Pay attention Old Girl. The word is gloating..... as shown in several posts by the rather strange people who hold a particular viewpoint on this forum. And incidentally, as expressed by that late unlamented shaven headed Union bully boy.

There was no mention of censorship that I recall.

I don't recall seeing any posts from someone who gloated over Margaret Thatcher's death demanding that nobody should gloat over Bob Crow's.

I did see disagreements over Crow himself, but that's far from being the same thing.

And if "no gloating was allowed", then it suggests censorship because how else would that be achieved on a forum such as this?

Loopy leftist views? Oh you mean all those things such as racial equality, gay rights etc.. that are all taken as being the norm these days!
I was fortunate to encounter Tony Benn twice in the last year, once in London and once on a beautiful summer's day in Tolpuddle in Dorset, such a great man!
A truly crap week for the left.

One of the best politicians ever. A shame the "establishment"( the unelected power brokers) were able to vilify him through their rags and people were daft enough to believe all the guff.
A shame he never made PM.
A great HUMANITARIAN something very few politicians are these days.

Would comfortably talk rings around most of todays politicians, journalists and commentators- especially that shower they had on QT last night.

My honest opinion of him, I thought he was a talker rather than a dooer, making things actually happen in government or politics relies on a certain pragmatism that I think he lacked in favour of always staying on his message. There is no question he was intelligent and I agree with many of his stated principles, but when I read his 5 questions I do wonder if he fell short himself when it came to who he served. In my opinion he served himself as much as any I have seen in politics, the fact his ideals were in many cases aligned with many of my beliefs doesn't alter the fact that his, at times, innability to see past his own agenda at a time when his brand of socialism was not a vote winner cost the Labour party and the country dearly. Self indulgent when the country needed an opposition that was united and electable. I'm sure some old Tories were huge fans of Tony Benn and his work on the left of the Labour party.

But even as a kid I knew who he was and what he stood for. Government these days looks like the management team of WHSmith - and is just as recognisable.

I wonder if his diaries will ever get published? On-line versions could make intersting reading, but then maybe you don't need to know everything about everybody.

[url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_n_3?rh=n%3A67%2Ck%3ATony+Benn&keywords=Tony+Benn&ie=UTF8&qid=1394815744&rnid=1642204031I think most of them are available[/url.

As I was typing that I thought they had been. Thanks.

Seemed a very decent, principled man. The product of a good, Protestant upbringing.

What odd logic ... in fact no logic at all.

Quote ="Stand-Offish"What odd logic ... in fact no logic at all.'" www.standard.co.uk/news/politics ... rnalSearch

Quote ="Stand-Offish"What odd logic ... in fact no logic at all.'" www.standard.co.uk/news/politics ... rnalSearch

It's the way I read it as though the former was a natural result of the latter, which in no way is a guaranteed outcome.
There was nothing wrong with what you wrote.
My mistake.

When Wilson eviscerated the mines and miners in the 60's, where was Benn, the "champion of the powerless"?

No that load of old fanny again?

Whenever right-wingers want to excuse Thatcher's anhialation of the mining industry, they always bring up the fact that Wilson closed more pits. They also conveniently forget to mention that the NUM, however reluctantly, went along with the closures because they accepted the argument that the pits earmarked for closure were exhausted. They also worked with the Labout government of the day to ensure as many miners as possible were redeployed in other, productive pits.

But Thatcher wasn't going to close all them pits didn't you know?
It's all Scargill's fault that the UK mining industry is deceased, apparently.

No, there was only ever a dozen pits marked for closure, all that bother over a dozen exhausted pits.

Until the truth came out of course.

[iBecause we are members of the Protestant Reformed Church, which successfully challenged the autocratic power of the Papacy in the mid-sixteenth century, we can wear little rubber devices to prevent issue. [/i

169,000 people thrown on the scrap heap by Wilson and the ensuing silence from "Quisling" Benn.

Anything to back that figure up?

Strangely enough, there wasn't much of a murmur from the NUM either. I lived through that era, I don't have to rely on bollox soundbites from right-wingers

As I recall, you're from Hull. That's hardly living la Dolce Vita at the best of times, so just what it must have been like in the era of 3 day weeks, power cuts, weekly strikes and the Winter of Discontent with fridge trucks being used to store the unburied dead etc etc does stretch the term living a fair old bit. Perhaps the disappointment of such an existence is responsible for your attitude today?

