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    1. Just as a matter of interest, not all the over sixty fives voted for Brexit - I didn't, and the only person I know who did was my daughter's grandfather in law (i.e. her children's great grandfather), but he is insane.

    2. Just because the European bigwigs say they want us to leave quickly, they are not necessarily speaking the truth (remember Claud Cockburn's (google him) maxim: 'Never believe anything until it's been officially denied'). I think we can expect a severe economic spanking (devaluation of sterling followed by higher interest rates leading to unemployment and mortgage foreclosures; then, having been brought to heel, a second referendum (compare the Danes and Maastricht).

    3. And this is my real reason for bothering to post: The Labour Party comes out of this very badly. I am a former member and Labour Councillor (1994-98), but I believe the party should now wind itself up. The last time Labour actually did any good was the 1966-70 government when H.Wilson managed to resist US demands for support in Vietnam (compare T. Blair /Iraq).
      The Tories have never recently achieved a majority vote in general elections, so it is clear that most voters don't want them. Labour has made a terrible mess of things and has alienated its core vote all over the place, but a new party of the left will never get any traction while Labour still exists. Let it do the decent thing and fall on its sword. Then we'll see what develops - it can hardly be worse.

  • The last time Labour actually did any good was the 1966-70 government

    Just challenging this utterly ridiculous but oft asserted assertion because someone has to.

    Yes Iraq was bad, but you're claiming that the Labour government that came in '97 did no good? That's absurd and ludicrous.

    I remember growing up in the 80s and 90s under a Tory government. My local council had been capped and there was no money for anything: including schoolbooks, literally. Our secondary school had temporary classrooms which were basically sheds. That leaked.

    Labour vastly improved public services - education, hospitals, leisure facilities. They built new schools, hospitals, swimming pools. They modernised infrastructure, shrunk class sizes, reduced waiting times in hospitals massively. They poured vast amounts of cash into the railways so that people wouldn't die just because they chose to commute to work by train. They did far far more than Harold Wilson ever did in those six years to improve people's lives and when Cameron became PM in 2010 the benchmark of living standards had been raised.

    If you really think they did no good read the BBC's analysis of their education pledges:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk_politics/2002/blair_years/1959855.stm

    Sure they weren't perfect - three unmet pledges (including the unworkable idea of getting BT to wire up education facilities and hospitals to the internet for free, but the premise was good and ahead of it's time - bizarre now to read it was controversial) but look at all the pledges they did meet.

    (I agree with your wider point that Labour come out of this very badly - if they'd fought the campaign with any passion it would never have happened).

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