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AIBU?

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Original poster

Who was PM during the best of times for you?

718 replies

verdantverdure · 29/03/2023 22:44

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.

OP posts:
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8
Nat6999 · 31/03/2023 12:23

chancesofpear I didn't have any choice of returning full time after my maternity leave, my husband had been diagnosed with MS when I was 7 months pregnant & was unable to carry on working, he also needed caring for as well as ds who was only 9 months old. Without Tax Credits I don't know how we would have managed as we went from having £35k a year to £17k coming in.

pompomdaisy · 31/03/2023 13:32

I don't ever associate good times with any PM! Weird question.

Original poster
verdantverdure · 31/03/2023 13:37

pompomdaisy · 31/03/2023 13:32

I don't ever associate good times with any PM! Weird question.

You don't have to associate. Just remember.

OP posts:
Original poster
verdantverdure · 31/03/2023 13:38

Notonthestairs · 31/03/2023 12:06

I guess in return we had a decent health service and education system.
What do we have for the 100%?

Some even richer Tories.

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WestwardHo1 · 31/03/2023 14:00

How's that "investment" working out? That is the problem with both parties and probably our electoral system in that they do not think long-term/strategically (10 years+) but just until the next election. Blair/Brown wasted hundreds of billions on buying our votes with our own money (eg child trust fund) whilst not securing a long-term sustainable health service amongst other things.

I really really wish that certain things in this country were taken out of party politics altogether and put into the hands of experts, education and health being two of them. Short term five year bullshit could be done away with, and proper long term strategic planning employed.

Yeah I know. As if🙄

WestwardHo1 · 31/03/2023 14:03

cantab94 · 31/03/2023 11:39

I think the problems with the NHS are structural and my point was they should have taken advantage of their relative popularity and better finances (left by the Major government) to change the health system to something like the more efficient European ones rather than short-term measures. They could also have encouraged preventative measures and encouraged people to take more responsibility for their own health.

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Absolutely agree with this.

Howpo · 31/03/2023 14:17

Blair/Brown wasted hundreds of billions on buying our votes with our own money (eg child trust fund) whilst not securing a long-term sustainable health service amongst other things

CTF cost the UK tax payer £9 billion NOT 100s of Billions but at least we got something back for that.

Unlike £21 billion given away to fraudsters.

No Govt, Tory or Labour can tie in any future administration to do a certain set of policies.

Its not how our system works, Blair Brown set the framework for NHS spending for their 13 years in power but we voted to change that, not the Tories, we did.

WestwardHo1 · 31/03/2023 14:19

but we voted to change that, not the Tories, we did

I bloody didn't.

stargirl1701 · 31/03/2023 14:20

Blair.

Kazzyhoward · 31/03/2023 14:32

@Howpo

No Govt, Tory or Labour can tie in any future administration to do a certain set of policies.

No, but they can enter into contracts which subsequent administrations are stuck with having to pay, such as Blair's PFI contracts for shiny new schools and hospitals that the taxpayer is on the tab to pay for decades!

EnVogue · 31/03/2023 14:33

Blair/Brown too.

Howpo · 31/03/2023 14:46

Kazzyhoward · 31/03/2023 14:32

@Howpo

No Govt, Tory or Labour can tie in any future administration to do a certain set of policies.

No, but they can enter into contracts which subsequent administrations are stuck with having to pay, such as Blair's PFI contracts for shiny new schools and hospitals that the taxpayer is on the tab to pay for decades!

Thats not true, most have been renegotiated and it kept Govt borrowing off the books, which came in handy for the GFC and the Covid crisis, enabling both Lab and the COns to borrow.

Plus PFI (in regard to the NHS) will cost about the same as Truss cost the country and we got SFA for her disasters.

BUT and here is the question no one wants to answer!

What would the NHS and Education look like now WITHOUT these PFI funded builds?

Howpo · 31/03/2023 14:48

oh and it was the Tories who first used PFI and continued with it well into their 13 years of Govt.

LateMumma · 31/03/2023 15:00

Blair absolutely

pussycatinfluffyslippers · 31/03/2023 15:06

Major/Blair
Brown, well, not his fault the US ratings agencies "opinions" were worth less than a bean.

