[thechat] US Elections

[John Handelaar]

% -----Original Message-----
% From: thechat-admin at lists.evolt.org
% [mailto:thechat-admin at lists.evolt.org]On Behalf Of Erika Meyer
% Sent: 07 November 2002 20:03
% To: thechat at lists.evolt.org
% Subject: Re: [thechat] US Elections
%
% I have a question:
% what are the major differences between Tony Blair
% and Margaret Thatcher?

They're as authoritarian as each other in many ways
but there are some things each have done which the other
emphatically would *never* have done.

A few days ago, for example, Blair and co took an
amendment to the 1977 Adoption Act through the House
of Commons to outlaw discrimination against unmarried
couples *and gay couples* in regard to long-term
childcare, then used what can only be described as
heavy muscle bullying tactics to force the (unelected)
Lords to not obstruct it.

A good example of something Thatcher would have despised
to her evil Devil-sucking core.

OTOH, even Blair (and this one, I grant you, could be
explained by his love of popularity) would never have
contemplated what Major and (then Trade Secretary)
Heseltine tried to pull off in 1992 - namely to decide
for no reason other than the victims had failed to
roll over 7 years previously, to close every last coal
mine in the country and sack everyone.  The industry
at that point was self-sufficient and no longer receiving
government subsidy, though the government still had a
controlling interest in the coal board.  The miners'
problem was that they'd not rolled over and died during
the 1984/5 strike.  Sheer evil vindictive wankers, the
Conservatives.

[This, incidentally, is why there will not be another
Conservative government in the UK until *at least*
2009.]

As proof:  several mines' staff used their redundancy
money to buy their collieries.  Monktonhall in Musselburgh
is the most well-known example (my family's from that
town) - they bought the put and went independent and now
run one of the most efficient, labour-friendly mining
operations in the world - and half the reason they're doing
it is to offer every single day another kick in the teeth
to Thatcher's disgusting fascist (yes, Javier, she supported
Pinochet to the gills, as did George Bush Sr) legacy.

If this were a pub, I'd carry on for another hour or more.

John

(whose phone's still bugged after 15 years for having the
affront to express his opposition to nuclear weapons while
still a school student when that c*** was PM)

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John Handelaar

T +44 20 8933 1494       M +44 7930 681789
F +44 870 169 7657   E john at userfrenzy.com
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