My appearance on BBC Radio 4’s The Reunion – The Final Years of John Major’s Government

Please find below the link to an interview that I took part in discussing the final years of John Major’s Government

You can find it here on BBC Sounds:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001q0kh

 

I was argued against the UK joining the Exchange rate Mechanism, predicting the troubles it could cause our economy. I took up the battle against the loss of the pound following the Maastricht Treaty discussions. I resigned from the government to get policy change, especially wanting a guarantee that a Conservative government would use the UK’s opt out from joining the Euro.I helpedĀ  secure the promise of a referendum before destroying the pound from both main parties. I knew the British people would never vote to surrender their currency.

 

77 Comments

  1. harkback
    September 9, 2023

    When all else fails nothing like blowing your own trumpet

    1. Bloke
      September 9, 2023

      History reveals the bugler was right.

      1. Hope
        September 9, 2023

        Sunak sold out our country, again. Instead of talking about history that cannot be change and makes no difference today why not speak about the current EU sell out by Sunak? He is making our country act in lockstep to EU against our national interests and against the mandate your party was elected to carry out!

        So we learn joining the EU Horizon project means the UK paying ā‚¬2.6 billion euros a year. The EU chooses who to allocate money to, the project is to promote EU growth and competitiveness, the project helps to develop EU military weaponry, UK cannot leave it! So the UK might get some allocation if it promotes EU interests!

        Instead of joking in this rotten project why could OUR money not be ring fenced for OUR country and OUR UK scientific projects- UK development of weaponry and promote UK interests? Please explain JR.

        Your party and Govt. Selling out the nation again ( against the public mandate to leave) and forcing the Taxpayer to fund EU projects!

        1. Hope
          September 9, 2023

          Taking back control of our money laws and borders! Still Giving vast sums of our money to EU without ability to leave is pretty stupid to me. An endless source of UK money to EU for EU projects promoting EU growth and competitiveness! Disgusting. I can only assume Sunak knew he was lying when he said it was a good deal for our country! We do not get any say what allocation of our money is spent on our scientific projects for the benefits of our country! Please explain JR if this is correct or totally wrong.

        2. Lifelogic
          September 9, 2023

          I agree doubtless we will get similar value to what we get from our paying the French to stop the migrants.

        3. Lynn Atkinson
          September 9, 2023

          Because you learn from history. You have proof that you were right. Commentating on todays events fall into the category of ā€˜opinionā€™ and the wrong ā€˜Uns demand their opinion to be as valid as any other.

          1. Hope
            September 10, 2023

            Same applies for joining EU projects at taxpayers expense for EU interests when we voted to leave and gave this miserable outfit the mandate to leave. Sunak is doing the exact opposite. No one in the Tory party is doing anything about what is happening now. The ERM or joining the Euro is not being considered.

      2. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        +1 and very consistently right too & over many years (I can only think of capital punishment where I tend to disagree). But party politics seems to mainly reward the group think dopes who are generally consistency wrong. Those in favour of ever higher taxes, every more regulation, the counter productive lockdowns, the dangerous ineffective vaccines for people who never needed them, the vast waste like HS2, the soft loans for pointless degrees, the endless idiotic market rigging in healthcare, employment, housing, banking, transport, energy, schools, universities, net zero, landfill, the virtual state monopoly NHS, all the woke lunacyā€¦ sometimes for reasons of vested interests or even corruption.

        See what happened to Andrew Bridgen (full approved of one assumes by Sunak, Greg Hands and the Cabinet) for the crime of telling the rather inconvenient for the Tories truth that the Covid vaccines did more harm than good especially for the young (who never even needed them) and by a very considerable margin. See the latest excess death figure for countries with higher and lower Covid vaccination levels – Dr John Campbell has a good new video on this.

      3. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        Indeed, but the fake tory MP had another totally misguided agenda!

      4. Lynn Atkinson
        September 9, 2023

        Quite so. Repeatedly and yet we never listen.

