Tony

I have arthritis in my feet so walking is often very difficult. I do sometimes sit in the nearby park.

I do not wish ill on those with more earthly possessions than myself. Nor do I obsess about becoming rich enough to wallow in luxury.

I have no car and cannot drive for medical reasons. Last week I bought an office chair because I spend so much time in front of a screen. Now my visitors can use the wooden kitchen chair or the bean bag instead of one of us standing. I have a 17" CRT colour television bought in the 1980s and Freeview. I have a separate stereo system mostly dating back to the early seventies. I had to replace the amplifier with a new (second hand) one around twenty years ago. This computer is six or seven tears old. I have a spin drier from the mid eighties, no washing machine, no freezer, no microwave, no central heating, a fridge from the late eighties. The gas stove was second hand in the late eighties. The bed frame and mattress date to the mid seventies.

You get the picture of a frugal lifestyle.

I would like a little more physical comfort and financial security.

Robert

I would argue that the 1980s (and earlier) union leaders who so abused their positions were never left wing but simply careerists like Tony Blair. If the unions were ever as powerful as some politicians believed them to be then Thatcher would have had a much harder time destroying them.

Remember that under my classification system Blair counts as a Tory :-)

I liked the vision of England articulated by John Major, "cricket and warm beer". He was leader of a bunch of ne'er do wells associated with Thatcher so I discounted his sincerity. I also thought he should have found a way to encompass Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I blame the Conservative Party for the Thatcherite mantra that greed is good. They took public property and sold it off cheap to their mates. We still pay the price in bigger bills and worse services. She said to the voters, "Vote for your own kind, you scum". Large numbers did.

She and they promoted greed and selfishness and made human decency a laughing stock. When the Conservatives admit their guilt and apologise, I might be able to forgive them.

Present day Tories who refuse to acknowledge their historic guilt are like the present day Daily Mail which refuses to acknowledge or apologise for its pre WWII support for Hitler. People who lie to themselves cannot tell the truth to anyone.

I agree with what you say about capital and labour working together. Unfortunately self-sacrifice is seen as stupidity and a weakness to be abused. We are back to greed is good. Workers not in the elite by reason of unique talents, education and training are helpless against corrupt and indifferent employers and governments alike. Capital finds it much easier to emigrate.

I agree that an MP has a duty to the country that transcends campaign finances or party ideology. That duty is sadly neglected.

Like you, I believe in the things that "one nation Tories" used to preach but rarely practised.

I feel betrayed by Thatcherism-Blairism.

A cynic is a disappointed idealist.

Anonymous 2 needed this 'Off the Record'

Dear all
Instead of knocking Tories and/or Labour, think it might be helpful to re-examine some of your comments made, in light of the triangle of satisfaction of needs as in economics from-physiological, saferty, belonging, esteem, self-actualisation.
It would be helpful to identify to which level your comments relate.

Prof Eman

OMG so many topics, so little time.
Lets start with this one: I think all this Tory vs labour stuff is really a cloak for 'class war'. Im not sure anyone has ever defined Class, but we all know what it is...... the have's vs the have nots. ie the politics of envy vs the depisation (is that a word?) of 'failure'.
In the 70's I used to work in the music recording industry. Made a few quid so bought a 4 bed house in central London for the outrageous sum of £7200 (my dad almost fainted at the expense), with a fixed rate Greater London Council mortgage (those were the days!). I met a rather beautiful leggy gal who loved me (or was it the house?). Like all ladies, the next thing she wanted was kiddies (oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to conceive). The third thing on her agenda was a divorce. So she got the house, the kids, an inome for next 18yrs plus her freedom. I was a little miffed. But I regrouped over the next 10 years and bought another house for £42k (this is now up for sale at £1.5mil). This attracted an even lovelier lady (whats that old saying about making a mistake is unfortunate....making the same mistake twice looks a little careless). So two more kiddies arrived and so did the divorce papers. I gnashed my teeth for a decade or so but eventually discovered that Robert Court #552 is absolutely right (BTW I loved your whole post.....thanks....made my day):

Remember that forgiveness is a kind of revenge in itself - a bully finds it hard to accept that the bully is no longer capable of hurting you and your radiant smile of contentment is like a knife through the bully's heart.

