RIP Michael Foot

[TopGun]

A true gentleman and the most honest of politicians.

[solentstars]

agree a decent man when we had a real socialist labour party ,which has been now hijacked by the new torys like blair and brown for their big business pals.

[ecuk268]

Indeed. A true socialist who was often in trouble for his refusal to compromise his beliefs.

 

In the 60's he refused to serve in Harold Wilson's government due to his opposition the the Vietnam war and membership of the EU. Formed a rather strange alliance with Enoch Powell to oppose plans to abolish hereditary peers.

 

Also a brilliant orator. Can't think of anyone who comes close to him in that department.

[South Londoner]

I think that he fought for one of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.

[Saint Keith]

the author of the infamous longest suicide note in history. im sure history can remember him for something better than that

[bungle]

RIP. A political great.

[Huntingdon]

An absolute scruffy idiot

 

With the country feeling patriotic after the Falklands victory, he tries to fight the 1983 election with a policy of unilateral disarmament

[Gemmel]

RIP. A political great.

 

What were his acheivements that earn him such status? (Genuinely don't know, just remember him looking like tramp on rememberance day , many moons ago.

[Fan The Flames]

A hugh Plymouth Argyle fan, was at a game a few years back, QPR v Plymouth and Michael Foot getting on a bit walked quite a long way to the ground. All along the route people stood back and clapped and cheered him all the way to the ground, it was very moving.

 

RIP MF.

[tpbury]

An absolute scruffy idiot

 

With the country feeling patriotic after the Falklands victory, he tries to fight the 1983 election with a policy of unilateral disarmament

 

That's democracy folks!

 

Unless I missed something, Tony Benn's still going strong isn't he?

 

Falklands - those were the days, jumpers for goalposts, easily defined and achievable military objectives sponsored by the military industrial complex in order to promote the cause of unchecked monetarist selfishness so Mr Big can get bigger. Where's Syd? He's farked off to Bermuda so he and his capitalist buddies can store wealth for themselves for generations to come at the expense of all those scabby coal miners.

[mickn]

An absolute scruffy idiot

 

With the country feeling patriotic after the Falklands victory, he tries to fight the 1983 election with a policy of unilateral disarmament

 

Exactly, as someone else has said above someone who never compromised his beliefs, great man.

[dune]

A typical socialist of the Brown/Blair ilk. Tax the workers to keep the bone idle in benefits.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

A typical socialist of the Brown/Blair ilk. Tax the workers to keep the bone idle in benefits.

 

There are at least two things wrong with this statement...

 

R.I.P to the man who created CND!

Edited 3 March, 2010 by Thorpe-le-Saint

[St Landrew]

An absolute scruffy idiot

 

With the country feeling patriotic after the Falklands victory, he tries to fight the 1983 election with a policy of unilateral disarmament

 

Agreed he may have been scruffy, but isn't that more of a comment about the image politics of today, rather than the content politics of yesterday..?

 

I may not have entirely agreed with the method of Michael Foot's politics, but there's no denying that he worked towards an ideal where everyone, not just some, or many, or most, had a chance in life, and were free from the clutches of poverty and injustice.

[ecuk268]

A typical socialist of the Brown/Blair ilk. Tax the workers to keep the bone idle in benefits.

 

Michael Foot was a million miles from Brown/Blair. i suggest you go away and read some political history.

 

He was of an era before spin doctors and politicians having their pictures airbrushed. He was one of those characters who would look scruffy even in the most expensive of suits, but, in a debate, he would wipe the floor with most of today's lot.

[dune]

Michael Foot was a million miles from Brown/Blair. i suggest you go away and read some political history.

 

He was of an era before spin doctors and politicians having their pictures airbrushed. He was one of those characters who would look scruffy even in the most expensive of suits, but, in a debate, he would wipe the floor with most of today's lot.

 

He was a typcal tax and spend socialist like Blair and Brown. Different clothes and more eccentric but at the end of the day just as much a Socialist as Blair and Brown.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

He was a typcal tax and spend socialist like Blair and Brown. Different clothes and more eccentric but at the end of the day just as much a Socialist as Blair and Brown.

 

Will you STOP using the same pathetic 'non-argument'? You're making yourself look silly!

 

Reading some of the comments on the BBC, people are even now still lambasting him for wearing the so called 'Donkey Jacket'!!

[Yeovil Saint]

I remember a few years ago Plymouth registered him as a player with the #90 shirt as a present for his 90th birthday.

[dune]

Will you STOP using the same pathetic 'non-argument'? You're making yourself look silly!

 

It's not a non argument. Look at the tax burden the Socialists have imposed on us with the stealth taxes that they've squandered on the beurocracy and the bone idle benefits scroungers. That is Socialism for you.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

It's not a non argument. Look at the tax burden the Socialists have imposed on us with the stealth taxes that they've squandered on the beurocracy and the bone idle benefits scroungers. That is Socialism for you.

