Kitman

didn't take long for mother teresa to arrive! Does it ever cross your mind that She was democratically elected again and again and again? Or is democracy only important when it suits YOUR agenda. She was universally (well, almost apparently) reviled in the North East though, and was effectively voted in with a block vote from the South East and Midlands who happened to benefit from her 'I'm alright Jack' philosophy. She caused untold misery in the North which we haven't, and probably never will, recover from, and she really couldn't give a shit who she hurt. Her vision of society (or rather, there is no society) was callous in the extreme. I take it you did OK alright under her though. So just for the record if the Tories had not been in power for 18 years, are you saying we would still have thriving coal mines. Steel works, and superb nationalised compaies? They might be thriving, they almost certainly wouldn't be superb. Most of Europe have protected their heavy industry through subsidy I believe. Sure I read somewhere that the UK has the most extreme regional divide (in our case North South) of anywhere in Europe, barring Italy. I don't doubt it. Difficult to see how the divide can ever be bridged. Unless there's some kind of second industrial revolution (something not based on building new supermarkets anyway)

Funny you should mention that, I'm expecting a large cash payment from one of those any day now. Should be soon as I've given him my bank details and everything

didn't take long for mother teresa to arrive! Does it ever cross your mind that She was democratically elected again and again and again? Or is democracy only important when it suits YOUR agenda. She was universally (well, almost apparently) reviled in the North East though, and was effectively voted in with a block vote from the South East and Midlands who happened to benefit from her 'I'm alright Jack' philosophy. She caused untold misery in the North which we haven't, and probably never will, recover from, and she really couldn't give a shit who she hurt. Her vision of society (or rather, there is no society) was callous in the extreme. I take it you did OK alright under her though. So just for the record if the Tories had not been in power for 18 years, are you saying we would still have thriving coal mines. Steel works, and superb nationalised compaies? They might be thriving, they almost certainly wouldn't be superb. Most of Europe have protected their heavy industry through subsidy I believe.

didn't take long for mother teresa to arrive! Does it ever cross your mind that She was democratically elected again and again and again? Or is democracy only important when it suits YOUR agenda. As I recall a majority of people who voted didn't return her party, let alone a majority of the population. The general apathy you see now towards voting was born out of those experiences. the general apathy you see now IMO is more down to Blair turning labour into the Tories mk 2 to get elected. The problem now is there is very little between both parties in the day to day off most peoples lives. Also politicians are more controlled by their leaders and too worried about soundbite tv and image. These days they spend a lot of time on question time agreeing with each other. Not like the days of heseltine and cook lacing in to each other. Let's not also forget that honest Gordon has sold nearly every school and hospital off to big business and then used tax payers money to rent it back for ever and ever. I'm sure everyone will live near a school that has been sold, a new one built on half the original land and a great big new housing estate on the other half. Renton, you need to drag yourself away from your hand wringing yuppie dinner parties and see a bit of the real world outside your bubble. Well I've no axe to grind now as I don't live in the UK anymore. I don't think people believe that their vote matters anymore. I have no time for Labour - especially since the Iraq 'conflict' - but I'd never vote for the Tories either, not after their last period in office. So I considered myself disenfranchised anyway .

And and the same time it asked the questions 'how can I succeed? what can I do to better myself?', none of this relying on the state shit. True. Thatcherism was about self reliance, improvement, success, getting on yer bike and making it happen. Or make as much money as you can, by whatever means you can, and to hell with everyone else. Depending on your world view. Jonathan Aitken was the highlight of the Thatcher years for me.

I think that's an interesting point. It depends on your outlook though I suppose. At the time we were supposed to be self reliant, getting on, making the dream come true etc. The dominant cultural theme in Britain imo seemed to become that whatever happens, it's always someone else's fault and they should pay for it. I'm not sure how that came about, unless we were just copying America all along.

