Labour are out!!!!

[IamLeGod]

But the Tories didn't actually win did they? Considering they were 18 points ahead in the polls a year ago and they threw Ashcroft's money around as if it were confetti they failed to make the breakthrough and have had to go in with the Lib Dems. Nothing like 1997 when Labour had a landslide victory,a huge majority and a clear mandate to govern. This a fudge of a govt with a party that only won just over 50 seats playing the kingmaker. It looks like it is the tail wagging the dog!! Interesting times ahead.

 

BTW - do a bit of research on the global recession - clue is in the title - G.L.O. B.A L

 

Whilst it is global, I seem to recall Brown claiming his policies had meant that we were the best equipped country to rise out of the recession in the world. Was that the case? Look at pretty much any other country similar to us and you will see he quite simply got it wrong. Most countries came out stronger and faster than we did.

 

For all his claims, Gordon was not an economist. The fact he sat as Chancellor for 10 years is nothing to do with skill, more that he was unmoveable, and a horrible nasty piece of bully boy.

 

Happy to claim the economy was all his doing then nothing to do with him when it was going well, then washed his hands of it when it went wrong. Yes I have said this before but time and time again his supporters seem to want to ignore this.

 

I'm happy with this coalition. It will be interesting to see how it works, and I hope it does - for the good of the country. Labour undoubtedly did some good things for the country. But alot has gone wrong. And it is not the things that simple statistics can measure.

 

The last thirteen years has created a barmy, over-beaurcratic system that focuses its energy in the wrong places. FFS, where else in the world would a teacher be sacked for defending himself from a pupil swinging punches at him (not that bloke on the news - I witnessed this at my old school when I went back to coach the footy team)?

 

This chav/asbo culture has been created as their is a simple lack of discipline. No-one can touch these horrible little scum-bags and they no. React and you will get persecuted. It is born from boredom and reliance. Reliance which has manifested itself in the culture this Labour govt has created.

 

Now I am no tory, and even less a fan of Cameron. But I do feel it was time Labour went. Hopefully this coalition wil achieve what the two leaders are saying. Party differences put aside to create practical solutions with the National Interest their sole interest.

 

Mr. Clegg and Mr. Cameron please deliver, good luck. And to the outgoing Mr. Brown, I'll borrow your sentiments "Thank you and Goodbye".

[buctootim]

Whilst it is global, I seem to recall Brown claiming his policies had meant that we were the best equipped country to rise out of the recession in the world. Was that the case? Look at pretty much any other country similar to us and you will see he quite simply got it wrong. Most countries came out stronger and faster than we did.

 

Neither you or Brown are right. As in most things the UK is middle of the pack - and thats the problem with politics in the UK. Marginal differences in shades of grey are distorted in the press and media which leads to all kind of weird and wonderful public beliefs.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/34/45160787.pdf

[Fuengirola Saint]

 

My football is always Red, thank God my politics is Blue...

 

Sorry mush can't be red and blue, best **** off and support the skates

[Wes Tender]

Sorry mush can't be red and blue, best **** off and support the skates

 

Crystal Palace?

[Andyb1]

Fairly immature thread.

 

Why would anyone have waited 13 years for Labour to lose? They did an awful lot of good in the early days.

 

* Hospital waiting lists are way down.

* University grads are way up

* Crime is down on 1997

* Bank of England is independent so mortgage rates are non-political

 

I could go on.

 

I wish DC well but people forget that Labour has done an awful lot of very good things in their tenure.

 

That post is way to sensible for most of the muppets on here to take on board.

[Lord Duckhunter]

That post is way to sensible for most of the muppets on here to take on board.

 

If someone disagrees with you, that automatically makes them a muppet does it?

 

There must be a hell of a lot of muppets in the Country as Labour only polled 29% of the vote.

 

The UK is in a mess and personally I dont trust Labour to get us out of it. Like '79 it will take a Tory Govt to make the difficult decisions that need to be made.

[solentstars]

If someone disagrees with you, that automatically makes them a muppet does it?

 

There must be a hell of a lot of muppets in the Country as Labour only polled 29% of the vote.

 

The UK is in a mess and personally I dont trust Labour to get us out of it. Like '79 it will take a Tory Govt to make the difficult decisions that need to be made.

to be fair we all did very well under labour under blairs torys for the first ten years.

[GenevaSaint]

Whilst it is global, I seem to recall Brown claiming his policies had meant that we were the best equipped country to rise out of the recession in the world. Was that the case? Look at pretty much any other country similar to us and you will see he quite simply got it wrong. Most countries came out stronger and faster than we did.

 

Well according to the Dave & Nick show the global meltdown and banking crisis was Labour's issue. Talk about rewriting history.

[Whitey Grandad]

Well according to the Dave & Nick show the global meltdown and banking crisis was Labour's issue. Talk about rewriting history.

The banking crisis was a lot less of a problem in other European countries.

[bridge too far]

The banking crisis was a lot less of a problem in other European countries.

 

And a lot of that is down to the fact that we have a bigger banking sector than other European countries.

[Whitey Grandad]

And a lot of that is down to the fact that we have a bigger banking sector than other European countries.

Yes, an over-reliance on the City and a disregard for the manufacturing sector.

[John B]

Yes, an over-reliance on the City and a disregard for the manufacturing sector.

 

I think that was down to Thatcher in the 1980s when the Manufacturing Industry was decimated and Big Bang Happened

 

But in the Global Economy it is difficult to compete with India/China.