  2. Lifelogic
    September 9, 2023

    If only the party has listened to JR. If only they were listening now over the vast government waste, absurd tax levels, OTT regulation, the vast government waste, the dire Windsor Accord, this appalling energy bill, the mad energy policies, the road blocking, the war on landlords, the self employed, car and van driversā€¦

    The presenter said that in 1992 no one thought that Major would win but I and lots of people thought he would win. He was surely voted in as Thatchers man with her policies but having ditched the poll tax and the political advantage of not being Thatcher plus he was against the hopeless Kinnock. The public very soon realised what a dire pro EU economic incompetent Major was with his predictable ERM fiasco wasting Ā£billions. Though Thatcher was surely to blame for appointing such a damn fool (and maths O level failure) as Chancellor and even letting him join the ERM against the wise advice she had received from JR and her sensible economic advisor who resigned when Lawson did. Rather like Sunak now with Grant Shapps and his many other often second rate ministers and his tax to death PPE Chancellor!

    The deluded BBC presenter also said on Black Wednesday Stirling was too ā€œhighā€ so they ramped up interest rates or did I mis-hear?

    Major created this totally unnecessary ERM recession, wasted billions and did not even ever say sorry. Sunak is clearly doing the same and looks like he wants a Major style 1997 wipe out indeed it look even worse. No change in the Sunak/Hunt daft economic policies no chance. But little chance of this with Sunak and the dire quality of most Tory MPs.

    1. Peter
      September 9, 2023

      As any geographer will tell you, Stirling was the same height above sea level in John Majorā€™s day as previously.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        I blame auto ā€œcorrectā€ and my aging eyesight (as my get out clauses) but perhaps not true of Stirling:- During the last ice age Scotland, like much of northern Europe, was covered with ice. The weight of this huge compacted ice sheet pushed the Earth’s crust down, causing the land levels to sink. Over the 14,000 years since the ice sheet melted, Scotland has been rising an average rate of 1-2mm per year.

        Note this ice age melted away with CO2 at concentration levels rather lower than the current ones. Not many cars, gas boilers, or even coal powered steam engines at the time, not even in industrious Scotland – so what do the climate alarmists think caused all this warming. Mammoth burps & farts perhaps?

        1. hefner
          September 11, 2023

          Not many Stirlings either under the ice cap or immediately after it had melted.

          carbonbrief.org, 07/02/2020 ā€˜How the rise and fall of CO2 levels influenced the ice agesā€™. As is now well known the Milankovitch cycles initiate the initial glaciation and later melting episodes but subsequently the CO2-temperature feedback amplify the changes initiated by the orbital variations.

          Maybe OR could read this and realise that his usual argument about the Vostok ice cores is only part of the story.

    2. Mike Wilson
      September 9, 2023

      I know lots of people on here seem to be fans but, seriously, do you never tire of saying exactly the same things several times a day, every day.

      Mr. Redwood – next time your software person updates this site, why not do LifeLogic a huge favour and make one of his posts appear at the top of comments every day. When I say ā€˜one of his postsā€™, I mean any post will do – they all say the same thing. Think how much time you would save him.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        Well they all tell the truth but not always on the same aspect or topic.

      2. Margaret
        September 9, 2023

        Mike It’s John who publishes the repetitive boring sameness.All these dire stupid people who have different opinions should just go away and let LL continue with his monologue. Perhaps he is a friend of John and John feels sorry for him.Never mind it’s all good fun for the emotionally illiterate.

    3. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      A party where only nine MPs vote against the appalling energy act, nod through Net Zero, vote through the Windsor accord with a very large margin, give us the highest taxes for 70+ years combined with dire and still declining public services and kicks out Nick Bridgen for telling the truth deserves to be obliterated. This even if the Starmer alternative is clearly even worse still.

    4. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      Net zero obsession ā€˜has fuelled inflationā€™
      It should not be the Bank of Englandā€™s job to help world with climate change, says Lord King. He is exactly right – in the Telegraph today. Nor should it be the NHSā€™s job or any other of the all too many arms of government. The climate will change always has done & adaptation to whatever comes is the sensible way to go, be it hotter or colder. CO2 is not a world thermostat.

  3. Bloke
    September 9, 2023

    The programme provides an interesting retrospective. The Conservative Party would have been better without John Major. He still creates nuisance with his negativity.

    1. Everhopeful
      September 9, 2023

      I have NEVER understood how that man rose to power.

