One thing you would change if you were PM.

[preiffer]

Ah yes - the "community support officers".

So, the streets are full of 16 year old thugs, who go around terrorising innocent bystanders. Hold on a second - how do they arrest themselves? [:I][:w]

[Darren Wheeler]

I'd get our prisoners to work out like there crims....

beats passing the soap

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by MrsG

Originally posted by slinky09

Seriously though, if I could change one thing it would be to make everybody smile and say hello to every person they meet every day

Better take a trip to Bermuda then, Slinky Bermudians are well known for being friendly to others. It took me a while to get use to the concept of a cordial 'how you doing?' greeting when I first arrived, but now it's second nature. I've always said it doesn't cost you anything to be polite to others. Still, when I'm back in England I have to remember to completely ignore everyone I see and look down at the ground instead[:(!]

You know you are so right...The British, long known for their manners have turned into a group of...oh hell.. Please Decker find the right word for me...it is a shame [:#]

Edit: Present company except Paul excluded of course

[Scrooge]

Oh yeah..what I would change..the tax system..has to go, same as here really, I got this weeks check..I take home a whopping 50% of my gross...and they say America has a "cheap" personal tax [:I]

Originally posted by mdvipond

Originally posted by Jon B

Originally posted by mdvipond
1. Obtain time machine

2. Go back to - say - early April 1997

3. Show everybody footage of Iraq war, Afghanistan, hoodies on street corners kicking law-abiding fathers to death, the state of schools, the NHS, law and order, a copy of my tax bill, the new EU 'constitution' etc. etc.

4. Ask people if they really believe that 'Things Can Only Get Better'...

One could easily say obtain a time machine, go back to say the mid eighties, watch the way the Conservatives consistently drove us through boom and bust on a regular basis. Privatised industries that we now moan give us crap service. Oh nearly forgot black Wednesday, ah yes, interest rates well into double figures..... the good old days huh

Jon B

Or - to follow your argument careering down its rickety path - you could go back to the 70's, when the trade unions held the nation to ransom and Labour drove the country to the brink of financial ruin. I could go on. The 1820's, for instance, were pretty rough under Wellington, especially if you were Catholic. Ah, the good old days indeed. Mind you, I'm led to believe the streets were a lot safer then than they are now. And that was before the advent of the mighty 'Community Support Officer'. Cripes.

Now, where did I put my D:Ream album...

Lets not forget the 'rickety path' I went down was planned and constructed in the first instance by your good self

Now I suggest you stand by your beliefs and I'll stand by mine and we'll agree to differ to save this from progressing further down the political tit for tat route, otherwise we'll have to listen to how Lord Derby and Benjamin Disraeli saved this country from going to hell in a handcart

Jon B

Originally posted by Jon B

Originally posted by mdvipond
1. Obtain time machine

2. Go back to - say - early April 1997

3. Show everybody footage of Iraq war, Afghanistan, hoodies on street corners kicking law-abiding fathers to death, the state of schools, the NHS, law and order, a copy of my tax bill, the new EU 'constitution' etc. etc.

4. Ask people if they really believe that 'Things Can Only Get Better'...

One could easily say obtain a time machine, go back to say the mid eighties, watch the way the Conservatives consistently drove us through boom and bust on a regular basis. Privatised industries that we now moan give us crap service. Oh nearly forgot black Wednesday, ah yes, interest rates well into double figures..... the good old days huh

Jon B

And do you honestly think Maggie would have us in the position we are now? She dragged this country kicking a screaming into the 20th. century after years of labour-trade unions holding this country to ransom.

[RichardMannion]

Not as if she stopped the free milk for the kids now is it?

[Darren Wheeler]

Oooo. Showing your age perhaps - "Thatcher the milk snatcher"

Why does no-one remember it being warm, rank and in an iffy looking bottle?

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
Oooo. Showing your age perhaps - "Thatcher the milk snatcher"

Why does no-one remember it being warm, rank and in an iffy looking bottle?

Hands up. I'm too young to have got free milk at school! [:0]

[HighFlyer]

I remember getting free milk at school. It was awful, except on the one day that the delivery was late and we actually had cold milk for once. I feel so old writing that [:(] We used to get two biscuits as well. No idea what they were but they were nice. Probably had some iron supplement in them or something.

Thanks,
Sarah

[Scrooge]

And school meals were meals..not another fast food outlet....middle school custard..mmmmmmm

[Decker]

Were they shaped like a bone with writing on them? [:p]

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by Decker
Were they shaped like a bone with writing on them? [:p]

No..we went to school in the south [:0]

[HighFlyer]

Originally posted by Scrooge

No..we went to school in the south [:0]

LOLOL :D

What's this Richard? marrying the older woman? [:o)][:o)]

Actually regarding the milk (i was a milk monitor at school) many children did not drink it so it was just wasted (apart from the milk that made its way to the staff room acidentaly) so a drain on countries finances. Funnily enough, since free milk was stopped, children have not reduced in height and there is not a calcium deficiency problem is there?

These days it's now subsidised milk and you pay each term for the precious ones to get it.
However, unlike in my days at school, they now have a fridge to keep it nice an cool in.

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
Oooo. Showing your age perhaps - "Thatcher the milk snatcher"

And in that one act she won over a constituency of schoolchildren who would vote for her in later life.

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
Why does no-one remember it being warm, rank and in an iffy looking bottle?

I remember it that way. Except when the weather was so cold that we had to thaw the frozen contents of the bottles on the heating pipes. Then the end result was a pillar of frozen milk surrounded by a thin and lukewarm substance. Ooops. Excuse me, think I'm going to hea....

Originally posted by Scrooge
And school meals were meals..not another fast food outlet....middle school custard..mmmmmmm

Unfortunately my pre sixth form school kitchen was run by the Bolton equivalent of Lunchlady Doris. Never,ever, mention egg custard tart in my presence. Now when I went to sixth form, things changed. Fond memories of manchester tart (a food item, not a person) and cheese and onion pie.

William Brown

Originally posted by stoneman

Originally posted by Jon B

Originally posted by mdvipond
1. Obtain time machine

2. Go back to - say - early April 1997

3. Show everybody footage of Iraq war, Afghanistan, hoodies on street corners kicking law-abiding fathers to death, the state of schools, the NHS, law and order, a copy of my tax bill, the new EU 'constitution' etc. etc.

4. Ask people if they really believe that 'Things Can Only Get Better'...

One could easily say obtain a time machine, go back to say the mid eighties, watch the way the Conservatives consistently drove us through boom and bust on a regular basis. Privatised industries that we now moan give us crap service. Oh nearly forgot black Wednesday, ah yes, interest rates well into double figures..... the good old days huh

Jon B

And do you honestly think Maggie would have us in the position we are now? She dragged this country kicking a screaming into the 20th. century after years of labour-trade unions holding this country to ransom.

I'm sure her parents Phorcys and Ceto are very proud of her

Jon B