Re: The Tories
 

Yup, you saying you knew you were right to leave the area, after a suspect attack on a dog, will stay with you for ever.

http://deadfriends.mindscaper.eu/ima...cons_knife.gif

...and as you lie on your matress of heather, in your wee bothy, remember, don't have nightmares.

A fear of dog stabbers is for life, not just for Hogmany.

;):D

Re: The Tories
 

Just a couple of facts about modern political happenings Wyn, on May 1st 1997 the incoming Labour Government inherited the best financial outlook ever inherited by an incoming government in history. On the 6th May 2010 the incoming Government inherited the worst political outlook in history with the country being nearly bankrupt, that's not being blinkered that's fact;)

Re: The Tories
 

There is a proviso to be a member of that party Rindi you have to be a jock:D

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I wouldn't have read Grooves post if you hadn't quoted it Eric, but if you don't like politics its just a tad stupid reading a thread entitled Tories Groove, doh:rolleyes:

Re: The Tories
 

I would have thought any prime minister of a democratic country whose population doesn't bother to turn out to vote, must have a weak hand when trying to negotiate terms with other world leaders.

Re: The Tories
 

I would have thought the real question is- Why have people stopped bothering to turn out to vote? the answer aint rocket science.:rolleyes:

Not at all weak, that is what is wonderful about democracy, if you have a population with 30 million potential voters, but less than half vote, it doesn't matter if you have 100% of those bothering to vote voting for you or only 51% you have a majority and all the power of your Country is there to back you up.

(Mind you, if it's only 51% there is a chance they may pay a little more attention to not upsetting you, they don't want an election, the money's better than in the real world).

Re: The Tories
 

And nothing else happened in those, let me see, oh, thirteen years? A major global economic meltdown, maybe:confused: I seem to remember reading about something like that.:rolleyes: It seemed to hit the banking and financial centres pretty hard. Also seems that Britain had busily been sticking all its economic eggs into one basket, with an area of one square mile. Or am I wrong in thinking that about 30% of the British economy is accounted for by the City?

Re: The Tories
 

Don't disturb him; he's sleeping;)

Re: The Tories
 

I don't know what percentage of business the financial area of the city accounts for, but it pays some 54 billion in taxes.

And the incumbents knew of the banking crisis for seven months before the brown stuff hit the fan. the brits had been encouraged to live on their credit cards for ages......there was not a week went by without some mail shot that offered credit, without checking if you could pay back what you were spending.......the whole thing was allowed to go unchecked.......even the FSA have held up their hands and said that they mis-managed the situation. It isn't just one thing...it is a complex series of things....and I'm not sure there is a leader in the world with enough balls to tackle the mutiple problems.

Anyway, this they did this, so we'll pay them back by doing this, is schoolyard antics(with France and Sarkozy in mind) is a waste of time and energy...what should be happening is decisive action.........and I'm not sure that pouring money in, to save the Euro is the right thing to do.

Re: The Tories
 

Are you saying that the government was responsible for ordinary Britons' abusing credit cards:confused: It's not that uncommon. The folks that you have a special relationship with got into it big time with NINJA loans. When well-paid industrial jobs are shipped off to other countries, the quick fix is to replace a decent, living wage with easy credit. Of course, there are countries with Bank Acts that limit banks to makig consumer loans only to those who have a good chance of repaying the money.

I agree with you on the Euro ... to use a military analogy, it is always a mistake to reinforce failure.

Re: The Tories
 

No, Of course not Eric...but there seemed to a general acceptance that debt was alright...in fact that it was good to have some debt. A maxim that I haven't ever really admired or aspired to. I was once told that my credit rating would be rubbish because I had no track record of Credit......even paying off my mortgage 5 years before it was required to be repaid.

There was a lot of mismanagement of money by the banks....lending money for mortgages on the assumption that the housing market would stay buoyant.......which it did for a long time......but lending 110% on a property puts you in negative equity right from the start....and lending to couples who were cohabiting...

Ok, I know that marriage is no guarantee that folk will stay together, but I think if you are married, then perhaps you don't see your partnership as quite so 'disposable'.
As I said, there were many things that were wrong....and I daresay that these were known and were 'risked' because it was the line of least defence.......anyway, it is as sure as eggs are eggs we are going to be paying for these MCU's(monumental cock ups) for a very long time to come.

As for the Euro, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the New Year sees it dead in the water...and all the money put in to save it, will have gone down the gurgler...all to save face!

Re: The Tories
 

Well lets face it our Gordon, you know the, Iron Chancellor, decided to ease banking regs, sold a few bars of gold at rock bottom prices, invested highly in PFI for building schools and hospitals so that know were paying an arm and a leg for these buildings, ya shiny new buildings look great on opening day three cheers for Gordon, the problems arise when the buildings have to be paid for, well its when he's long gone writing his memoirs and making a nice living like his mate Tony.;)

Re: The Tories
 

Its okay Eric he won't be reading this thread, politics bore him:rolleyes:

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