I'll start this week's

[Guest77]

Rubbish.

Tony B Liar had them by the short and curlies and they were very compliant.

Rubbish total rollocks

 

[Octopus]

Rubbish total rollocks

Yup he was

 

[Guest77]

Yup he was

In your opinion, my opinion is he was a great primeminister, unlike thatcher who you idolise, we all have differing opinions, thats what makes the forum so interesting.

 

[Octopus]

In your opinion, my opinion is he was a great primeminister, unlike thatcher who you idolise, we all have differing opinions, thats what makes the forum so interesting.

Er no.

Blair was simply a watered down version of Thatcher. he didn't represent the working man, and neither do any of them now

 

[Guest111]

Nick Clegg has today admitted that the current policy towards recreational drugs is a fight that successive governments have been losing for years and this situation is unlikely to change. For once I agree with him.
I say that recreational drugs should all be legalised for the following reasons-
Many people are harmed each year because dealers are not bothered what they mix with their crap to dilute it, if the trade were controlled then the purity could also be regulated. This would reduce strain on the NHS.
Tax could be generated from sales creating an income of many millions if not billions annually.
Profits from the trade end up in the hands of major criminals, legalisation would take this revenue out of criminal hands and put a lot of them out of business.
I hate to mention the T word but funds from the drug trade have been linked to terrorist groups over the years.
Over to you my learned friends for your opinions.

My only problem with legalising drugs is most addicts don't work and a lot steal to fund their habit,now too me it's bad enough that they steal anyway but stealing to get money then popping down to boots to buy the gear well that's even worse,unless they're going to release a high purity drug and hopefully bump a load of the scumbags off.

 

[trev]

There'll be no need to steal if it were decriminalised.
Do you worry about alcoholics or gambling addicts committing burglaries?

 

[Guest111]

There'll be no need to steal if it were decriminalised.
Do you worry about alcoholics or gambling addicts committing burglaries?

I think it's disgusting that any lowlife should go around stealing,there was an old lady round my way who was repeatedly broken into by drug using scumbags,also I hate the bleeding heart lawyers who play on things such as "they come from a broken home,they were abused as a child etc".Incidentally Trev on a slightly different note,an enhanced CRB will show any convictions that you've had regardless of age,that's why it's an enhanced.Although under the terms of the rehabilitation of offenders act a conviction is classed as spent after a certain length of time,there are situations when it may be desirable to know exactly what offences a person has commited,for example if someone gets convicted of under age sex then although that conviction will be spent after X number of years,you still would not want them working with young children.It's usually in situations where the employee may come into contact with children or vulnerable persons that an enhanced is required.

 

[trev]

Cheers for that Phil, you obviously have read a lot of what has been posted. So
Do you think that a stupid mistake at 17yo should come back to bite a person on the arse 25 years later when they're a totally different person?
There was a question that you missed though
You mentioned drug addicts committing crime as a reason for recreational drugs not to be legalised.
Do you worry about alcoholics committing burglaries to feed their habits

 

[Guest111]

Cheers for that Phil, you obviously have read a lot of what has been posted. So
Do you think that a stupid mistake at 17yo should come back to bite a person on the arse 25 years later when they're a totally different person?
There was a question that you missed though
You mentioned drug addicts committing crime as a reason for recreational drugs not to be legalised.
Do you worry about alcoholics committing burglaries to feed their habits

This is a conversation I had with a young lad recently,no I don't think that one stupid mistake should haunt you for life,however whether they're junkies,alcoholics or gambling addicts,the fact that they steal is not only wrong but shows the selfish mentality they have,there are things that I would like but cannot afford but I'd never dream of stealing to get them.One night some years back my wife was out for a walk,I was ill at the time,and as she came around the corner 2 lads jumped out at her,they looked like druggies,thin and wasted.Unfortunately for them,she'd been persuaded to take my works dog out with her and it pinned them up against the wall.Apparently they were there for about 15 minutes,although my wife was not the handler the dog went into "protect" mode,the thing was they had to wait 'till the dog got bored as she didn't know the command to make it walk away.I don't know who was more shocked,the junkies at the dog being there or my wife at what it did,she'd seen what it was trained to do but always thought it only worked when I put my uniform on.lol