Cameron onwards has been a shit-show.

bizzywiththefizzy · 31/03/2023 15:09

mowly77 · 29/03/2023 22:49

Liz Truss for sure. Those were a few great weeks for me.

🤣🤣🤣 Very funny !

beguilingeyes · 31/03/2023 15:15

chanceofpear · 31/03/2023 09:04

@Blossomtoes the shit we are in now is entirely tied to 2008. There should have been a reset then. Instead we carried on spending the credit and now look where we are. Literally don't even own the energy produced here, corrupt and bankrupt public services. I have no time for any of them to be honest and think we have had a succession of inept government. The whole thing is a ponzi scheme and its coming down.

It was Margaret Thatcher who privatised the energy companies (and everything else she could get her hands on). That's why most of our utilities are foreign owned.

bizzywiththefizzy · 31/03/2023 15:20

ShandaLear · 29/03/2023 23:09

Blair. I remember the excitement of the time. New fresh thinking, improvements in health, housing, and education, proper attempts to make society a bit more fair, the Good Friday Agreement. It was a time of hope - some of it was even realised. We didn’t feel our politicians were corrupt and actively working against our best interests the way we do now.

I absolutely agree on Blair , my Husband was in the armed forces and we finally got a decent pay rise , child benefit rose too after years of it being suppressed .
Where we lived at the time there was so much hope and optimism .
The married quarters finally got the upgrades they needed after the neglect of the Thatcher years . Christ some of the kitchens were from the 1950's !

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2023 15:22

beguilingeyes · 31/03/2023 15:15

It was Margaret Thatcher who privatised the energy companies (and everything else she could get her hands on). That's why most of our utilities are foreign owned.

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My dad always amused me. Couldn’t wait to get his hands on BT and British Gas shares in the 80s and then moaned like crazy about buying his electricity from a French owned company. He was very grumpy when I told him he had to take the rough with the smooth 😂

x2boys · 31/03/2023 16:15

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2023 15:22

My dad always amused me. Couldn’t wait to get his hands on BT and British Gas shares in the 80s and then moaned like crazy about buying his electricity from a French owned company. He was very grumpy when I told him he had to take the rough with the smooth 😂

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My mum.and Dad both worked for the Gas board and then British Gas and Did incredibly well out of privatisation ,they got some shares as employees, and were able to buy some ,they also.got offered a very generous redundancy deal.when they were both 54 ,and were then able to.take their pension at 55 ,my Dad had worked there for over 30years so.got a full.pension but my mum.had only worked their for 13 years but still.got some pension ,they will both be 81 this year and have lived off their pensions for 26 years !

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2023 16:36

x2boys · 31/03/2023 16:15

My mum.and Dad both worked for the Gas board and then British Gas and Did incredibly well out of privatisation ,they got some shares as employees, and were able to buy some ,they also.got offered a very generous redundancy deal.when they were both 54 ,and were then able to.take their pension at 55 ,my Dad had worked there for over 30years so.got a full.pension but my mum.had only worked their for 13 years but still.got some pension ,they will both be 81 this year and have lived off their pensions for 26 years !

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My dad was 99 when he died. He’d had 50 years of military pension, 39 years pension from his second career with a high street bank and 34 years of state pension. We used to joke that his pension providers must have hated him.

Original poster
verdantverdure · 05/04/2023 15:51

That is some good going @Blossomtoes!

The first thing I thought when I heard Paul O'Grady had died was that he didn't even get to his pension. Sad

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Blossomtoes · 05/04/2023 16:01

verdantverdure · 05/04/2023 15:51

That is some good going @Blossomtoes!

The first thing I thought when I heard Paul O'Grady had died was that he didn't even get to his pension. Sad

He got a year or so of it. But, yes, it is sad. And sad because he seemed to be a lovely guy.

Original poster
verdantverdure · 06/04/2023 17:17

Yeah, I suppose his retirement age was 66.

It would have been lovely to have had him for another couple of decades. Sad

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Original poster
verdantverdure · 13/04/2023 11:03

LateMumma · 31/03/2023 15:00

Blair absolutely

Are we declaring Blair the winner then?

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