XPost: uk.politics.misc, uk.media, uk.media.newspapers   
   XPost: alt.politics.british   
   From: banana@REMOVE_THIS.borve.demon.co.uk   
      
   In article <1133207849.494187.266000@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Ian   
    writes   
      
   >banana wrote:   
   >> In article <1133203099.253739.49880@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, Ian   
   >>  writes   
   >>   
   >> >banana wrote:   
   >> >> In article <1133173530.890089.93990@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>, Ian   
   >> >>  writes   
   >> >>   
   >> >> >banana wrote:   
      
      
      
   >> Well OK, but why shouldn't "non-impressive types" "bitch on"? :-)   
   >   
   >Why should they, if they've nothing to say?   
      
   Shayler has got something to say...whether you like it or not is another   
   matter.   
      
   >> >Just between you and me, what special branch didn't know about me at   
   >> >the time (excluding the drunken session with the 40 year old moose with   
   >> >the anal vibrator fetish) was that I'd never been to London before and   
   >> >wanted to see the place, I actually supported Maggie, because I cared   
   >> >about the miners, as thick as they were, I didn't want them all to die   
   >> >of pneumononultramicroscopicsilicovolcanocaniasis as I had mates down   
   >> >kelloe pit.   
   >>   
   >> ? I may be wrong but I don't recall a big scab problem in that area. I   
   >> assume your mates went on strike. What's the area like now?   
   >   
   >Completely recovered. The north is such a haven of health that we're   
   >causing   
   >the pensions crisis. The once great (sizewise) areas of Doxford, have   
   >been   
   >replaced by technology parks, sons of engineers make good programmers   
   >in my experience. The whole concept of Big River sounds excellent, and   
   >indeed   
   >Arthur Miller could have framed Death of a Salesman on Consett in 1985,   
   >but,   
   >and it's a big BUT, hard problems require hard choices. Sometimes you   
   >just   
   >have to sacrifice the present for the future.   
      
   I don't know the northeast of England but as a generalisation about the   
   north, this would hardly be recognisable in various areas where there is   
   mass unemployment, such as Salford and parts of Liverpool and   
   Manchester, and numerous smaller towns such as Worksop. Ditto parts of   
   the Midlands, e.g. Derby, and indeed parts of the South too, e.g.   
   Margate.   
      
      
      
   >The striking miners knew exactly what they were fighting for.   
   >   
   >The miners were fighting for their jobs, but Ash fights for smoker's   
   >rights.   
   >Not everyone knows what's best for them.   
      
   Quite true but the analogy is totally false.   
      
   >> They knew what would come if they lost, and it did come. They were   
   >> literally fighting to defend their communities. The rulers knew too.   
   >   
   >This is rubbish, the old communities are still here.   
      
   In the places I know about in West Yorkshire, the community is not a   
   hundredth of what it was. How can it be, when so many youngsters are   
   addicted to heroin?   
      
   >> Smash the miners and then the boot goes in against the rest of the   
   >> working class. And it has gone in.   
   >   
   >Actually it was smash the miner's union   
      
   No, the workers.   
      
   >and the other unions will allow   
   >the country to be competitive on the world stage. The miners were I'm   
   >afraid, only incidental. There's more money in this country now than   
   >there was back then, and it's not Gordon Brown to blame for it. It's   
   >Maggie's fault everyone's got money.   
      
   Are you taking the piss? Living standards are far lower for most people   
   in the UK than they were 20 years ago, just as they are in the US. For   
   starters, your median-income person in the UK is in major debt up until   
   he or she's about 50 nowadays. I understand those who've got lots of   
   money invested in the banking, drugs (legal and illegal) and gambling   
   sectors are doing very profitably though. Ditto the supply of   
   'information technology' to the State.   
      
   Why not take the piss, and tell us how privatisation has led to an   
   improvement in wages, conditions, and services? In many areas nowadays,   
   household rubbish is only collected once a fortnight and rubbish bags   
   blow about the streets. Welcome to the third world, I tell people who   
   come to the UK from Germany, Scandinavia, France, Greece, etc.   
      
   Also why not tell us how it's good for everyone in the UK that prices in   
   supermarkets are much higher than many other places in the EU, and as   
   for house prices, they are about 4 times as high as they are in France.   
      
   --   
   banana     "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you   
               give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to   
               Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the   
               rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)