[RedEvo]

Originally Posted by SBP

Blimey Alvin, that was like over 15 years ago. The current crop of twentysomethings don't even remember that. What you have now is a clear "new" labour legacy that needs sorting out somehow. Tough times ahead I'm afraid.

So the past 40 years in a nutshell:

Tories messed
Labour messed up
Tories messed up
Labour messed up

Anyone care to bet on the next link in this chain?



d

[Mike]

but surely the grass will be greener

<insert simple expression here>
lol

[RedEvo]

What's required is a strong government. Sadly strong governments are un-popular because tough decisions have to be made. We will always have the cycle of:

New government.....
Every thing's going to be all right
Oh no it's going pete tong
Let's get these morons out of power
Thank goodness a new government at last......

or for the programmers....

<?
for (i=0; i=10000000000000; i++)
{ 

    while (things are OK)
    {
         have_fun();
         ignore_signs();
         assume_in_safe_hands();
         bury_head_in_sand();
    }
  
    moan();
    stamp_feet();
    vote_for_other();
    
}

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by RedEvo

So the past 40 years in a nutshell:

Tories messed
Labour messed up
Tories messed up
Labour messed up

Anyone care to bet on the next link in this chain?



d

THE RAVING LOONEY PARTY GET IT RIGHT.?

Alvin

[Mike]

Originally Posted by RedEvo

What's required is a strong government. Sadly strong governments are un-popular because tough decisions have to be made. We will always have the cycle of:

New government.....
Every thing's going to be all right
Oh no it's going pete tong
Let's get these morons out of power
Thank goodness a new government at last......

or for the programmers....

<?
for (i=0; i=10000000000000; i++)
{ 

    while (things are OK)
    {
         have_fun();
         ignore_signs();
         assume_in_safe_hands();
         bury_head_in_sand();
    }
  
    moan();
    stamp_feet();
    vote_for_other();
    
}

hehe - quality

[Gareth PC]

Originally Posted by SBP

Blimey Alvin, that was like over 15 years ago. The current crop of twentysomethings don't even remember that. What you have now is a clear "new" labour legacy that needs sorting out somehow. Tough times ahead I'm afraid.

27 year old son of a coal miner here.

I sure as heck remember Maggie

[boxby]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Adults in the UK have an average dept of £30,000 .Now the government did not do that.

we spend 9% of our income on food and 20% on our cars.

so one asumes there are starving kids being driven around in new BMW's.


Alvin

This is what they call "relative poverty" whereby there's not enough money for shoes, clothes, and food, for the family that site smoking, drinking and playing on their games consoles and their High Def Tellies.

[boxby]

Originally Posted by RedEvo

So the past 40 years in a nutshell:

Tories messed
Labour messed up
Tories messed up
Labour messed up

Anyone care to bet on the next link in this chain?



d

What ever we want - because David Cameron is the ipod leader, download you policies onto him and he will sing along.

[UKSBD]

I believe no government will be popular again, and no governent can stop
what will happen in the next 50 years.

People expectations are far too high and people are not only living above
their own means, but above the means of the country in whole.

The reason The UK why the UK has been powerful for the past two
centuries is down to shipping, colonialism, trade and the security of the
financial institutions.

What have we got left out of those? Financial institutions.
There is a shift happening, the more powerful China, India, Korea,
The Philippines etc, become the weaker the UK will become.

It only neds the Financial institutions to move more that way and the UK
could become a third world country.

[boxby]

The financial institutions have already started. Despite Turkey not being the most stable of countries, it is currently leading the world in banking services. And this is because there isn't any "baggage", they can bring in new ways of paying/spending money without everyone moaning about the fact that they really loved their cheque books, and they're not so keen on these plastic cards.

The Biotechs are moving out to india and China. The number of graduates in these countries is phenominal, and the industries that are investing in research go where the knowledge is.

The thing that has disappeared of the UK, the thing that made the UK such a powerful figure in worldwide economics and business is that "spark". That ability to think of something no-one else had thought of, and how to make it happen. I can't think of many of the recent great inventions/innovations that came out of the UK.

Same, i think has to be said for USA.

Why has the "spark" gone? How do we get it back?