[welshrune]

The government are as guilty as sin.

I think this particular government are the most corrupt, evil government in our social history. Nothing is too low for them.

[karen1977]

Not sure about that- they have some stiff competition through the ages! I'd say Oliver Cromwell & his new model army were pretty vile, to pick one example. I mean, this govt's quite bad, but i couldn't see them cancelling Christmas (though a few loocal authorities are having a good go with their P.C. madness!), Doubt they'd outlaw plum pudding for the reason that it is 'sinful'. I doubt they'd march over to Drogheda or Wexford and massacre every man woman & child- just for their religion. Doubt they'd overthrow royalty & behead the Monarch. Prince Charles isnt so confident; when he's crowned King, he won't be using the name Charles, as past King Charles's had a habit of losing their heads- his words! Think he's taking the name Arthur,(not positive about this, so don't quote me). That's just one example.
What disturbs me is the secresy surrounding Dr Kelly & the smear campaign that was launched after his death, when he could neither defend or refute their claims. What REALLY disturbs me is this ID card scheme-I swear, I will go to prison before i carry one of those! What they're doing is no different than when the Nazi's forced Jews to wear the star of David on their sleeves. They say it's to prevent terrorism- THEY ARE THE TERRORISTS!
They go on about what an evil dictator Saddam Hussein was- oh really, then why did Churchill give him nerve gas, for 'crowd control' when he overthrew King Faruk in the 60's? They never mention that. America is as bad-they dub Osama Bin Laden a terrorist & Afghanistan a heroin producing, Taliban ruled dictatorship- So why did they train thousands of Afghans? Why did they provide them with weapons? One word, Russia. Russia had invaded Afghanistan & U.S. troops were sent to help- cos we can't have the 'commies' taking over, can we? It goes right back to the cold war. The Bush's and the Bin Laden's go back years-why? If i was paranoid, i'd think they were hatching a plan....
As for WMD's- one question- why can WE have them, but THEY can't? Thought us Brits were all for fairness. I hear you say, "well they might use one.." "it only takes one nutcase to press a button.." Right,firstly, Iraq NEVER had any WMD's- that has been proven, but they already knew that- BECAUSE THEY NEVER SOLD OR GAVE THEM ANY!!! That's how they knew. And that is precisely why we invaded Iraq and not, lets say, SOUTH KOREA-cos they DO have them. Oh and then there's oil.......
My final point- who are we to go on about nuclear weapons when we are the only ones who have ACTUALLY SET ONE OFF!! It's a bit rich for our govt & the U.S govt to bleat and pontificate about terrorist's when they're perceived by much of the world as the biggest bullies in the playground! Did someone say double standards?

[Warwick]

Originally Posted by welshrune

The government are as guilty as sin.

I think this particular government are the most corrupt, evil government in our social history. Nothing is too low for them.

Phew! How quickly the Thatcher Regime is forgotten!

[karen1977]

My nana used to tickle me whenever Thatcher came on the news - she'd shout at the TV and wave her fist! I get the impression that she wasn't too keen, lol.
She is the reason i would never vote conservative, all these years later; that and the fact that since her they've had naught but clowns in charge! It's a sad day for the tories when Thatcher's still the best bet & she 'retired' over 15 years ago!
David Cameron rides a bike to the commons, as he's into keeping emissions low - so why then did he get a plane from london to manchester? It's four hours in a car & cars waste far less fuel. Hypocrite - the bike was just another stunt, like Hague saying he was like us, because he drank 14 pints of bitter once (tchah!), and there was John Major, who pledged to abolish the poll tax,; and he did - he renamed it council tax and charged it per home rather than per person. Thanks, John, that made all the difference to us, now the pensioner living alone only has to pay for themselves, rather than..........oh yeah, still themselves.......so off goes the heating & out comes the purse...
Then there was that other guy, Dracula (really can't for the life of me remember his real name, i just called him Dracula), who was against the Euro & wanted all the immigrants booted out (even though his parents were Romanian immigrants themselves) - and the tories at that point were trying to portray a more fluffy, gentle image. So why use a guy who looks like Nosferatu?
They've actually lost the plot, i reckon, and as much as i dislike them and would never vote for them, it is quite worrying that there is no alternative to Labour at the moment; LibDem's are ok, but not ready to run the country, Greens never get enough votes & Labour appear to have a stain on them following Iraq; their socialist ideals have been contaminated by greed & capitalism, yet they are the only contenders at the moment. I'm a life-long Labour voter, but i still wish there was some competition - we don't want a party running a country by default, and if the other parties don't pick up their game soon, that's what we'll end up with.

