Is life really worse under Labour or am I taking the Torygraph (essential reading chez Moondog) too seriously? Particularly interested in what you old gimmers who remember thatcher have to say.

[moondog]

Thanking yew.

not that much difference politically imho. particularly under blair who was a school of charismatic leadership-ite too.

Denationalising the rail industry and turining it into lots of small companies all only interested in profit did a lot for public transport and safety, didn't it?

Do you fishie?

You think that one woman is responsible for all the middle class twunts around today?

She was a working class woman. I can't help noticing the rise of champagne socialists since Labour got into power.

I think it's rather odd that you all associate modern day problems with her. I guess it just goes to show her enduring power. I think you're all wrong. I think that the working classes were empowered under her.

She was not a greedy woman, and didn't espouse materialism. She was the daughter of a grocer. How human beings behaved under her policies is their affair, not hers.

The more you hate her, the more you have to admit that she was fucking brilliant ! Why else would you hate her so much?

Desi -did you see Portillo's programme on Thatcher? It was fascinating. (I'm a wavery middle of the road type politically - could be swung either way at any election).

I was a single parent nder Thatcher and the feeling of being viewed by the state to which I paid my taxes as the lowest of the low remains with me to this day. I would wake in the mornings wondering just what policy or law would be announced on Today thatconfirmed that I was not a deserving member of society.

Thatcher and her ilk wanted to break up cohesive working class communities, 'no such thing etc' and we now reap the results. All that was valued was material possesions, to be better than your neighbours.

I wish I could recreate the way that society felt then...I love Ashes to ashes...but that glamour was just part of the story.....there was just such despair in the air, and fear of losing your job.

Have had one drink too many to be coherent...but I can assure you that as a working class woman life is better for me and my family now.

Saying that I loved all the Marching and protesting,
Major Major Major out out out!!
Mellor, mellor, Mellor, in out, in out!!

Ah, but Wendy, the funny thing is that the 'Golden Age of Rail', when all our trains worked on time, like clockwork, was when they were all private.

Up until the Second World War, there were hundreds of rail companies, and they all worked together.

It went tits up when it was nationalized.

Do you seriously believe that the government can run a railroad?

I don't.

Oh goodness, I'd forgotten all about de nationalisation! Blimey, yes.

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Are the railways private or nationalised in Japan? Only country I've been in where the trains run on time (and after living there for 8 months I was outraged when a train was 20 mins late due to typhoons washing away part of the line).

Selling off council houses and refusing to allow replacements to be built with the proceeds was a SCANDAL.

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They run on time in Switzerland, yurt! And you have to run on time in order to catch them!

cripes i said thatcherism not margaret t.

and yes i do associate a lot of the selfish, bigoted behaviour of the 80s with her. i cannot forgive "there is no such thing as society" as she presided over a government which fucked plenty of societies up.

she was/is as working class as i am. probably far posher as i didn't go to oxford.

There were a lot more nasty accidents following privatisation, Desi - because maintenance was less important thatn profits.

Europe has wonderful rail systems and they're all nationalised and subsidised.

Desi, the govt runs the railway very well in several European countries.
How on earth can we get folks out of cars and onto Public transport without a coherent transport policy?

Everyone tells me Switzerland is very dull and stuffy though. Japan (contrary to stereoptypes) is far from dull and stuffy.

My posts are making less sense to you, pruners, because you disagree with me.

However, I shall back off now so that you can speak to someone with 'more authority'. I am but a cleaner, after all.

A cute legacy of the Labour years ... that you must have a degree in order to hold a valid opinion on politics.

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Thought of another reason (or two) I despise the woman - she sucked up to Pinochet and kissed Regan's ass (although the latter is no better than Blair and Dubya I s'pose)

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ww i saw today trumpetings in local gvt... apparently more houses were built in january than were sold off in right to buy. in camden. not anywhere else.

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Of course the Labour government is very far from perfect but they have done lots of good things:

• Introduced the minimum wage
• Extended maternity leave and paternity leave
• Helped broker peace in Northern Ireland
• Kept control of the economy so that there is not 3m unemployed, 10%+ interest rates etc
• Crime has fallen and continues to do so - don't believe rabid media scare stories to the contrary (and I'm a journalist btw!)

School budgets were actually cut under Thatcher, to the extent that teachers had to be sacked and classes combined to balance the books.

You think classes are too big now?