[DanaC]

They're looking to America for their ideas (though they always claim to be looking to some European or Scandinavian country). Yeah. Where the problem of poverty and worklessness is solved.

I swear they will not be content until we have cardboard cities sprouting on every large piece of wasteland and the poor have to wait until their asthma/diabetes/whatever chronic condition is at criss point before they can seek medical attention at A&E (and then get followed around by a £1200 bill).

And those who play ball, those who try to navigate the system, that bare few who qualify for assistance will be used as slave labour for their foodstamps, whilst private companies employ them at our expense.


Those old enough to remember Thatcher, most likely remember this speech by Neil Kinnock. Like him or loathe him, this speech said all that needs to be said about the Tories. It is as relevant today as it ever was then. This government, despite the allegedly calming hand of the LibDems, is going much, much further than Maggie ever dared.

If Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as Prime Minister, I warn you.

I warn you that you will have pain - when healing and relief depend on payment.

I warn you that you will have ignorance - when talents are untended and wits are wasted, when learning is a privilege and not a right.

I warn you that you will have poverty - when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a Government that won't pay, in an economy that can't pay.

I warn you that you will be cold - when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don't notice and the poor can't afford.

I warn you that you must not expect work - when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don't earn, they don't spend. When they don't spend, work dies.

I warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light.

I warn you that you will be quiet - when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient.

I warn you that you will have defence of a sort - with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding.

I warn you that you will be home-bound - when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up.

I warn you that you will borrow less - when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.

If Margaret Thatcher wins, she will be more a Leader than a Prime Minister. That power produces arrogance and when it is toughened by Tebbitry and flattered and fawned upon by spineless sycophants, the boot-licking tabloid Knights of Fleet Street and placement in the Quangos, the arrogance corrupts absolutely.

If Margaret Thatcher wins -

I warn you not to be ordinary.
I warn you not to be young.
I warn you not to fall ill.
I warn you not to get old.