      1. Peter Wood
        September 9, 2023

        I recently saw Liz Cheney on a talk show, she was complaining that the US electoral system allows them to ‘elect idiots’. We seem to suffer the same problem…. It starts at Conservative HQ.

      2. rose
        September 9, 2023

        He was very good in full cry on the back bench. This impressed but it was not the same as governing.

      3. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        Indeed why one earth did Mrs Thatcher think such an innumerate dope would make a good Chancellor of the Exchequer?

        ā€œWhen your back is against the wall, there is only one thing to do, and that is turn around and fight.ā€
        John Major.

    2. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      The programme and the county!

    3. Peter
      September 9, 2023

      John Major lost the election and then went to The Oval in the afternoon. Theresa May did the same the day after she was forced out.

      Major would have enjoyed Monday. The wickets tumbled. It could have been all over in two days.

  4. Peter
    September 9, 2023

    A very interesting programme. Sir John Redwood may say that there are no parallels with the situation of the Conservative Party today but others would disagree.

    The big difference is that Keith Starmer is no Tony Blair. He will still win by a huge majority but then his problems will begin and the splits will appear.

    Things will just get worse for a good while. The question is whether the public will just give in and put up with it or whether they will fight back.

    1. Everhopeful
      September 9, 2023

      ++
      I have heard ā€¦and I have no idea whether this is rightā€¦but it is music to the ears!
      That there is a split in the Labour Party. ( A new one maybe?)
      The far, extreme Left do not like Starmer and they are organising! They are much better at that than the Right ( as we can see) so it may be interesting?
      Please God.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        Surely that will come after a Starmer election win?

        1. Everhopeful
          September 9, 2023

          Yes, maybe.
          Perhaps that would be better?

    2. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      The parallel is with Major in 1997. Starmer is even worse than the Tories but the Tories have betrayed their 80 seat majority and caused totally unessesary economic damage, taxes to death, delivered dire and declining public services, endless waste, a botched semi Brexit, the net harm lockdowns, the net harm vaccines, Sunak’s QE inflation, a mad net zero policy…

      So BORIS JOHNSON claims: Britain will NEVER, repeat NEVER, rejoin the EU. Instead of appearing embarrassed by Brexit, the Tories need to champion it, exploit its benefits – and explain why leaving was brave, remarkable and right.

      But we have not even really left properly yet Boris it was botched and Sunak is rowing the wrong way!

      1. Lynn Atkinson
        September 9, 2023

        Johnson does not know which way is up. Heā€™s in Kiev for his handout, along with Stephen Fry as we speak!

      2. John Hatfield
        September 9, 2023

        Boris forgot to turn on the oven.

      3. Original Richard
        September 9, 2023

        LL : ā€œStarmer is even worse than the Toriesā€¦ā€

        This is true but we wonā€™t realise it as the news and debate will be controlled by the BBC/MSM, Ofcom & the Online Harms Bill as well as the EUā€™s Digital Services Act. At least weā€™ll all be feeling better as resultā€¦.Weā€™ve already seen how they have corrupted and cancelled any debate on climate science and energy.

      4. John Downes
        September 10, 2023

        “Instead of appearing embarrassed by Brexit, the Tories need to champion it, exploit its benefits”
        I would agree with that normally. However the Tories are now so tainted that any cause, attitude, philosophy or policy they endorse will be harmed thereby. It should be left to others with grater credibility.

    3. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      Labour will surely win, despite being even worse than Sunakā€™s Con-Socialists. They will, given a large majority, also probably extend the votes to those over just 16 and perhaps change the voting system to their liking in other ways. So likely to be in power for most of the rest of my life. Major killed the Tories for 4 terms before they got a majority one (indeed two majorities one thrown away by May and one of eighty seats). Alas they the wasted them appallingly.

  5. DOM
    September 9, 2023

    Major deliberately opened the door of No.10 and let in a virus that has ripped the heart and soul from this now carcass of a country though I still have hope that the sewer dwellers that now govern us will push their luck a little too far.

