Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Sat Jul 28, 2012 3:35 pm  

On the other hand, it does seem that Ajw71 is proof of the dumbing down of the education system and the success of the promotion of the 'greed is good' ethos.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:05 am  

Ajw71 wrote: Erm, 8 polls which all rank Thatcher in the top 5. The logical conclusion from this is that she was one of the best prime minsisters. Pretty simple really. Check the other end of my polls for your answer. Thatcher is nowhere near the bottom in any of them. Strange point this, as you can say this about every single prime minister since 1945. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/u ... ntvote.htm In every single election since 1945, more people thought someone else would be better as PM rather than the person who was elected. This isn't unique to Thatcher as you imply. You still don't get it, probably deliberately trolling. You said those who disagreed with you were in the minority. The election results show that they are not.

Ajw71 wrote: Erm, 8 polls which all rank Thatcher in the top 5. The logical conclusion from this is that she was one of the best prime minsisters. Pretty simple really. Check the other end of my polls for your answer. Thatcher is nowhere near the bottom in any of them. Strange point this, as you can say this about every single prime minister since 1945. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/u ... ntvote.htm In every single election since 1945, more people thought someone else would be better as PM rather than the person who was elected. This isn't unique to Thatcher as you imply. You still don't get it, probably deliberately trolling. You said those who disagreed with you were in the minority. The election results show that they are not.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:14 pm  

Please explain how the results of the general election in 79 can be a yardstick to measure how great Thatcher was? She hadn't even served a term in office yet.

In 1945, more people wanted someone else as PM instead of Clement Attlee. Was he not a great prime minister either?

To think you tried to discredit my polls. Talk about clutching at straws.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:30 pm  

Ajw71 wrote:

Please explain how the results of the general election in 79 can be a yardstick to measure how great Thatcher was? She hadn't even served a term in office yet.

In 1945, more people wanted someone else as PM instead of Clement Attlee. Was he not a great prime minister either?

To think you tried to discredit my polls. Talk about clutching at straws.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:58 pm  

Ajw71 wrote:

all the good she did?
.

please explain



she single handedly managed to destroy the infrastructure of a nation which is now struggling because of it

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:18 am  

DaveO wrote:

Try again later - same result but this time get through to an operator in India. "What can I do for you sir" - Well says I, I just got told there was a problem activating the card. "No sir the card has been activated OK". So why did it say what it did? "No idea sir".

Halifax don't have any call centres in India. All UK based.

However.

Some are based in Leeds, and have a mix of people, some of whom are of Indian origin. These guys always got confused for being in India.

I speak as someone who's been on that side of the phone. With Halifax. And as they still pay my rent and bills every month, I'll say no more.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:43 am  

Most people agree that Thatcher had many faults, the a point of debate is what would have happened if Labour had remained in power?

Manufacturing would have slowed down regardless of who was in government, emerging economies in the Asia had already started to eat away at our large scale manufacturing base. Like it or not our inefficiency was not helped by the unions. Ineffective management didn't help either.

On the sell off most of the huge nationalised industries were union-dominated, under funded, inefficient and massive loss makers. It would have cost billions to drag them into the modern era - so to sell seems like a prudent cause of action.

With regards to mining - it could not compete with coal from other countries, it importance was massively overstated due to the high profile that Arthur maintained due to regular threats of strike. The numbers of miners had declined significantly over the previous twenty years.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:54 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

With regards to mining - it could not compete with coal from other countries, it importance was massively overstated due to the high profile that Arthur maintained due to regular threats of strike. The numbers of miners had declined significantly over the previous twenty years.

...because of heavy investment in automation (just like lots of other industries that were labour intensive in the 1950s and 60s).

Just to give you an idea of the investment my brother-in-law worked underground at Bates Pit in Blyth Northumberland until the 84/85 strike, in the year before the strike the pit, which mined coal several miles out under the North Sea, had invested £1million in "intelligent" roof supports which were basically self adjusting, and massive pumping equipment - it was descibed as "state of the art" in the mining industry, anywhere in the world.

In the first month of the strike the pit was closed as maintenance was not completed as scheduled, it flooded and all of that equipment was lost underground.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:55 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Most people agree that Thatcher had many faults, the a point of debate is what would have happened if Labour had remained in power?

Manufacturing would have slowed down regardless of who was in government, emerging economies in the Asia had already started to eat away at our large scale manufacturing base. Like it or not our inefficiency was not helped by the unions. Ineffective management didn't help either.

On the sell off most of the huge nationalised industries were union-dominated, under funded, inefficient and massive loss makers. It would have cost billions to drag them into the modern era - so to sell seems like a prudent cause of action.

As has been pointed out before, W Germany managed to continue with a strong manufacturing base, despite most industries being heavily unionised.

Sal Paradise wrote:

With regards to mining - it could not compete with coal from other countries, it importance was massively overstated due to the high profile that Arthur maintained due to regular threats of strike. The numbers of miners had declined significantly over the previous twenty years.

The cheap, brown coal that we imported from Australia and India may have cost less per tonne than British coal but it was of such poor calorific value that the price difference was negligible when costed on an energy-produced basis and helped push up the cost of producing British steel. Further factor in the extra welfare payments required and it had a negative impact on our economy.

Re: Is our Commie government losing the plot? : Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:11 am  

cod'ead wrote:

... The cheap, brown coal that we imported from Australia and India may have cost less per tonne than British coal but it was of such poor calorific value that the price difference was negligible when costed on an energy-produced basis and helped push up the cost of producing British steel. Further factor in the extra welfare payments required and it had a negative impact on our economy.

Wasn't there an outcry at some point because we were importing coal mined by children?