The (American) Iron Lady

[Deckerd]

Deckerd, I'm never certain re trains whether they're really any better or any worse. I remember trains being late and overcrowded back in the day, and things don't seem to have altered too much, although I have to travel a fair bit with work and I rarely have a nightmare journey. I think we're still paying the price for the Germans not destrying nearly enough of our rail infrastructure during WW2. I don't actually hold that everything should be privatised, I think some things should stay state owned (I wish we had France's nuclear power infrastructure if I'm honest) and to be honest you could argue that the public and private sectors each have their pluses and minuses (having worked in both).

Fucking Germans and their lousy aim.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

It does seem that the more you get the fuck bombed out of you, the more you bounce back.

 

[Starkers]

Deckerd, I'm never certain re trains whether they're really any better or any worse. I remember trains being late and overcrowded back in the day, and things don't seem to have altered too much, although I have to travel a fair bit with work and I rarely have a nightmare journey. I think we're still paying the price for the Germans not destrying nearly enough of our rail infrastructure during WW2. I don't actually hold that everything should be privatised, I think some things should stay state owned (I wish we had France's nuclear power infrastructure if I'm honest) and to be honest you could argue that the public and private sectors each have their pluses and minuses (having worked in both).

Fucking Germans and their lousy aim.

Liverpool has dang fine chip shops now though at least!

Incidentally, the book How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered The World by Francis Wheen offers an interesting argument that for all of Thatcherism's much-vaunted efficiency and modernisation, the UK was actually a more productive and efficient country in the 1970s. Wheen, a Private Eye writer, isn't a knee-jerk lefty but he makes his argument very scientifically and thoroughly. Worth a read.

Interesting, I'll have to look out for it.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ You might find this selection of reviews of the book helpful

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/sokala/wheenf.htm

 

[Deckerd]

I read it while Blair was still PM, which is contemporaneous with the book. It was very informative and brilliantly critical of the philosophy of pseudery which grew in the 90's and early noughties.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Watch any episode of "Deal or No Deal" for immediate confirmation that Wheen was onto something.