Blame Blair, by a Polish visitor.

[Lonnie]

I'm in full agreement with chimney,s post, and in this one, i'm reprinting a letter in today's, (Friday's), Daily Mail. Now I know there are a lot of haters of this paper on this site, but please, only comment on the letter, the contents of which I couldn't agree more.

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As a student of the English language in Warsaw, I occasionally travel to England, (Mainly London), to visit tourist attractions and improve my English.

I have been visiting England for more than fifteen years, in that time, I have noticed some astonishing changes, not least the deterioration in the quality of service, and lack of basic manners.

What, at first, seemed to be a country at ease with itself, is now a ragbag of hooded youths, beer swilling louts, muggers, and illegal immigrants.

What has happened?, is it not clear, that in these past few years the stewardship of the United Kingdom has been usurped by a man unsuitable for governance and the title of 'Premier'.

I lay the blame firmly at the door of Tony Blair, and hope that at the next opportunity, the public remove Mr Blair and his Cronies.

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That, in a nutshell, is exactly how I feel, but i'd like your comments please, and if possible, keep it to a civil debate, an exchange of views. Thanks.

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, I dislike the paper and I can't stand TB.

That said, I don't think that the letter is very accurate. Compare the hooded youths of today to the punks of the 70s. The youths fighting now are comparable to the fights between mods and rockers. "Beer swilling youths" - well think back to the ninties when our football teams could not play on the continent because of the fans.

Yes there is a clear problem with illegal immigrants and the government could certainly take a stronger stance on that. BUT it is ruddy difficult to figure out who should be let in and who shouldn't be. Could anyone really say that they would / should turn someone away if you know they are going to be murdered in their own country? Are you prepared to condemn someone to death for believing in democracy / Christianity etc? But - I will repeat my earlier statement - there is a problem which needs to be addressed.

Personally speaking, I think that it is not so much society that is changing but individual people. When I was 18, I was never afraid of going around town as at 18 you feel invincible. Roll forward 15 years and I am certainly more nervous when I see a group of youths congregated together. Roll forward another 15 years and I am fairly confident that I will be more nervous still.

Another 'problem' is imho the media. They are the ones stirring things up. In the 60s/70s they were far more controlled. Now they like to whip people into frenzys thinking that every hoody is going to attack you with a gun - something that is obviously not true.

Not really sure where I am going with this, but hopefully should lead to an interesting debate

[johnlambert]

Sorry Oneeye, but lets turn back the clock to 1997, blair promised that every one in the UK would have access to an NHS dentist, ooooooooooopps not so

he would be tough on crime and the causes of crime ooooooooooooopps not so.

he promised that his party woul;d be "whiter than white" ooooooooooopps not so

he promised that pensioners would be better off under a labour government ooooooooooooooooooooopps not so

he promised that hospital waiting lists would get shorter oooooooooooooooooooopps not so.

so tell me, exactly how much better off are we under this arrogent, opinionated, self centered, greedy poodle of George W bush?

[Oneeyedvic]

johnlambert - I agree whole heartedly - my first sentance does state that I can't stand TB - for pretty much those reasons (amongst many, many others)

My point is though that I doubt you will ever get a "whiter than white" party and to get into power, you need to tell the electorate what they want to hear.

Personally, I doubt that problems such as Dentists, NHS, pensions problems can be sorted out in 5- 10 years (ie 1 or 2 terms). Then of course it is easy to blame the previous governemetn for underfunding etc.

I doubt we are better off under TB, but to be honest, I'm not sure that we would be better off under anyone else - ie under Conservative, Lib Dem or anyone else.

[johnlambert]

Yep saw that oneeye, just trying to stir up a hornets nest and get ppl to defend the smiling one. Sorry, didnt mean to cause offence

[Ward-Minter]

Personally I find The Daily Mail the most unbiased read of todays newspapers and admit to having it delivered by some spotty 14 year old every morning along with The Times. I feel sorry for him as my drive is rather long, but that's a different matter.

Yes Mr Kwanokski appears to be spot on with his observations.

Bring back The Birch.

Ward-Minter

[Goodsoulette]

maybe I live in a totally different environment to others but i dont see any of that at all really. I hate the Daily Mail too, have the Times delivered here.

[brachiopod]

Are these these 'hooded youths' and 'beer swilling louts' all under 9 years of age? If so, then, perhaps they are, indeed, products of the stewardship of a man 'unsuitable for governance'. Then there is also the consideration of parental responsibilty, rather than laying everything firmly at the door of TB. Parents that probably grew up under a Thatcher government.

The UK was still a parliamentary democracy last time I looked, so that inasmuch as we lay the blame at TB, it is our collective fault for electing him three times running.

For someone who is an "occasional visitor" from Poland over the last fifteen years, they seem remarkably astute in noticing "hooded youths", "beer-swilling louts", "muggers" and "illegal immigrants" - surely, (along with undeserving lottery winners), that must be four of the five favourite subjects of The Daily Mail ? Does this publication actually assure us that 'all letters are genuine'? Or is it just there to give gullible people like lonnie something to blame or be indignant about?

[Lonnie]

brachiopod, i'm sorry you think i'm gullible, the chap who wrote the letter echoed my views of this goverment, which is why I posted it, I read other papers as well, and also, contrary to what you obviously think, I don't believe everything I read. Perhaps, for my edification, and i'm sure you won't need a dictionary, you could define Gullible for me.

[jake-the-peg]

Was everybody asleep in the 50's 60's and 70's?

Teddy boys with cut throat razors ripping up cinemas, Mods and Rockers on the Brighton seafront Hells Angels, Skinheads "Queer bashing"?

Why was "A Clockwork Orange" withdrawn in 1972 - Oh yes there was an outbreak of mindless violent copycat attacks.

The 60's and 70's saw some of the worst football hooliganism

I have absolutly no idea where this green and pleasnt idyll was that so many seem to remember. I certainly don't remember it from when I was growing up!

Bad case of rose tinted spectacles from people with fading memories!

[jump79]

All I can say is, you get what you pay for. Blair was voted in for the 3rd term by the British public so now, enjoy.

As for removing Blair, I don't see that happening in the near future. The feeble opposition-Cameron and Brown( how sad) pose no threat whatsoever. If out of these 3 useless choices (Blair, Cam, Brown), there was to be another vote, people would still pick Blair as the least useless out of them all.

[funkymoped]

isnt T.B. a disease that spreads through the lungs. a disease that wrings every last penny worth of oxygen from an otherwise healthy body, and leaves its co host for dead ??

we all got T.B.

[WendyS]

I couldn't agree more. I'm almost embarrassed to admit to being British these days. I look around at the way I see people behaving in public and want to cringe. We seem to have lost all sense of decency and responsibility - and what great role models we have in our politicians who lie, cheat, fiddle their expenses and vote themselves fat pension packages while trying to deny them to anybody else. We've developed such a culture of state benefit dependency that a large percentage of the population don't know what a decent day's work is and every year the government increases taxes and entraps more people in this net to ensure they get their votes next time round. If our parents and grandparents could see this country now they'd wonder why on earth they gave their lives to keep Britain free. That's my rant for the day!