[Colchester] The greatest prime minister of all time

[Chris Pritchard]

doesn't change the fact that she sucked :P
On 15 Jun 2008, at 15:57, Tom Robbins wrote:

> Maggie wasn't the worst we've ever had, but she was one of the most  
> significant.
>
> Chris Pritchard wrote:
>>
>> but maggie sucked :P
>> On 15 Jun 2008, at 15:32, Wayland Sothcott wrote:
>>
>>> Tom Robbins wrote:
>>>> The Internet isn't a power but rather a resource, and unusually  
>>>> for a resource is not subject to scarcity. Artificially imposing  
>>>> scarcity on it is just a bloody silly idea, which I hope is  
>>>> doomed for failure.
>>>>
>>>> I can be so idealistic some times.
>>>>
>>>> The New Deal isn't really a good example of Labours activities,  
>>>> since it was put into place by John Major's government. I'll  
>>>> agree that they have done a lot for vulnerable people, but that  
>>>> has included widening the definition of vulnerable to damn near  
>>>> everyone. It doesn't make them liberal, it makes them (vaguely)  
>>>> benevolent. To paraphrase: a benevolent authoritarian is still  
>>>> authoritarian.
>>>>
>>>> Council housing and unemployment benefits might be nice, but  
>>>> we've also had war, paranoia, the undoing of centuries of  
>>>> citizens rights, being party to torture and murder, and the  
>>>> surveillance society. Yon Tony has been one of the great prime  
>>>> ministers in a similar, although slightly less extreme way, to  
>>>> how Hitler was one of the great German chancellors: he's achieved  
>>>> some quite spectacular things, some of them even benefited the  
>>>> world at large, but a lot of it wasn't nice and has been  
>>>> carefully ignored.
>>>>
>>>> Toby Whaymand wrote:
>>>>> I your points are very vialed. With regards to the data  
>>>>> protection Act I'm not saying it right or wrong but just that  
>>>>> how it is.
>>>>> Sadly with great power, (being the internet) comes great  
>>>>> responsibility (can't remember which movie or TV show I got that  
>>>>> from, prob Star Trek) and there needs to be some kind of control  
>>>>> even if it means having new laws that make exceptions to the  
>>>>> Data Protection Act.
>>>>>
>>>>> With regards to Labour without a huge debate they have done a  
>>>>> lot for vulnerable people.
>>>>> The Council have a legal duty to house anyone who lived in the  
>>>>> area for 2 years or have a connection like family members in the  
>>>>> area, who have live in the area for over 5 years.
>>>>>
>>>>> With regards to the unemployment New Deal started within days of  
>>>>> Labour coming into power back in 1997 and millions of under 25  
>>>>> years old got into employment and higher education.  The type of  
>>>>> vulnerable people who otherwise would have been pushed aside.  -  
>>>>> To me that very liberal.
>>>>>
>>>>> I know Labour have made mistakes and I don't want to go into a  
>>>>> debate but it is important to remember all the good stuff Mr  
>>>>> Blur has done for us.  I would even say he was one of the Great  
>>>>> Prime Ministers of are time.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>
>>>>> Toby
>>>>>
>>>>> -----------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>> Tom,
>>>
>>> I am glad you said all that, for a moment I felt I was living  
>>> inside an alternate universe run by the BBC (since David Kelly's  
>>> death). At least in terms of government I no longer believe the  
>>> saying "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by  
>>> incompetence". To that I say "Ooops, so sorry you tripped over my  
>>> foot, how careless of me to stretch my leg just as you were  
>>> hurrying past".
>>>
>>> Toby,
>>>
>>> How about tax credits, good thing or bad thing? With the tax  
>>> system it's possible and actually required for a person to  
>>> calculate their own tax, even if that's an unpleasant job. With  
>>> tax credits you let a government agency tell you what you're  
>>> entitled to, they then pay you a regular lump of much needed  
>>> money. If you were not poor then you would not need tax credits.  
>>> Then a year later they tell you that you were overpaid and you  
>>> have a week to pay back the overpayment. Government incompetence  
>>> in such a delicate area looks malicious. It's inexcusable and it's  
>>> not a one off.
>>>
>>> It's time we stopped assuming their heart's in the right place and  
>>> that government action that leads to harm was a mistake. There are  
>>> too many such 'unfortunate' mistakes for this not to be  
>>> deliberate. The fuel tanker drivers are on strike, they are only  
>>> trying to get a pay award but I suspect those with holding the pay  
>>> award are hoping to gain from the strike itself. Maybe the  
>>> government can exercise or extend it's emergency powers? Maybe the  
>>> price of petrol is driven further upwards? Remember a very similar  
>>> thing happened with the refinery last month. I know that people  
>>> with 'important' local authority jobs are getting special  
>>> documentation to allow them to get petrol when others cannot. You  
>>> can't argue with that but is this a training exercise for when  
>>> this becomes the norm?
>>>
>>> I do agree that Tony is one of the Greatest in my lifetime, Maggie  
>>> was probably more important.
>>>
>>> Wayland.
>>>
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>>
>>
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