Did Thatcher create the Chav underclass?

[TheMonkey]

I'm not that old myself but I don't remember any chavs prior to 1989! It's definitely a recent phenomenon. My father-in-law was the nearest thing in the 80's as he lived on a council estate and had two Sierra cosworths parked on his front drive and listened to the Quo. Then again he was a professional tradesman and worked pretty damn hard as well, something that is not so common with recent chavs.

I blame:

- Labour
- Drugs
- The internet
- Mobile phones
- Things being open late

or "the convenient society".

[benn0]

So based on all but one of the above replies, thatcher has nothing to answer for whatsoever?

Jesus wept, you're all even more deluded than I previously thought.

[TheMonkey]

So based on all but one of the above replies, thatcher has nothing to answer for whatsoever?

Jesus wept, you're all even more deluded than I previously thought.

Yeah - Thatcher smashed everyone's hopes leaving Labour to keep the remains in check.

[DimPrawn]

Yes we are all deluded and you alone are correct.

Now run along and vote Labour at the next election. Don't want the overpay of another £2bn in tax credits to end.

[Mordac]

So based on all but one of the above replies, thatcher has nothing to answer for whatsoever?

Well the poll tax was a stupid idea, but it's a very short debit column.

[AtW]

Well the poll tax was a stupid idea, but it's a very short debit column.

Dont know the details but the poll tax makes more sense to me than council tax which is raising pretty quickly.

[The Lone Gunman]

Well the poll tax was a stupid idea, but it's a very short debit column.

tulip I am agreeing with AtWat again.

The pole tax was a terrific idea, it was just the rabble rousing left that caused the rioting.
Poll tax: Badly implemented, but moraly right.

[Joe Black]

Agree with AtW's last comment, but not the poll tax part though.

The whole council tax thing wasn't a great idea either. For once I think the LibDems have a better/simpler idea of there being just a local income tax, or better still a fixed portion of the current income tax gets allocated to the local council.

Still, that would be too easy...

[John Galt]

Agree with AtW's last comment, but not the poll tax part though.

The whole council tax thing wasn't a great idea either. For once I think the LibDems have a better/simpler idea of there being just a local income tax, or better still a fixed portion of the current income tax gets allocated to the local council.

Still, that would be too easy...

The libdems idea of a local income tax is the stupidist idea in their whole stupidly stupid manifesto! Why should 5% of the population pay for the other 95%? It would be yet another wealth tax - you earn more ergo you pay more. The libdems just cannot grasp the fact that the wealthy pay the most for central services and use them the least but they still expect them to fork out without a wimper - same with NL. Had this argument with Charles Kennedy - his argument started with 'well you use the NHS' ...nope have private health care....'well you use public services'....nope live in the middle of nowhere and don't even have street lighting....'well you have probably used the benefits system'...nope, never. At this point I asked him again why I should pay for the 'poor and needy' to have what I don't use and he just avoided the question and spouted a load of party political claptrap.

[Joe Black]

Well, they're gonna tax you one way or another, and in almost all cases it will still be those with more money paying more, e.g. because you have bigger house or because someone else gets tax credits/exemptions etc which you don't.

The advantage at least of just taking it out of general taxation is that another layer of bureacracy is cut out, and you don't need thousands of big-brothers going round investigating whether you have a scenic view from the toilet window.