Economy at 60-year low, says Darling. And it will get worse

Generali

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

And miners almost universally didn't want their own sons to work in the mines, I think?

The peak of the coal mining industry in the UK, in terms of both volume of coal and number of men employed, was in 1913. It was downhill all the way after that.

It would be interesting to know on which date the number of civil servants employed to manage miners and produce statistics on their output exceeded those at the face. Clearly the date would be a lot earlier if we include the union employees that miners were required to pay for via their dues in the days of the closed shop.

amcluesent

>In 1985<

So I'd been working for a couple of years after graduating, my salary went up 25% that year...greed was good!

WTF?_2

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I'm not at all sure that this is true.

After all, it was the organised labour which caused the problems, the endless holding the rest of the country to ransom. Much as the Tube lot still do to this day.

It wasn't under Thatcher that university grants for the least well-off went, for example.

Yeah - but it was the Tories that started the process of getting rid of the grant and introducing student loans. Strongly opposed by Labour at the time. What a bunch of hypocrites. I doubt they'd have introduced loans themselves but having let the Tories do the dirty work they took the baton and ran with it.

I also seem to remember Labour making a lot of noise about 'stealth taxes' (I think they introduced the term) when they were in opposition.

jamescredmond

it shouldn't come as a surprise that, after 11 yrs, lab. is looking fatigued. all gov's look like this after serving continually over this timespan - thatcher looked washed up after 11 yrs and her party recognised it. she was duly dumped.

but it goes deeper than 'mid-term blues'. the public is beginning to ask just what lab has achieved after a decade and no-one seems to like the answers given.

but what exactly are we discussing here? in one breath, some people are arguing that lab should stop meddling with the free market, and in the next that lab should've 'done something' to prevent hpi.

all gov's have been found guilty of misleading the electorate, ever since the introduction of universal male suffrage - over a century of being conned by a political elite which has come in 3 flavours.

but then we surely get the gov we deserve. no-one likes bad news, so no party is prepared to give it.

the electorate looks set to chase after cameron. he offers 'time for a change', a 'new agenda', a 'vision for UK's future'. but no bad news.

have a change of gov by all means, but there is little - if anything - that any gov. can do about the hpc.

ask brown, cameron and clegg about their plans to save HP's. then get back to me with the 'answers'.

I'd love to know.

Pobby

1985. Mid thirties here. Resigned my directorship but was permantly engaged a by the same company as a consultant. More money in the bank than the balance on my mortgage. I was happy with that. What was amazing that I had to drop out of full time further education some 15 years before and was in hospital for nearly a year. Was I glad I turned down the offer of a life time of no work and disability payments.

It was a tough struggle but I went from very menial work to a directorship in 8 years. I had great parents, good medical practioners, a fine wife and friends to thank for that.

amcluesent

>their plans to save HP'<

Scrap ALL the jobsworth interference/tax wheezes that add friction and distortions to the market, e.g. HIPs, the stamp-duty tax bands and reform the sales process.

WTF?_2

I think it's finally sunk in with Darling that he's the "Fall Guy" and being set up to take the grief for all the problems which are fast sluicing down the soil pipe positioned directly above his head.

Better to bow out now before being made the scapegoat so that Brown's preferred choice for chancellor, Ed Balls, can start with a clean sheet.

wymondham

How do you all think the markets will react tomorrow with Darlings comments ??

WTF?_2

They're more likely to react to the more detailed info on Gordo's plans which is now seeping out.

Sterling has been on the way down for the last week or so, I expect it to fall further. If these plans come to pass, it has no future.

On the other hand, the banks might do well as it seems the taxpayer is now set to take their most stupid, irresponsible loans off of their hands. It just keeps getting better for them -first tens of billions of secret bailouts and now this.

lilac_lady

New Labour has done no favours for ordinary people. The Tories won't do so either. (They sold off Britain's utilities for a short term profit.) I don't think that there's a political party worthy of trust today.