    It will be a minor event that will sweep away the Globalist, progressive filth who have spent three years since Covid was unleashed upon us dismantling the reality of our existence and demanding we believe the unreal is real, using criminal laws to ensure such compliance

  6. Lifelogic
    September 9, 2023

    Much climate alarmist drivel from Jutin Rowlatt on PM radio 4 at about 5.35 pm yesterday. The alarmists dopes seem to be getting increasisngly desperate as fewer and fewer people (and especially sensible independent scientists & physicists believe a word they say. He is yet another PPE chap with no real science, the last BBC climate alarmist had a Camb. english degree.

    A report recently showed clearly that circa 40% of the rather small warming of the last 150 years was nothing to do with man made CO2 but just the urban heat effect where the thermometers were situated. No real reason to think the rest was not entirely normal variation or other factors either.

    1. Everhopeful
      September 9, 2023

      +++
      The proof is in the pudding.
      We were meant to be under water by now.
      And despite all attempts at stopping ancient land and water management.
      We just arenā€™t.
      Not in the least.
      In fact water fronts are the choice mansion sites of the rich and famous.

  7. Everhopeful
    September 9, 2023

    That was very nice.
    I must say that it has strengthened my belief in JRā€™s perfection.
    The years of dying capitalism? Whatever it was that took hope and health from us, things only got and are getting worse and worse. Maybe creeping socialism is the real curse?
    One thingā€¦I wonder if one can pullover on the Embankment now?
    I donā€™t know. I never go to London any more. I am dispossessed.

    1. Peter
      September 9, 2023

      Everhopeful,

      True. The media will always concentrate on things that may be trivial and it can be difficult not get annoyed by them – the ā€˜bastardsā€™ quote and a photograph in front of Theresa Gorman for instance. Not that I would ever be concerned about anything Matthew Parris has to say.

      Ken Clarke was always an extremely good talker ( I think Hague tried to copy his style). He could talk down to people without appearing patronising. He struck a friendly and ā€˜in the knowā€™ style for most of his career.

      He got a very special thanks from the Beeb at the end too. He is their sort of politician.

      As for The Embankment, it always seemed chock a block at Blackfriars bridge. When I used to walk along it to and from work & Waterloo bridge it used to be free flowing – but that was decades ago when you could park on the bridge in the evening. It is a struggle to even walk across it now with bollards in the way to stop terrorists in cars mowing people down.

      1. Everhopeful
        September 9, 2023

        +++
        Yes. It was very interesting.
        A nice normal, informative and chatty interlude.
        As for London. Poor, poor London.
        I used to love the Embankment.
        But then, I guess London started out as a city of foreign conquest.
        Full circle thanks to govt.s.

  8. Donna
    September 9, 2023

    They would not listen then, and they’re not listening still, Sir John.
    Perhaps they never will.

    Except there’s no “perhaps” about it. They’re not Conservatives, let alone conservatives.

    (Apols to Don MacLean).

  9. formula57
    September 9, 2023

    I do not need to listen (and cannot, having cancelled the BBC) to recall the valiant attempt to end the disasterous premiership of Major was made by you after his “put up or shut up” invitation. May your name be praised for ever more.

    It is as painful to think you understood the risks of the ERM nonsense and warned beforehand as it is that you understand and warn against contemporary follies whilst those in office blythly shepherd us towards ruin.

    1. Peter
      September 9, 2023

      formual57,

      You can listen. It is not TV or the iplayer. No licence required. That said, I donā€™t bother with BBC radio these days either.

    2. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      BBC radio is free without a licence is it not. JR and many others (like Thatchers excellent economic advisor) also understood the ERM was idiotic whatever the right exchange rate and interest rate is for two different countries with different economies is today it will be wrong tomorrow and prob even more wrong the day after. Like tying to passing tankers together with a chain.

    3. Narrow Shoulders
      September 9, 2023

      Fairly sure you can listen to BBC sounds without a licence. Just not live

  10. Elli
    September 9, 2023

    John Majorā€™s EU obsession and desir for our enslavement to them are well known, but his stark ignorance of the consequences of joining the ERM and the resulting loss of confidence in the Conservative government need outing whenever he is debated.

  11. Bryan Harris
    September 9, 2023

    The Tory party made a terrible mistake in making Major the successor to Thatcher.

    Things would have been so different if the candidate with far more experience, more intelligence, as well a great deal more common sense, had won.

