@TheRealMafoo

The UK used to be an incredibly left-wing country. Pretty much everything you could think of, the Government intervened somewhere.

This is down to many things, mainly because of the huge role that the Government had to play in rebuilding that nation after being destroyed during WWII.

However, Margaret Thatcher got in power and she privatised a whole load of the public sector. This actually caused unemployment to rise dramatically.

She is now one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers in our history.

I'm writing this because she is the one who sold off all of the council houses.

The UK's economy was getting (relatively) worse year-on-year, and was doing so until around the mid 1990s, where the UK turned around, and has since become the second richest nation in Europe, and it predicted to retake its place as richest in Europe by around 2030.

What has been the cause of this huge economic turn around? I don't know, but I think Labour's economic policies since 1997 (when they finally took back Governmental rule after nearly 30 years of Conservative victories) may have had a lot to do with it.

Labour are our mainstream left-wing party, if you didn't know.

What I'm saying is that the UK has benefited from having slightly less "capitalism" in the past 12 years far greater than what it did with more "capitalism".

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Anyways, here's a video that sums up my views. I honestly don't think that the markets work in favour of the people. Some people, sure. But not "all" people.

@therealmafoo - The uk has always had alot of council owned housing, why i do not know. Its not bad where I live, I've made it sound so but its a nice place really, as I say, I'm at the extreme end of things and probably not representative. Maybe we do need more capitalism, something is needed. I remember (well my parents, I just read the old newspapers an thing like that, they kept them for nostalgia) when my town was once the envy of the local villages and they would move to our town to work in our factorys and use our local shops.

@ruprett I realize no system is perfect and that humans are flawed, maybe thats what makes us human, still doesn't mean I like it but hey ho.

@Lolcislaw - Thanks for the apologize. Maybe I can blame the system, maybe I can't but I can certainly blame the government.

That closed down coal mine, the mining parts have been deconstructed and most of it filled in. They need to do something with it. A supermarket would be great, then people from my town would walk instead of drive/use overpriced buses (helping to reduce carbon footprints incidentally), there would be more choice and it would provide employment. A factory would also provide jobs and help to boost the local economy. Its been sitting there since 2004, why not make it useful?

^A nationalised public transport system would mean a reduction in public transport costs, and depending on funding, an improved service in many areas.

That would be one of the first things I'd do if I got into Government.

EDIT: Incidentally, if there is a lot of opportunity for setting up a business, like a supermarket or a bus service, what-have-you, you could probably quite easily get a grant to set up the business - you'd need to come up with a viable business model and find people with experience in order to get the grant.

I'd imagine that getting a grant would be easier than usual in the current economic situtation, particularly in an area like yours.

You'd get my vote.

^ Heh, if you wanna read more about what I'd do, I made a post regarding these matters earlier in the thread:

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/post.php?id=2017008

If you're even interested in my other views, I made a thread on another forum before outlying my views on devolution.

http://vgcpolitics.freeforums.org/uk-devolution-t9.html

I'll stop hijacking this thread now.

@SamuelRSmith

It's hard to go from more socialism to less socialism efficiently. I could see how that would cause a lot of problems. For example, I think the US would have a far better education system if it was run privately, but I am sure the transition from what it is today, to a privatized system would be utter chaos for a few years.

I am curious though, were all the things Margaret Thatcher did reversed? If not, and you have exploded as a country, it's hard to complain with the ones that worked. Any change takes time (and I have no clue about UK politics, I could be way off about Margaret Thatcher).

As for NintendoMan, that who different minimum wage thing is just fucked. How can you expect people to be successful, when some play by different rules?

I don't know what to say... I have no clue how to advise someone when there government stacks the deck against them.

You don't know about Margaret Thatcher? She's one of the founding fathers (yes, fathers) of modern day (fiscal) conservatism, particularly in the UK.

Here's a somewhat biased article on her: http://www.conservapedia.com/Margaret_Thatcher

The first paragraph, regarding her popularity, isn't really a widespread view. And she's even more hated now, being partly blamed for today's economy.

Historically, Labour have been much better than the Tories, in many respects, they still are, but Labour have gone to far right for my liking, imo, they should have stayed more Left on the economy and much more Left on social issues, if Labour go back to the left, i may well vote for them in the future, but at the moment, i wouldnt vote for them. i will never, ever, ever, ever vote for the Tories. im voting for a 3rd/4th party in the next elections.

I know who she is, I just never followed UK politics. Thanks for the link

Wow the poor live that poorly in the UK. That's crazy. I mean that's basically the equilvent of our homeless...

Though no computers... they do usually get a hot meal and usually do have places to sleep at night.

Potatos are the way to go if you need nutrition too... Potato + Milk = just about all the vitamins you need.