Congratulations, Gordon

[Resurrection Man]

.... Rescuing greedy banks doesn't fit my criteria for being spent well.

Especially when Brown got his sums wrong....see the OP....and paid way over the odds.

[Resurrection Man]

..... The tories managed 5 successive years at over 47 % from 1980 to 85, mostly caused no doubt by spending on the dole, caused by their recession.

......

How do you get to that point? It was a global recession.

[amateur51]

Petty jealousy, nothing more nor less.

If I had some friends who offered to put me up somewhere comfortable to recuperate then why not?

What a perverse post. I'm certainly not jealous, RM - I'm very glad that I don't have dementia and that I'm not recovering from an operation.

You'll have to work harder to discern the true motive I'm afraid

[teamsaint]

How do you get to that point? It was a global recession.

Ah yes, its always somebody else's fault , isn't it ?!

Anyhow, in 1985, they were still spending over 47% of GDP. That was 6 years after they came to power.

I accept your point that not ALL the economic woes of the late 70's and 80's were down to Thatcher...but saving the industrial base of the country wasn't very high on their list of priorities !

RM, do you accept my general point about the amounts spent by the respective governments? we might easily disagree about what was spent, why, and to what purpose, but the numbers seem clear to me.

[Dave2002]

The Tories should have had it easy in the 1980s - "wasting" all the wealth generated by North Sea oil and embarking on privatisations and housing sell-offs. It wasn't good under Labour in the 1970s, but Thatcher's lot were dreadful. Sadly, although several of us went out to celebrate Tony Blair coming in, we were also glad to see him go years later. It's hard to compare over time, because the circumstances are often completely different, though episodes of Yes Minister seem to have universal validity.

[MrGongGong]

The Tories should have had it easy in the 1980s - "wasting" all the wealth generated by North Sea oil and embarking on privatisations and housing sell-offs.

Now remind me , what did the Norwegians do with their Oil wealth ?

[teamsaint]

Now remind me , what did the Norwegians do with their Oil wealth ?

Give us a clue.
Electoacoustic music?
A centre forward?
Bankers bonuses?