    It seems it was a case of image over substance, and the imagery won.

  12. Geoffrey Berg
    September 9, 2023

    Sir John Redwood denied in the broadcast that the position just prior to the end of the last period of Conservative government (mid 1990s) and now are similar. They are similar. Of course there are differences but the essential similarity is greater. Then, as now there is a party leader/Prime Minister who must be replaced to give the Conservative Party a chance. If there is a difference on that score it is that the present Conservative Leader, Sunak is even worse than Major but so too is the Opposition Leader, Starmer who is a lot worse (and much more beatable) than Blair was.

    1. rose
      September 9, 2023

      The important difference is that this will be the first time the socialists inherit what they normally bequeath.

    2. Lynn Atkinson
      September 9, 2023

      I donā€™t think Starmer is worse than Blair.

  13. hefner
    September 9, 2023

    LL, do you realise how ridiculous you are saying that Urban Heat Effect has nothing to do with mankind. Is that what they taught you in Cambridge?

    1. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      I said ā€œnothing to do with man made CO2ā€ and not ā€œmankindā€ if you read it above!

      The urban heat effect It is to do with more heated buildings, concrete and bricks that absorb and retain the heat better and reduce local wind speeds too, nothing to so with the greenhouse gas CO2 issue. Please try reading what I actually wrote before commenting so as not to look too daft!

    2. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      Read what I actually said perhaps?

    3. John Hatfield
      September 9, 2023

      With your permission Sir John. May I suggest hefner reads the attached.
      https://climatechangedispatch.com/new-studies-suggest-urban-heat-island-effect-mostly-driving-global-warming/

  14. Bert+Young
    September 9, 2023

    John Major was a huge mistake . Fortunately he was kicked out of office . Sunak has qualities but not the sort to win support of the majority of voters .

    1. Lifelogic
      September 9, 2023

      Kicked out of office (well eventually) but he buried the Tories for 15+ years.

      Sunak has qualities – well what are these exactly? He was very good at wasting Ā£billions as Chancellor and during the lockdown, good at causing inflation with QE, good at chucking good money after bad on HS2, good at making five promises and then asking use to judge him on them – all of which he is clearly failing on. Very good at driving down Tory popularity you can now get 9-1 on a Tory Majority. Good to at strangling the economy and growth.

      Good too at addressing voters as if they are dim 8 year olds and following the net zero insanity and the global agenda against the people. Good to at his private jet do as I say not as I do climate hypocrisy.

      1. Lynn Atkinson
        September 9, 2023

        No they buried themselves for 20. They did not have to support the Maastricht Treaty, a Coalition is not a win, it could even be construed as a loss.

  15. Lifelogic
    September 9, 2023

    THE BBC’s disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring has been accused of lying on her CV I see.

    Oh well the BBC gives us slanted propaganda and selective disinformation nearly every hour of the day so I do not suppose she will be fired. Ms Spring read French and Russian at Cambridge so is perhaps rather unlikely to be able to judge what is or is not disinformation on rather many areas such as climate, science, statistics, economicsā€¦the main areas the BBC gets things very wrong.

  16. Keith from Leeds
    September 9, 2023

    It seems you have been a voice crying in the wilderness for a long time, as Winston Churchill was in the run-up to the Second World War. His day and hour came, so we hope yours will, too! But next time there is a leadership election, before or after the next GE, you must put your hat in the ring. Most members would vote for you if we are allowed to. Who knows what Sunak and Hunt stand for, what are their values as conservatives? Personally, I feel every time Hunt appears on TV we lose another 20,000 plus votes. He is surely the most negative Chancellor we have ever had. But since Sunak has not sacked him, he is the most negative PM we have ever had. I keep looking for light at the end of the tunnel but Sunak and Hunt keep switching it off!

    1. rose
      September 9, 2023

      He can only put his hat in the ring if enough MPs back him. That is why our best chance was for a PM to choose him as Chancellor. Alas, from Cameron to Sunak, they chose reasons other than merit in making their selections.

