Thinking about voting Conservative...

[lazs2]

yup... john is correct,  That is the real reason I have two cats.... I didn't have the heart to tell that to beetle when he visited tho...  it might have put him off shooting myu guns that were "cat powered".

lazs

[AKIron]

Never woulda figured you for a cat owner lazs, guess you're just multi-faceted. Sure you don't live in an apartment?

[Nilsen]

cats are girly pets

[Chortle]

Suave, how about Thatchers 'There is no such thing as society' quote? or 'A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure'

Lazs, I'd have to google Tebbits gun control view as I've no idea. I'm guessing he'd be ok with guns in the 'right' hands.

Beetle, interesting read. Still think the miners were screwed though, admittedly by their own leaders as much as the govt.

[Nashwan]

how about Thatchers 'There is no such thing as society' quote?

The full quote doesn't say what the abreviated versions suggest.

What she actually said was:

"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation"

What she was saying is that "scoiety" is made up of individuals, and that any burdens placed on "society" are met by the individuals who make up that society.

A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure

Interesting quote, and not one I've ever heard before. And having been very interested in politics through the 80s, I find that strange.

A bit of digging finds the first reference to this quote is a liberal mp in parliament, in 2003. Google finds 13 repetitions of it, all subsequent, most referencing the same liberal mp.

Given that most Maggie quotes are easy to find, I think it's made up, quite honestly.

[lazs2]

iron and nielsen... the cats are left over from my daughter and after having dogs... the cats are a whole lot easier to deal with... food, water, litter... see ya in a week.

At work I actually got the cat on my own.   we are in the country.   dogs are for looks and people who don't have real friends...  cats work.   no mice or snakes or other nasty vermin around the machinery eating wires and such with work cats around.

lazs

[Chortle]

Nashwan, your probably right on both counts. I've such dislike even now of Conservatism from that period that I sometimes go off half-cocked. I certainly dont remember the bus speech, but had heard it attributed so threw it in anyway.

[AKIron]

Hehe, just yankin' yer chain lazs.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Chortle
Nashwan, your probably right on both counts. I've such dislike even now of Conservatism from that period that I sometimes go off half-cocked. I certainly dont remember the bus speech, but had heard it attributed so threw it in anyway.

Chortle,

were you or either of your parents employed by one of the nationalised/unionised industries during the 1970s?

[simshell]

my dad asked me about this awhile ago

what plane did Bush fly?

[Chortle]

No Beetle, I was still in shorts and my parents were white collar. I got this chip on my shoulder all by myself, even before I started reading the Guardian

[beet1e]

Simshell - don't know about GB2 (Dubya). Maybe he flew F16s for the CIA and VOSS was his CO.

GB1 was the youngest pilot in the USN in 1945, and flew a TBM Avenger. It's on the USS Yorktown. I've seen it!

Originally posted by Chortle
No Beetle, I was still in shorts and my parents were white collar. I got this chip on my shoulder all by myself, even before I started reading the Guardian

Oh no, the Guardian...

If you read the Beet1e/Dowding ding-dong thread, you'll see that I was always very much one for improving my own lot, instead of waiting for the Government to do it for me. That's why I'm a Thatcherite/Tebbo-ite. I can't stand the culture of people digging their heels in, refusing to learn new technology or new methods of working.

That's why, in the Aces High game, instead of whining about the CV getting sunk or HQ getting flattened, I was always one of the ones to do something about it - either by prevention (interception) or cure (resupply). The socialists in the MA were the ones who, instead of doing something about it, would whine to HTC to have THEM do something about it. Waaah - harden HQ/CVs. They wanted Nanny to do it for them. The MA Trotskyites were the folks who, instead of working out how to play a bad hand as best as they could, would dictate the terms under which they were prepared to play: "I want my fields to be here and here, with *my* ride(s) to be available at all times, and I don't want to have to fly more than 1½ minutes before I can start shooting cons".

And the ENY whiners were just plain communists. They wanted Nanny to help them by giving them the nicest planes at all times. They didn't want to have to learn anything new. No telling them to get on their bikes if their favourite ride had been ENY disabled. For them, the game was unplayable if they couldn't have a P51/LA7, and they would go on strike - not for better pay, but for an increase in the MA attendance value before ENY limiting is initiated. They'll be happy when it's set to 1000.

And then there was me, the Thatcherite. Never flew a Big5 plane in the last two years I played. Never complained about ENY limiting, never whined about my HQ being destroyed. Did what I could to defend the CVs, resupplied HQ or intercepted inbound LANCs. Sure, it could be boring making the flight (it took more than 2 minutes to get on station), but it was a job which had to be done. Resupply was another job which had to be done. The whiners were the ones who wanted Nanny to do it for them.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by simshell
what plane did Bush fly?

GHWB:


GWB:

 although his said Texas on the tail

[Chortle]

Beetle, you’ll get no argument out of me that things were fine and didn’t need to change. What sticks in my throat is how the misery caused by the miners strike in 84 is held up as one of Thatcher’s crowning achievements and miners themselves demonised as scrounging, whining communists permanently begging for handouts.

There was no national ballot on strike action, but Scargill went ahead anyway. In those mines that held a ballot many voted against it.

Personally, I cant see how smashing unions, the majority of who’s members would traditionally vote against you or populist exploitation of the winter of discontent qualify Thatcher for such adoration. She stockpiled coal at power stations, and set the scene for the unions to self-destruct. Admittedly watching mounted police charge strikers needed a strong stomach, but hey, they were all communists anyway.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Chortle
Personally, I cant see how smashing unions, the majority of who’s members would traditionally vote against you or populist exploitation of the winter of discontent qualify Thatcher for such adoration.

You don't see it, even though you gave the reason yourself, further up.

No Beetle, I was still in shorts

So you wouldn't remember the Union wrecking years of the 1970s, when the Labour government ministers were mere puppets in the hands of their trade union paymasters. It was because of all that 70s crap that taxes were so high and entrepreneurial ventures never stood a chance in Britain - hence the brain drain. You wouldn't remember that for three winters out of four in the years 1970-74, our homes were subject to being blacked out by power cuts caused by striking mine workers and/or electricity workers. I remember revising for my mock O levels by candle light. And I remember my father's tax bills, and his ashen face after he'd opened one.