Labour Leadership Competition.

[Deleted member 18588]

I don't think Thatcher destroyed, or finished off, British manufacturing. I think she refused to back severely failing nationalised industries but was more than willing to support proper business.

She refused to back down from confrontation with the unions, the miners being a prime example. Should she have closed mining or forced the miner's union to behave more responsibly? That's a tough one. One thing is for sure, there wasn't a major strike of that ilk again.

Did she go too far with industrial/union reform? Probably.

With "Big Bang" and other actions she made it clear where her priorities lay in the promotion of the City and related Financial Services.

Innovations in manufacturing received less encouragement.

She did succeed in restoring parliamentary democracy with her defiance of the union barons but, as you suggest, she allowed herself to be carried away by her initial success.

As with all PM's there were positives and negatives.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Grasping hold of and taking advantage of all the opportunities available to me that are simply no longer out there...

Weren't too many of those opportunities around for those employed in the traditional manufacturing industries of the Midlands and the North.

Should they have all got on their bikes and headed to London and the South East?

 

[Hobbit]

Grasping hold of and taking advantage of all the opportunities available to me that are simply no longer out there...

No longer there? My kids range from 33 to 27. 5 out of 6 went to uni, 1 of them twice and has 2 degrees. All have good jobs, 4 of them being exceptional to stratospheric. What have they all got in common? They all grafted like hell, both at uni and in getting a job and working their way up the ladder. Some of their friends don't know what graft is.

Back in the 70's, when I left school, out of a school year of 320 pupils, 22 stayed back for 6th form and 3 went on to uni. There's way more children given way more opportunities than we ever experienced. But what is missing is the apprenticeships for those that don't cut it at the higher grade.

 

[Oohmeoldbacksknackered]

Or maybe the Labour party of Blair et al listened to the electorate and came up with something the electorate wanted.

The Labour party of the Blair era occupied the centre left, making it attractive to the pale blue Tory voters and the dark yellow Liberal supporters. Whatever the failings were in foreign policy, Labour then walked a fine balance between big business and social policies. In the main, they achieved good things in those areas.

Whilst the current Labour party strives for its 60's/70's footing they won't get my vote. No way am I going back to the country being run by the unions and the far left. I'll vote Tory every time, and twice on Sunday's, to avoid a return to those desperate times.

I agree that was what Blair promised. But I think he gradually skewed further and further to the right and alienated a huge swathe of Labour voters.
He'll be remembered for stealth taxes, the banking collapse and the odd illegal war.
That's why the current crew of Pseudo Tory right wing Labour MPs aren't trusted by the rank and file.
I think they need to restate their policies and take the personalities out of it, otherwise Corbyn stays in and Labour stay out of office.

 

[SocketRocket]

No longer there? My kids range from 33 to 27. 5 out of 6 went to uni, 1 of them twice and has 2 degrees. All have good jobs, 4 of them being exceptional to stratospheric. What have they all got in common? They all grafted like hell, both at uni and in getting a job and working their way up the ladder. Some of their friends don't know what graft is.

Back in the 70's, when I left school, out of a school year of 320 pupils, 22 stayed back for 6th form and 3 went on to uni. There's way more children given way more opportunities than we ever experienced. But what is missing is the apprenticeships for those that don't cut it at the higher grade.

I agree with that. I left school in the sixties and no one in my year went to Uni from school, some of us progressed as Technicians and were sponsored by our Employers through HND to a Degree. I did four years at Technical College where we spent a week a month at College and two evenings a week at Night School, then a further year at Uni. I dont think many would want to do that now.

I would also add that what is missing as well as the Apprenticeships are the high number of semi and unskilled jobs people did in the manufacturing/clothing/food industries/military etc. Absolutely no one I knew was unemployed after school as they would be prepared to work and start at the bottom, there was no JSA on offer.

 

[SocketRocket]

Labour Party need to remember who formed it, why it was formed, who funds it and why it is important.

In the 1990s it was stolen by a load of posh folk and arty farty people.... Blair and Brown etc... bad news

It was stolen by people that made it electable from a bunch of trots who were not representative of the the people they needed to vote for them. A lot of the current activists are the same a they were back then, young students and older drop outs with no experience of life or work who are easily taken in by the hype and unrealistic rantings of the left. It's Michael Foot all over again. The Labour party needs to look back to their founding Fathers and their aims and objectives.