    2. Lynn Atkinson
      September 9, 2023

      The problem is that we are NOT allowed to. The Parliamentary Party produces the shortlist. The shortlists are such that Major and Johnson are the best on it!šŸ˜±
      The Parliamentary Party and Central Office must be stripped of the power to produce the shortlist. The members must have a free vote. For the Leadership the candidates are all in Parliament. Whoever wins, wins.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        Even when the membership choose as with Truss they get evicted in a coup, by the Tory MP sore losers.

        1. Lynn Atkinson
          September 9, 2023

          Truss was a poor candidate. Just possibly the best on the shortlist. She had some correct economic instincts but by refusing to cut spending to pay for the tax cuts, she personally sank herself with merit.
          She was a disgraceful Foreign Sec. Humiliating and she was literally mad on war with two countries that have never been beaten! One of the young fools she encouraged to volunteer to fight for Ukraine was obviously murdered by his new friends, found in water with his hands tied behind his back.

          I canā€™t remember if she is all for net zero – but probably, sheā€™s thick enough.

          1. a-tracy
            September 10, 2023

            Donā€™t hold back Lynn!
            What do you think of Sunak? Is he the new John Major?

  17. Mark+Thomas
    September 9, 2023

    Sir John,
    I well remember the 1992 general election. Labour had it practically sewn up. It was their premature victory rally and Kinnock’s triumphalism that turned people off. The conservatives did not win that election, Labour lost it. Not that it really mattered to Neil Kinnock, as he was shortly afterwards appointed to the EU commission gravy train. In America he is chiefly known for having one of his speeches plagiarised by Joe Biden in the 1987 presidential campaign.
    Looking back now, I think ‘Spitting Image’ had the true measure of Kinnock, and Major. The years 1992-1997 were just a prelude to three electoral losses, thirteen years in opposition, and the onset of the Blair/Brown tyranny. I am however grateful to John Major for one thing, his active participation in the remain campaign alongside Tony Blair helped ensure a leave victory.

    1. Peter
      September 9, 2023

      Falling in the sea did not help Kinnock. The media had a field day.

      ā€˜The Welsh windbagā€™ description was also difficult to shake off.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        ā€œIf Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights”, with Kinnock’s portrait in a lightbulb the Sunā€™s first page.

    2. Lynn Atkinson
      September 9, 2023

      Major was better than Kinnock. When you look back the people always make the right choice – except for the Common Market vote when they voted on a false premise.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 9, 2023

        indeed but they are almost never asked and when they are every 5 years they are lied to and the MP do not deliver what was promised anyway.

        1. Lynn Atkinson
          September 9, 2023

          They still choose the best choice. Even the rubbish governments were better than the alternative. And sometime their deft touch is truly awesome. For instance electing Cameron outright to get the Referendum. The Tories in Scotland voted SNP in the national interest, to ensure the Tory win.
          Democracy viewed from a distance is amazingly accurate. Like a communal brain where the left hand knows exactly what the right hand is doing.

  18. a-tracy
    September 9, 2023

    Interesting video. Did you listen to the interlinks between the host talking to you and the other guests as you went along to respond to, or were they edited in afterwards? I can see now why it is so important to labour to get Tory scalps right now so it looks like the same sort of sleaze spiral, whilst their own strangely suspended MPs get clean away with not being pushed to leave by a whipped up press, just why do you Tories allow that to happen?

    No-one talks about just how much real folding money is going into the NHS. Just who is responsible for making sure that extra over Ā£720 million per week is being spent well and not only that spoken about?

    How much extra went into schools since 2010? Weā€™re now educating kids to 18 so that must have cost a fortune. Again never talked about. How much money was spent by Central government since 2010 on building maintenance grants to local councils?

    I found it most amusing that Majorā€™s advisor thinks his biggest achievement was the National Lottery getting Brits hooked on gambling Ā£8.2bn ticket sales last year (down from its 2014 peak), one million straight back to government, Ā£1.8bn for projects. It did succeed in making Blairs government look very generous to the arts and culture and sport and it killed off the pools. What % of the total spending on Arts, culture, heritage and sport is the lottery now? Has the government had to put in more since lottery turnover dipped? Or has the extra spending just gone in other lotteries such as the postcode lottery and the nhs lottery, who gets to control how those offshoots spend the gains, are there any gains from it because to listen to the papers everything is getting worse?

