Originally Posted by Kevin Adamson:
Under Thatcher you had a chance if you were prepared to do some graft(Its probably why those who hated her where ,bone idle socialists)


Under Blair/Brown you are swimming against the tide.(the harder you work the more you can give to bone idle socialist)

Disagree. The Tories rewarded knowledge and smart work rather than hard work under Thatcher. Hard grafting coal miners and ship builders took a battering but it was good times for intelligent educated people like computer programmers and accountants.

Labour are the party of hard graft where it is difficult to use education and intelligence as a means to better yourself. They want to see highly skilled and qualified people like computer programmers and medicine graduates stack shelves and clean toilets rather than work in jobs they are qualified for.
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Originally Posted by :
Under Thatcher you had a chance if you were prepared to do some graft(Its probably why those who hated her where ,bone idle socialists)

Not really, she tipped the balance overwhelmingly in favour of the rich. Hence median wages declined per hours worked.
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Originally Posted by BonnieDundee:
Not really, she tipped the balance overwhelmingly in favour of the rich. Hence median wages declined per hours worked.

I am speaking from experiance rather than looking at the stats
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Originally Posted by Kevin Adamson:
I am speaking from experiance rather than looking at the stats

Not only that, look at other things...home ownership rates, television ownership rates, VCRs, cars etc. There's no doubt about it, people are better off and enjoy a higher standard of living today than ever before.
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Originally Posted by Westcountryman:
Not only that, look at other things...home ownership rates, television ownership rates, VCRs, cars etc. There's no doubt about it, people are better off and enjoy a higher standard of living today than ever before.

So? Where does this come into things?
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Originally Posted by BonnieDundee:
So? Where does this come into things?

"Median wages" isn't really a fair measure of people's standard of living. Comparing what people own/can afford to buy today compared to in the past is a much fairer comparison.
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Originally Posted by Westcountryman:
"Median wages" isn't really a fair measure of people's standard of living. Comparing what people own/can afford to buy today compared to in the past is a much fairer comparison.

Could the Tories really be credited with rising ownership rates of consumer goods when it is patently obvious that a significant factor was reduced prices resulting from changes in technology and a rise of imports from lower wage countries replacing goods manufactured in Britain? The same thing would have happened under a Labour government during the 80s and 90s.
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Originally Posted by Dissident Congress:
Could the Tories really be credited with rising ownership rates of consumer goods when it is patently obvious that a significant factor was reduced prices resulting from changes in technology and a rise of imports from lower wage countries replacing goods manufactured in Britain? The same thing would have happened under a Labour government during the 80s and 90s.

No, I was just stating that standard of living had improved when BD was trying to insinuate we were somehow worse off.

What we CAN credit the Tories with is taming inflation and thus creating a more stable economic environment. Privatisation was also a necessary step in making British companies more competitive and forcing them to modernise and play ball.
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Originally Posted by Westcountryman:
What we CAN credit the Tories with is taming inflation and thus creating a more stable economic environment. Privatisation was also a necessary step in making British companies more competitive and forcing them to modernise and play ball.

Rubbish. There was tons of inflation during the Thatcher decade. Privatisation of certain industries may have been generally welcomed in the early 80s, but the Tories took it too far and privatised things that shouldn't have been privatised such as water and the railways.
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Originally Posted by Dissident Congress:
Rubbish. There was tons of inflation during the Thatcher decade. Privatisation of certain industries may have been generally welcomed in the early 80s, but the Tories took it too far and privatised things that shouldn't have been privatised such as water and the railways.

Water I'll give you (natural monopoly)...I don't see why railways shouldn't have been privatised. British Rail wasn't exactly known for a punctual service!

You may remember that AFTER the 80s under Major inflation and interest rates dropped t an all-time low. Let's not forget that it was Labour in the 70s who got us into the mess in the first place.
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