So how could we build on what is GOOD about this country and put back some of the Great into Britain?
We hear a great deal on these political threads about how the country is going to hell in a handcart, and a great deal of party polarisation about the reason for that. Now, for one thread only, could we put aside all that pessimism and blame-throwing and inject a spot of constructive optimism into the forum.
I am not talking here about the vexed subject of easing the lot of the poor - that is covered exhaustively elsewhere. The same with the other vexed question of not discriminating against incomers. If anyone is tempted to start hammering these topics in preference to exchanging views on improving the earnability and prosperity of the country, please try very hard to keep that to the other threads.
How do we get more money coming into the country than there is going out of it? It is not enough just to say, "tax businesses". That is one prong of the fork, but the other is getting businesses to come here and employ people, so that both the business and the workers can be taxed.
How do we encourage small businesses - and there are far more small ones than big ones - to start, to employ, and to expand? How do we help those who can work, and want to work but can't find a job, to get back into "gainful employment" - gainful for them and for the whole country? It is important to remember that the government doesn't create work. it can only create circumstances where someone else can create work and it doesn't create wealth, it can only spend it - so if none is created, there is none to spend.
What were the first ever records that you bought and when?
Parents-in-Law. What do/did you call them?