Bye-bye Mr Blair

[garinda]

I'll give you there maybe a little confusion, but I'm with Margaret Beckett on this one, it was as clear as mud to us.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I don't know about a third term or a fourth term.....in my humble opinion he should be serving a jail term.

[Margaret Pilkington]

His policies were all smoke and mirrors.......no real substance. Knee jerk reactions when things didn't go according to his plans.
A government that was plagued by sleaze and controversy, no honesty....and now he leaves someone else to pick up the threads.
He has done the greatest disservice to politics by making us (the electorate) distrust all politicians.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

His policies were all smoke and mirrors.......no real substance.

-Equal of age of consent, at long last.

-Minimum wage, which didn't cause the economy to become sluggish, and lead to international financiers leaving the UK.

-Ban on fox hunting.

-Peace in Northern Ireland.

Four things off the top of my head his government has implemented, and in my life time the best PM I remember, though admittedly not without major disappointments, ie: Iraq, cash for honours etc.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, I think he will best be remembered for the sad and bad things.......Iraq....cash for honours......the fact that he didn't keep promises on crime......education.......that statistics were used to give the population the feeling that the government was working.......targets in schools(meaningless).....targets in the NHS, preventing the real work from getting done. I am thoroughly disillusioned with NEW labour...to me it feels like Old conservative.

[Wynonie Harris]

I see Gordon's off to a great start already. After making promises about "open government" and restoring trust in parliament yesterday, he has refused to block a squalid little move by MPs to wriggle out of the freedom of information laws. They say they want to prevent the confidentiality of letters from their constituents, but handily, they will also be able to keep their expenses secret. Very convenient indeed, and it went through with no objection from either the Labour or Tory front benches.

Looks like Gordon's just as fond of empty rhetoric as his predecessor...and as for the MPs who voted it through, hypocrites, the lot of 'em.

Let's hope the House of Lords throws it out!

[garinda]

I know millions has been pumped into the NHS and wasted, but there has been a massive change in education in the last ten years. The whole system has been over hauled, with the set up of Accedemies, and greater investment and relationships with industry.

According to the result tables examination results have never been better, and there are record numbers of people in further education. I don't think you can argue that education is a failure, unless I've been brainwashed by the spin.

[garinda]

-Getting rid of hereditary Peers, that's another major change, after hundreds of years of being lorded over by people who are deemed to know best, simply by the accident of their birth.

(Though I agree with Wynonie, it's a disgrace that government is to be excluded from the same scrutiny as everything else.)

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by garinda

-Getting rid of hereditary Peers, that's another major change, after hundreds of years of being lorded over by people who are deemed to know best, simply by the accident of their birth.

I agree, hereditary peers were an anomaly in this day and age. But it seems to me that Blair's simply replaced them with a motley collection of cronies and Labour party donors...or am I being a tad too cynical here?

Whatever, I still hope they throw that bill right back in the MPs' faces!

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

I agree, hereditary peers were an anomaly in this day and age. But it seems to me that Blair's simply replaced them with a motley collection of cronies and Labour party donors...or am I being a tad too cynical here?

Whatever, I still hope they throw that bill right back in the MPs' faces!

No, I agree of sorts. Though I'd still rather have a second house filled with cronies, who were there because of whatever earned merit, rather then people who were there because of their birth right.

If I had my way I'd have an elected second chamber, and I'd personally open Parliament for them each November, because I'd get rid of the Royal Family too.

Oh well, come the revolution.

[Ianto.W.]

garinda. According to the result tables examination results have never been better, and there are record numbers of people in further education. I don't think you can argue that education is a failure, unless I've been brainwashed by the spin.

I aggree, the educational standards are set very low, you only have to look at the spelling and vocabulary used by certain members on here. I am no brain surgeon and do not use a spelling corrector, but there are dictionaries if they take the time to use them, no one is expected to get it right all the time, in my opinion phone text language is a very destructive element, and to allow it to be used is school examinations is beyond a joke, it's asking for illiteracy.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Ianto.W.

I aggree, the educational standards are set very low, you only have to look at the spelling and vocabulary used by certain members on here. I am no brain surgeon and do not use a spelling corrector, but there are dictionaries if they take the time to use them, no one is expected to get it right all the time, in my opinion phone text language is a very destructive element, and to allow it to be used is school examinations is beyond a joke, it's asking for illiteracy.

Using Accy Web as an example, the young people that come on this forum are eloquent, and write clearly, and correctly. So perhaps education under Blair has worked.

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by garinda

Using Accy Web as an example, the young people that come on this forum are eloquent, and write clearly, and correctly. So perhaps education under Blair has worked.

Yea yea yea yea hows u duin rindy.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, Garinda.....you can prove anything with statistics, and this government has been very fond of using statistics and targets.......and I don't believe educational standards have risen very much. Universities are being asked to lower their standards in order to let more people in who would never get there. I can't believe this is good for the Universities or for the country as a whole...and i think it casts doubt on the integrity of degrees in general.
Certainly. during my work I interviewed a large number of young people....and found their educational standards left a lot to be desired...and their handwriting and spelling was abysmal.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Well, Garinda.....you can prove anything with statistics, and this government has been very fond of using statistics and targets.......and I don't believe educational standards have risen very much. Universities are being asked to lower their standards in order to let more people in who would never get there. I can't believe this is good for the Universities or for the country as a whole...and i think it casts doubt on the integrity of degrees in general.
Certainly. during my work I interviewed a large number of young people....and found their educational standards left a lot to be desired...and their handwriting and spelling was abysmal.

I can see what you are saying. Lies, damned lies, and statistics, and all that.

I'm not being rude, but the people you would have interviewed, were like me, probably educated whilst the Tories were in power, so you can't really blame their bad literacy on Blair.

A change I'm glad that has been brought about is that children's whole lives aren't mapped out for them at the age of eleven. If you failed the eleven plus, you were to all attempts and purposes, assigned a second class education.

At the begining of sixties the percentage of people who went on to university fron secondary modern schools was less than one percent. Happily things are different today. My own parents were equally intelligent, yet my father received a great education, at his fee paying grammar school, whilst my mum didn't, and like many of her generation, it was decided by the eleven plus that she was basically factory fodder. Today, the opportunity is there for all, if they wish to take it.