04-04-2010, 10:46 AM
[quote=Peter Presland]This is an example of the the sort of mindset that makes me despair of the possibility of worthwhile change in Western 'Democracies' short of some sort of revolution. The sort of credulous childlike banality which dominates both Left and Right - though their 'Heroes' be different - and which fills the airwaves and newsprint of the MSM in a mind-numbing cacophony. It is from the latest blogpost of one Iain Dale of 'Iain Dale's Diary'. His top 20 things to like about the 80's.
Iain is rated as THE most prominent Tory blogger. In terms of traffic he is about third in the UK political blog ranking after Political-betting.com and Guido Fawkes.
[Quote]
1. Margaret Thatcher.
2. Labour couldn't win an election.
3. Putting the Unions back in their box.
4. Enabling millions of people to buy shares for the first time.
5. A-ha & Alphaville.
6. Audi Quattros.
7. Ejecting the Argentinians from the Falklands.
8. Enabling hundreds of thousands of people to buy their own homes.
9. Ronald Reagan & Mikhail Gorbachev.
10. The Mullett.
11. Ian Botham
12. Airplane.
13. Trevor Brooking & Alan Devonshire, Tony Cottee & Frank McAvennie.
14. Winning the Cold War.
15. Trivial Pursuit.
16. Beating Scargill and his band of thugs.
17. J R Ewing.
18. Nena's 99 Luftballons and her hairy armpits.
19. The Conservatives winning three elections in a row.
20. The advent of Sky TV.
[/Quote]
We should compile an alternative list to stand against this crap. Some suggestions for a "Why I Loathe the 1980s" list:
[QUOTE]1. The MI6-manufactured war in the Falklands/Malvinas to save Thatcher's treasonous (US-serving) PM-ship; and UK claims to oil and gas in the land of ice below.
2. State-sponsored death squads running riot in N. Ireland, targeting anyone they cared to.
3. The wholesale abandonment of British manufacturing industry and the provinces by the South-East National Party (aka the Tories).
4. Mass unemployment in the aforementioned regions.
5. The rise of an overtly party political police force and judiciary.
6. The end of Britain's mainstream media as anything but a mouthpiece for the City, the spooks and the military.
7. Everton's failure to win the double in 1985-6.[/QUOTE]
Iain is rated as THE most prominent Tory blogger. In terms of traffic he is about third in the UK political blog ranking after Political-betting.com and Guido Fawkes.
[Quote]
1. Margaret Thatcher.
2. Labour couldn't win an election.
3. Putting the Unions back in their box.
4. Enabling millions of people to buy shares for the first time.
5. A-ha & Alphaville.
6. Audi Quattros.
7. Ejecting the Argentinians from the Falklands.
8. Enabling hundreds of thousands of people to buy their own homes.
9. Ronald Reagan & Mikhail Gorbachev.
10. The Mullett.
11. Ian Botham
12. Airplane.
13. Trevor Brooking & Alan Devonshire, Tony Cottee & Frank McAvennie.
14. Winning the Cold War.
15. Trivial Pursuit.
16. Beating Scargill and his band of thugs.
17. J R Ewing.
18. Nena's 99 Luftballons and her hairy armpits.
19. The Conservatives winning three elections in a row.
20. The advent of Sky TV.
[/Quote]
We should compile an alternative list to stand against this crap. Some suggestions for a "Why I Loathe the 1980s" list:
[QUOTE]1. The MI6-manufactured war in the Falklands/Malvinas to save Thatcher's treasonous (US-serving) PM-ship; and UK claims to oil and gas in the land of ice below.
2. State-sponsored death squads running riot in N. Ireland, targeting anyone they cared to.
3. The wholesale abandonment of British manufacturing industry and the provinces by the South-East National Party (aka the Tories).
4. Mass unemployment in the aforementioned regions.
5. The rise of an overtly party political police force and judiciary.
6. The end of Britain's mainstream media as anything but a mouthpiece for the City, the spooks and the military.
7. Everton's failure to win the double in 1985-6.[/QUOTE]