Did 1979-1990 do more or less damage than 1997-2010?

[Coldstreams]

I really am interested in this, although of course my view is just my view.

I was born in 1980 so when Blair came in I was a little more aware what was happening. It seems to me that in those years house prices shot up, job security plummeted and overall, things just don’t seem too rosy.

Thatcher however, I’m only dimly aware of.

Anyone fancy talking me through it?

You need to go and read some economic history.

I am old enough to remember Thatcherism - 3 million unemployed, double figure interest rates in the early 1990s, and the starving of public services that led to NHS waiting lists so long that there was a waiting list to get on the waiting list. When I needed ankle surgery in 1995, I was told that I could not be put on the list because it was already 18 months long. I borrowed the money to pay for the operation (fairly major surgery - arthrodesis) because I wanted to be able to work.

For much of the 1997-2010 period, the UK economy did pretty well: incomes rose, the national debt was pretty stable, and the funding of public services like the NHS improved vastly. That's not to say that the Blair government didn't make some huge mistakes - Iraq and PFI to mention just two - but to judge a 13 year period based on the two years after the global financial crisis in 2008 is just daft.

It probably depends on your circumstances. Overall, I would say the Thatcher period was more damaging, especially if you worked in one of the traditional industries. The Thatcher government's deliberate restructuring of the economy towards a service economy meant that London became an extremely wealthy financial centre but nothing was put in place to enable continued employment in the manufacturing towns. I think that policy has led to the huge increase in the cost of housing in London and the South East because most employment opportunities are there.

Believe me the Thatcher years were shockingly bad for the Country and have left some long term effects, such as lack of council houses - she sold them off. Oh and I worked in the NHS during various Tory Governments and then during the Labour years. It was far better during the Labour years, they put in huge amounts of money and set targets to drag us out of the mess left by the Tories.

Mistigri I remember those waiting lists! Unfortunately we are fast heading back there.