Who was PM during the best of times for you?

[verdantverdure]

Me?

Blair. Brown, first bit of Cameron.

On paper I earn more money now but everything's tits up isn't it? From the economy to shit on beaches to being able to get access to the NHS when needed.

Tony Blair

Blair without a shadow of a doubt.

Peace in NI, decent maternity leave, surestart, investment in education, NHS waiting lists drastically reduced, actual grown ups involved in government.

(rather than the narcissists and asset-strippers looting the country to make themselves and their friends even richer)

This doesn’t take away the lying part though. Surely the same applies to now and the public should have had same process, why do you think it’s different now?

Regardless of MP votes the process should be the same shouldn’t it?

We all know it's Blair. In retrospect, he fucked up and was a flawed human (obviously), but the country never had it so good.

I am not condoning Blair's dodgy dossier but we can't go back into history - I was answering your question about how he got away with it by pointing out the war had a lot of Tory support. I am not sure what you mean about now, but if lying to parliament, trying to change expenses rules and allow bullying and sexual harassment and having illegal parties was supported by Labour and the Americans maybe Boris wouldn't have been made to resign - is that what you mean?

Blair/ Brown

Yep, in the last 13 years we've had bust, bust and more bust.

Yes absolutely Blair.
I too thought at first that there was an age bias on this thread (everyone likes their teens/twenties...) but actually people are citing real concrete things that were better, and I remember it like that too. Good things were happening, and this country was on the up.
I can't really explain how much I hate the Tories for ruining everything - and even more for making up some bullshit about how austerity was them being sensible after the 'splurge' - any economist could explain why homespun ideas of 'thrift' that do apply for e.g. a family do not apply straightforwardly at the level of a country.

I mean the privileges committee specifically, which is cross party and investigating whether Johnson knowingly misled parliament.

A faked dossier which led to war seems pretty up there in terms of lies. Where was the committee, and televisation of Blair’s scrutiny?

Are we able to keep politicians in check and take it seriously now but not then, if so I’m wondering what has changed

Yes- I was older in the Blair years and as I said working in the nhs.

what people are saying here was not my experience at all, watching the NHS being set up for failure.

one of our (very) SLT actually said at the time, the govt is purposely throwing money at the NHS to “prove” it’s not funding that’s the answer, so they can bring in private contractors to fix it.

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2006/feb/16/health.politics

We have staff shortages in key areas - teaching and health - which impact many people day to day. Shortages of housing. Social care is on its arse. My kids will be leaving school in the next few years to what? My parent and inlaw are increasingly fragile and in need of both the NHS and social care.
We are feeling the impact now of austerity (not just cuts to wages but lack of investment in infrastructure of schools and hospitals) and the giant blackhole of Brexit sucking up GDP and vast quantities of Parliamentary time and energy and yet never finishing. Sewage on beaches. Lack of trust in Parliament itself post expenses scandals and all the rest. A revolving wheel of PM's. The threat level in NI is raised which if you are my age (over 50) brings back terrible memories.

Now we have local elections coming up and a GE looming and there is an endless cycle of impractical unworkable uncosted policies wheeled out - none of which will ever come to fruition but are just designed to distract & divide us.

Not everything rests wholly on the Conservatives although lets face it they have had 13 years to fix things and that hasn't happened.
I am not at all surprised people aren't nominating now as their best of times.

For those talking about the Iraq war, Google 'Halabja massacre'. Saddam Hussain was an absolutely vicious dictator who committed atrocities against his own people, including the use of chemical weapons to murder thousands of Kurds.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HumanrightssinSaddammHussein%27s_Iraq

I'm glad Blair had the guts to step in. I wish we'd done the same with Syria. And I'll never forgive Ed Milliband for abandoning the Syrian people to chemical attacks and atrocities by Assad.

It's noticeable how few people have said now @Notonthestairs isn't it?

It may have been bad but we either take faked information seriously or not

Presumably the MP votes were on the back of the dossier

Partygate was huge, in terms of backlash and scrutiny, and going to war is arguably a bigger outcome.

Maybe it’s the passing of time and nostalgia

The Iraq Inquiry was quite a big thing for years @MarshaBradyo

What happened to Blair? Besides becoming a Sir

Hate to admit it but Tony Blair!

Blair

Another vote for Blair/Brown - and early Cameron was ok, before it all turned to shit.

This is why I don't understand the LibDem/Clegg scorn and hate. There's a reason why the early Cameron years were ok.

Yes yes, tuition fees....but enough people are saying Blair while acknowledging Iraq was unfortunate.

The Olympic excitement carried us through the first couple of Coalition years maybe?

Maybe.

2012, looking back, does seem in my imagination like part of the Labour years. Maybe because Labour did all the work to get the Olympics and Paralympics. They seem like a distant dream.

But I do think seriously that once the Coalition was gone, the Tories were able to unleash themselves fully. Clegg and Co reined them in to an extent.

We didn't immediately feel the impact of Austerity - particularly in regards to infrastructure.

Yeah, it took time for things to go to pot.

I'd agree with all of that.

@Lastnamedidntstick, now our NHS sends people who can part fund themselves, to foreign countries for operations. Paying flights, insurance and accommodation for the patient and a companion.