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| Worse | 53% | 77 votes | Total: 144 votes | |
| Better | 47% | 67 votes |
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Add to FavoritesBritain is in a worse condition now than it was in 1997. Not in terms of material possessions, for we are all wealthier than we were ten years ago. But are we any better off? That's a different question from owning material possessions.
Although Labour Party supporters will tell you that Gordon Brown has ran a great economy since taking office, I'll tell them that they inherited pretty damn good conditions from 1993. After leaving the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, our recovery was quick and we have retained inflation of 3.0% and under, with low interest rates, and steady growth.
Gordon Brown has not done anything to make a bad situation good - he's only took a good situation and maintained it. Even at that - how much of this economic stewardship was under his responsibility? His first move was to give the Bank of England independence, so a lot of the credit goes to them rather than the ex-Chancellor.
During the 1980's he treated Margaret Thatcher's implementation of monetarism with utter disdain. Yet monetarism is nothing more than the control of inflation by controlling the supply of money through changing interest rates. So tell me, why does the Bank of England increase interest rates now? Surely to curb inflation, yes? Maybe when he had her round for supper the other week he was giving her an apology, although the British public have not received an apology for wasting our money and squandering our goodwill, so perhaps not.
Britain is worse off now than we were ten years ago. Ask the public what they think - at the last set of elections Scotland booted out Labour and the SNP romped home. In Wales, Labour got a battering and the Plaid Cymru done well. In England, many opted for the Tories for the first time in a decade and Labour got a bloody nose.
Despite billions of pounds of taxpayers money being spent, initative upon initative being launched, thousands of state employees being recruited... we have more young people not in education, employment or training now than we did in 1997. We have more young people caught up in drink and drugs, and at ever younger ages too, than we did in 1997.
We have went from a nation on the move - from triumphing in the Falklands war, breaking the USSR, bringing about the downfall of the Berlin Wall, freeing an entire continent from Communist/Socialist tyranny - to playing second fiddle to a European Union full of unelected bureaucrats that the British people know little of and care not much for.
Whereas we were a nation of proud people who were content with themselves and their place in life, we are now a nation of vain and unhappy people. Our young slit themselves to unleash their anguish, they dream of nothing but being famous - even once aspirational professions such as medicine are shunned. And is it any wonder when this government has presided over a period when attacks on nurses and doctors by thugs high on drugs have soared?
We are a nation preoccupied with celebrities and moronic TV shows about people trying to be famous. And is it any wonder? The Labour Party was once the movement for aspirational, working people. Tony Blair got his hands on it and turned it into a social club for the rich and famous elite.
The Trade Unionists were shunned, but Noel Gallagher and Bernie Ecclestone were warmly welcomed. You were only a something if you were someone. If you worked in a shop, laboured on a building site or drove a bus you had no truck with the great and the good anymore.
Britain is worse now than it was, but not in materialistic means. Our ill now does not come as easily to the eye than urban and industrial decay, but it's still there. And don't expect Gordon Brown to make it any better, for he has been at the heart of everything our current government has done for the last ten years. He says with the one hand he does not need to hold an election after succeeding Prime Minister Blair because he is not doing anything differently, but on the other hand he says he is change - yet he cannot do both...
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Better
This is by no means a clear-cut issue. However, certain salient points stand out from the crowd of Blair's legacy.
Fighting Terror - this is a very tough one. You cannot roll over and let terrorists walk all over you, and yet in Iraq and Afghanistan Blair has left Brown with a massive mess to sort out. Whatever Brown does, it is likely to be wrong, so in this sense it would seem that the UK is worse off.
Economic Growth - but hold on, since 1992 the UK has experienced continuous economic growth. We have maintained our standing among nations as a great economic power, have decentralised the interest rates mechanism which has stabilised inflation, and, to a certain extent, become a more integral part of the EU trading zone - which is both good and bad. The gap between rich and poor has also narrowed, albeit slightly. However, in terms of economics (whether this is more down to Brown or not is debateable) we are much better off.
Ireland - Blair was integral in fighting to end the troubles in Ireland. As he told the BBC: "I thought that... as we approached the end of the 20th century, a dispute of this nature in the modern world just seemed so irrational, so wrong, and so destructive. I had a sense that the time was right to make a move." Clearly the lack of IRA bombs in London is a good thing, but unfortunately they are replaced by Islamic ones. So the UK is perhaps slightly better off here - much better off in Northern Ireland.
Quality of living - this has gone almost nowhere. Attempts at welfare reform have achieved little in education or healthcare. There are not enough hospital beds, too many failing schools. Prisons are overflowing, crime is still high. Is life really that bleak? Well, for me, no. But in the centre of large cities it most certainly is. That is not to say that Britain is worse off however - generally life is better for gays and ethnic minorities, and as I've already mentioned, the very poor are slightly less poor, but there has not been much progression at all. Britain here is slightly better off if I'm being optimistic, but only slightly.
Policies and Tax - well. Taxes have been steadily rising over the years to help step on the rich and give to the poor, and fuel the "welfare reform". This is not all bad, as there are some results, but you can't help feeling that the money could have been much better spent. On the policies side there are a vast number, but the smoking in public places ban comes in next week, which I am strongly in favour of, there are more environmental taxes, more renewable energy sources and less old, dirty power stations. The somewhat barbaric sport of fox hunting has been banned, food standards are higher (particularly in schools), more people are getting into work and a flood of asylum seekers are helping to boost the economy. However, New Labour's pledge to reduce prison numbers amongst the young, drug users and so on has fallen flat on it's face, pensions are a disaster and the Trident missile program is being revamped (although I can't decide whether this is good or bad). Many people think the Labour party is too friendly with America, and the willingness with which we followed the US to Iraq is somewhat off putting, as many men have given their lives, plus thousands of innocent Iraqis. I could go on, but the rough conclusion here is, I would argue, that most Britons are slightly better off.
Other than that, there is the fiasco of the Millennium Dome, the cash-for-peerages scandal, and the spiralling cost of the 2012 Olympics for Brown to deal with. The Tories also seem to have a charismatic and intelligent leader, who will give Brown a run for his money come the next election.
Better off though? Yes. Britain is, believe it or not after that tirade, better off than it was before Blair. People like to moan, and to believe everything the media tells them, but really it is very difficult to ruin a country as strong as Britain, and Blair is a clever man. He made numerous mistakes, he certainly isn't the best Prime Minister in the history of Britain, and he has certainly left Brown some serious problems to deal with.
But the future's bright. And there's always David Cameron if Brown messes up.
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