[the lemur]

JA: Interesting thought - so Thatcher DID cut some dental health benefits from British citizens during her reign as PM...
Thankfully those health care benefit cuts went no further...

LI MIKE

As someone else pointed out before, the 'British smile' phenomenon predated Thatcher by quite a long time and can be attributed to diet and a general reluctance to seek dental care, even though it was provided free at the point of delivery for most treatment. It's worth noting that the NHS was created in 1948 and for a time thereafter there was a sizable cohort of the population who had gone without dental care for some time before its introduction and continued to do so. My anecdotal experience is that many young people born in the '60 and '70s didn't visit the dentist unless absolutely necessary and/or didn't maintain good dental hygiene/diet. It didn't help that water generally wasn't fluoridated except in a few areas.

Thatcher didn't directly cut funding to the NHS but she did implement studies leading to reforms when it became apparent that the NHS was never going to be adequately funded to do everything it was mandated to do.

The story about Thatcher eliminating the supply of free milk to schoolchildren isn't entirely what it's usually reported: it was not her idea originally and she was in fact opposed to it, but went along with the decision made by the Treasury, in her capacity of Secretary of State for Education, before being elected PM.

What might be more germane to this thread in terms of local government is how Thatcher succeeded in eliminating London's unified municipal government: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Council

 

[James_D]

Re: This GAE creature.

So Fatso's on kissy-kissy terms with yet another stalker/harrasser/criminal type? He surely does love to surround himself with creeps, doesn't he?

I realize Ford doesn't use his twitter account or likely even read Twitter but I do find it odd that the official Ford Twitter Account follows back troll accounts like Sattva Namaste, ejb, Drunk Superman, Neil Flagg of batshit crazy Letfordbe (or I Hate The War on Rob Ford fame) and others.

 

[DD13]

Peepers, do you get a free Rob Ford totebag every time someone is charged with public mischief? Also, wouldn't such a statement to police (whether by her or Ford) fall under your large Free Speech tent (meaning anything anyone says ever)?

 

[canmark]

Doug Ford is saving money on Christmas cards:
https://twitter.com/annhui/status/410839972413849602
https://twitter.com/annhui/status/410846115672518656

 

[Huge Seagull]

So apparently, even after seeing so much evidence of Peeper's bad-faith discussion style, there are still some folks on the forum who indulge his trolling and take the bait. Odd.

The Ignore feature is your friend.

[video=youtube;5lne_eAU2v4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lne_eAU2v4[/video]

 

[themarc]

nobody, to my knowledge, has established whether or not the ford machine has access to cims. If so, there is a strong possibility that electoral fraud/tampering/mischief could be a factor come next october.

cims?

 

[SFO]

So apparently, even after seeing so much evidence of Peeper's bad-faith discussion style, there are still some folks on the forum who indulge his trolling and take the bait. Odd.

The Ignore feature is your friend.

I'm baffled too. There's not even a need to mess around with an Ignore list: just not responding, ever, is very easy.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

themarc:

The Conservative voter database: constituency information management system - which btw was slated to be replaced but that multi-million dollar private sector project bombed and they're back to using CIMS.

AoD

 

[Jude]

[video=youtube_share;gZM8c56P5UA]http://youtu.be/gZM8c56P5UA[/video]

 

[soimelk]

cims?

It's a detailed voter database compiled by the Conservative Party that can be used to identify voter intentions. Was used in the 2010 federal election to send out misleading robocalls to non-conservative voters saying their polling locations had changed

 

[atodaso]

In Hitler's case, and in Ford's case, they were both empowered by opportunity, and a polarized electorate. Ford's allies, and supporters, thought they could tame Ford, the same way HItler's allies and supporters thought they could control Hitler.

Scary stuff. Especially given Ford's attitudes towards various minority groups, and left leaners.

It is scary stuff. If Ford were in a position where he had much greater authority, or absolute control - yikes. I hate to imagine what he would do.

People like to throw out 'Godwin's Law' as though it points out the absurdity of comparing a relatively ordinary situation to Hitler's Third Reich - but I disagree that it's a bad thing. Dark undercurrents are always swirling and we need to be reminded of the human potential to become monsters. Similar atrocities continue to happen - it happened only a few years ago under MiloÅ¡ević and continues to happen in many nations as we speak.

I believe the Ford's are those types of monsters. Especially Doug. Give those guys too much power and some dark times await.

 

[someMidTowner]

...

Whoa. That was heavy

 

[facepalming_brooklynite]

Awww, geez, diving in...If given the opportunity, do you seriously think Ford Nation would have the "Trade Unionists. The Teachers and Intelligentsia, The Press. The Downtown Elites, the Leftists, The (Name your Hate Here...plenty of space available!) rounded up and brought down to Skydo...er...Rogers Centre, for a free tour? Followed by a mass, multi-calibre, Patriotic Rehabilitation and Salvation Of Dirt? C'mon.

Well, clearly Ford Nation is fueled by a deep-seated, visceral hatred of these (real or imagined) groups.

Rob Ford still enjoys considerable support and is still treated by the media as a legitimate participant in the political debate. In my view, this is evidence of a deep moral crisis in Canadian society, and there is no knowing how much lower it will go.

 

[TOperson]

It is scary stuff. If Ford were in a position where he had much greater authority, or absolute control - yikes. I hate to imagine what he would do.

People like to throw out 'Godwin's Law' as though it points out the absurdity of comparing a relatively ordinary situation to Hitler's Third Reich - but I disagree that it's a bad thing. Dark undercurrents are always swirling and we need to be reminded of the human potential to become monsters. Similar atrocities continue to happen - it happened only a few years ago under MiloÅ¡ević and continues to happen in many nations as we speak.

I believe the Ford's are those types of monsters. Especially Doug. Give those guys too much power and some dark times await.

Agree. E.g. our every online move is being tracked, trade negotiations are going on in secret (TPP), labour protections are being rolled back so we can "compete" with China and Bangladesh - it doesn't add up to a rosy future. And consider how much of the 14 characteristics of fascism could be checked off today:

http://www.anotheramerica.org/fascism.htm

We must never stop talking about this stuff (although I admit this isn't really the forum for it).

 

[newearthling]

Well, clearly Ford Nation is fueled by a deep-seated, visceral hatred of these (real or imagined) groups.

Rob Ford still enjoys considerable support and is still treated by the media as a legitimate participant in the political debate. In my view, this is evidence of a deep moral crisis in Canadian society, and there is no knowing how much lower it will go.

The only real exposure I have to a dialogue with 'Ford Nation' is on Josh Matlow's posts on FB. (And if they friends with JM, I am sure if they really are full fledged members of Fraud Nayshun.) There will always be 1 or 2 people who defend RF, say that he is being criminalized unjustly. Yesterday, apparently taking a page out of Doug's book, one woman compared RF to Jesus! It seems like there is a certain percentage of the population who are really really lost, with their moral compass damaged beyond repair.