unclebuck

Anyone watch this programme?? What an outstanding Premiere she was.

Puts this New Labour lot into sharp perspective as the spineless, opportunist, career driven low lives they really are. Example:

The first thing she did once in office was to reclaim Billions of subsidy back from the EU that was being wrongfully taken from us.

By contrast Blair will give them anything they want to curry favour for his 'legacy'. Such a shame they inherited then threw away what had been built up.

bootsy

i didn't see it.but i do think she done more good than this bunch of sh*ts.

RRH

Whilst I appreciate that there are many more variables involved, during the Thatcher years we were one of the biggest employers in our town, and paid some of the highest wages in our industry (engineering / sheet metal). We did very well out of it, and so did those around us.

After many years of labour government, we now struggle to recruit skilled staff as few can afford to subsidise apprentices any more, we struggle to keep up with the constant (inevitably costly) legislation, and struggle to compete with cheap labour / competition. Whilst we still pay reasonably well for the industry, our workforce / output is probs only 20% of what it was during the 80s, and the future doesn't look too bright if I'm honest.


We did try to warn everyone.....

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

RRH,

Serious question, you mention one of the problems being cheap labour/competition and I should imagine that this is probably the biggest issue affecting small companies in markets such as yours in the UK today.

Given that, what do you think a government (as in any government) could do about it? What would Maggie have done?

Sadly it is my belief that the answer is not a lot and this is in the main down to the short termism and greed of the UK population. They want something for less so will always buy the cheper goods manufactured in China (for the most part) these days not realising that in the long term they are going to ruin this country's economy by doing so. It's the same with house prices, it's short term greed that is driving them up, pure and simple. We will all pay the price for not only the government's mistakes but those of the man on the street as well.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I am curious - in what way does greed drive up house prices?

51st state

mrs thatcher and the conservatives for me aswell

and i have had to drag myself from the lowest rung of the social ladder,
one thing i hate is those damn socialists

all the growth and prosperity we have had in the last ten years was sewn by the tory goverment pre 97, but round me in the manchester its hard to explain this, they still keep going on about the fookin miners

fatherpierre

Or could it simply be that the 2nd and 3rd world nations are catching up, taking expensive production away and producing their own skilled workers.

China can now produce the average crap we produced for years but at 20% of our costs.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Pretty simple really. Interest rates are currently relatively low compared to the 25 year average. Mr and Mrs Greedy think they can pay back 4.5 times their salary at these rates hence buy the biggest house they can and mortage up to the max. This obviously drives up house prices as if people can borrow more they can spend more ... simple law of supply and demand. Hey presto the market is out of control price wise. If Mr. and Mrs Greedy had looked at the bigger picture and realised that if the rates double they can't afford their house they would buy a cheaper house in the first place and hence prices would stay lower.

fatherpierre

You're not Gordon Brown using an asumed name are you

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

LOL, No! To be frank Brown should have dealt with the mortgage lenders a good while ago as they are part of this mess.

cster

The last I heard, his great idea was to have 100 year mortgages.
Yeah Gordy - that should drive prices down.

fatherpierre

But it's not greed to want to buy the best you can afford........

Nor is it the fault of the buyer alluding to what lenders offer.

The original thread was praising Thatcher and slagging our latest government.

I've no love for either. But we've had continual growth and prosperity under NL, with no recession. Under the tories it was boom, bust. Boom, bust. Terrible times, as history will tell you.

The country may well be a taxed to the hilt place to be, but standards of living and emplyment are far beyond levels 20 years ago.

Gipton to Alwoodley rings a bell (for those in the know).

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I would agree that money supply has been a key factor in driving up house prices however it is only one factor and probably not the most important.

The more significant factor is not the supply and demand of capital, it is the supply and demand of houses themselves.

The number of potential homeowners has consistently outgrown supply due to changes in social structures such as children leaving home much earlier, far great proportion of single homeowners as opposed to couples or married couples, a boom in inherited wealth further tightening up supply due to multiple home ownership, a switch from long term savings and pensions into property as a tangible investment strategy.

All of these have significantly tightened supply and so the demand side will be prepared to pay more and so have demanded the opportunity to borrow more.

All these factors must be taken into account before the door can be laid at 'greed' in wanting to buy a house.

Interestingly the last great property boom that created a devasting boom-bust was led by the Thatcherite Tories. They drove the market as hard as they could, creating speculative Yuppies overnight. And then shot everyone down by taking interest rates as high as 17%.

Great market management, or lack thereof!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

And the key there is the bit 'the best you can afford', the problem is if the rates go up you can't afford it!! Why don't people realise this? ... It begins with g

Don't get me wrong I am no fan of Thatcher, not at all and couldn't agree more about the economy. It may be built on 'whatever' but it has been stable for 10 years plus and that is not something experienced under the last government.

