One word to describe the U.K.

GrannyGravy13

The last Labour government was that good that in Tony Blair’s first six years he committed U.K. troops to combat situations five times more than any other Prime Minister in history.

Iraq 1998 and 2003

Kosovo 1999

Sierra Leone 2000

Afghanistan 2001

Like I said, rose tinted glasses with the current world situation do t be surprised if our brave troops end up in Ukraine or Middle East…

The brave troops have signed up to do a job.

Betrayed

zakouma66

GrannyGravy13

The last Labour government was that good that in Tony Blair’s first six years he committed U.K. troops to combat situations five times more than any other Prime Minister in history.

Iraq 1998 and 2003

Kosovo 1999

Sierra Leone 2000

Afghanistan 2001

Like I said, rose tinted glasses with the current world situation do t be surprised if our brave troops end up in Ukraine or Middle East…

The brave troops have signed up to do a job.

They were lied to.

Casdon, very similar here in the North West. We were king cotton, heavy industry, manufacturing, engineering, mining. A proud industrial heritage but now so much waste land, deprivation, poor health and poverty

This morning

Anticipation and hope🌞🌞🇬🇧🇬🇧

It's funny that people somehow think if their party of choice is elected everything will instantly and automatically be perfect. The incoming govt will have the same problems to deal with and the same laws and restrictions around their actions.
Lower your expectations people!

Aveline

It's funny that people somehow think if their party of choice is elected everything will instantly and automatically be perfect. The incoming govt will have the same problems to deal with and the same laws and restrictions around their actions.
Lower your expectations people!

Th incoming government won't be full of self serving corrupt individuals with no concern for the poor, the sick and homeless.
That will do me fine for a starter...

Aveline

It's funny that people somehow think if their party of choice is elected everything will instantly and automatically be perfect. The incoming govt will have the same problems to deal with and the same laws and restrictions around their actions.
Lower your expectations people!

Who's that then? I certainly don't expect everything to be perfect and I haven't met anybody who thinks it will be.

Aveline

It's funny that people somehow think if their party of choice is elected everything will instantly and automatically be perfect. The incoming govt will have the same problems to deal with and the same laws and restrictions around their actions.
Lower your expectations people!

I don’t think anybody thinks that, have they said they do? My feeling is it will take years - but at least the government will have the will to improve the lot of the average voter rather than to shaft the electors for personal gain.

Thanks Siope that's interesting. I didn't follow the RP programme closely - but basically I thought of it as trying to improve communities to make them better places to live. I think, you are right, like the SureStart programme it was probably started up too quickly with "light touch" (insufficient?) preliminary research.

I was part of that early research and was expected to turn reports round way too quickly. I always included my time constraints in the conclusions because it was deeply frustrating.
Now I think of it, I was also asked to do some work for a council on a particularly underprivileged area they were trying to improve and I was only given a few weeks (3?) to gather the info for that. I worked all day every day including doing street interviews at night (!) and "hanging out" with young lads with dogs one Saturday evening.... in my defence I was younger then!

Do you think that by the time it was on the way out the lessons were clear and a good job might have been done using that learning? Or do you think the whole idea was in essence, useless?

I worked in Social Housing (Supported) prior to Blair but by then had moved into Children and Families. I felt they were trying to implement SureStart before they really knew what it was, they were doing things in a rush. I know that as they matured the good ones became excellent and I really hope they will redevelop this model.

I heard someone on the radio yesterday saying that the mistakes made by the Conservatives when Johnson came in with that massive majority was not instantly implementing new money-intensive radical programmes immediately. They were saying there's a small window when "the people" will allow a government to be radical. It is at the beginning. I just wonder if Blair thought it's now or never?

I object to the unpleasant comments re Tory MPs. They are not all out for themselves or 'self serving'. I feel that comments such as this say more about those saying them. I'm not voting Tory but neither am I jumping on a knee jerk reaction to slag off the party I don't particularly like.

Aveline

I object to the unpleasant comments re Tory MPs. They are not all out for themselves or 'self serving'. I feel that comments such as this say more about those saying them. I'm not voting Tory but neither am I jumping on a knee jerk reaction to slag off the party I don't particularly like.

I agree, so many comments about Tory MPs, past and present. You'd think they were ALL derisable for being narcissistic, pompous, affected, philandering, scruffy and fat etc etc!
I don’t like slagging anyone off, (M&H occasionally the exception!). It shows a lack of decorum, and yes, you're right, the comments do say more about those writing them.

Aveline

I object to the unpleasant comments re Tory MPs. They are not all out for themselves or 'self serving'. I feel that comments such as this say more about those saying them. I'm not voting Tory but neither am I jumping on a knee jerk reaction to slag off the party I don't particularly like.

I agree, we have a Conservative MP in our extended family, they are human, have the same emotions and feelings as you and I.

I am still undecided where to put my X, but it definitely will not be Labour, Lib Dem’s or Reform. Leaning towards a local Independent.

Aveline

I object to the unpleasant comments re Tory MPs. They are not all out for themselves or 'self serving'. I feel that comments such as this say more about those saying them. I'm not voting Tory but neither am I jumping on a knee jerk reaction to slag off the party I don't particularly like.

To clarify Aveline, when I said the government had shafted the electorate for personal gain I wasn’t meaning the average Tory MP, just the cabinet - the Bullingdon crew, particularly I. Johnson’s era, who were doing just that. I don’t believe for a minute that anybody thinks all Tory MPs are bad people, of course they aren’t, we’ve discussed that on previous threads. There are bad apples in every party.

GrannyGravy13

Aveline

I object to the unpleasant comments re Tory MPs. They are not all out for themselves or 'self serving'. I feel that comments such as this say more about those saying them. I'm not voting Tory but neither am I jumping on a knee jerk reaction to slag off the party I don't particularly like.

I agree, we have a Conservative MP in our extended family, they are human, have the same emotions and feelings as you and I.

I am still undecided where to put my X, but it definitely will not be Labour, Lib Dem’s or Reform. Leaning towards a local Independent.

I voted for a Local Independent once.
It felt like the right decision for me.
There was not much of what he wrote that I disagreed with.

There are bad apples in every party

It's just that the past 14 years have thrown up an exceptional number of tory bad apples.

I don't for one minute think that every single tory MP is a wrong 'un.

Depressing!

Despairing

A bin

Sad but Mine!

Aveline

I object to the unpleasant comments re Tory MPs. They are not all out for themselves or 'self serving'. I feel that comments such as this say more about those saying them. I'm not voting Tory but neither am I jumping on a knee jerk reaction to slag off the party I don't particularly like.

You know what? I agree with you totally.There are good hard working MP’s in all political parties.

Sinking 😳

Juicylucy

Sinking 😳

This literally true - due to isostatic rebound - in the south-east.

Unkind
Uncaring

But I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. We can just hope for better times.

Discourteous