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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
CampervanKween · 30/03/2023 07:35

Thatcher then Blair/Brown.

SwordToFlamethrower · 30/03/2023 07:35

Blair. We had sure start when my son was a baby and it was a golden age. I started my childminding business with grants, free courses and free business support.

Thepeopleversuswork · 30/03/2023 07:37

Blair. No question. He is by some margin the best PM of my lifetime and I’m 50. Which is why I find the hate towards him so hard to understand. Yes the Iraq war was extremely misguided and damaging. But that doesn’t invalidate the rest of his premiership.

Shivermytimber · 30/03/2023 07:41

Blair. I work in the NHS and it’s the only time we were fully staffed, we were able to give good care ,wages were good in comparison to cost of living and I was able to get on the property ladder.
oOnce Tories got in the NHS crumbled, almost overnight staffing seemed to fall by 50 percent.

CryingAtTheDiscotheque · 30/03/2023 07:46

Another vote for Blair/Brown - and early Cameron was ok, before it all turned to shit.
(But I wonder if we are all similar age and harking back to our younger days? I’m 55.)

Dunstall · 30/03/2023 07:48

Gordon Brown..

"Texture like sun "...🎵🎶🎶

Motnight · 30/03/2023 07:50

Thatcher 😂. Left university with a £300 overdraft and no other debts at all.

ProbablyNotAGoodIdea · 30/03/2023 07:58

Blair/Brown. I was able to train as a teacher thanks to the bursary, and the course was full of enthusiastic and energetic trainees. We started our careers in schools that could afford support for children - I had LSAs in most of my lessons, children could access mental health support if needed and there were interventions and help provided for families in need of it. A few years in, I watched Cameron and Osborne take a wrecking ball to public services in the name of austerity. I watched children's life chances crumble along with the school buildings no one could afford to maintain. Everything crashed and burned, until Cameron delivered the final blow of Brexit and fucked off leaving the smoking ashes of the country behind him.

DustyLee123 · 30/03/2023 08:00

Thatcher.

WeeBitOfWoo · 30/03/2023 08:04

Blair/Brown.

EMA for college students.
Uni fees were a grand a year for my course.

I work in education - youth services were well funded and education felt like a government priority.

Life as a young adult in London was great. Expensive but affordable. The arts and music scenes were vibrant. There was a real sense of hope and that things could indeed only get better!

WeeBitOfWoo · 30/03/2023 08:07

ProbablyNotAGoodIdea · 30/03/2023 07:58

Blair/Brown. I was able to train as a teacher thanks to the bursary, and the course was full of enthusiastic and energetic trainees. We started our careers in schools that could afford support for children - I had LSAs in most of my lessons, children could access mental health support if needed and there were interventions and help provided for families in need of it. A few years in, I watched Cameron and Osborne take a wrecking ball to public services in the name of austerity. I watched children's life chances crumble along with the school buildings no one could afford to maintain. Everything crashed and burned, until Cameron delivered the final blow of Brexit and fucked off leaving the smoking ashes of the country behind him.

The impact on youth services and education when Cameron got in was huge, and it happened very quickly.
The youth sector was decimated and has never recovered.

Aroundthetwist · 30/03/2023 08:07

This thread shows why the U.K. is in a state - it’s the whole ‘buy now pay later’ theory. Public services might’ve been well-funded, but it was money Blair simply didn’t have !

The Tories dealt with the Labour post-Blair fall out through austerity. And more recently, it’s Covid and the war in Ukraine that has tanked the economy both of which were outside the control of the government.

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 30/03/2023 08:09

Eh? the Tories had massively increased national debt and borrowing well before Covid or war in Ukraine hit. Their 'austerity' failed, utterly.

WeeBitOfWoo · 30/03/2023 08:11

Aroundthetwist · 30/03/2023 08:07

This thread shows why the U.K. is in a state - it’s the whole ‘buy now pay later’ theory. Public services might’ve been well-funded, but it was money Blair simply didn’t have !

The Tories dealt with the Labour post-Blair fall out through austerity. And more recently, it’s Covid and the war in Ukraine that has tanked the economy both of which were outside the control of the government.

