So Then. Who's Getting Your Tick....?

the failure of British manufacturing is down to dogmatic following of (now discredited) monetary policies by Thatcher and short term profit seeking in the city which crippled our companies. That was compounded by the directors of our major companies being drawn from a tiny gene pool through the old boys network, most of whom knew nothing of the industries they were trying to run. The Unions didn't help but to blame it all on them is nonsense.
We are not a tiny Island we are 60 million strong and if Germany can do it then so could we. If we had the long term investment, partnership approach by a well educated management who understand the business and chosen on merit, coupled with an acceptance that we can't afford to blow the nation's resources on an endless succession of futile foreign wars we might also have a world beating manufacturing sector.

and all this crap about who of these three blokes is the least worst is just that. crap.It's not a president we are electing it's a government. It's the policies that matter not who said what about who

Presume you are talking about labour here

yes although Maggie had the Falklands to posture with as well. Both big parties still seem to believe that we can carry on as if we still had an empire. it's pathetic. The only unambiguous call for us to bring the troops home now 'cos Afghanistan isn't worth the death of one more soldier' is the BNP for chrissakes even the Liberals equivocate.

wouldn't it be nice if you voted for a representative by listening to what they stood for and then voting for the one you agreed with the most and parties didn't exist

Here! Here! *done on my BEST eton voice*

labour have had 13 years to do this so either 1) they haven't 2) it didn't work. there's simply no way we or ANY member of the E.C. can complete with the eastern ecconomies on manufacturing. Our only chance is as a service industry.

50 Labour Achievements
1. A rising National Minimum Wage - the annual uprating benefits 1 million people a year.
2. The shortest waiting times since NHS records began.
3. Three million more operations carried out each year than in 1997, with more than double the number of heart operations.
4. Over 44,000 more doctors
5. Over 89,000 more nurses
6. Over three quarters of GP practices now offer extended opening hours for at least one evening or weekend session a week.
7. All prescriptions are now free for people being treated for cancer or the effects of cancer, and teenage girls are offered a vaccination against cervical cancer.
8. The NHS can now guarantee that you will see a cancer specialist within two weeks if your GP suspects you may have cancer. Whatever your condition, you will not have to wait more than 18 weeks from GP referral to the start of hospital treatment – and most waits are much shorter than this.
9. 22 million people are benefiting from real tax cuts to boost their income this year.
10. 12 million pensioners benefiting from increased Winter Fuel Payments
11. 900,000 pensioners lifted out of poverty
12. 500,000 children lifted out of relative poverty and measures already in train will lift around a further 500,000 children out of poverty.
13. Free TV licences for over-75s
14. The New Deal has helped over 2 million people into work
15. Over 3 million Child Trust Funds have been started
16. Nearly 3,000 Sure Start Children’s Centres opened, reaching 2 million children and their families
17. Over 42,400 more teachers and 123,000 more teaching assistants than in 1997
18. There have been approximately 3,700 rebuilt and significantly refurbished schools; including new and improved classrooms, laboratories and kitchens.
19. A free nursery place for every 3 and 4 year old.
20. Doubled the number of registered childcare places to more than 1.5 million, one for every four children under eight years old
21. More young people attending university than ever before
22. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships starts, with figures for 2008/9 showing 234,000 started an apprenticeship this year compared to 75,000 in 1997.
23. In 1997 more than half of all schools saw less that 30% of their pupils fail to get 5 good GCSEs including English and Maths. Now only 270 schools fail this benchmark and we are guaranteeing that no school should fail this mark after 2011.
24. We have increased school funding to support the delivery of higher standards. Between 1997-98 and 2009-10, total funding per pupil has more than doubled from £3,030 in 1997-98 to £6,350 in 2009-10 in real terms, an increase of 110%
25. The Northern Ireland peace process
26. The UK is now smokefree, with no smoking in most enclosed public places.
27. The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are now 21% below 1990 levels, beating our Kyoto target.
28. Over £20 billion invested in bringing social housing to decent standards
29. Rough sleeping has dropped by two thirds and homelessness is at its lowest level since the early 1980s
30. Free off-peak travel on buses anywhere in England for over-60s and disabled people
31. Since 1997 overall crime is down 36 per cent; domestic burglary is down 54 per cent; vehicle related crime is down 57 per cent; and violent crime is down 41 per cent.
32. A new flexible points-based system to ensure only those economic migrants who have the skills our economy needs can come to work in the UK.
33. Police numbers up by 16,000 since 1997, alongside more than 16,000 Police Community Support Officers
34. Every community now has its own dedicated neighbourhood police team, easily contactable by the people who live in that community and working with them to agree local priorities and deal with people’s concerns.
35. Equalised the age of consent and repealed Section 28.
36. Through the introduction of civil partnerships, Labour has for the first time given legal recognition to same-sex partners. Gay couples now have the same inheritance, pension and next-of-kin rights as married couples.
37. More than doubled Britain’s overseas aid budget. UK aid helps lift an estimated 3 million people out of poverty every year
38. Cancelled up to 100 per cent of debt for the world’s poorest countries
39. Britain now has more offshore wind capacity than any country in the world. Wind last year provided enough electricity to power 2 million homes
40. Launched the £1.5 billion Housing Pledge to speed up the delivery of new affordable housing and embarked on the biggest program of council house building for twenty years
41. Launched the Swimming Challenge Fund to support free swimming for over 60s and under 16s
42. Banned fox hunting.
43. Led the campaign to win the 2012 Olympics for London. Today the programme remains on time and on budget with over 40% of the construction programme completed and all major venues under construction.
44. Free admission to our national museums and galleries.
45. Devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, an elected Mayor and Assembly for London and directly-elected mayors for those cities that want them.
46. Created a new right of pedestrian access to the English coast, so that every family has the opportunity to enjoy the length and breadth of our coastline
47. In the last 4 years Labour’s work overseas has helped over 7 million people in sub-Saharan Africa access clean water and sanitation
48. In Europe we signed the Social Chapter and introduced measures including: four weeks’ paid holiday; a right to parental leave; extended maternity leave; a new right to request flexible working; and the same protection for part-time workers as full-time workers.
49. We led efforts to agree a new international convention banning all cluster munitions.
50. We introduced the first ever British Armed Forces and Veterans Day to honour the achievements of our armed forces – both past and present.

51 also the price of drugs has come down under labour

inheritance tax off the top of my head but they won't announce any blatent ones till they get in. then look out.

Pretty good article on this:

http://www.johannhari.com/2010/04/0...ar-you-can-find-it-in-david-camerons-policies

LABOUR - best of a bad bunch

tories - hate the cunts

and liberals are just toffs in disguise who want to scrap the nuclear deterrent and take away family credits and nursery places - the twats

hopefully it will end up a LIB-LAB coallition with Brown in charge initially handing over to Milliband within a couple of years

make vince cable the chancellor and stick clegg in as foreign secretary or deputy pm to keep the smooth cunt out of the way

that type of government would cause the least greef with public sector job losses
and we may at last see some voting reform

cameron was in norman lamants policy unit when he was chancellor in the 90s and norman lamont (backed by his team which had that slimy twat cameron in) was the single worst chancellor to have ever run the british economy.

Lib Lab coalition would be considerably better than a conservative majority but I think that the most likely outcome is a consevative government with no overall majority- Don't think the lib dems would be part of a coalition with the tories so prob looking at another election within the next 6 months/year

And yes, Miliband is a good choice for and most probably will be next Labour leader/prime minister. Still feel pretty sorry for brown tbh, intelligent guy who does seem to have a lot of good intentions and ideas, just not slimy or power hungry enough to be a good PM