Roughly half of the USA's voting public might well be feeling pretty euphoric this weekend following the mid-term elections.
I felt nothing short of total euphoria in May 97 when New Labour finally knocked the Tories from their perch over here in GB. I enjoyed reading newspaper after newspaper, that weekend, to absorb every last bit of post-election analysis.
Anyhow, I doubt I'll ever be able to feel such optimism again as result of an election victory.
That's not to say that I've been totally disappointed by Labour's record of achievements. Their failures are obvious and much reported. But here are some of my favourite Labour successes:
1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s (I like that because there was this strongly held belief that a Labour government would not be able to manage the economy)
2. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.35 (anecdotally, this has caused problems for some individuals, but on the whole, it's a good thing)
3. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries (I should jolly well hope so too)
4. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time (and I'm pretty sure that women get a better deal on this too, but not checked my facts)
5. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
6. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks’ paid holiday (Labour'srecord on addressing injustices within employment law is pretty remarkable and goes rather unreported a lot of the time - they've almost done the unions out of a job, but not quite!)
7. Banned fox hunting
8. Five, six and seven year olds in class sizes of 30 or less (that should read 'fewer' - clearly the original writer went to an over-populated primary school under a conservative government!)
9. Free entry to national museums and galleries (I like that a lot, but wonder whether it benefits all within society and not just member of the middle classes who happen to live within reach of nationals)
10. Free fruit for all four to six-year-olds at school
Labour has also scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships. I was rather surprised when David Cameron spoke in favour of this at the Conservative Party Conference, and amused to see zombified members of his augience applauding him and then 'sucking on lemons' as they realised exactly what it was they were applauding!
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2 comments:
Hmm, I'm not into politics but it's interesting for me to see how seriously you take it. I would never have known you were so deeply passionate about it.
I'm rather like a child, when it comes to politics. I'd rather not know, but I do vote. I vote the same way as my parents, which amuses me, as I always gripe about their parenting, but have followed them in that one thing and made up my own parenting rules!
(Thank goodness that map thing is out of the way now, everything's back to normal again!)
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