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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed by a party talking about mending the society they broke?

301 replies

tatt · 07/10/2009 09:06

without any apparent recognition that it was their revered leader (Thatcher for anyone too young to remember) who was a major cause of the breakdown? I know it's an improvement on there is no such thing as society but it still annoys me.

OP posts:
GhostWriter · 07/10/2009 10:12

Also smiling at quacking bankers.

Lilymaid · 07/10/2009 10:13

YANBU
Anyone here old enough to have had a mortgage in 1992, when Britain was forced out of the ERM. George Sokos (?) forced a run on the pound and interest rates increased by the hour - up to somewhere around 15%. I remember listening to the news that day and despairing that we could ever hope to afford the mortgage on the house we had just bought. Yes, the Conservatives were real experts on the economy as well as "society".

serenity · 07/10/2009 10:14

We make the most technological progress during times of conflict iirc, and have the best comedy during times of fear. The human race needs to be pushed to give its best unfortunately.

My parents were Young Liberals when I was a child, preSDP and all that. I think they only started voting Labour in the '79 election. I can't find the will to vote Lib Dem though. Even after all this time it still seems to be a wasted vote. TBH though, I live in a Labour stronghold - it is a wasted vote (and the Lib Dems around here are annoyingly whiny unfortunately)

morningpaper · 07/10/2009 10:15

The first two minutes of Gordon's speech are very good (I'm sure the other 58 are brilliant too )

Stigaloid · 07/10/2009 10:16

Labour has got us into a big financial hole. The biggest debt this country has ever seen. When interest rates rise again there will be further recession as people won't be able to keep up payments on homes etc.

We need to start paying money back - but how? Where will it come from?

I don't like the conservatives speeches so far but my husband nor i are public sector workers but we had our pay frozen over the last year. No guarantee it will go up this year either (and if fact mine goes down as i go on mat leave). If public sector workers have to have their pay frozen for a year, surely that is just in keeping with the rest of the country?

I am appalled however at the conservatives trying to say theya re in the same boat with pay freezes when the majority come from rich posh families with trustfunds though.

What do the Lib Dems say?

mollythetortoise · 07/10/2009 10:16

GO said yesterday that he would ditch tax credits for families earning over 50k but would keep CB and winter fuel payments.
Tax credits are means tested but the other two aren't.
I would rather see winter fuel payments scrapped for most pensioners.
My parents get it every year and they most definately don't need the money but I suppose they are typical tory voters in some respects so need to be kept sweet. (they are not btw, but look like they could be).

but this is all small fry and is my point from last message, - we are all arguing over which benefits to cut to the majority of the poplulation who are not rich, while missing the vast wealth of the minority who hardly pay any tax relative to their earnings.

There was an article at weekend about St James Place, an IFA , which is owned by RBS or HBOs (can't remember now) which as we all now is majority owned by tax payer. Anyway, they are dedicated to saving their clients tax and indeed advertise to that effect, how to avoid the 50% income tax etc.
This is all perfectly legal of course but how does that work, a tax payer owned IFA advising very rich people how to pay less/no tax.

TrickOrNinks · 07/10/2009 10:18

Love ChunkyKitKat's observation about public spending under the Tories

mollythetortoise · 07/10/2009 10:18

lol sorry not "quacking", "quaking" i meant to say..

morningpaper · 07/10/2009 10:19

Labour has got us into a big financial hole. The biggest debt this country has ever seen.

No Labour has got us OUT of a big financial hole: The tories would have let Northern Rock go to the wall and the banking system would have collapsed. They believe in the free market.

serenity · 07/10/2009 10:22

raises hand

My DH hasn't had an inflation level payrise for over 5 years as a public sector worker. His salary in real terms keeps getting cut. It's unfair that the public sector gets continuously slammed as a 'good example' to the private sector.

If there's going to be caps on pay it needs to be aimed at the high earners, not those who are already struggling to cope.

Squishabelle · 07/10/2009 10:22

I hate the whole blooming lot of them. They are all the same. There is no hope that things will ever get any better. This country is totally screwed. Much as I love them I hope my dcs can get the hell out of here if possible.

