Tony Blair

[Michael Z]

Good things:
 - Northern Ireland peace process
 - Rising investment in public services
 - Devolution in Scotland, Wales & London
 - Kosovo
 - New Deal
 - A more-or-less-healthy economy (compared to the rest of Europe)

Bad things:
 - Tuition fees
 - Blunders over Iraq
 - Geoff f***ing Hoon
 - Charles f***ing Clarke
 - Cowering to the EU-phobic press/not making the case for Europe enough
 - Dissing the 60s.

[Michael Z]

Michael Z, I agree with you on all the positives but disagree with you on top up fees. It means I pay money afterwards when I am working, not up front when I don't have any which is a good thing in my opinion.

I wasn't talking about top up fees, I was talking about tuition fees per se.

I was in the first year which had to pay university fees. Notwithstanding that I was drowned in the most shambolic bureaucracy imaginable (trust me) in order to attain my loan, and had the right of a grant taken away from me, I'm still in massive debt because of it.

I'm glad they're getting rid of upfront fees. I just wish they would've had that idea when it was my turn to go to uni. Grrr.

[Michael Z]

Well personally I agree with monogamy. The whole idea for me is to be with a person in a serious relationship. People who sleep around are just a bit pathetic really, they're obviously not mature enough to handle a relationship. Is this any worse in Britain than other nations? No, I wouldn't say so. I'm sure there are just as many promiscuous people in the US, Canada and France as there are in Britain.
Fundamentally however it's about choice. If people want to have sex with a different person every week, that's up to them. Who am I to tell someone how to live their life?

I'd say it is, but I may have only a distorced view of Britain, coming from books and Tv shows. So remember, don't quote me on it.
You don't have to tell them how to live their lives.  Just give them little incentives to live morally.

Surely Britain's problems should be left to the people of Britain to address? If I waltzed in here and said "Portugal's this, Portugese people are that, I've never been to Portugal but I read it in a book so it must be true" I bet you would absolutely hit the ROOF accusing me of xenophobia and nationalism and hatred and whatnot. But since you're the one doing the accusing it's perfectly alright, is it? There's a word for it. It's called hypocrisy.

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Yes, uniquely British problems, I'm sure.

But of course the very notion of perhaps asking WHY the majority of western nations are increasingly lacking in some kind of firm moral code would never occur to you. Perhaps it's due to growing materialism stemming from an increasingly unregulated form of Capitalism? Perhaps religious beliefs (et al) have become almost irrelevant in a social spectrum entirely geared towards the idea of increasing's one wealth and ultimately satisfying one's own achievements without any emphasis on our social conscience? Perhaps many of society's problems, such as the increasing crime rate, are in fact due to the very ideology free marketists have spawned?

It's very easy to berate other cultures. However, addressing the root of the problem and suggesting ways of improving the situation are much more difficult.

[Michael Z]

Well personally I agree with monogamy. The whole idea for me is to be with a person in a serious relationship. People who sleep around are just a bit pathetic really, they're obviously not mature enough to handle a relationship. Is this any worse in Britain than other nations? No, I wouldn't say so. I'm sure there are just as many promiscuous people in the US, Canada and France as there are in Britain.
Fundamentally however it's about choice. If people want to have sex with a different person every week, that's up to them. Who am I to tell someone how to live their life?

I'd say it is, but I may have only a distorced view of Britain, coming from books and Tv shows. So remember, don't quote me on it.
You don't have to tell them how to live their lives.  Just give them little incentives to live morally.

Surely Britain's problems should be left to the people of Britain to address? If I waltzed in here and said "Portugal's this, Portugese people are that, I've never been to Portugal but I read it in a book so it must be true" I bet you would absolutely hit the ROOF accusing me of xenophobia and nationalism and hatred and whatnot. But since you're the one doing the accusing it's perfectly alright, is it? There's a word for it. It's called hypocrisy.

Go create a thread about portuguses problems then. Yea, all those things happen in Portugal, just at a lesser degree. But this thread was allways about Britain.

Congratulations, you completely missed my point.

I was being HYPOTHETICAL. I am NOT going to address Portugese problems because I have respect for other cultures and don't see the need to constantly lecture them. The people of Portugal should deal with Portugal's problems just as the people of Britain should deal with Britain's problems. That's my point.

Besides, I don't know enough about Portugal to comment, just as you don't know enough about Britain to comment. I simply happen to know when not to punch above my weight (as the saying goes).

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Yes, uniquely British problems, I'm sure.

But of course the very notion of perhaps asking WHY the majority of western nations are increasingly lacking in some kind of firm moral code would never occur to you. Perhaps it's due to growing materialism stemming from an increasingly unregulated form of Capitalism? Perhaps religious beliefs (et al) have become almost irrelevant in a social spectrum entirely geared towards the idea of increasing's one wealth and ultimately satisfying one's own achievements without any emphasis on our social conscience? Perhaps many of society's problems, such as the increasing crime rate, are in fact due to the very ideology free marketists have spawned?

[/quote]
No.[/quote]

How profound.

[Michael Z]

Essex also has the habit of electing right-wing bigots.
Teresa Gorman (Con- Billericay),
Teddy Taylor (Con- Southend East (or West?)),
...and not forgetting Lucifer himself....
Norman Tebbit (Con- Chingford),
IDS (also Con- Chingford).

Don't forget Andrew Rossindell. Probably my least favourite MP.

My opinion of Tebitt has actually softened of late. I think it's mainly due to his appearance on Question Time a few months ago, in which he made some very constructive remarks on the Israel/Palestine issue and, to my surprise, wholeheartedly welcomed EU expansion.

I'd hate to live there.
It must be the most reactionary county in Britain.

Even the accent is stupid....
Their int nahh mountayyyns in Issix, Innit!
(There aren't any mountains in Essex, are they?)

Oi! I do live in Northeast London, you know.

Anyway, you're both right to a degree, but Essex isn't SO bad. It does have its reactionairy spots (Colchester, for instance) but by and large people tend to more down-to-earth and less stuck-up than in the rest of SE England. Go to East Anglia if you want to see some real uptight provincialism.

Also bear in mind that it's in places up north where the BNP are doing frighteningly well, so it's not like Essex doesn't have its fair share of contestants for the title of most reactionairy county.