danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
You’re English.
Golliwog in the window - should this really be in court?
- Thread starter Corax
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marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
expect a visit from the PC Police
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Sarcasm detector on the blink?
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Sorry but I don’t recall any general feeling of hope of light at the end of the tunnel after the defeat of the miners tbh . Even the don’t rock the boat vote Labour from the sensible people collapsed after Kinnock fell into the sea .
The poll tax movement later restored some confidence but I think the recent strike wave has also had a similar effect .
surreybrowncap
“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
It's not invented though. There is most definitely an extreme left agenda and it's not only the extreme right who push back on it.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
What is invented though is the idea that the extreme left have any sort of influence in anywhere even vaguely related to power.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
I don't just mean politically, but also personally. Life expectancy, retirement, education etc. I'm not saying the 80s were optimistic, far from it. But there wasn't quite the same apocalyptic inertia. Thatcher was going to go at some point. Now we've had 5 fucking Tory PMs in one go, so there was zero sense that - say - when May was forced out things might change at all.
Rob Ray
Weight is meaningless
The word "extreme" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Actually so is the word "left". And you've been around here long enough to know perfectly well the left's been totally incompetent at the "agenda" bit.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
I'd love to know the what the who and the where of this "extreme left agenda".
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Maybe a function of my age (I grew up with Thatcher essentially), but it didn't feel like that at the time.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
We had seven more years of the tories after Thatcher was forced out. There was very much a sense of despair from me when they got back in in 1992.
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
same - I was amazed when she was overthrown by her own party - fucking happy but shocked that they knifed her in the front and back.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Ooh. Bit meta.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
I was sitting adjacent to two blokes and a woman from England ( Kent as it turns out ) in a cafe up the road from me and one of the staff asked me to translate what food was available for them . Anyway got talking and they asked how long I’d been here and they said England had changed beyond all recognition etc etc and one of the ways in which they illustrated the degree of change was that ‘you have to watch what you say , otherwise you could get a visit from the police ‘. So intrigued I feigned horror and asked for an example and learnt that you can’t even say coloured any more . I shared with them that someone had told me that if you say you are English you could be thrown in jail and the woman said that this was going to be the next step . I had a good half hour of fun listening and speaking to them .
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The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Tbf we were all younger then so prob more resilient less resigned than now ?
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Well... kinda.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
I think the extreme left wing agenda is still on Item 2 ‘matters arising ‘ tbh .
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littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Labour are still hot favourites to win the next election. And who will we get? Fucking Starmer. I really don't see how it's so different now.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
I think, for me, the difference is that Thatcher was near the start of a project that's now had 40+ years of victories and consolidation. It's easier to imagine reversing a project in its earlier stages than one that is hegemonically triumphant.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Ah ok, so we were just more innocent back then?
Not sure I buy that either, though. If we were paying attention, we already knew what Blair was going to be before he was elected.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Is it fuck. The centre has moved to the right. There’s no viable left wing party any more.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yep. Economically, Churchill's Conservative government of the 1950s was in many important ways more left-wing than Corbyn. The idea that a government has a responsibility to provide housing was once a given across all parties. It's now acknowledged by none.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
Not more innocent no. Just with decades less defeats - on a global scale - behind us.
For example, at that point we could probably still have avoided catastrophic climate change.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
I think you’re both partly correct.
The right has dominance over the material economic conversations and the bulk of the left have been corralled into corners of the social media landscape where they won’t pose any threat to that.
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