Why have the Tories mismanaged the country so badly? (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[HebburnPokemon]

Genuinely interested in views on this: why have the Conservatives made choices to preside over the virtual demolition of this country? - to the point where they are facing the biggest defeat of their existence. They have not only damaged the country, they have destroyed themselves! This level of self-harm is unheard of.

I'm trying to make sense of it. Even Covid & Ukraine cannot explain the sheer degree of this implosion. This is not your bog-standard "political cycle" of ruling party enjoying a decade of power then inevitably falling out of favour. Lib Dem are on course to become the opposition ffs!

I think it is an interesting representation of the Dominic Cummings fiasco.

The awful spectacle of left wing journalists queuing up to one by one, bristling with rage and venom, ask the same questions over and over of a father about why he took his sick wife and autistic child to stay with relatives for help was enough to make me realize hatred will always come first with a large section of the left.

So the Covid rules didn’t apply to people with autistic children or sick wives? God DAMMIT why didn’t I know this?!?

Oh OK. The eye test fiasco. I seem to remember that was journalists of every hue.

Second paragraph:
However, targets have also had a number of drawbacks and have been criticised for distorting clinical priorities, creating perverse incentives and providing scope for gaming – hitting the target but missing the point.

Let's put this one to bed. It's a draw.

Christ, was the poster referring to the Dominic Cummings piss take?
The man wasn't on some mercy dash for his desperate family, he was on a nice day out that he excused as 'driving to see if his eyes worked'. The whole of the media were over that, not just left wing journalists.

The Tories have mismanaged the country so badly because it was never the country they were interested in...only what they could personally take from it or hand to their friends.

The most peculiar, self seeking people within the party drove out those with any talent, integrity or vocation and replaced them with useful idiots they'd met at Eton and candidates with the calibre of the people who are now standing for Reform UK.

I can’t believe that there are still people that want to vote for them after the last 14 years. Have they not had enough of this shit show?

The Tories had to manage three major events.

The credit bubble generated during the 00's that led to the austerity of the 2010's. That happened largely under Labour.

The issues caused by immigration, largely as a result of relaxation of the rules on immigration re the Eastern European countries such as A2. That had a significant political impact and largely led to the Brexit vote in 2016.

Covid. We'll be seeing the fallout from Covid basically for the rest of the decade in terms of its economic impact on the country - ie restricted borrowing, restricted services, high taxes as a result of the spending incurred.

You can argue that the Tories did not manage these events well (I think they did reasonably well, but I guess it is politics and opinions will always differ. Plus there is no way of establishing whether Labour would have done any better).

Most of the rest of the stuff over the last couple of decades is just noise.

Most of the rest of the stuff over the last couple of decades is just noise.

There you go everyone, services shaved to the bone, housing crisis, millions in absolute poverty, millions using foodbanks, cronyism and corruption, Brexit, massive national debt, crumbling schools, NHS on its knees...is all just 'noise'.

Yep. Of course absolutely none of that was/is due to the huge credit bubble blown in the 00s by Labour.

That's the reality. Strong economy = good living and high services. Weak economy = poorer living and cutbacks.

Unless you live in some sort of fantasy land where wealth magics itself up from nowhere.

Of course if you aren't in power, you don't have to deal with the economic reality.

And if you are in power and refuse to accept the economic reality, you end up at the IMF. And if you think the impact on services by austerity was bad, see how it works out once they get involved.

The COVID rules didn't apply to me actually. I ignored them. They were provided to people that were scared. I wasn't. The police had to run around arresting people that disapplied the rules but didn't find all of us.

The left wing media bayed and harried until a largely pointless lock down was conceded to and they then went on to demand more and more minutiae and rules every single day, moaning about the details 24/7.

It was interesting to watch how the left infantalised itself and tried to do the same to everyone at a moments notice. We weren't all taking part but the left don't really listen and take notice, they seem to default to outrage straight away.

They will carry on complaining about their beloved rules and a cake for decades to come.

Another round of outraged left wing infantilism ahead!

Are you blaming the 2007–2008 world financial crisis on Labour?

I can’t believe some of the fantasists on this thread. Recollections most definitely vary on the events of the last 20 years.

Austerity and then Brexit. Both aimed at helping the rich at everyone else’s expense. The tories have always been an I’m alright jack, survival of the fittest party but this government has combined this attitude with enormous incompetence, personal arrogance and a total absence of ethics or honesty. Where we are now is the result.
You would think that the only people who would still support them would be rich people who are secure enough not to need public services (and lacking empathy for those who do) but there also are still a number of turkeys voting for christmas thanks to the Daily Wail.

In what way?

The major complaint made was him driving to the North East to stay with family who could care for their child whilst both parents were too sick to.

The man that started the nasty press mocking over a test drive after both parents had recovered drove from North to South to collect a child from University, also against the rules. Silence about that

I followed all this. The level of nastiness won't go away after the election, it will be left on left now.

Too sick to care for a child but able to drive 300 miles? Very credible.

I can’t decide if you’re being deliberately obtuse or you genuinely don’t understand the difference? 🤷‍♀️

The major complaint made was him driving to the North East to stay with family who could care for their child whilst both parents were too sick to.

Could drive for 6 hours.
Couldn't care for child in comfort and safety of own home (at a time when A- we were obliged to do that and B - that's what all other people did).

It seems it's just a cycle of times of public spending and reduced public spending without a constant balance is how the country stays rich and powerful

You see? It's the only way you are capable of looking at it. Nasty sarcasm.

It wasn’t sarcasm. It was a perfectly valid observation.

There were children who died alone without their family, elderly relatives in homes, people who couldn't attend funerals or see loved ones. Most people were abiding by the rules. Poor mental health went through the roof because of lack of contact. Can you not understand why people were angry?

It's beyond trivial though isn't it?. And yet the rage was immense. Went on for months, white hot hatred.

Your rules.

His rules. That’s why people were so angry. The hypocrisy.

The man who made the rules broke them whilst we were all observing them (often at huge and lasting personal detriment).

We are nasty and sarcastic for pointing that out.

Are you Mary Wakefield?