    Anyway back to enjoying my choc-ice in this beautiful weather. Have a lovely weekend.

  19. agricola
    September 9, 2023

    Well done SJR, but that was the distant past, we are where we are and have a whole row of pressing issues to deal with.

    I look upon the current crop of MPs in Parliament largely with disdain. Few are chosen as candidates by their electorate, most products of their party machine, therefore loyal to party before constituent.

    Labour, no ifs or buts, have confirmed their unfitness by running Birmingham into bankruptcy. They run Wales incompetently, now at 20 mph it seems, matching their NHS. Deny them a stage.

    Lib Dems will promise anything to anyone in exchange for power. A power dictated by the EU. A facet of socialism, good for village fetes but little else.

    Conservatives with a lower case “c” are yet another form of socialism. Don’t ask what they stand for, judge by what they do. In effect very little that is Conservative. They stand for:-
    1. Usurped power at the behest of the BLOB a year ago. An undemocratic coupe, nothing less.
    2. A massive, in numbers and cost, controlling state, ie off piste governance by quango, civil servants and vested interests.
    3. An unbelievably high tax bill on every UK citizen and enterprise, with ever increasing efforts to raise money from the poorest members of society via such as ULEZ.
    4. The most amateur energy policy a first form could draw up. On the back of this occassional compensatory payouts to accelorate a dependant society. A prerequisite for 1984.
    5. A complete inability to control our borders legal or illegal with an ever growing burden to breaking point of our infrastructure and culture.
    6. No interest in a clean Brexit, retention of EU law, breaking the Union in Northern Ireland, joining at great expense and political committment tbe EU Horrizon programme when we could run our own independently. The lasting impression is that they wish to leave the door ajar for an EU return.
    7. No coherent plan for a future NHS or how it should be financed, or how to provide its customers with a state of the art, effective, prompt service.
    8. Absolutely no coherent plan for the infrastructure of the UK, be it Road, Rail, or Airports.

    If I have left out further elephant traps I apologise. Those who would govern have succeeded in disenfranchising half at least of the UK electorate. Time to abandon the lot of them and look to Reform, the only Conservative party left. My only reservation is that they have yet to say what they intend for the BBC, the BOE, the OBR, the Treasury and Civil Service, better defined as the BLOB. When I have such indications my voting intentions will be confirmed. How about the rest of you out there in this less than happy place we call home.

  20. George Norfby
    September 9, 2023

    The rot started under a Tory Govt and we are in the Last Days of Rome under a Tory Govt.

    Shortly after signing Maastricht the menacing squeegie gangs appeared at every junction in London and the wailing beggars on the Tube. The Tories had given them a nod and a wink to come here, above the heads of the unwitting British public.

    Don’t blame Blair.

    The Tories have unleashed upon us unpunished burglary and shoplifting and man eating XXXL Bully dogs by rewarding all the wrong behaviours and punishing the right ones (with taxation and woke.)

    Not just the nasty party but the ghastly party.

  21. Lester_Cynic
    September 10, 2023

    Good morning

    Thereā€™s a video on Rumble from Russia Today where President Putin is giving a speech to the citizens of Moscow on City Day to tell them how hard heā€™s working to improve their lives, theyā€™re opening a huge extension of the underground railway and generally taking measures to improve their lives, ā€¦contrast this with the way weā€™re being treated
    I wouldnā€™t hesitate to vote for him to be our leader
    Weā€™ve given Ukraine Ā£4.6 billion to try and remove President Putin of which thereā€™s absolutely no chance, the Russians have shown great patience because they could have flattened Ukraine in a day, all they can see is their patience being used to prolong the conflict so they will act swiftly to prevent more bloodshed
    Johnson wasted no time in preventing a ceasefire very early on

    Every time I type ā€˜Presidentā€™ the auto fill attempts to insert Biden or Obama so it shows just how biased the American designed software is
    No wonder Russia Today was removed from Freeview, it wouldnā€™t do for the truth to be revealed

    1. Lynn Atkinson
      September 10, 2023

      Time for the capital of Russia to return home to Kiev. Any day now we will be fighting in the hope that we can restore London as our Capital.

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