Trouble is this government have made just as many errors and mistakes in other areas as the previous lot and with Cameron waiting in the wings a sense of despair washes over me when I look at the political landscape in the UK today

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Yes fair enough, you make some good and valid points, some of which are controllable and some of which are not, but the fact remains that if people couldn't or more importantly didn't borrow more then prices would not be as high as they are today.

Yes I remember well mortgage rates of 15.4 % in 1989/90 just after Thatcher had almost made people into social outcasts if they did not buy their own home. Can you imagine those rates today?

CrisPDuk

That's borderline libelous FP

The quality of the goods coming out of China is generally far better than it's UK made equivalent, just ask Dyson

Snazy

I just want the lying legacy hunter out.

Met Maggie in person, for a passing moment, lovely lady, with ***** of steel.

Politics is never pretty, hence the term its all politics, no one likes it, but its part of life I guess.
Its hard to say how each party could have performed, as both reigns have been long, thru VERY different times.

The computer boom, IT led society, the technology revolution have all taken place during Labours time in power.

Manual labour, trade unions, strike action, and some tough industrial decisions were Tories era.

We live in a very different world today, would just be nice to have a breath of fresh air and some new options before we turn into the old Russia.

Leslie

I think the heart of the difference between recent PM's is that Maggie Thatcher governed this country for the sake of the people and not for her own convenience. She really was a great leader, no kow towing to the corrupt Eu for her!

Les

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

And she gave them Argies a good thrashing to boot

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

She did? I was under the impression at the time that she didn't get to the Falklands until long after the Argies had left. From what I remember it was the Marines, Paras and the Navy doing all the killing and dying, while Thatcher took the credit. Good job the invasion was before she carried out her plan to scrap most of the ships that went, eh?


M

OllyK

Anybody know if this is repeated???

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Post of the year People seem to have erased Harold wilson's government from their minds. Maggie had a uphill struggle on her hands and she did a sterling job sorting this country out. Unfortunately the labour £30k mortgage generation, who have seen their house prices quadruple over the last ten years have rose tinted glasses.

LanCat

Not specifically picking on you Les but are you sure you're remembering it right? That really doesnt sound like the cow that I remember.

I think that time and distance is putting the rose tinted specs on what she and her cronies put us all through. There's more of us who'll be dancing on her grave than will mourn her passing that's for sure.

Corrupt the lot of them and we'd get on better without 'em.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

It's well know on Scoobynet that Thatcher's Britain was a modern Utopia don't you know?

I must have been living in a parallel universe as I remember it a little bit differently, but let's not worry about that now

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Its there a cut off then for rose spectacles? Howard wilson hey? what a PM nearly as awesome as Tony Liar.

unclebuck

Actually it was Heath that took the UK into Europe. They really didn't want us to join and maybe we should have left it at that, but Heath was so desperate to get us signed up that he effectively sold us down the river subsidy wise in order to gain entry. As soon as Thatcher was able to she demanded billions of our money back from them and wouldn't let up until she got her way. That showed ***** and Heath hated her thereafter.

As for Wilson – yep, he was as bad as Blair in almost every respect save one. He refused the US request that we should send troops into Vietnam. Something Blair again should have learned a valuable lesson from regarding what he did over Iraq. Sadly, another case of no *****, and no principles. He was even prepared to lie to his own parliament in order to achieve his 'glorious' aims.

Leslie

You are entitled to your opinion of course as we all are.

I was comparing her with the bunch of grossly corrupt lying self seekers we see who have no intention of governing for our sakes, and spend their time feathering their own nests! She was very much more honest and a real leader
who did her best to maintain our sovereignty instead of handing it all over the equally corrupt load of pinko's who are running the Eu and who want total power over Europe and the other countries who are in the Eu.

Heath conned us all over the referendum over joining the EEC knowing full well that the eventual idea was to control all Europe by stealth according to the original ideas of the man who thought it all up after WW2.

Billy Boy realises that we all know about the Eu Commissioners who have not been able to get their accounts passsed by the auditors for eleven years now and therefore he is going to sign us over to the renamed constitution without letting us have the referendum he faithfully promised us!

Les

r32

Sorry mate but this is untrue, we have several manufacturing plants in China (and about to buy another) the products are not suitable for outside China sale. They may be in the future (like Japan and Korea in the early days) but their quality control particualarly material integrity is just so bad that its not a possibility for us at the moment.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Les, don't take this all wrong my friend, but in terms of feathering one's own nest Maggie didn't go from greengrocer's daughter to multi-millionaire on an MP's wage alone now did she?

As for her being a bastion of honesty and integrity, OK, if you say so. In reality her government was in some ways better than the current incumbents, but in many ways just as bad or worse. Still that's all in the past, it's what's coming next that is really worrying!

Dracoro

She will have made most of her money AFTER leaving Downing street. Speeches, her memoirs/books, directorships if she took any etc. etc. Same for many PMs.