tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post7654086933951337847..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Why Some Labour People Don't Like BlairPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-48912782494645757592019-06-15T10:46:24.264+01:002019-06-15T10:46:24.264+01:00New Labour created the Financial Services Authorit...New Labour created the Financial Services Authority as an amalgamation of about 12 different organisations and 2000+ staff. Despite being accountable to HM Treasury this organisation was allowed to be strongly anti-union. The union organiser from the Bank of England was not even allowed on the premises.<br />Gordon Brown and co were totally accepting of the business model of a city firm. And of course in 2008 it was shown to be completely useless in preventing the banking crisis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-71116235683006526982014-09-03T10:57:33.684+01:002014-09-03T10:57:33.684+01:00I tend to think of Blair in the way the Chinese no...I tend to think of Blair in the way the Chinese now regard Mao - 70% good, 30% bad. Certainly the Major government could not continue in 1997, and the minimum wage and SureStart are things I would die defending.<br /><br />The high employment rate was great, as was the extra investment in the NHS (even though PFI was a rubbish idea).<br /><br />But then things like Iraq, PFI, the weird obsession with markets and the lack of regulation of the City get to me.<br /><br />There's also what Roy Hattersley brought up on Hennessy last week - Every time we criticise the Tories now, they get to say "You did it first". Blair's to blame for that.<br /><br />I place him in the middle of the Labour prime ministers on my ratio of amount of good done to hand dealt - above MacDonald and Wilson, below Brown, Callaghan, Attlee (in that order).DrDude12472https://www.blogger.com/profile/18248409113796634756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-55578167475704439102014-03-11T11:30:02.956+00:002014-03-11T11:30:02.956+00:00A half cocked scare story that just doesn't an...A half cocked scare story that just doesn't and didn't add up.<br /><br />Quite amusing though that Britain would have had a harder recession than necessary if we had taken Tony's advice.<br />The other side of the coin was that Gordon wanted that honour as PM.<br /><br />All of the advanced Countries seem to be back in the black (apart from guess who?)<br />including most using the euro currency.<br /><br />The case against continues not to stack up no matter how awash with anti euro stories we have to put up with.Gary Elsbynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-10470943052681798742014-03-10T21:41:01.607+00:002014-03-10T21:41:01.607+00:00@Gary. What if Britain had joined the Euro?
http...@Gary. What if Britain had joined the Euro? <br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2013/jun/02/britain-euro-what-if-joinedRoberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18097624792336619525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-29635947587079109752014-03-10T20:38:25.070+00:002014-03-10T20:38:25.070+00:00I regard Blair as a bit of a snake oil salesman.
...I regard Blair as a bit of a snake oil salesman.<br /><br />I work in the public sector and what they offered was the carrot and the stick. On the one hand better maternity pay but on the other 24 hour opening. On the one hand more flexible working arrangements but on the other oppressive micro management.<br /><br /><br />And what has been the main objective for the last 10 years? Bit by bit take away the carrot so only the stick is left.<br /><br />This is the essence of Blairism, one big confidence trick.<br /><br />I didn't hate Blair until Iraq but I never liked him and stopped voting Labour as soon as he took the reigns. I think in hindsight I was fully justified in making that decision, and nothing is yet tempting me to vote for them again.Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-71417055881070545922014-03-10T19:43:37.573+00:002014-03-10T19:43:37.573+00:00This post is about why Labour people don't lik...This post is about why Labour people don't like Blair, Vortigern. If it was an assessment of all the pros and cons if would be called something else entirely.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-20192529402626582552014-03-10T14:20:42.057+00:002014-03-10T14:20:42.057+00:00An explanation from Robert of his dislike for Tony...An explanation from Robert of his dislike for Tony's enthusiasm for the euro is required.Gary Elsbynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-6742255764619249322014-03-10T13:34:18.981+00:002014-03-10T13:34:18.981+00:00A rising tide floats all boats was the theme and o...A rising tide floats all boats was the theme and of course specialist groups felt left out always.<br />Putting it into a more complex context would see millions of disillusioned Labour supporters losing election and election with some manifestoes worthy of an Oscar in any other setting.<br />The drift to the right was so-so annoying but hard right Conservatism was bouncing along with the electorates approval.<br />Blair came in (as Stoke entered it's second decade of recession) and promised the world.