General Chat

Our local government is lib dem and nota big fan of theres.

Prosperity won't come before the end of the next Term of Parliament. It's going to take much longer to sort this financial mess out

I'll worry about what happens in prosperity when we get there and vote accordingly then lol.

I happen to think that whoever wins the next election is going to be handed a poisoned chalice. Some of the decisions that will HAVE to be made are going to be so unpopular the ruling party will probably be unelectable for decades.....regardless of the colour of their rosettes !!! xx

If I was sat in a room with you too.... I would be running round the table as each of you spoke......or maybe stick next to Muffy..lol


Is Europe agood or bad thing? If we hadnt joined them in your opinion what would of happen, thank you btw for everyone's input into this thread I am being educated .

That only means they will not cut. They will also not increase spending on it even if we hit good times.

My understanding is that spending on the NHS will be protected?

I wouldn't approve of cutting the NHS spending either.

However I do understand that there are things that will HAVE to be cut whether we like it or not....lots of tough decisions to be made by whoever wins the election xx

By ring-fence, they mean cut....just like before ...and that I cannot approve of.

Before they bragged that no party had ever spent more on the NHS than the tories, and that was true, but only because everything cost that much more, and not just through inflation, but under them we had hospitals closing, we lost most of our local hospitals,which just became primary care units, and all main hospitals were centralised miles away from wehre you were. Not good in emergencies really, and there were no specialist units left anywhere. Our orthopaedic hospital in Essex was closed and moved to Chelmsford. The cancer care hospital which treated my aunt in Harold Wood was also closed and moved to Chelmsford.

Even the RAF hospital, in Cambs, was closed, that was an excellent military hospital which took on 38% NHS patients and an excellent burns unit, and could have been used now to treat our boys, but that closed as part of the defence cuts under the tories.

THAT is part of the reason I would vote Tory TW..because they have SAID they will ring fence NHS spending which I heartily approve of xx

This country is billions and billions of pounds in debt Hayley !!!

To the extent that we are now printing money to keep the economy afloat !!!

They've maxed out the countrys credit cards ....in other words lol.

I don't want to be European personally. I'd have liked Labour to have stuck to their manifesto pledge and given us a referendum...but they didn't they signed the Lisbon treaty and pulled us deeper into Europe.

I'm cross the Conservatives didn't say they would hold a referendum and give us back the choice as well should they come into power tbh...but there you go. What they said made sense but I don't like the blatant disregard for democracy when a referendum was given to other European countries on the same subject xx

Rose, a woman after my own heart. Couldn't have put it better myself. LOL

Most of those who say they were better off under Mrs T's government were those who had their own business, own home, and were fairly well set up. Those who lost jobs, homes, had to move away from family and friends to find work etc, would have a very different story to tell. (Trust me, I'm one of them)

re Mrs T..the one good thing she did for many, including me, was give the right to buy council houses, BUT the bad thing was that councils could not use that money for building new council housing,

other than that I have nothing good to say of Mrs T ...... yes she was 'strong'...

I think now you have to take the effects of the worldwide recession out of the equation... ie would a Conservative government have done any better for the UK financially while the whole world was in recession.
That done look at the policies that you have or may agree with and vote accordingly.

Personally I will cut off both hands before ever voting conservative lol.

A former manager of mine in the '80s said re that election "if you are voting for what is best for you, in a well paid job, vote conservative...if you are voting for the benefit of those who are not so lucky...vote labour"......

I've always ended up voting LibDem TBH...because there are good policies on both sides so sitting in the middle to me makes more sense.

BUT....Labour may not be good at making cuts...unfortunately the tories are very good at making them in the wrong places, like NHS and education, and placing stealth taxes (worse than labour for doing that). Don't forget it was the tories who threw the poll tax at us, and put VAT up to 17.5% because they dare not raise income tax to pay for their spending. They had cut the upper tax thresholds as well as lowering income tax.

Thats bring me another point is being in the european a good or bad thing? What Muffy has just said may as well been written in chinese...lol what debt?

LOL I disagree TW.

For my tastes they are too *centrai* for me.... I would rather there was more clear water between Labour and Conservative policies (from what I underrstand of them) than there actually is.

I genuinely believe that making cuts and getting this MASSIVE debt paid off before the IMF are called in to bail us out and interest payments become even more crippling for the country will only be done by a Conservative Government..... Labour are not historically good at doing the cutting and paying pack but are VERY good at over spending.

Btw....I'd be tempted to vote Lib Dem IF they weren't so pro European tbh..

None of the parties truly represent the views of the electorat Hayley, it's not possible because we all have different ideas based on our own upbringing and experiences.

You just have to go with the ones who you feel are most likely to do some good overall for the country...and in a general election, that means globally as much as locally.

At the moment, all I'm seeing is the usual pre-election mudslinging by both the main parties...

verdict: swayed again and am in complete turmoil lol

Nope....I think they put on a pretty good front, but the tory principles are still the same as they ever were...its only their approach that is different.

Hmmmmmm thank you Teresa, sorry I have to ask this so please dont take it the wrong way:


Do you think the party has moved on in any way since the times you have talked about?

I dont' normally get into political discussions too much...but I will say, in my view, Mrs Thatcher was something of an own goal for equality.

Yes she finally brought in the right to buy....

But she took away school milk. Her policies took away thousands and thousands of jobs, she closed mines, closed steel works, rendered many areas of this country a wasteland, brought in the much hated poll tax, did untold damage to the NHS, and so on....and had us live on NO benefits while unemployed for six weeks with a new baby and a toddler.

So no, I would never ever vote for the 'favour the rich and stamp on the poor' conservatives lol

You see Maggie I am one of the baffoons..lol Going back to Mrs T I get really confused at her, I watched a program about her on Friday I watch it nearly every week and love it about history, anyway they said the first she did when she went in to power was hold a dinner party and ask for the debt owed to Britan she was offered some of it back but nope she wasnt having any of it she wanted the full debt. I live in a house which was once owed by the council, if she had given the right to buy I wouldnt be living here.

I did believe in Tony Blair and at the time I did believe in New labour but now the tide has changed again I am swaying towards the Tory party...please dont tell me mum though...

I did a YTS scheme in the 80s too Hayley and tbh though I hated it at the time looking back.....it did me no harm. Got me off my backside and into a work ethic.

I am an admirer of Lady T. *waits for the rotten veg to be thrown at me lol* I Don't agree with everything she did but she was a strong leader and we haven't had one like her since who REALLY seemed to put Britain first.

Think she lost her a way a bit towards the end but she got this country out of a huge black hole in 1979 and I would vote for HER over anyone about today to do that for us now.

I usually vote Tory....but haven't always done....I'm pretty disillusioned with all politicians these days but can't bring myself NOT to vote..... you just have to go with what party speaks the most sense to YOU really.

I read a lot of politics forums and watch the arguments on there too ing and fro ing if I'm wavering on a certain issue and by the end of the thread having read 100s of replies I've usually make my mind up where I stand lol.

xx