In any case, the NUM were the architects of their own destiny, and more fool them for the outcome to their year long strike. A strike called without a ballot of the members as I recall.

Oh, and all those gormless folk squacking that Margaret Thatcher lied about the amount of pits which were earmarked for closure. Since when has any General in history, ever published a comprehensive list of targets and numbers prior to a battle? Deception is an essential and powerful weapon in any conflict. Thatcher's aims were not only to defeat Scargill, but to humiliate the entire NUM, and by extension other militants, so that once and for all, the UK was rid of these particular Union bully boys. It was Game, Set and Match to the grocer's daughter when the dust settled.

The only miners I have any sympathy for were the guys in Nottinghamshire who saw through Scargill's little game , and set up their own Union. Unfortunately for them, they were shafted by the leader in traditional nose in the trough style a few years later.

The Old Girl must be sing up there on her cloud that you lot are still bitching 30 years on.....

LOL.

Now give us your real opinion.

Visiting a political thread on The Sin Bin is what I imagine it's like to be a fly on the wall in a dementia hospital.

The death of Tony Benn is a terrible loss to all who admire honour, humanitarianism and fairness in a human being. Which should be everybody, but so sadly isn't, thus reinforcing why such rare and precious jewels as he are so crucial to fight our corner for us. I hate all but a handful of politicians, as now they increasingly stand for nothing but themselves and their own advancement, but I have no hesitation in going as far as saying I loved Anthony Wedgwood Benn. RIP Tony, and rejoin your beloved Caroline.

He was one of the people who drew me into politics, which was why I too was at that Militant rally, rover49, graced by his presence. Did you go to many such events, if so, I wonder if I know you? The Albert Hall one was probably the coup d'etat with the working classes demonstrating their manufacturing and engineering skills via the plethora of skillfully diverse paper planes sent spiralling downwards from the uppers tiers of the Hall.

You really think it is acceptable for a government to lie to the people to this degree? If the information had come out that the government was lying it would have been political dynamite because it wasn't a General trying to deceive the enemy as you would have it but a politician lying to the people. There is a huge difference and if you think it is OK you must want to live in a dictatorship where the government just lies to you all the time.

She was bloody lucky we weren't in the Information age we now live in or I doubt the deceit would have lasted five minutes.



So you think despite the biggest economic crisis since the 1920's the fact the Tories could not win the general election in 2010 due in no small measure to them being toast in large parts of the former mining areas is game, set and match?

Believe it or not people in these areas did used to vote Tory in enough numbers to get some Tory MP's elected every now and again but now the Tories may as well be aliens in certain parts of the country and it all started with how they dealt with the miners. Making your party unelectable is no victory.

Quote ="cod'ead"Anything to back that figure up? Strangely enough, there wasn't much of a murmur from the NUM either. I lived through that era, I don't have to rely on bollox soundbites from right-wingers'" www.ncm.org.uk/docs/collections- ... f?sfvrsn=2 Of course you wouldn't hear a murmur from the NUM, when you're compliant with destruction you hardly shout from the rooftops. Still, "Quisling" Benn did ok, promotion in the cabinet under a man who destroyed communities. They make his speeches in the house where he talks about how the miners (amongst others) built the country even more laughable. Yet another professional class warrior full of "bollox soundbites". If I were Bob Crow, I wouldn't want my name linked with this charlatan.

Quote ="cod'ead"Anything to back that figure up? Strangely enough, there wasn't much of a murmur from the NUM either. I lived through that era, I don't have to rely on bollox soundbites from right-wingers'" www.ncm.org.uk/docs/collections- ... f?sfvrsn=2 Of course you wouldn't hear a murmur from the NUM, when you're compliant with destruction you hardly shout from the rooftops. Still, "Quisling" Benn did ok, promotion in the cabinet under a man who destroyed communities. They make his speeches in the house where he talks about how the miners (amongst others) built the country even more laughable. Yet another professional class warrior full of "bollox soundbites". If I were Bob Crow, I wouldn't want my name linked with this charlatan.

Do you write this type of thing as a wind up or, as I suspect, you really are that ignorant about the history of this country.