 

Could you list some of these stealth taxes?

 

I think you've been watching too much Jeremy Kyle dune: I won't for one minute deny that there is a problem with some people who CHOOSE not to work and claim benefit, but the majority on state benefit are on it for legitimate reason. I would rather have the benefit system in place and a few people abuse it, then not have it there at all and have some sort of warped survival of the fittest as the alternative.

[dune]

the majority on state benefit are on it for legitimate reason.

 

I disagree. The majority on benefits are on benefits because the Socialists have made it a life choice for them that's prefereable to working.

[Thedelldays]

it is big news here in plymouth

 

he even had his own squad number at plymouth argyle

[Mao Cap]

Ignore dune lads, otherwise you'll ruin the thread. Might as well argue with a spambot or a parrot, all he does is blindly squawk the same half dozen phrases he reads every day in the Express or whatever fash rubbish he reads.

 

Anyway, RIP Foot - a politician of genuine principles.

[ecuk268]

I disagree. The majority on benefits are on benefits because the Socialists have made it a life choice for them that's prefereable to working.

 

"The majority"?? Have you got statistical evidence to back up that rather vague statement?

[Hatch]

Spitting Image got him spot on.

[dune]

he reads every day in the Express or whatever fash rubbish he reads.

 

There's nothing wrong with the Express.

[beatlesaint]

I remember a few years ago Plymouth registered him as a player with the #90 shirt as a present for his 90th birthday.

 

Probably a better player than Bradley Wright-Phillips even at 90

[Son of Bob]

I'm sorry but comparing Michael Foot to Blair and Brown is simply laughable. Also I can promise Dune that the large percentage of people on benefits would far rather be working. I worked for the DofEE for around 5 years in my younger years and have seen the evidence first hand. There are undoubtedly people that play the system but I can promise you it ain't the majority. Maybe Dune would like to lose his job and try living on £50.95 a week. Maybe then he'd find out just how 'easy' it is.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

I'm sorry but comparing Michael Foot to Blair and Brown is simply laughable. Also I can promise Dune that the large percentage of people on benefits would far rather be working. I worked for the DofEE for around 5 years in my younger years and have seen the evidence first hand. There are undoubtedly people that play the system but I can promise you it ain't the majority. Maybe Dune would like to lose his job and try living on £50.95 a week. Maybe then he'd find out just how 'easy' it is.

 

THIS!!

[dune]

I'm sorry but comparing Michael Foot to Blair and Brown is simply laughable. Also I can promise Dune that the large percentage of people on benefits would far rather be working. I worked for the DofEE for around 5 years in my younger years and have seen the evidence first hand. There are undoubtedly people that play the system but I can promise you it ain't the majority. Maybe Dune would like to lose his job and try living on £50.95 a week. Maybe then he'd find out just how 'easy' it is.

 

Were I to lose my job i'd get another job. Unlike the bone idle slobs that spends years on benefits I enjoy hard work. This article is spot on IMO.

 

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/137632/Our-vain-socialist-elite-is-oblivious-to-suffering-at-home

[Son of Bob]

Were I to lose my job i'd get another job. Unlike the bone idle slobs that spends years on benefits I enjoy hard work. This article is spot on IMO.

 

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/137632/Our-vain-socialist-elite-is-oblivious-to-suffering-at-home

 

Oh dear. The fact you're linking a Daily Express article says it all for me. I don't have strong political beliefs but the ones I do have are all my own.

[dune]

Oh dear. The fact you're linking a Daily Express article says it all for me. I don't have strong political beliefs but the ones I do have are all my own.

 

Ditto, but I do find the Express says all the things I think so that's why I buy it.

[Son of Bob]

Ditto, but I do find the Express says all the things I think so that's why I buy it.

 

That's good then isn't it? Sounds like you're made for each other.

 

RIP Michael Foot by the way.

[Hamilton Saint]

It's not a non argument. Look at the tax burden the Socialists have imposed on us with the stealth taxes that they've squandered on the beurocracy and the bone idle benefits scroungers. That is Socialism for you.

 

You really mean "me", don't you?

 

To have an "us", you need society. To have a society, to have a civilsed society, you need taxes to pay for those services that create a civilised life. Taxes, therefore, are not a "burden"; they are the necessary price for a civilsed life. If you don't believe in society (sound familiar?), you think of tax as a "burden".

[dune]

You really mean "me", don't you?

 

To have an "us", you need society. To have a society, to have a civilsed society, you need taxes to pay for those services that create a civilised life. Taxes, therefore, are not a "burden"; they are the necessary price for a civilsed life. If you don't believe in society (sound familiar?), you think of tax as a "burden".

