“Just a shame that NJ had to come along and spoil it with his brainwashing crap…”
I can only say this, jim (and sorry to have “spoiled” the responses). I come into contact with quite a large number of youngsters (still in education) in the course of my work. Probably not as many as you, but quite a number nonetheless and from a wide range of backgrounds. When the topic of recent UK history raises its head almost all of them tell me that they have been told that Mrs Thatcher, among many other blunders from which the UK still suffers, “caused the war in the Falkland Islands” by her negligence and intransigence (they do not use those terms, but the implication is clear). When quizzed they have little or no idea how the dispute came about and little or no idea why it was dealt with in the way it was. Perhaps “brainwashing” is a bit harsh a term but it is quite clear to me that they are being misled and fed incorrect information about that matter (and indeed many others) which occurred during Mts T’s tenure. I don’t know whether they are taught about it in history lessons (in fact, I’m not sure what they are taught in history lessons as their grasp of history, both recent and older, seems somewhat lacking to say the least). But taught about it they are.
Ask around a bit, rather than depend of what you believe the youngsters are taught, and you may be surprised.
“…all colonialists must be forcibly returned to their native countries”
Are you suggesting then, helen, that the people of the Falkland Islands should be forcibly “repatriated” to the UK – a place where probably they or none of their ancestors going back many generations have lived?
“...Portugal,Spain,Italy and Nazi Germany must be forced to take back all these colonialists.”
So who is going to run South America when all these “colonists” have been repatriated?
“But the problem here is that new rules, however well intentioned, mean that effectively anyone can vote. And while it may be wonderfully democratic, it is totally unworkable.”
Well that’s their fault. Nobody forced them to sell votes for three quid.
“ Lots of well meaning people, whose commitment to labour is however questionable, are paying a pittance to send someone wholly unsuitable to the leadership”
Who says he’s unsuitable? The idea of extending the vote was to select a candidate that everybody wanted, surely?