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

In terms of how the nation felt -Blair. But of course I t was all spin-and that makes me feel less positive about it looking back. And also for me in my field- thats when the rot began (social care started to be privatised by stealth then). And, you know, the war crimes... but til then it was a good time to be young and living in London...

I didn't mind the coalition actually either...it could have been great.

I think it's all been crap for a very long time.... we have strong memories of being called terrorists for 800 years!

Best for us, Blair. Our jobs were secure and fairly well paid (public sector). Our child had an excellent state education through the Blair years too. Worst - this lot. Professionally very hard because of the (unnecessary and ideological) 'austerity' cuts and so depressing to see the country in a deliberately managed decline for no reason. Also the Brexit abomination, messing up our children's future. I hope their days are numbered.

Under Blair definitely. Both personally and for the country as a whole.

First term of Blair

Sudden arrival of more money at school, buildings got repaired
Health services noticeably better than when I was primary school aged under major. Obvious even to a teenager as I had ongoing health issues and regular doctors appointments that got easier to make and less time to wait

Blair before Iraq. I work for the NHS, things all worked then, we had no staffing crisis like we have now, and patients got better because they got seen on time by staff that didn't have to rely on food banks to feed their families.

I remember when he got in, people were hugging and smiling at each other in the street.

I remember the Thatcher years - dreadful! And Major could have been OK but didn't have much time to make his mark.

And the coalition were a mess - introducing quantitative easing which went directly to line the pockets of the haves because they didn't regulate it enough, then introducing austerity which took further from the have nots.

Tony Blair’s government by far were the best.

Pains me to say it but Blair

Blair before Iraq. I work for the NHS, things all worked then, we had no staffing crisis like we have now, and patients got better because they got seen on time by staff that didn't have to rely on food banks to feed their families.

Public sector workers still earn far more money than private sector workers. They didn’t give a shit about private sector wages for the low paid going to shit as long as Labour kept giving them pay rises.

So don’t try that ‘waaah, we need to go to food banks’ shit. Your pay way, way outstrips the private sector.

It’s quite interesting. All the left wingers who say Tories are selfish bastards. But they’re quite happy to ignore the bodies that piled up under Blair because they had money in their pockets.

I remember Thatcher and I personally think her legacy is poison She totally changed the thinking of this country in that people no longer think of community but only of themselves. It is interesting that scandinavian countries are often cited as the place people would like to live but no one wants to replicate the high taxation for the benefit of everyone model. New labour made an attempt to address inequality with Sure Start but this was quickly put an end to by the current lot. To be honest I am totally depressed that a significant minority of the UK are against realistic taxation and would rather thousands of our young people have minimal life chances.

And the coalition were a mess - introducing quantitative easing

That was the previous Labour administration.

We didn't need food banks in Blair's day. Even Thatcher didn't grind the faces of the poor to that extent.

As for Cameron and his vanity project that was the Brexit vote. It was akin to asking middle America if they still want guns. Massive suprise loads of uninformed people and racists voted leave and sold us and our kids down the river and walk away.

Blair's. I had a job, and hope.

John Howard in Australia.

No complaints whatsoever. There's a reason he was in for 11 years.

Can't remember any government as being the best - since I started voting (c 1980) - I do see the Blair years as actually being the worst.

But, for all the tea drank in England, who would possibly want to enter politics now - some of the one's we have now might have had ideals and a desire to change things at some point. But only a robot non-person could pass the scrutiny now.

Seriously, any MNers willing to put their entire lives out there without any Party support to enter Politics. You need to be in a Party to get into Government really.

MN is a good forum to complain about The Government but would any of us really do it on a National Level (not Local Council)?

I know I wouldn't.

Blair / New Labour.

Until they fucked it all up with fake WMD's and war. Shame.

Eltonjohnssyrup not getting into a bun fight, as you obviously want but read this re: quantitative easing - link - Started in 2009 by the Bank of England monetary policy commission, not Gordon Brown's government, but very much kept up since then by David Cameron.

Also - do you know what everyone gets in the NHS? Remember, we're not all on doctors' salaries, a lot of people are on minimum wage (they had to cut out the bottom band because it was actually below it)

Yet NHS salaries are always given as an average. Some are doing very well, some really aren't, so don't make sweeping statements please.

Hatels you are right in that people who rise to the top these days are all career politicians. The amazing Jo Cox was an MP in my neighbouring constituency and our MP is an unstoppable force for good as was her predecessor .

Blair

Blair/Brown

My standard of living and wages went up and there was a feeling of optimism

I remember earning £3.33 in the early 90’s my ex and I both worked full time and worked over time we just never had any spare money the increase in minimum wage made such a difference

Thatcher was by far the worst - dad was a miner on strike, soup kitchens a regular fixture, town decimated by the Tories. Even though I don't like him, life was best under Blair/New Labour. I trained as a teacher, graduated with no debt and got a great job as an NQT with a salary increase each year. Tax credits were also a great help when DS1/DS2 came along and the minimum wage was obviously a great thing as well.

Thatcher - without question

My parents come from a background that, before Thatcher, meant they should "know their place in society" and stay firmly down there. The establishment, whether it be Tory or Labour, was, and still is, intent on keeping us down there.

Thatcher ripped that up. She may well have done a lot of things that many, including me, don't agree with, but she freed a swathe of society from a life of compliant deference.

Blair. There was money for community work, and charitable grants were easy to find. I found money for games equipment in our (deserted and drug-ridden) local park, and this is still being used every day, fourteen years later. It changed the neighbourhood - the park is busy and full of families now, which means that everyone can use it.

There was always money for community projects. There was an ethos of building on what was already there. ... but now all the charitable grants are being spent on food banks etc and filling the gaps in provision that the government should have made.

I know that money is tight. .. but when the streets are filthy because of cuts in budgets, and people are skint because of cuts in wages and tax credits, and the price of food is rising, this leads to unrest and vandalism and disorder, and domestic violence (because of the pressure on families) and mental health trouble among the skint, and all sorts of other problems. ..

Under the Blair government, we had sure start and other non- judgmental, community based universal services. These made society more cohesive; and gave people skills, friendship networks and resilience.

I'm not defending the Iraq war. .. but my partner is from the middle east and is glad that we got involved.