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Coalition Tories say Brits are all lazy sods
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I was not intending to be fair to politicians (sorry!). Yes politicians today seem to have this kind of career and I do not think it does the nation any good. We used to have MPs that once had a real job and knew how the rest of us lived, these are somewhat rare these days. Those that had real jobs seem few and far between: Mike Hancock, Bob Stewart, Harriet Harman,Vince Cable, Sarah Walloston, Anne Milton
OK, reading that list of the damned I was wrong. The very last thing we need is politicians who have had previous careers.
Harriet Harman, for heaven's sake?!0 -
Privatisation has worked but privatising natural monopolies has been an abject failure.
I remember British Rail, it was frequently late and not very clean and the commuter services were jam packed. The privatised version costs, has nicer staff but otherwise has all the same traits. BR was not the joke of Europe, like the present system. And it was so simple to buy a ticket without all the complexities of the current one.
BT I agree has been a success of sorts, but I do not use it.
I have fond memories of BR and the inter city service, nice silver service 3 course meal in first class between London and Manchester readily made the time disappear on the way home (of course I didn't have to pay for it
) The last time I used the same service it was Virgin trains and there was no heating in the middle of winter, it was freezing and still cost a fortune and the food was, shall we say, not of the same quality 
'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0 -
BT I agree has been a success of sorts, but I do not use it.
That is the success, you don't have to 'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0 -
Apparently it used to take the GPO 18 months to get you a new phone line; it makes BT's very poor efforts at installing my broadband a few years back look positively speedy!
It was even worse than that. You weren't allowed to buy your own handset - you had to rent a GPO one (of appalling technical quality at times) and answerphones were only available for rent from (ISTR) two sources.
There has rarely been a better example of the dead hand of the state, outside of the Eastern Bloc.0 -
It was even worse than that. You weren't allowed to buy your own handset - you had to rent a GPO one (of appalling technical quality at times) and answerphones were only available for rent from (ISTR) two sources.
There has rarely been a better example of the dead hand of the state, outside of the Eastern Bloc.
IIRC, it was also illegal to dig coal, make steel, open a dockyard, or run a railway or canal for profit in competition with Nationalised Industries. It was required for those things (and probably quite a few more) to be done solely by the state owned monopoly in the UK.0 -
IIRC, it was also illegal to dig coal, make steel, open a dockyard, or run a railway or canal for profit in competition with Nationalised Industries. It was required for those things (and probably quite a few more) to be done solely by the state owned monopoly in the UK.
Indeed and, chillingly, there are a few posters on this forum who seem to wish we were back in those dark days.
I try to be charitable and assume they are too young to have experienced what it was like.0 -
IIRC, it was also illegal to dig coal, make steel, open a dockyard,
So now they are legal where are they
'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0 -
Indeed and, chillingly, there are a few posters on this forum who seem to wish we were back in those dark days.
I try to be charitable and assume they are too young to have experienced what it was like.
Maximum marginal tax rate on unearned income was 168% I think, i.e. if you were earning enough in interest the Government would take all of the interest you were earning and confiscate some of your savings on top!
Forced membership of trade unions via the Closed Shop (Labour only scrapped a desired return to this policy when it was outlawed by the EU in the late 80s).
The Selective Employment Tax was another cracker: workers in some industries (mostly service sector) paid more income tax than workers in others (mostly industry).0
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