[Warwick]

Karen, your nana is clearly a political genius... or has much in common with me (tut tut, how immodest!)

I have to point out one important mistake in your posting however - she didn't resign, she was pushed! Oh, the paperwork might have said it, but the fact was, she was deposed in the same way many so-called 'great leaders' have been, such as Richard Nixon, Richard the Third, and Vlad the Impaler - overthrown by their 'trusted lieutenants' when they became an embarrassing liability. Had it been up to her, she'd still be PM to this day!

The truth is, members of her cabinet and senior government officials were horrified by her increasingly unhinged mental condition, which was quite obviously turning towards megalomania. Unlike Churchill (her great hero), Maggie couldn't cope with a scotch fuelled, sleepless lifestyle, and was losing the plot bigtime. Ego boosted by beating the unions and the Argies, she believed she could not fail, and against advice, believed she could introduce the Poll Tax, and steamroller it through without any problem... oh dear!

It was a classic example of leaders who get carried away, and ignore history. Hitler should have been warned by the example of Napoleon... invading Russia is unwise. Napoleon should have been aware of the same thing, but chose to ignore all those who had failed before him. Richard III should have known that taking hostages to ensure the loyalty of porential traitors is not a good move, as King John and others had shown long before. Mrs Thatcher should have looked back to the last time a government tried to introduce Poll Tax, in 1381, when Richard II was almost destroyed by the Peasants Revolt....

The old bat is still wheeled out now and then, asked to comment on some issue or other, which she does with all the haughty arrogance she ever had - a bitter, unhappy old woman, who will probably not forgive or forget in this life, blaming others and dreaming of what might have been. I actually feel sorry for her sometimes, the millions she has no doubt safely stashed away are no comfort, when morally and spiritually destitute and redundant. She did actually have some talent once, and did some things for the good of the country - yet (to collar one of her expressions) she was so unsubtle, ruthless and short sighted, in 'cutring out the dead wood' she chopped down the tree. The incredible bonanza of North Sea Oil was wasted and frittered away on keeping a vast, unemployed army from starvation, and paying windfall amounts to undeserving asset-strippers, yuppies and cronies, rather than rebuilding British industry and ensuring our future. Criminal IMO...

The funny thing is, people still pay good money to hear her lecture them! Sentimentality perhaps?

[karen1977]

More like MENTALITY, than sentimentality, lol! You will notice i put the word resign in 'inverted commas' to show the irony - course she was pushed! How can you take seriously a woman who backs someone as abhorrent as Pinochet? And was once quoted as saying, "There is no such thing as society" - not once you've done with it, Maggie, eh? Megalomaniac is such an apt word to describe her - and wasn't her son done a few years ago, trying to perform a coup somewhere in Africa? The apple never falls far from the tree, lol.
My hubby and i were talking about the peasant's revolt & the original poll tax only the other day. I think the biggest mistake Thatcher made was to roll it out in Scotland, where, as no-one votes tory, there'll be no votes lost - BAD MOVE! My cousin was living in Scotland at the time & he sent my mum the latest must have item - it was loo roll, with her face emblazoned on each sheet & f*** the poll tax written beneath! My nana loved it, of course and probably took great pleasure in wiping her backside on her mug. haha!
Do you remember how they portrayed her in Spitting Image? V. funny, especially when she was controlling John (black and white) Major by remote control. Priceless!