Tories Being Tories - Public Spending Cuts.

[Hillary]

One of the big issues with the council house sell off was that it meant the councils lost most of their best stock, leaving them with the majority of their properties on sink estates. This can't but have helped to contribute to the serious social problems we now see.

We have now corralled the poorest elements of society into the worst housing in the worst areas for the best part of 20 years - it is not surprising we have created an underclass. I appreciate there are other reasons for this as well, but it certainly hasn't helped.

And before Starglider gets his knickers in a twist, I have voted Labour twice (Ken Livingstone for Mayor both times) in my 23 years as a registered voter - and will certainly not be doing so in the next election. Who I do actually vote for is another question entirely, not one I have an answer to as yet.

One of the main problems is that the post-Thatcher politicians are too much like careerist on the gravy train than actual administrators with proper qualifications and experience in broader matters; ironically Thatcher was a chemist.

Is there actually a point to this or are you simply regurgitating populist press rhetoric? Since when have politicians been anything other than careerist? And why should they not be - it is hardly seen as a fault in any other profession to have ambition.

This whole "experience in broader matters" stuff - talk me through why it matters. Does being a chemist give you a unique insight into Law and Order? Employment? Housing?

[Big Orange]

That is an outright lie, typical of a Labour supporter with zero grasp of financial realities. These are the historical house prices;

I'm not voting Labour and I realise that they've been in power for too long, and crucially they've emulated the 1980s Tories quite a lot anyway so little wonder why our deficits are fucktastic and they're mostly to blame for the housing market crashing this decade (the house prices were getting managable in the mid 1990s under PM John Major, as your first chart shows). I personally believe that the Labour and the Tories share a lot of the blame together, and the Tories screwed the pooch in regards to North Sea Oil (and course Labour in the 90/00s carried on ignoring it).