So for 10 years I have lived in the middle of a central London river-side estate where houses routinely sell for >£1mil......on a boat. Every weekend the kids descend in high spirits (coz schools out). My millionaire neighbours supply me with loads of dosh to sort out their trivia (they are so clever that they cant even change a lightbulb without paying for help). I went to Egypt last month with the boys and sat round the pool trading stocks while sipping G&T's and paid for the whole hols on the profit.(platinum ETF:PPLT). Once back home I cast my rod out of the window (again) and went to sleep. I was rudely awakened at 3am by a record carp. 35ibs. Meanwhile my ex is having psyc help to handle the homework/teenage fights, the lack of money (she earns £80k pa but pays for child care, keeping up with the Jones', and plumbers (oh yes...I charge!!) and working all Gods hours to maintain her position up the greasy pole. I looked at her one day and thought, 'you poor sod'. So I decided to let bygones be, and began to give her the radiant smile of contentment. She's now furious that Im having such a nice life while she is sooooooo struggling. Revenge is a dish best served up cold!!
So whats my point? Well, having loads of dosh doesnt make you happy if you are selling your soul to get it (it just gives you temporary security).. If you can find ways to enjoy life, you can live very happily on a small pension. Enjoy the company of your family and friends (all it takes is to make yourself enjoyable to be with). Enjoy fishing or walking or playing cards or emailing blogs like this, or reading or listening to sublime music, plays, discussions, poiticians making prats of themselves etc etc. ITS ALL ABSOLUTELY FREE. I thoroughly recommend you flog your pile of depressing bricks and buy a boat or camper van.....rotten financial investment, but there are few better investments in lifes pleasure. I have a family of pet swans who peck on my porthole every morning to be fed. Who wants to be the richest person in the graveyard? So am I upper class or lower class. Id say Im in a class of my own and, as Im the only judge I listen to, I consider myself to be of the luckiest class.

Turning briefly to Jeremy #549. My dear chap: I never for one moment thought youd take my demand for sight of your rent book seriously........sincere apologies. Your private business is your PRIVATE business. Still, the info you provide speaks volumes about the root of your discontent. That housing estate sounds hideous...... take the above advice. As for my pension, Im happy to say its well and truly sorted. For as long as I can change a tap washer, I'll be able to assist my wealthy 30 something neighbours and earn a monkey here and there (dont tell the taxman). I bought the boat outright with what little was left post divorce, so no rent bills or council tax. I burn scrap wood for heating/cooking. I brew my own beer and grow my own tobbacco suppliment. The internet, radio and TV are almost free. And Ive spent a lifetime heavily investing in the ciggy and vino companies products, so am unlikely to be a long term burdon on society's purse. When it all gets too much I fully intend to have one too many and 'accidentally' fall overboard so the kids get the insurance ( taken in their name to avoid death duty) I have absolutely no intention of putting off the inevitable, spending my dotage suffering pain, loneliness and the humiliation of kaking my pants.

Sorted.

Rgs
Prof Plumber

Turning briefly to Prof

All

Class war? I am not interested. I don't glorify the working classes or the middle classes (whatever they are in this day and age). I have known decent rich people with titles and decent penniless proles who emptied bins.

The difference is that on average the middle and upper classes have better educations. So a Sun reader may be forgiven for low quality decision making. A Daily Mail reader ought to know better. A Times reader does know better. A Sky television viewer ought to know better.

This is not a party political point because as Robert pointed out: Blair, Leader of the Labour Party, was elected with the support of Murdoch. Robert believes that the Labour Party is left wing. So Murdoch is a lefty? I believe that Blair and his cronies kicked out the left leaving just another faction of the Tory Party. We do not have party politics in this country, only factional power struggles.

Is the union block vote any worse than the foreign owned media spending a fortune brainwashing the electorate? AT least union members get to vote on which policies they support, which politicians they support and whether or not they make donations to a party or a party political front organisation. Shareholders get no vote on donations to politicians. Does it matter that the Tories' Treasurer and single biggest donor, Lord Ashcroft, is a tax exile with citizenship of Belize?

I agree that for a long time there were too many unions, they fought each other, they made life difficult for employer negotiators. The workers believed Thatcher. They competed against each other just like companies. Dog eat dog is a wonderful way to run the country. Capitalism red in tooth and claw. The yobs learnt from the toffs.

Nowadays the union dogs have been beaten into submission and the dogs who mismanage the companies take what they want. Meanwhile their companies, their shareholders, their employees and their countries all go to hell in a hand basket.

Society rewards sociopaths.

We have recently been treated to revelations about the Murdoch empire's misdeeds in relation to phone hacking, in particular: Milly Dowler.

A Sun reader may not understand that he or she is supporting Murdoch and all the political corruption that means. A Sun reader may believe that deleting messages from a murdered child's mobile phone is in the public interest. A Daily Mail reader is educated enough to see that paper for the vile truth twister that it is. Yet still they buy it and quote it.

A Sky television viewer is paying a fortune into Murdoch's coffers. A Times reader is paying less but still supporting political corruption. Murdoch has wielded destructive power over British politicians for decades. Murdoch was born an Australian but obtained US citizenship in ten days when it became profitable. That process normally takes five years or more. Money talks. Money has no loyalty to country.

Murdoch has no power if he has no money. He gets his money from ordinary people and from those who wish to advertise to ordinary people.

Stop paying until he confesses, repents and gives away his fortune in reparations. Let Murdoch's media operations be turned over to a trust like those that manage the Guardian and the BBC.

A large proportion of all social classes are letting down themselves, their country and the whole of humanity.