Thatcher was driven by idealogy? so what is Brown driven by? Brown is being pragmatic cos the countrys skint? - Who's been in charge of the purse strings for the last 13 yrs? Stopped pretending to be socialist?? - do you mean they really are? btw, i agree that Thatcher was the biggest bitch under the sun but i dont hate her for it. at the time the country needed someone like that to drag it out of the shite which was th late 60's/70's Did you have a point? If so, what is it please? i was gonna ask you the same question but i probably wouldnt get a sensible answer. you're simply blinded by hate for the woman. theres a point for you to consider! not saying that you may not have a reason for that. just saying that its clouded you're impartiality. Not really, I wouldn't be as presumptious about you. I think you've answered my question however

No, it's not rubbish. Once you close down heavy industry, it's prohibitively expensive to re-tool and re-skill, and you've lost your market in any event. The point is it's not an economic no-brainer to close something down simply because it can't compete with the third world. You have to take the long view and form a balanced view as to what is in the country's long term strategic interest. Not just in terms of the long term reliance on resources from elsewhere but also the wisdom and economics of putting whole communities on the dole, closure costs, social unrest etc etc. If you don't believe in the long term future, you don't have to pull the plug overnight. This is the way with much of European thinking I believe. Of course, if you believe in free unfettered global markets, then of course the market will decide on the best use of resources and labour. You'll be happy to pull on your cheap jeans and trainers and bugger where they came from. I trust you've enjoyed the last 18 months and the benefits of free market global capitalism

Thatcher was driven by idealogy? so what is Brown driven by? Brown is being pragmatic cos the countrys skint? - Who's been in charge of the purse strings for the last 13 yrs? Stopped pretending to be socialist?? - do you mean they really are? btw, i agree that Thatcher was the biggest bitch under the sun but i dont hate her for it. at the time the country needed someone like that to drag it out of the shite which was th late 60's/70's Did you have a point? If so, what is it please?

didn't take long for mother teresa to arrive! Does it ever cross your mind that She was democratically elected again and again and again? Or is democracy only important when it suits YOUR agenda. As I recall a majority of people who voted didn't return her party, let alone a majority of the population. The general apathy you see now towards voting was born out of those experiences.

That just sounds like cold hands to me. In other words, toughen up

That would be lovely. No more half time pie.... Pint of flat piss in a plastic glass and fried meat pie please, extra chicken feet I love the way he's wearing a mask but uses his bare hands to make the pies. Hygiene at its finest. And then hoys them down on the bench. Made with love

That would be lovely. No more half time pie....

I'm seriously considering doing a Reggie Perrin. Going to NZ is similar. We seriously had a guy here who pretended to commit suicide by leaving his car and clothes by the beach. He then moved cities, making no attempt to change his appearance, and lived for years under an assumed name whilst his wife and kids thought he was dead. In other words he disappeared completely by changing his name and going to live in another city, in a country whose population is 4m. He would have got away with it too if he hadn't applied for a passport for a holiday in Oz, the dozy twonk

Well it was certainly all about money. Greed was good after all. However I don't believe any sensible government would set out to destroy its industry simply because it thought it wasn't competitive with the third world. That would be at best short sighted and at worst reckless and irresponsible. No, imo Thatcher saw crushing the mining & steel industries as the way to crush organised labour, which is basically what her big business paymasters wanted her to do. It was never about getting the country in shape - it was more like amputation. The closure of heavy industry is a one way street. Once it's gone it doesn't come back. You can't reopen a deep mine once it's closed, it degrades over time. You can't reopen a foundry once it's stripped. You don't start building ships again once the skills to do it have gone. Perhaps you don't wonder why Britain's economy is largely based on the City of London, service industries and supermarkets, overseas manufacturers who can piss off somewhere else at the drop of a hat, with whole areas of the country blighted, and whether that's good for the future of the country? If you see it as a simple matter of economics, rather than war on the unions, socialism and communities, then I don't think you really understood what was going on. And it wasn't just about Thatcher, she was the leader but there was a whole cast of slimy deeply hideous individuals behind her.

People comparing Brown to Thatcher clearly didn't experience the 1980s, particularly the North East in the 1980s. Actually, I believe Avatar Axeman did, but he's a stupid twat. Agree. I very much doubt Brown will polarise people in 20 years to the extent Thatcher still does. I detest the evil old witch and plan to have a party when she breathes her last. I also intend, once the inevitable fuss has died down, to piss on her grave (not joking either). What boils my piss is hearing Cameron bang on about broken Britain when IMO it is directly the result of his beloved Margaret's destruction of communitys through her vindictive policies. Absolutely. She deliberately set out to destroy the mining and steel industries as a means to break union power. She accomplished her mission but destroyed communities up and down the country that had no purpose once the mines and factories closed down, and have never recovered. I'm guessing Cameron never had to rely on free dinners to survive or pick sea coal off the beach to avoid freezing to death. I'd thought my days of "taking to the streets" were long gone, but if a State Funeral is held for The Witch, I'll be there, getting arrested. Brown is a proper softie. I expect he'll get stabbed in the back sooner rather than later