That’s your political opinion.

I think a wealthy Western country that doesn’t prioritise health, education and children’s services is a shameful place.

I also think it’s shameful for extremely wealthy Tory ministers and MPs, constantly on the make in their private lives, to use covid and Ukraine to tell us that nurses and teachers aren’t worth a fair pay rise.

WeeBitOfWoo · 30/03/2023 08:14

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 30/03/2023 08:09

Eh? the Tories had massively increased national debt and borrowing well before Covid or war in Ukraine hit. Their 'austerity' failed, utterly.

And this.

Austerity failed. The Cameron/Osborne years were a failed project.

And Whatever happened to ‘the big society’? Oh, I remember. It gave us societal division and Brexit. Well done, lads! Hmm

Enfys1982 · 30/03/2023 08:14

Born early 80’s. Tony Blair hands down.

Inthedarkagain · 30/03/2023 08:17

I utterly hate Blair with a passion. We should not have gone to Iraq and I think he is a crook. I didn't benefit from him much as a young person in a shitty job who paid too much tax, but my mother did well enough to buy her council house and look after three kids. Unheard of now. As a parent now, I wish we had the Blair years back. I felt hope for the future as a young person and families were supported instead of stressed, overworked and stagnating in their lives. Childrens futures were proritised.

There is absolutely no hint of hope under this government and it has been decaying for years, more so since Brexit vote. I'm embarrassed but our government now, bunch of corrupt panto villains. Pathetic.

As you can imagine I deeply regret voting Tory in 2010! 😞

MRex · 30/03/2023 08:19

How do we define the best times really? It's more to do with age, life circumstances and luck / location. Professional career before kids was best financially, so Brown/ Cameron. Best times are with my DS though, so anyone from May onwards. It's hard to be aware of how wider society is operating, it's only when your family needs services that you can truly assess flaws, and then you usually can't compare regional differences. I moved between NHS trusts a few times so I know where I am now is and has been excellent, but in other areas it's been abysmal. I can't only blame government because of the shit-shows I had for medical care 1999-2002 (though GP good) and 2008-2016 (dangerously giving wrong medication several times), compared with the other trusts 2002-2008 and 2016-now. Oh, 1996 in another trust was awful too with hindsight. Some schools are good, others awful, even in the same borough. Crime in some areas is bad, in others it's reduced.

MrsBungle · 30/03/2023 08:19

Blair without a shadow of a doubt. I earn more now than I ever have but have never felt so poor. The NHS and schools are completely broken now.

UthredofBattenberg · 30/03/2023 08:20

Blair, I was a teenager so didn't have the adult worries I had now.

There didn't seem to be the worries people have now, or the worries people had under Thatcher. Tbf, I don't recall them under Major either

Inthedarkagain · 30/03/2023 08:22

Although I will add that it isn't really the government you choose that make a difference as much as where we are at in the economic cycle. The value of our money is much, much lower now and we may br entering a phase of severe tightening of credit. Our debt to GBP is 98% I think. All they can do is let inflation run for a bit and tax now, but I don't think they can lend as they did before as that would make things much worse. It is a balancing act and probably doomed to fail. I think a lot of the panto villain stuff is a bit of a facade as there is no fixing these economic problems.

Backtoreality1 · 30/03/2023 08:25

John Major - made fantastic interest on my savings allowing me to buy a house that doubled in value over two years. Miss those years!

HelloMrBond · 30/03/2023 08:32

Definitely Thatcher, her successive governments completely turned the country’s fortunes around for the better and paved the way for the Blair / Brown spending frenzy.

Notonthestairs · 30/03/2023 08:32

Blair/Brown - I had babies, complicated deliveries but my experience of NHS was very good. DD was diagnosed SN quickly and efficiently. Sure Start was a godsend. Bumpy financially by 2009 but at least health & education were working well.

By the time they went to school Cameron/Osborne had implemented austerity. Difficulties getting funding and treatment for DD and it's only got worse.

cafecreme · 30/03/2023 08:33

Also this from the FT. Hospital waiting times…

Who was PM during the best of times for you?