Travel to West Brom

[CAPSLOCK]

Just for you, August 75

PM Wilson H

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Anyway - how are you getting to West Brom?

[Gary the Enfield]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

...amongst other things. 3 million unemployed. Massive union disruption. A winter of discontent. Recession. The dead remaining unburied.

that is so MASSIVELY wrong it needs to be corrected.

when Thatcher came to power unemployment was about 700,000 (which - back then - was considered to be high)

she didn't think it was high enough - so she worked hard, wasted no time and succeeded in boosting it to over 3 million and plunged the country into full-scale recession.

the ensuing mass unemployment - particularly in inner-cities - created the atmosphere ripe for rioting.

I was only a year or so out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 506335.stm

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Just for you, August 75

PM Wilson H

I'm quoting annual figures Will. I'm guessing CAPS is quoting monthly figures.

Do take him on, if you see fit. I've got a strong suspicion that he's going to nail your hat on if you do though!

[CAPSLOCK]

As LK pointed out, it'd be quite easy to blame Heath for 75

In the same way I'll 'blame' Labour/Murray (?) for what Thatcher had to do

And what I won't accept is somebody trying to excuse the rioters

[William the White]

Just for you, August 75

PM Wilson H

I knew that.

just wanted to check you did...

[William the White]

As LK pointed out, it'd be quite easy to blame Heath for 75

In the same way I'll 'blame' Labour/Murray (?) for what Thatcher had to do

And what I won't accept is somebody trying to excuse the rioters

Partly Heath and his 'inflation multiplier' whereby pay went up according to prices automatically - partly OPEC - i think you'll see high inflation figures around then for most advanced economies for the same reason.

If 'excusing the rioters' is aimed at me it's misdirected...

[Zulus Thousand of em]

As LK pointed out, it'd be quite easy to blame Heath for 75

In the same way I'll 'blame' Labour/Murray (?) for what Thatcher had to do

And what I won't accept is somebody trying to excuse the rioters

Partly Heath and his 'inflation multiplier' whereby pay went up according to prices automatically - partly OPEC - i think you'll see high inflation figures around then for most advanced economies for the same reason.

If 'excusing the rioters' is aimed at me it's misdirected...

That's because Heath was weak and didn't fancy taking on the unions. He had little option but to bring in the inflation multiplier. Thatcher did take on the unions - to some tune.

The other major contributor to inflation in Wilson and Callaghan's era was vastly excessive government spending - another issue that Thatcher addressed.

[CAPSLOCK]

Just for you, August 75

PM Wilson H

I knew that.

just wanted to check you did...

It took some digging, bastardo

[CAPSLOCK]

If 'excusing the rioters' is aimed at me it's misdirected...

It wasn't and I'm sure thebish will say he isn't excusing them

Finding justifications comes a fag paper away from excusing 'em in my head, but then I don't read dictionaries to pass my days

[William the White]

As LK pointed out, it'd be quite easy to blame Heath for 75

In the same way I'll 'blame' Labour/Murray (?) for what Thatcher had to do

And what I won't accept is somebody trying to excuse the rioters

Partly Heath and his 'inflation multiplier' whereby pay went up according to prices automatically - partly OPEC - i think you'll see high inflation figures around then for most advanced economies for the same reason.

If 'excusing the rioters' is aimed at me it's misdirected...

That's because Heath was weak and didn't fancy taking on the unions. He had little option but to bring in the inflation multiplier. Thatcher did take on the unions - to some tune.

The other major contributor to inflation in Wilson and Callaghan's era was vastly excessive government spending - another issue that Thatcher addressed.

He ran an aggressive anti-union policy, with a set of anti-union laws and going to the point of putting the country into a three day week when the miners struck rather than negotiate a settlement... not so much as weak in intention - but certainly underestimated the actual power of the unions...

[William the White]

Just for you, August 75

PM Wilson H

I knew that.

just wanted to check you did...

It took some digging, bastardo

Nah - i had the same annual list that Zulu found, from the ILO - hadn't thought of going into monthly figures...

[Zulus Thousand of em]

As LK pointed out, it'd be quite easy to blame Heath for 75

In the same way I'll 'blame' Labour/Murray (?) for what Thatcher had to do

And what I won't accept is somebody trying to excuse the rioters

Partly Heath and his 'inflation multiplier' whereby pay went up according to prices automatically - partly OPEC - i think you'll see high inflation figures around then for most advanced economies for the same reason.

