Doug's_Missing_Wallet

It's conjecture at best to say they wouldn't have done things differently. Unless the same situation occurs if/when they're next in government then we can judge their response to it. At the moment we can only summise. You make it sound as if it's a bad thing to be a 'fan' of Thatcher. It's not really suprising that he might be, she won 3 elections on the bounce for the party with large majorities. Doesn't necessarily mean that he agrees with everything she did though. Did you agree with every single one of Blair's decisions and/or the way he went about them. As for the NHS, it depends on what side you are looking at it. To say that it doesn't need any major reforms is way off the mark IMO. I have a friend of mine who is a nurse at Good Hope. Ask her if there should be any reforms to how it is run. Or ask my sister who is a student doctor in South London if there are any reforms that could be made. Haemorriging cash that, frankly, it doesn't have. There are still too many high paid jobs in NHS for desk jobs/admin etc. At my sisters hospital, they recently spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new marble sculpture to go by the main doors, at the same time as reducing the amount of nurses on the wards and increasing the hours that junior doctors have to work.

I think so. There's quite a difference between some of the new Tories and old ones like Thatcher, Tebbit etc. Only since Cameron took over though. Howard was still 'old Tory'. Remains to be seen, I guess. If, like you, believe in the opposite of what the old Tory party stood for then I can understand if you don't believe they might have changed. Agreed, and if you'd asked most people in the 70's/80's if the Labour Party could have become what it is now then most would've said no. Which kind of ties in to my above comment. Again, agreed. And that's one of the main problems at the moment. People are finding they don't identify with a party. And you have the Labour party making right-wing decisions, the Tories trying to appeal more to left wing people and the Libs trying to find a way of being different, whilst all the time still being pretty similar.

Indeed. The 1970's seem to have been forgotten, and low and behold we have got the government that the people who voted for them deserve. It's interesting how people can people can say "never forget what the Tories did" and yet seem very keen on forgetting what Labour did previously to them, whilst glossing over what is going on now like it's a minor inconvinence that can't be helped.

Don't do my food shopping (yet), so can't really comment. Agree about energy prices too, but something that Gordon should've done and didn't? :winkold:

On that point I definitely agree with you. I must admit the house prices and oil prices don't bother me so much as, like you said, they fluctuate a lot over a cycle period. Plus I'm looking to get a house at the moment and, as a 1st time buyer, there is some absolute bargains out there. What is more concerning is the energy prices and food costs. energy costs especially, as they have to factor in greed of Eon etc.

I'd imagine if it went down to $50 PB there would be more demand. Airlines for example. People being able to afford to fill their cars up, which in turn leads to people going out for the day and spending money etc. And anyway, earlier in the thread, you stated that one of the main two reasons for the ecconomy being so fooked is the price of oil. So if it keeps coming down then surely at some point it will get to this magical price which will stabilise the eccomomy - being a fine balance of demand and cost. Also, if Brown can take no blame for us being in this mess then presumably he can take no credit if it all gets better. After all it's a global problem and one that will sort itslelf out globally isn't it?

You can't have it both ways. If the oil is too expensive it causes a global ecconomic problem, no fault of any government and certainly not of 'the formidable chancellor'/wretched prime minister. And yet if oil prices drop to $50 PB then that too causes worldwide recession. :? Which is it? Or does Gordon Brown have to take some responsibility for his awful decision making (when he actually does make a decision, of course).

Or else that comment that comes from every single Labour MP is totally and utterly wrong and they have been lying? A MP lying? Surely not!?!? It is wrong, plainly, although I'm not sure it actually is lying. They repeat it so often and without any hesitation that it's almost like a mantra. It's a conditioned response to any difficult question. Repeat sentance a few dozen times, ignore question being asked, bury head in sand, hope it all goes away, repeat ad infinitum.

correct the Tories, Lib Dems, Labour, republicans, Democrats not a single answer on how to stop this federal reserve, tried and failed BofE, tried and failed on the margins they could something but thats it ... you allow a free market free reign and this is what you get I'm afraid I just don't agree. Are you seriously saying that America's ecconomy being in dire straits has got absolutely nothing to do with any of the shaven chimpanzees policies? Same as here really, if it is all down to the 'free market' then surely the fearsome Chancellor, the most successful one we've ever had (Copyright: every single Labour MP to bleat out on demand when faced with a difficult question) would've had some foresight to protect us from it. He's had 11 years! But it's not that bad I guess, we've always got our gold reserves and pensions to help us out. Oh...

Nice sidestep of most of Richard's point Ian. It's interesting to see that you seem to lay absolutely no blame whatsoever with Brown and his government for the current state of affairs. I presume you would have been equally charitable had it been a Tory government in power... After all, it's a worldwide problem and governments have no influence in it do they?

Why, oh why do they have to put 'KRO SOTV' at the end of EVERY post?!? Do you think they sign on/sign their bail forms/reposession orders/ASBO's/benefit claim forms with the signature A. Knuckledragger KRO SOTV? Keep Right On here, Keep Right On there and yet nobody knows where they're keeping right on too. Jail?

So you could watch Montoya have his arse kicked by Schumacher again? Montoya had a chance of winning the title in 2003 and blew it by driving like an idiot and coliding with his team mate. He is the most over-rated F1 driver for a long time. All mouth and little ability to produce consistantly. The F1 drivers who could give Michael a hard time are Raikkonen, Alonso and Button

I thank you! 8) Actually I watch it in the vain hope that they catch said arogant German and smash him to bits Seriously though, I cheer on Jenson, who seems to be upholding the British tradition of being bloody good, withought being good enough to win (think Henman, Villa under BFR etc etc)

I feel I'll be on my own on this, but I still enjoy and avidly watch every F1 race if I can. And that includes being awake at silly o'clock for the ones in Japan etc, so I can watch it live rather than a re-run at a more sociable time. Sad I know

Ok, I'll (attempt to) explain myself a bit better. Rooney IS a selfish player, like any decent striker should be. There have been times when he really should've passed rather than go for goal. But, all fowards are 'guilty' of this, so it's not a criticism of Rooney specifically. He is also very young so he's even more likely to go for goal. And he's the best striker we have by a long way. The point I was trying to make is that the Rooney/Defoe partnership wouldn't work as Defoe is even more selfish and annoyingly so sometimes. I don't think two players like this would work well together. Owen, Smith and Vas are all much more willing to pass than Defoe and will, IMO, work better with Rooney.