MoonlightMcKenzie · 07/10/2009 10:22

surestart is great for middle class mums. Free resources.

The problem was that they haven't done anything for the vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups, only the informed participants in society.

Lovely, but not what was intended.

fembear · 07/10/2009 10:24

Are you seriously praising Labour for getting us out of the financial mess that they created? Wouldn't it have been better for Gordon 'Prudence' Brown to have avoided the mess in the first place. Vince Cable saw it coming, why couldn't Gordy.

And anyway, he hasn't got us out of the mess. He has merely robbed Peter to pay Paul. Smoke and mirrors, as ever.

serenity · 07/10/2009 10:25

The whole world is in a big financial hole atm. Don't think that's just down to Labour. I doubt the Conservatives would have handles it better, in fact I'm pretty sure they would have handled it worse (as morningpaper says)

GhostWriter · 07/10/2009 10:25

Labour most certainly did NOT get us into a big financial hole.

serenity, my parents live in what was a conservative stronghold and when people lost faith they switched to lib dem. I had a few doubts but they have been amazing. Stuck to their policies, made a real difference and continue to do so. I wish such a change could be rolled out across the country but that's not possible, is it?

morningpaper · 07/10/2009 10:25

I'm not sure that's true about Surestart - I think the problem is that it is going to be so ENORMOUSLY hard to measure 'success' and it is going to be very expensive. Surestart here is not remotely middle-class and I know that the people it helps may be small in number but ARE very vulnerable people.

serenity · 07/10/2009 10:26

Every country has problems. Fleeing the UK because of one set, will just move you somewhere with a different set.

morningpaper · 07/10/2009 10:27

quite Serenity

GhostWriter · 07/10/2009 10:31

You could argue that in a consumerist society recession is an inevitability and what counts is how you handle it when it happens. I doubt we can blame a global recession on Gordon Brown. I would like to know how people honestly believed David Cameron would have 'handled' this beyond allowing industries that are the bedrock of society to collapse and disintegrate.

serenity · 07/10/2009 10:33

Our lot are seriously whiny GW. They spend all their time bashing Labour without actually saying what they'd have done differently. It's all very petulant, and that doesn't fill me with the urge to actually give them any power (MP might be different obviously, but I can only judge on the councillors who I do see)
Even the Conservatives here are more useful. IDK, maybe they just don't publicise themselves well enough.

Glitterknickaz · 07/10/2009 10:36

I just get the feeling that Cameron et al are saying what they think people will want to hear.

I really don't think any of this will actually materialise should they get in.

morningpaper · 07/10/2009 10:37

I am a very committed labour fan (quelle surprise)

however in my area the Lib Dems are very much the key party with around 43% for both them and the Tories - it's a key marginal. Frankly there is no point arsing around with Labour here. The Lib Dem MP is extremely committed to the local area and works his arse off. I'm helping out their office over the next few months.

thedollshouse · 07/10/2009 10:38

I'm not a Tory supporter but I think we have to accept that the Thatcher years were over 20 years ago and it is time to move on. If everyones views were influenced by the past we would still be holding a grudge against the Germans for invading Poland.

TheGreatScootini · 07/10/2009 10:39

Do politicians have the power to cap pay except in the public sector?Is it possible for them to set the pay scales in private companies for example?

(Other than via cutting the money for government contracts for example in the way they have (both sides)done with social care providers)

skihorse · 07/10/2009 10:39

I lived through the Thatcher years and I don't remember such bad problems - we were broke - wasn't everyone?

Labour have had 12 years to "correct" anything they disagreed with.

For those of you who need WTC, don't go blaming the Tories who may, or may not cut these benefits. Ask yourself why big businesses do not pay you enough money for a 40 hour week, why your husband can't support his family on one wage without you having to put your hand out.

Gordon Brown in a lunatic and Labour have destroyed the UK. Your currency is devaluing by the day - maybe you don't see that just now - but you will next time you want to buy something imported from Japan/EU.