Survival Courses

[Halifax Lass]

Quote:

pabird said:
Could be Lass he is her special advisor on decorum

Is that something to do with decorating?

[Big J R]

I thought the wealth of silence that Big Tone received at the T.U.C. Conference in Brighton yesterday was fantastic !

 

He definitely looked very worried, but then again, why should he care ? I reckon he's going to stand down before the end of this Government's term, and make millions writing a book and doing 'After-Dinner' speaking !!

[Mr Happy]

What will the book be called?

 

I bet it's not 'Confessions of a lying, cheating, basta*d former PM'!!

[Big J R]

....and I bet he won't get Gordon Brown to do the preface !!!!

[Martin]

The trouble for all politicians is that you have to get elected.

 

How do you get elected? By appealing to as many people as possible.

 

How do you appeal to people? By promosing them what they want.

 

How do you deliver? You can't. It is impossible because you cannot please all the people of all the time.

 

I am not a big fan of Tone but he is no different to any other politician they just simply cannot deliver.

[American FLEET FAN No1]

His Book will be called: How to Con all the People all of the Time!

[Martin]

(Except not really because they all hate me for something).

[pabird]

Martin there is something very different about Bliar, he has systematically removed democracy from the government dealings and to such an extent spin doctors carry more political weight than cabinet ministers

He has made telling untruths an art form to such an extent his own party are in denial

His beliefs are simple, any action,any lie ,any false promise is acceptable so long as the achievement is to keep him out front

In terms of damage to the country and its reputation abroad he is the very worst PM this country has suffered

Consider this premise, a country is judged on how it treats its sick its children,its pensioners, and you find he fails at every turn

PS not withstanding his illegal war killing thousands for his own gratification

 

 

[The Invisible Man]

True, but I would think Thatcher comes a very close second on much of that list, and comes top of the rest.

[pabird]

Why worry about Thatcher this man has had eight years and counting

If we are to consider Thatcher lets consider Callaghan and the IMF, no this man inherited the richest bank balance of any incoming PM

[Mr Happy]

Quote:

Martin said:
The trouble for all politicians is that you have to get elected.

How do you get elected? By appealing to as many people as possible.

How do you appeal to people? By promosing them what they want.

How do you deliver? You can't. It is impossible because you cannot please all the people of all the time.

I am not a big fan of Tone but he is no different to any other politician they just simply cannot deliver.

Some politicians do carry out a good job and stick to their principles. Whilst I do not agree with the politics of Dennis Skinner and Tony Benn, I do respect them as MPs who do/have stuck to their principles and haven't always towed the perty line.

[CANV EFM]

enoch powell.?

[pabird]

Oswald?

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Enoch Powell was a fine politician whose "Rivers of Blood" speech was taken out of all context by the Gutter Press(yep, them bastards again!)! He tried to warn Government about Unrestricted Immigration, and reading previous comments on these forums..........his thoughts might still see fruition!

[Mr Happy]

I totally agree with you on that one.

[pabird]

Strange to say of course with Enoch having been the Minister who (first) advertised in the West Indies for people to come to the UK to "save" the NHS and the bus services when recruitment was at an all time low

Looking in the mirror we have the similar scenario being painted now by the government in their claims that we need the skills the latest 1,000,000 or so "visitors" are bringing with them

What utter crap, it will take 3 to 5 years to train the new incomers (those that wish to be trained)

The real issue being that skilled labour in this country has always been kept to a low wage high tax economy as are the rest of the population, if you allow the shortage of skilled labour to become severe then the low wage becomes high wage in the necessary recruitment process

Government and certain elements of business would much rather bring in the cheap semi-skilled labour

[The Invisible Man]

The construction industry now has a severe problem with the lack ok skilled labour in most, if not all, trades. This problem will become a crisis very soon - this is widely acknowledged.

 

There are several reasons for this, including the boom-bust cycle of the industry which is used by governments as an economic regulator. After the last big slump in the 90's a lot of subcontractors and individulas had had enough and packed in in or went bust.

 

Then there is also a lack of training, the old apprenticeships went out of fashion. Plus most kids now don't fancy working hard outdoors in all weathers, it's not fashionable they all want to be graphic designers or something, all want to be "working with computers". And of course we are told that 50% of school leavers should go to university, rgardless of whether it is appropriate for the individual or if degree courses have to be dumbed down. Therefore there is no new generation of skilled labour coming through.

 

The government attempts patch-ups, like the courses for the unemployed where they are "trained" in a skill. Oh yes, we know about the so-called "plasterers, plumbers, brickies" etc that come off a 6 week government course thinking they are tradesmen! If tey are inadvertently taken on, they are inveriably laid off within days if not hours.

[Martin]

I agree that some politicians do stick to their principles and Tony Benn is a fine example. In my view elections are no longer won on politics they are just a glorified popularity contest. The reason the turnout keeps slipping is because the figurehead politicians are all as detestable as each other and they all scrabble over the middle ground with no discernable political differences.

 

However, I always vote on principle. I just despair at the lack of choice and always feel I am plumping for the least worst option.

 

I agree with a lot of what IM says but I don't necessarily think that the 50% university target is a bad thing. It is the other 50% who don't do A-levels or finish after GCSEs that is cause for concern. What do they do? Previous generations used to have apprenticeships and a job for life culture. That no longer seems an option and a significant majority seem resigned to the fact that they would never stay in one job for more than 5 years. Never going to become a master craftsman like that.

[Colin, Germany]

Quote:

AmericanFLEETFANNo1 said:
Enoch Powell was a fine politician whose "Rivers of Blood" speech was taken out of all context by the Gutter Press

Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech contained logical errors. Since he was intelligent, this was obviously deliberate. He was therefore attempting to move British politics in the direction he favoured without caring whether it was right or wrong. Indeed, I am fairly sure that he knew what he was saying was completely baseless. I went to hear him speak because I thought there would be more substance to what he was saying, but I was totally disappointed.

[pabird]

Quote:

Martin said:

I agree with a lot of what IM says but I don't necessarily think that the 50% university target is a bad thing. It is the other 50% who don't do A-levels or finish after GCSEs that is cause for concern. What do they do? Previous generations used to have apprenticeships and a job for life culture. That no longer seems an option and a significant majority seem resigned to the fact that they would never stay in one job for more than 5 years. Never going to become a master craftsman like that.

allow the wages for skilled manual labour to rise to where school leavers would see a bright fiscal future and go for the training as opposed to importing the less than semi-skilled cheap rate immigrants