 

It's the level of taxation that Socialists impose and the wasteful way they throw the money away that's the issue. In 1979 the Socialists had brought this country to it's knees with their tax and spend philosophy and here we are in 2010 and they've done it again. David Cameron's analogy of Gordon being like a man whose credit card was maxed out, and instead of dealing with his crippling indebtedness, decides to just get a new credit card was spot on.

[Gemmel]

As I said, I only remember him for looking like a tramp.

Can anybody explain to me what he actually achieved in politics (Apart from being on the wrong end of a landslide)

[mack rill]

95 years A fookin good innings RIP MF.

[dronskisaint]

There's nothing wrong with the Express.

 

QED

[Arizona]

Ditto, but I do find the Express says all the things I think so that's why I buy it.

 

What's the point in that?

[Joensuu]

RIP Michael.

 

[Dune, ouch, was that your own foot you shot?]

[Yeovil Saint]

95 years A fookin good innings RIP MF.

 

Well said and I think that all football fans, whatever their politics, can appreciate the level of dedication he had to his team. I understand that even when he was Leader of the Opposition he very rarely missed a meeting of the London branch of the Plymouth Supporters Association because he loved to talk about Argyle with fellow fans. Some politicians like to affect being football fans, but Michael Foot was the genuine article.

 

RIP Michael

[solentstars]

Well said and I think that all football fans, whatever their politics, can appreciate the level of dedication he had to his team. I understand that even when he was Leader of the Opposition he very rarely missed a meeting of the London branch of the Plymouth Supporters Association because he loved to talk about Argyle with fellow fans. Some politicians like to affect being football fans, but Michael Foot was the genuine article.

 

RIP Michael

good post i think some of the same old predicable idiots on this site need to read their history books

[solentstars]

It's the level of taxation that Socialists impose and the wasteful way they throw the money away that's the issue. In 1979 the Socialists had brought this country to it's knees with their tax and spend philosophy and here we are in 2010 and they've done it again. David Cameron's analogy of Gordon being like a man whose credit card was maxed out, and instead of dealing with his crippling indebtedness, decides to just get a new credit card was spot on.

not the bankers then causing the world wide recession .you make me laugh,blair was one of your lot despite you pretending otherwise.

[sidthesquid]

Last chance for one of my favourite jokes of all time (apologies if done already) but....

Michael Foot - a true leg end

[AndyNorthernSaints]

He was a typcal tax and spend socialist like Blair and Brown. Different clothes and more eccentric but at the end of the day just as much a Socialist as Blair and Brown.

 

You really are thick!!!!!

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

It's the level of taxation that Socialists impose and the wasteful way they throw the money away that's the issue. In 1979 the Socialists had brought this country to it's knees with their tax and spend philosophy and here we are in 2010 and they've done it again. David Cameron's analogy of Gordon being like a man whose credit card was maxed out, and instead of dealing with his crippling indebtedness, decides to just get a new credit card was spot on.

 

And yet, with all his 'clever' analogies Cameron won't win this election outright, and to me that is laughable.

 

Listening to 5Live on the way home from work made me realise just how much of an intellectual he really was - a 'proper politician' who I'm sure was disgusted at the state 21st century British politics is in with parties with no difining policies and a generation of young people who think it's 'cool' not to vote or to get involved with politics.

[Fuengirola Saint]

it's not a non argument. Look at the tax burden the socialists have imposed on us with the stealth taxes that they've squandered on the beurocracy and the bone idle benefits scroungers. That is socialism for you.

 

THEY ARE NOT SOCIALISTS YOU CHUMP! ( Sorry for shouting but someone needs to get through to him )

Edited 3 March, 2010 by Fuengirola Saint

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Always a tragedy to see the passing of politicians motivated by a sense of duty. When he went into politics poverty was judged in very different terms.

[solentstars]

THEY ARE NOT SOCIALISTS YOU CHUMP! ( Sorry for shouting but someone needs to get through to him )

 

your wasting your time with tory boy,he only sees what he wants to see,no mention of the tories putting up vat from 5 to 17 percent in charge and creating a drug culture and mass employment, 2 recessions and wasting all our oil reserves,

destroying our manufacturing trade with a overvalued pound.

cameron is just another blair clone

[Kev]

cameron is just another blair clone

 

 

To be fair, these days all politicians are as bad as each other.

 

There aren't many who'd rather help others out before themselves.

 

And the new brood coming through are all 'professional politicians', ex researchers etc. Never had a proper job in their life.

 

Re. the dear Mr Foot. RIP. He once bumped into me as he fell out of a pub mid afternoon, 20ish years ago. I helped him pick up the files and folders he'd dropped on the pavement. He was very apologetic and thankful.

 

Behind him was the woman who in later years, as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pretty much single-handedly, ruined the farming industry in the UK.

 

Margaret Beckett didn't help.