look for work, no bedroom tax as we have the minimum number of bedrooms for our needs. I've been able to do a second part time degree with a student loan as they're funding STEM second degrees.

Thatcher was probably the worst - I was a young child, and my parents really struggled on a low income.

Probably early Blair, but then he fucked it all up and we've been in the shit ever since.

I came on to say Blair. I am not British but lived there for a decade under him and those were good times. How can we ignore his invasion of Iraq? Well because it didn't affect me directly and I was young and self absorbed enough to be not a bit bothered by something that was not under my nose . My own country's governments have been a succession of embarrassing crooks. Guess where I live?!

Blair. Just qualified as a teacher. Was allowed to just get on with the job. Currently the poorest I have ever been as a part time teacher/ single parent.

The New Labour government had been in power for 6 years before Blair lost his marbles and agreed to invade Iraq. In that time they did plenty of good stuff ; minimum wage, civil partnerships, human rights, more cash for public services, NI peace etc etc.

We should bear in mind that New Labour inherited a strong economy & sound public finances from Major & Clarke. This allowed them to invest in public services.

The coalition, in contrast, inherited a complete and utter shambles from Labour, forcing them to make some very difficult decisions. They still managed to run a sensible and pragmatic government.

I think our country has worked well due to the cyclic politics we have so usually we do well with a couple of terms of the conservatives - until they get too right wing and then a couple of terms of labour - until they get too left wing.
TM is not strong enough at the moment so the economy is not going to be strong enough when Jeremy Corbyn gets into power and the country is going to sink. He's far more interested in principles than the good of the country and I find him really quite dangerous.

Having said that, there is no other credible leader for the Tories at the moment eccentrics like Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Moog would be a disaster, we need more moderates. I think Chuka Umunna would be an amazing opposition leader, but he obviously thought the time wasn't right before. I usually vote conservative, but voted for Tony Blair during his terms.

I honestly think Teresa May is trying to do her best, but the NHS is running away with her, we've recently had a consultation for health care practitioners about reducing prescribing for medication easily obtained from a pharmacy which is a really good idea in most cases.The NHS cannot function properly in its current capacity for long.