Current Affairs The Labour Party

[Seanjd]

I don't get the Labour are for the working man shouts anymore. They were in the past clearly. Like Atlee was probably the best PM of the last century. But the long and short of it is that I'm better off on my relatively low graduate wage now than I would have been if I'd graduated in say 2007. The tories have almost doubled the tax free personal allowance, and they've brought in the large wage increase of the living wage. As for tuition fees, I think it's fair they were introduced. Why should the less advantaged foot the bill for the potential benefits I might get later in life through my 3rd level education. They shouldn't and paying back my student loans, under the current terms where you only start repaying after you're income surpasses a reasonable level is only fair. 30 years ago these would have been policies that you would have only foreseen as being possible with a labour government. Yet it was the tories who introduced all these.

Labour need to realise what matters to the every day working person. We want work to be rewarded. We want ambition to be rewarded. We want the chances for our kids to get to good schools without fees. I'm grateful I grew up in NI where the grammar system is still very successful. I wouldn't have got to a top school in England yet the system granted me the chance here without any fees.

Labour are out of touch, they need to understand what matters.

Labour brought in tuition fees in '98.

The butchery of our welfare system alone is enough to prove that the Tories do not care about the working class, they never have done and never will.

 

[Walken]

How? Not a criticism, just an honest question.

Huge flaws in that government, but in my local area, every school rebuilt and upgraded, every hospital upgraded, every kids park , bus station, train station upgraded, plenty of casual work to be found. Some no doubt in part to a robust economic environent globally and also some in part to eu funding, but that being said I have no doubt most of the good things I saw change in my area in Merseyside would never have happened under Tory rule, as proved by the previous 20 years before 98 letting everything rot and crumble

 

[Neveryourfault]

Labour brought in tuition fees in '98.

The butchery of our welfare system alone is enough to prove that the Tories do not care about the working class, they never have done and never will.

Labour are no longer the party of the working people, neither are the Tories and with the SNP now taking over Scotland Labour will find it very hard to get back into power now

 

[Number_25]

No mate, the best times were in the 60's when poor kids could still go to Grammar Schools and become what they deserved to be on merit............97-08 was a great time for the London based metropolitan elite and their families.......

That's simply not the case.

I'm from one of the most economically deprived areas of the UK.

I grew up in a family that was dependent on the welfare state to make ends meet. Not once were we felt like we were the scum of the earth or as if we were bad for being in a difficult financial situation due to unprecedented issues. Sure, I went to school with hand-me-downs and school shoes that were around 4 shoe sizes too small - but I was always able to have three meals a day and have a proper Christmas.

These days I volunteer a day a week at my local food-bank where I can see people of whom have been massively let down by the state. They are demoralised, victimised, helpless individuals that require our help the most and the succession of Tory-led governments have let them rot. I see the embarrassment on the children's faces as their parents effectively scavenge for tins of beans and potatoes. What hope do these children have? There were certainly deficiencies with the last Labour government, that's for sure - but by god compared to the situation today things were massively better.

When I grew up, I could see investment in local hospitals and community centres - the linchpins of our communities. Despite our school being ranked as one of the worst performing, I could see that there was great investment being made into teaching materials and retraining of staff. I remember fondly the wonderful feeling I had when we were given brand-spanking-new computers for our computer lab, FINALLY computers that worked!

I went to a EU-funded college and was able to better myself intellectually there. I went on, and with Labour funding from the Sennedd - go to University and get a degree in a subject area that I loved.

My biggest worry is that there is no longer hope for those at the bottom of society. People from the same communities as me are being demonised as scroungers, scum and at fault for the current financial tribulation.

 

[Seanjd]

That's simply not the case.

I'm from one of the most economically deprived areas of the UK.

I grew up in a family that was dependent on the welfare state to make ends meet. Not once were we felt like we were the scum of the earth or as if we were bad for being in a difficult financial situation due to unprecedented issues. Sure, I went to school with hand-me-downs and school shoes that were around 4 shoe sizes too small - but I was always able to have three meals a day and have a proper Christmas.

These days I volunteer a day a week at my local food-bank where I can see people of whom have been massively let down by the state. They are demoralised, victimised, helpless individuals that require our help the most and the succession of Tory-led governments have let them rot. I see the embarrassment on the children's faces as their parents effectively scavenge for tins of beans and potatoes. What hope do these children have? There were certainly deficiencies with the last Labour government, that's for sure - but by god compared to the situation today things were massively better.

When I grew up, I could see investment in local hospitals and community centres - the linchpins of our communities. Despite our school being ranked as one of the worst performing, I could see that there was great investment being made into teaching materials and retraining of staff. I remember fondly the wonderful feeling I had when we were given brand-spanking-new computers for our computer lab, FINALLY computers that worked!

I went to a EU-funded college and was able to better myself intellectually there. I went on, and with Labour funding from the Sennedd - go to University and get a degree in a subject area that I loved.

My biggest worry is that there is no longer hope for those at the bottom of society. People from the same communities as me are being demonised as scroungers, scum and at fault for the current financial tribulation.