People comparing Brown to Thatcher clearly didn't experience the 1980s, particularly the North East in the 1980s. Actually, I believe Avatar Axeman did, but he's a stupid twat. Agree. I very much doubt Brown will polarise people in 20 years to the extent Thatcher still does. I detest the evil old witch and plan to have a party when she breathes her last. I also intend, once the inevitable fuss has died down, to piss on her grave (not joking either). What boils my piss is hearing Cameron bang on about broken Britain when IMO it is directly the result of his beloved Margaret's destruction of communitys through her vindictive policies. Absolutely. She deliberately set out to destroy the mining and steel industries as a means to break union power. She accomplished her mission but destroyed communities up and down the country that had no purpose once the mines and factories closed down, and have never recovered. I'm guessing Cameron never had to rely on free dinners to survive or pick sea coal off the beach to avoid freezing to death. I'd thought my days of "taking to the streets" were long gone, but if a State Funeral is held for The Witch, I'll be there, getting arrested. Aye well I'm sure you wouldn't be alone. There was no middle ground with that woman, you either loved her or hated her. I think she was evil but then I lived through the Tory years.

People comparing Brown to Thatcher clearly didn't experience the 1980s, particularly the North East in the 1980s. Actually, I believe Avatar Axeman did, but he's a stupid twat. Agree. I very much doubt Brown will polarise people in 20 years to the extent Thatcher still does. I detest the evil old witch and plan to have a party when she breathes her last. I also intend, once the inevitable fuss has died down, to piss on her grave (not joking either). What boils my piss is hearing Cameron bang on about broken Britain when IMO it is directly the result of his beloved Margaret's destruction of communitys through her vindictive policies. Absolutely. She deliberately set out to destroy the mining and steel industries as a means to break union power. She accomplished her mission but destroyed communities up and down the country that had no purpose once the mines and factories closed down, and have never recovered. I'm guessing Cameron never had to rely on free dinners to survive or pick sea coal off the beach to avoid freezing to death.

Without wishing to sound a discordant note, I don't think there's any comparison between Brown and Thatcher. Thatcher was a monster, driven by idealogy and aided by big business. Brown is merely being pragmatic it seems to me because the country's bust and he needs to reduce debt. Of course it would make singing the Red Flag with his comrades a little more awkward, but I think Labour ditched that from their conferences around the time they stopped pretending to be socialists.

"Tune in next week when Redheugh will be watching us, watching you, watching us, watching you!"

* Sigh *

It's very sad. It seems like he's beyond help these days.

You could be right, but in fairness he has only ever claimed to work for haliwells in Manchester and has only ever claimed to be itk regarding the Sheard / american backed bid that haliwells have said they are handling. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt until Friday. If the big announcement he is predicting takes place, I'll believe, if it doesnt................ Halliwells are lawyers, I assume? If so they'll be bound by strict client confidentiality requirements, I'd expect that any leak of client information = instant dismissal and no reference for Mr Redheugh. tbf it might not be insider trading if the buyer and seller aren't listed, but even so to get busted leaking stuff would be career ending. Only an idiot or a complete numpty would publicise insider info and for what - to get big ups on an internet message board? - which makes me think if he is genuine he'd be the equivalent of the mail boy, and therefore not ITK at all. That or he's mentally ill, or more likely a complete fake. Sorry to be so cynical.

When I see the name Redheugh, I think of a spotty 14 year old Mackem bent double over his keyboard killing himself laughing as he uploads his next "scoop" for his eager audience. Anybody with any genuine insider info would hardly risk their careers and a possible criminal conviction to appear ITK on a messageboard. It's beyond desparate. What's the old joke about a stopped clock being right again?

Quite simply the biggest load of tosh I've yet to see from your keyboard tbh. Well I wasn't planning to personalise this. But really, you haven't said a lot in God knows how many posts, and it comes across as petty minded sniping imo. If you got some charge of substance to levy against NUSC, you should come out with it, or cut the crap