Tag: Margaret Thatcher
The tragedy of right to buy.
jkitleft Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 03:30:36 PM GMT 
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In the 1970's, Harold Wilson encountered a vote-winning policy. No further attention was paid to it. It was to become the defining policy of Margaret Thatcher. It was the right of council tenants to buy their homes off councils.
It was a policy that had social-democratic potential.
Every £1 that was raised by councils should have been reinvested into building council housing.
The oil from the North sea could have also been combined with this additional funding gained by councils. This should have been used in a 'New Deal' project. Not only would it have similarly helped tackle unemployment (as it did later), but it could have been used to reinvigorate inner cities. If the council houses then built, had all been built in streets with say, big or grand Edwardian housing, the government could then have broken down the council house ghettos.
If we are to build more council housing now, this should be our objective. The best part of Das Kapital, was where Marx called for class mixing. Services indirectly aimed at poor people, quickly become poor services. If you put all council housing together, then poorer people are generally stuck together, and then social mobility grinds to a hault. If there had been continued under-investment in healthcare after 1997, then the NHS would quickly have become a poor service for poor people. The best comprehensive schools in the country, are ones where there is a mixture of people from all classes.
We need to break down these council house ghettos. We should build all new council houses, in better-off areas. This would increase social mobility, and provide new oppertunities for poorer people.
It was a policy that had social-democratic potential.
Every £1 that was raised by councils should have been reinvested into building council housing.
The oil from the North sea could have also been combined with this additional funding gained by councils. This should have been used in a 'New Deal' project. Not only would it have similarly helped tackle unemployment (as it did later), but it could have been used to reinvigorate inner cities. If the council houses then built, had all been built in streets with say, big or grand Edwardian housing, the government could then have broken down the council house ghettos.
If we are to build more council housing now, this should be our objective. The best part of Das Kapital, was where Marx called for class mixing. Services indirectly aimed at poor people, quickly become poor services. If you put all council housing together, then poorer people are generally stuck together, and then social mobility grinds to a hault. If there had been continued under-investment in healthcare after 1997, then the NHS would quickly have become a poor service for poor people. The best comprehensive schools in the country, are ones where there is a mixture of people from all classes.
We need to break down these council house ghettos. We should build all new council houses, in better-off areas. This would increase social mobility, and provide new oppertunities for poorer people.
The public has changed, and so must Brown
jkitleft Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 09:58:42 PM GMT
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Every twenty-thirty years, the general tilt, politically, shifts on its axis. PM's have responded to this. Gladstone, Disraeli, Asquith/Lloyd George, Attlee and then Thatcher. The fourties had a country that was in ruins. Labour's socialism was their reward. In the seventies, unions were bringing the country to a halt. Thatcherism was their (punishment, in my opinion, although some of her reforms were necessary). Now, the public has gone to the left again, and Brown must heed the call.
Here is my reasoning for this. A couple of years ago, the furore of private equity, non-doms, and those in the 10p tax band, would not have been as potent. But the middle-classes are getting angry about the unfair taxation system in this country. This is a chance for progressivism, that can change a generation.
I would like to hear from any of you, as to any policies to suggest.
Here is my reasoning for this. A couple of years ago, the furore of private equity, non-doms, and those in the 10p tax band, would not have been as potent. But the middle-classes are getting angry about the unfair taxation system in this country. This is a chance for progressivism, that can change a generation.
I would like to hear from any of you, as to any policies to suggest.
