People that are liberals in america just hate the mans guts because he sided with Bush. no otehr reason. guilty by association. i am willing to bet 80 percent of them are just like me and don't know enough about blair to have a really educated opinion about the man. If i was voting for him it would be different, but i just really havn't had much time to study up on him, probably just like most of the people that are complaining that he was re elected along with his Labor party
Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
I didn't say they were perfect. I said in comparison to Michael Howard's crew and with regards to any other choice, they are capable.If Labour are as bad as people believe, bottom line is, we'd be in a state of anarchic political war, but we're not.
-AC
my problem with labour is that their answer to every problem is to throw massive amounts of money at it...we are already by far the most highly taxed nation in Europe....we work the longest hours.......yet the streets of most other countries have less litter than ours...the roads of the northern European countries dont come to a stand still with 3 inches of snow(ours never used to either but they do now)
why does everything have to cost so damn much
why is there more pen pushers in the NHS than there are Doctors, nurses and cleaners combined....and why do these pen pushers have far larger salaries than the nurses?
i'll tell you why
labour came into power and helped put an entire generation of school leavers through university and initially said "to hell" with the trades and skills...
when these people emerged from university with worthless degrees the government had to create pointless jobs in the public service to accomadate them....hence the fact that there are now 850,000 more public service jobs than there were 8 years ago...
these people now HAVE to vote labour...cause if the tories got into power then these people are the very same ones that the tories are talking about when they said "eliminate waste" from public spending
and not to mention things arent as rosy as labour point out
for a start you have to examine the claim that there are far less unemployed now
did you know than any person who is on a new deal programme and is still in reciept of job seekers allowance IS NOT classed as unemployed
did you know that if the man in the household in employed and the female isnt...and she is claiming job seekers allowance....then she IS NOT classed as unemployed either
every day you read stories in the news of more manufacturing jobs being lost (rover...IBM)...you need 3 main stable sectors for a truly stable economy...a good housing market...a buoyant retail sector and most importantly...a successful manufacturing sector
manufacturing has collapsed and debt is driving this country into a retail and housing crash...
basically an increase in interest rates by another 1.5% will destroy this country and make what the tories did seem a miracle by comparison...
I see what you're saying, I'm perfectly aware. Had Liberal Democrats had a more convincing presentation (from my POV) then I would have voted them, but the way I see it is like this:
It was either gonna be Labour or Tory, right? We know that. So who would you rather vote for? Personally, I'd rather vote Labour. I don't like Tony Blair or Labour, particularly. I like Howard and the Conservatives even less though.
-AC
i voted tory...why?...seeing as you think no sane person would vote for them...and i have a stamp on my hand that says i am sane
i voted for tory because i genuinly think that the money that labour spend can be made more effective through less beurocracy
many people voted against labour cause of the war issue...personally i thought it was the only principled thing Tony Blair has done in his entire premiership
lets look at one of Tony's finest political acts...the same tony that doesnt have a reverse gear
in 1997
" we have no plans to introduce top up fees and infact will legislate against them"
tada...like magic...we now have top up fees
and 57 other tax rises to boot
i dont want politicians who change what they believe in purely for political opportunism...
Charles Kennedy's entire political manner can be summed up in what he says about Iraq...." i'm against the war...but im glad saddam's gone"
that stinks to me of a person who wants the results but doesnt want to make the desicions or the sacrifices that deliver those results
i agree with many political commentators that the tory campaign was too negative... the labour campaign was to reactive and the liberals campaign was to wishy washy nothingness
still
whats done is done...the tories and the libs made gains...but labour are still in power
and im sure i'll be a good few quid less well off in another 4 years than i am now
thanks to all the labour voters...remind me to not buy you all a drink when i'm filthy rich
Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
It would have been a good post had you not capped it off with a smart remark that nobody really cared about.Aside from that, you showed me why you didn't vote Labour...excellent. You vote for whoever you wanted to vote for, I wasn't chastising you.
-AC
it was sort of a dig at the people who vote for labour out of some blind ideal that they are working class people voting for a working class party simply because they haven't bothered finding out the reality
then to top it off....the same people blame those parties for not listening to them
why vote if you have no idea what you're voting for?