<br />It was great to be on the winning side in this lifetime.<br />He delivered on the big promises and Gordon delivered on 'no bust'.<br />This was a key point.<br />The Tories always delivered a 'boom' and the working classes returned the favour at the ballot box.<br />The dwindling Labour vote (as the schools and hospitals went up) was because no boom came our way.<br />It was drudgery and rising bills (as Stoke entered its third decade of recession).<br />Have the Tories done enough 'boom' to secure a victory from others in 2015?<br />Labour will offer what? Better training for teachers?<br />I met Blair and he was a very likeable, personable man who spoke with great confidence and belief.<br />In Stoke he was tolerated but would have been removed if given the chance.<br />I always believed he was a means to an end who would deliver if he could.<br />There were things I didn't like about Labour 97-2010 and Miliband repeats that process on a daily basis.<br />Being recorded as a great politician for Labour (or others) is often out down to an invasion or two so pity Gordon for tinkering in the shadow of a known incoming world recession and ponder the thought of a decade under him.<br /> Gary Elsbynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-34469055405395130552014-03-10T01:31:06.188+00:002014-03-10T01:31:06.188+00:00The SureStart centres are massively important inno...The SureStart centres are massively important innovations, if you are a person with a very young child. Improvements in NHS care matter hugely if you are ill (possibly a matter of life and death). The minimum wage is a game-changer equal to the establishment of the NHS, if you are on low pay. LGBT advances are nothing short of a validation of your very right to exist.<br /><br />All these things matter hugely if you are affected by them. They are mere academic issues if you are not. To dismiss them in a paragraph seems a bit, I don't know, haughty? Vortigernnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-7189449507541506782014-03-09T22:48:36.552+00:002014-03-09T22:48:36.552+00:00And don't forget that genius Mr Tony wanted to...And don't forget that genius Mr Tony wanted to join the Euro as part of his modernisation project. Fortunately Gordon Brown knew better. Not a fan of Mr PFI Brown but I certainly prefer him to Tony.<br /><br />The Tories are right to say that New Labour helped to bankrupt the country. Of course had the Tories been in power they would have followed the same disastrous policies of PFI, light touch regulation of the City, internal markets and encouraging an unsustainable debt boom. Idiot Driven Syndrome aka Duncan Smith was also in favour of the Iraq war. If only Ken Clarke had been Tory leader at the time he'd have made mincemeat of Tony over the despatch box and the vote to go to war might have gone the other way. <br /><br />Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18097624792336619525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-44209362688880408692014-03-09T22:27:03.401+00:002014-03-09T22:27:03.401+00:00Surely you missed the biggest, most definitive fai...Surely you missed the biggest, most definitive fail - social mobility.<br /><br />The failure to improve social mobility - indeed preside over a period in which it got worse - is the only measure you really need to understand whose side New Labour were really on. <br /><br />Giving up on the working class to appeal to middle class voters meant tailoring policies for those voters even if the initial intention was to serve the interests of the many. This effectively transformed it in to the Whig/ Liberal party the rise of organised labour had knocked for six back in the day.<br /><br />Thats why it failed - because in trying to appeal to everybody it forgot who and why it was. It identified middle class interests with its own - "labour flexibility", immigration etc - and forgot the class struggle. Forgot its own name, so created another one - New Labour. <br /><br />And its no good saying - we are all middle class now, because the same families who went to the same schools are in the same jobs. Because to some people middle class is a statistic, to others it is a private joke.Speedynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-5372434432659937462014-03-09T22:11:41.979+00:002014-03-09T22:11:41.979+00:00The SureStart centres
A Criminologist Writes: the...<i>The SureStart centres</i><br /><br />A Criminologist Writes: the funding for SureStart came from the Home Office budget; it was designed and justified as a crime prevention measure. When Blair said NL would be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", he meant it. He saw poverty, broken families, chaotic lifestyles and bad parenting as causes of crime, and he wanted to eradicate them: by providing opportunities where possible, by imposing sanctions where necessary. What most people heard him saying - that an unjust and divided society created the impoverishment which led inevitably to crime - was the one thing which was right outside his sense of what was possible.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009879034507926661noreply@blogger.com