I'm sure you will agree that you were/are one of few from similar backgrounds as yourself who had the opportunities to study and obtain a degree. The chances of that happening when you and I grew up were slim, due to the obstacles people from working-class communities faced. Now, and as a direct result of successive Tory governments, those obstacles are harder to overcome and so it is even more difficult to achieve those same things.

It is harder to find a job due to the lack of them. It is harder to get financial support from the state due to changes in welfare and sanctions. It is more difficult to go to university due to ever-rising tuition costs and fewer grants. Like you wrote in your post, though, the hardest obstacle to overcome is the attitude towards working class people in this country which has seeped into the collective consciousness of many people in Britain through politicians and the bulk of our media. There are no expectations for working class people to achieve those things anymore, so it simply does not happen in enough instances.

In what world should anybody need to depend on food banks to feed themselves and their children?

 

[Number_25]

I'm sure you will agree that you were/are one of few from similar backgrounds as yourself who had the opportunities to study and obtain a degree. The chances of that happening when you and I grew up were slim, due to the obstacles people from working-class communities faced. Now, and as a direct result of successive Tory governments, those obstacles are harder to overcome and so it is even more difficult to achieve those same things.

It is harder to find a job due to the lack of them. It is harder to get financial support from the state due to changes in welfare and sanctions. It is more difficult to go to university due to ever-rising tuition costs and fewer grants. Like you wrote in your post, though, the hardest obstacle to overcome is the attitude towards working class people in this country which has seeped into the collective consciousness of many people in Britain through politicians and the bulk of our media. There are no expectations for working class people to achieve those things anymore, so it simply does not happen in enough instances.

In what world should anybody need to depend on food banks to feed themselves and their children?

Hear hear.

 

[neil999]

people keep comparing the current leadership to the problems labour had under michael foot, but to me this seems much worse! foot was at least a good orator and an intellectual(wayyy to young to actually know what he was like )

@peteblue can you see the comparison? you prob remember foot better than me..

 

[peteblue]

people keep comparing the current leadership to the problems labour had under michael foot, but to me this seems much worse! foot was at least a good orator and an intellectual(wayyy to young to actually know what he was like )

@peteblue can you see the comparison? you prob remember foot better than me..

Foot came across as an intellectual good man. He had beliefs which he would fight for. For me he was a much bigger political figure than Corbyn will ever be but unfortunately he too was unelectable because he only appealed to the far left and the trots. He was a very good orator as you say and definitely had something about him. The Labour Party under him was not the complete shambles it is now, populated by political no marks like Abbott, it was just that the UK will never go for far left or far right parties.......

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Foot came across as an intellectual good man. He had beliefs which he would fight for. For me he was a much bigger political figure than Corbyn will ever be but unfortunately he too was unelectable because he only appealed to the far left and the trots. He was a very good orator as you say and definitely had something about him. The Labour Party under him was not the complete shambles it is now, populated by political no marks like Abbott, it was just that the UK will never go for far left or far right parties.......

He was vilified by the right wing press, and his career was defined by the fact he had the temerity to wear a donkey jacket at a remembrance Sunday service if you remember.

 

[peteblue]

He was vilified by the right wing press, and his career was defined by the fact he had the temerity to wear a donkey jacket at a remembrance Sunday service if you remember.

It wasn't actually a donkey jacket, but it did look slightly out of keeping with the more formal sober attire worn by others. He was always a scruff, it was part of his charm.......

 

[1966efc]

it was just that the UK will never go for far left or far right parties.......

Bingo.

1983 saw the lowest Labour popular vote since 1918 ... even more of a record bearing in mind the growth of the electorate. The '83 manifesto was called, if you remember, "The longest suicide note in history" - and so it proved.

 

[peteblue]

Bingo.

1983 saw the lowest Labour popular vote since 1918 ... even more of a record bearing in mind the growth of the electorate. The '83 manifesto was called, if you remember, "The longest suicide note in history" - and so it proved.

His call for unilateral nuclear disarmament and raising taxes certainly put a great number of people off him.....

 

[1966efc]

His call for unilateral nuclear disarmament and raising taxes certainly put a great number of people off him.....

Yes - he was a lifelong supporter of CND. He wrote a biography of Nye Bevan & his only criticism of him was for Bevan's "sell out" at Conference on this issue (the "Sending a British Foreign Minister naked into the negotiating chamber" quote).

Foot used Benn inspired conference resolutions as the manifesto. Highly "democratic" and irredeemably stupid.

 

[tsubaki]

Bingo.

1983 saw the lowest Labour popular vote since 1918 ... even more of a record bearing in mind the growth of the electorate. The '83 manifesto was called, if you remember, "The longest suicide note in history" - and so it proved.

That is one of the most oft-used wrong statements in British politics. That election was in serious jeopardy the moment the SDP came into being, and lost once the Falklands War started; by the time the manifesto was announced it was too late to do any more damage.

 

[1966efc]

That is one of the most oft-used wrong statements in British politics. That election was in serious jeopardy the moment the SDP came into being, and lost once the Falklands War started; by the time the manifesto was announced it was too late to do any more damage.

The SDP came into being because of the far left positions the party took.