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goodbye to the old comrades

geoffwp

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First Bob Crowe and now Tony Benn. The working classes have lost two heroes just recently. Personally I have always been of the view that trades unions are still as relevant today as they were when they were formed, after all who else is going to protect the working man or woman from the excesses of management? Conditions of employment, wages, pensions etc. Does anyone really believe that managers have the best interests of the workers at the very heart of their thinking? No way. Managers have themselves at the very heart and the workers can be expected to pay for that. Who will protect the workers? The workers themselves as always. We may live in a very different century but human greed does not change. Union is strength. Power to the workers.
 

wemissmoxey

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First Bob Crowe and now Tony Benn. The working classes have lost two heroes just recently. Personally I have always been of the view that trades unions are still as relevant today as they were when they were formed, after all who else is going to protect the working man or woman from the excesses of management? Conditions of employment, wages, pensions etc. Does anyone really believe that managers have the best interests of the workers at the very heart of their thinking? No way. Managers have themselves at the very heart and the workers can be expected to pay for that. Who will protect the workers? The workers themselves as always. We may live in a very different century but human greed does not change. Union is strength. Power to the workers.
Spoken like a true teacher.
 

PeteUSA

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Spoken like a true teacher.
You wouldnt think he used to get twelve weeks holiday a year!
 

Stuffy

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The one word that both management and unions don't understand is "moderation".

Tis an ill wind when one or the other flex their muscles to the extreme.
 

Grecian_In_Exile

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Definition of stupid, knowing the truth, seeing th
R.I.P. Brothers
 

tavyred

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Swingeing condemnation of the Viscount Stansgate by Denis Healey on Newsnight last night. Like most people I grew to like Tony Benn in his later years, but his antics in the 70`s and 80`s and his undermining of the moderate wing of the Labour Party contributed greatly to the excesses of Thatcher period.
 

Chuckles

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The Circus
Not a fan of Bob Crowe but I did have alot of time for Tony Benn. I studied A level politics at Exeter College and was taught by Workers Revloutionary Party member Geoff Barr in 1980. All but 2 in the class were left wing, CND badges everywhere. National Front had split and BNP under Tindall was launched. My right wing stance thankfully was tempered with being Treasurer for Greenpeace South West (yes hard to believe). I saw Benn as a decent, articulate, charismatic leader, yet Labour opted for complete mediocrity to lead them. Benn never got personal with the likes of Enoch Powell opting for fact above rhetoric and raw emotion and the mistake by Labour not to have him as leader lead to Tory dominance for a decade. If I could have had my time again I would have worn a CND badge and in class hidden my right wing politic...that way I would have had some of the hot left wing tottie available....I never got a sniff.

Tony Benn was a Great Briton in my opinion
 

edindevon

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Together We Are Stronger.
Not a fan of Bob Crowe but I did have alot of time for Tony Benn. I studied A level politics at Exeter College and was taught by Workers Revloutionary Party member Geoff Barr in 1980. All but 2 in the class were left wing, CND badges everywhere. National Front had split and BNP under Tindall was launched. My right wing stance thankfully was tempered with being Treasurer for Greenpeace South West (yes hard to believe). I saw Benn as a decent, articulate, charismatic leader, yet Labour opted for complete mediocrity to lead them. Benn never got personal with the likes of Enoch Powell opting for fact above rhetoric and raw emotion and the mistake by Labour not to have him as leader lead to Tory dominance for a decade. If I could have had my time again I would have worn a CND badge and in class hidden my right wing politic...that way I would have had some of the hot left wing tottie available....I never got a sniff.

Tony Benn was a Great Briton in my opinion
Geoff was my lecturer at college as well, I remember the pained expression on his face when he talked about the New Right. He was a good man and I think he has been elected on to some sort of NHS governing body now. He was also an extremely good chess player.

I'm sorry to see both Benn and Crowe go, not so much because of their policies but because, in very different ways, they were real characters - something sadly missing from today's political scene, as others have mentioned. A testament to Benn's personality was that none other than the Rev Ian Paisley described him as his best friend in Parliament.
 

geoffwp

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... If I could have had my time again I would have worn a CND badge and in class hidden my right wing politic...that way I would have had some of the hot left wing tottie available....I never got a sniff.
Chuckles, the availability of tottie was a major factor in my political education and any stance I took. Being the first on my course to get hold of a copy of Mao's little red book was a major score...if you know what I mean. ;)
 

DB9

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Jun 19, 2005
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Hampshire. Heart's in N Devon
Two big hitters of the left passing, Seems like all the ones with a bit about them have gone. Whether you are left or right in your politics you have to agree nowadays what we have in the Houses of Parliament are just a load of grey, lifeless MPs who really you cant tell which ones are representing which party
 
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