 

 

 

I worked for a Software Company who bought an Indian do do most of the coding work

[Wes Tender]

I think that was down to Thatcher in the 1980s when the Manufacturing Industry was decimated and Big Bang Happened

 

But in the Global Economy it is difficult to compete with India/China.

 

I worked for a Software Company who bought an Indian do do most of the

coding work

 

It was not down to Thatcher. The manufacturing industry was overmanned and inefficient and therefore hugely uncompetitive against foreign competition. But even if that was not the case, it was only a matter of time before many of those industries would be lost abroad anyway, as unit labour costs could not compete with those intitially from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, then China, India and the countries that used to be behind the Iron Curtain.

 

Therefore the demise of the manufacturing sector was down to the power of the unions who brought it down to its knees through strikes, restrictive working practices, overmanning and too high pay levels. If the blame lies on the shoulders of anybody, then look no further than people like Red Robbo and Arthur Scargill.

[mickn]

screw it. At last the t0ssers who have ****ed our country up and bankrupted the nation are finally, finally gone. The socialists rubbed my face in the sh!t when Blair won in 1997. Well now it is my turn!

 

My football is always Red, thank God my politics is Blue...

 

LMFAO and you've got the nerve to comment on other people's grammar

[solentstars]

It was not down to Thatcher. The manufacturing industry was overmanned and inefficient and therefore hugely uncompetitive against foreign competition. But even if that was not the case, it was only a matter of time before many of those industries would be lost abroad anyway, as unit labour costs could not compete with those intitially from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, then China, India and the countries that used to be behind the Iron Curtain.

 

Therefore the demise of the manufacturing sector was down to the power of the unions who brought it down to its knees through strikes, restrictive working practices, overmanning and too high pay levels. If the blame lies on the shoulders of anybody, then look no further than people like Red Robbo and Arthur Scargill.

and the fact she made a major policy mistake of having a pound which was was way overvalued at the time which destroyed alot of efficient manufacturing companys at the same time.

[buctootim]

It was not down to Thatcher. The manufacturing industry was overmanned and inefficient and therefore hugely uncompetitive against foreign competition. But even if that was not the case, it was only a matter of time before many of those industries would be lost abroad anyway, as unit labour costs could not compete with those intitially from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, then China, India and the countries that used to be behind the Iron Curtain.

 

Therefore the demise of the manufacturing sector was down to the power of the unions who brought it down to its knees through strikes, restrictive working practices, overmanning and too high pay levels. If the blame lies on the shoulders of anybody, then look no further than people like Red Robbo and Arthur Scargill.

 

Bythe time Thatcher was elected the problems in much of UK manufacturing were already obvious. Too much of it couldnt compete without government subsidy. Britain made the wrong choice in the 1950 and 60s. Germany encouraged its manufacturing industry to compete on quality, Britain decided to compete on price. At the time it made sense because no-one foresaw the rise of cheap mass manufacture in the far east. In retrospect it was disastrous.

 

Its no coincidence that much of the manufacturing we have retained is high value, research and knowledge intensive - aerospace, pharmaceuticals, arms, software and IT.

Edited 13 May, 2010 by buctootim

[Wes Tender]

Bythe time Thatcher was elected the problems in much of UK manufacturing were already obvious. Too much of it couldnt compete without government subsidy. Britain made the wrong choice in the 1950 and 60s. Germany encouraged its manufacturing industry to compete on quality, Britain decided to compete on price. At the time it made sense because no-one foresaw the rise of cheap mass manufacture in the far east. In retrospect it was disastrous.

 

Its no coincidence that much of the manufacturing we have retained is high value, research and knowledge intensive - aerospace, pharmaceuticals, arms, software and IT.

 

I agree. And it was also obvious that a lot of that uncompetiveness was down to overmanning and the restrictive practices that made our industries unreliable also in terms of delivery and poor quality and that these issues had to be addressed. MT took on the task of addressing those problems, which took some courage and an iron will. But as a result, heavy industry has declined in this country and gone abroad to those areas of lower unit cost labour and much of the workforce that was involved with those industries has retrained in areas where there is demand, such as those areas you have highlighted.

 

Another factor which was crucial in the change towards the type of industries you have listed was the reduction of the high income tax rates, as many of the most skilled people in those fields had emigrated, particularly to America, the so-called Brain Drain and as a result needed to be encouraged to return here. I worry that the recent increase of the top rate to 50% will begin to have an impact again.

[GenevaSaint]

Yes, an over-reliance on the City and a disregard for the manufacturing sector.

 

Interesting fact on Radio4 recently (before the election), manufacturing in the UK has GROWN since 1997. With a baseline of 100% in 1997 it was actually running at 124% before the recession, it's now down to 107%.

 

Figures were from the bloke who does more or less so I think we can rely on them, although my recollection of the specifics may be slightly out.

[buctootim]

Interesting fact on Radio4 recently (before the election), manufacturing in the UK has GROWN since 1997. With a baseline of 100% in 1997 it was actually running at 124% before the recession, it's now down to 107%.

 

Figures were from the bloke who does more or less so I think we can rely on them, although my recollection of the specifics may be slightly out.

 

Manufacturing has continued to grow, albeit slowly. Whats changed is that the proportion of the UK economy it accounts for has declined - because the service economy has grown much quicker. GDP has grown by nearly 60% since 1997, but as you say manufacturing has grown by only around 7%.