If 'excusing the rioters' is aimed at me it's misdirected...

That's because Heath was weak and didn't fancy taking on the unions. He had little option but to bring in the inflation multiplier. Thatcher did take on the unions - to some tune.

The other major contributor to inflation in Wilson and Callaghan's era was vastly excessive government spending - another issue that Thatcher addressed.

He ran an aggressive anti-union policy, with a set of anti-union laws and going to the point of putting the country into a three day week when the miners struck rather than negotiate a settlement... not so much as weak in intention - but certainly underestimated the actual power of the unions...

I know, I was around then too! Heath didn't have the bollocks to follow it through, which is why he lost his party to Thatcher. Then the unions underestimated Thatcher's resolve and she had them on toast.

[William the White]

Heath didn't have the bollocks to follow it through, which is why he lost his party to Thatcher. Then the unions underestimated Thatcher's resolve and she had them on toast.

What do you think he could have done, though, however big his bollocks? I ask this without polemical intent. Get the army or police to dig coal? The only thing he could have done was allow the NCB to negotiate seriously with the miners - and that meant destroying his own incomes policy. But once the strike had started he had no way of defeating the miners other than allowing the entire country to go dark. He was a lousy politician without doubt but Thatcher in 1974 could not have defeated the miners.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Heath didn't have the bollocks to follow it through, which is why he lost his party to Thatcher. Then the unions underestimated Thatcher's resolve and she had them on toast.

What do you think he could have done, though, however big his bollocks? I ask this without polemical intent. Get the army or police to dig coal? The only thing he could have done was allow the NCB to negotiate seriously with the miners - and that meant destroying his own incomes policy. But once the strike had started he had no way of defeating the miners other than allowing the entire country to go dark. He was a lousy politician without doubt but Thatcher in 1974 could not have defeated the miners.

But she had the nouse to put together a strategy that defeated the miners ten years later. And, whether you like it or not, a lot of people are very happy that our country is consequently being run by a democratically elected government (of whatever persuasion) rather than the dinosaurs from the TUC and their fellow travellers.

[thebish]

As LK pointed out, it'd be quite easy to blame Heath for 75

In the same way I'll 'blame' Labour/Murray (?) for what Thatcher had to do

And what I won't accept is somebody trying to excuse the rioters

not for the first time CAPS confuses the concept of analysis with "excusing"... it wouldn't be the first time.

but then - he reckons it was all simply "black lawbreakers" presumably looking for a chance to do what they do best - randomly break the law...

[Zulus Thousand of em]

not for the first time CAPS confuses the concept of analysis with "excusing"... it wouldn't be the first time.

That's not the first time you've said that either!

[ratbert]

Anyway, West Brom away! Shall we have a riot there? If so, I'll blame Robert Peel for repealing the corn laws.

Oh, and the usual match preview and report shout out from moi

[William the White]

Heath didn't have the bollocks to follow it through, which is why he lost his party to Thatcher. Then the unions underestimated Thatcher's resolve and she had them on toast.

What do you think he could have done, though, however big his bollocks? I ask this without polemical intent. Get the army or police to dig coal? The only thing he could have done was allow the NCB to negotiate seriously with the miners - and that meant destroying his own incomes policy. But once the strike had started he had no way of defeating the miners other than allowing the entire country to go dark. He was a lousy politician without doubt but Thatcher in 1974 could not have defeated the miners.

But she had the nouse to put together a strategy that defeated the miners ten years later. And, whether you like it or not, a lot of people are very happy that our country is consequently being run by a democratically elected government (of whatever persuasion) rather than the dinosaurs from the TUC and their fellow travellers.

I'll not respond to your tendentious recounting of recent history by an equally tendentious one of my own. For once.

However... In which world do you think I want to get rid of democracy and turn the country over to the TUC (for the most part, though it's improved, a bureaucratic organisation selective in its response to its members. For which reason I would like to see the trade union movement democratised - because, actually, that's what i believe in!!!). To be on the side of the workers in a particular dispute is not anti-democratic!

[William the White]

Anyway, West Brom away! Shall we have a riot there? If so, I'll blame Robert Peel for repealing the corn laws.

Oh, and the usual match preview and report shout out from moi

Too little, too late. Tory bastard!

And he only did that because of his fear of the masses organised in the chartist movement.