 

[trev]

The whole point of me starting this one was to try to get behind a lot of the BS that's thrown around about addictions. People talk about junkies (and yes, I hate what they do too) committing crime to feed their habit but are happy to ignore other addictions like gambling or alcohol because they are legal habits.
Some countries have relaxed their laws concerning recreational drugs and have seen a drop in related crime because of the way they treat it since decriminalisation. To me that has to be a better way, if you treat the causes of addiction it has to be better than treating the results of it. As always, education is the key.
There will always be a problem with people seeking oblivion in what ever way they can get it but the desire for that oblivion invariably (to me anyway) seems to come from poverty. The poorest areas have the higher degree of problems, sort that out and a good job has been done

 

[Guest111]

Agree totally with sorting out the poverty and thereby alleviating the need for drugs unfortunately these days unless you went to Eton or are one of the boy's none of these governments seem bothered about you. I remember many years ago and I was living just outside London,people there were getting a jail sentence for their first house burglary,yet up north people were still free after comminting dozens,talk about a north south divide,the mp's were not bothered what went on until it happened in their back yard.

 

[Rockingit]

I left in the Alcohol bit just for debate. Did you know that 14 year old can buy beer in a pub? I did'nt!

Duff info there matey. That got changed in the Act 2003 - it's 18 on licensed premises, full stop.

I'm a fully qualified licensee btw!

 

[Pete999]

Er no.

Blair was simply a watered down version of Thatcher. he didn't represent the working man, and neither do any of them now

Do any of them represent the working Man, don't think so, lying thieving rich gits the lot of them,

 

[Guest77]

Er no.

Blair was simply a watered down version of Thatcher. he didn't represent the working man, and neither do any of them now

I don't think so, he repaired this country after 20 years of tory cuts and non public spending when children were sitting in school halls with coats on due to no heating because of tory cuts, I saw it myself, he had to get our 3rd world schools modernised and up to scratch, His main mistake even I didn't like was sucking up to george bush and being his puppet, a bit like cameron with Obama now but no war so it doesn't stand out so much, and remember he was under the tory media spotlight for all his 11 years in office as well.

Back to the schools, I worked at over 200 different schools in Gloucestershire during the eightiees and ninetiees and saw first hand the damage no public spending did to them, I spoke to head teachers who were scratching around for cash to get roofs or boilers or even toilets replaced or refurbed, I worked in Southrop school in the mid ninetiees doing a small kitchen refurb when school dinners were done away with so it could be converted to a store room and the school had no heating, it was like it for 3 months and the kids wore coats and sat in an old victorian school hall eating sandwiches and not hot dinners. I witnessed old toilets in many schools with old tubular heating with wire cages around them and freezing cold rooms for the kids to go to the loo with terrible washing facilities, it can go on if you like.

When Blair got into power things changed, we had so much work repairing it all it was great, we installed new downflow heaters in toilets as a temporary fix until the schools had their heating modernised and proper central heating installed, handriers were installed and school dinners were back, now they were not great lol, but they were back. We were installing new computer suits where children could access the internet and learn to work on PCs, we installed dozens of new labatory rooms for chemistry and biology, I never did any of that between 1983-1997. Our economy was growing we were the 4th richest country in the world and unemployment was very low, everyone was working, times were good, under Gorden Brown things went south, but IMO the American banking system was to blame for that. We as a country are spending more now and borrowing more now than ever before, even more than when Tony was in office, I am aware I am alone on this forum in thinking he was a Good Man, but hey ho, a few words from you lot won't change history will it :biggrin: Oh and I don't need a tin hat.

 

[Rockingit]

I've just read this thread with real interest. Now, you'll have to forgive me for sitting on the fence slightly on this subject for two simple reasons:

1 - I've spent most of my working career in the 'sex, drugs, rock n roll' industry and so have seen maybe more than the average Joe, and 2) As both a healthy living type (despite the odds!) and a parent I also see the risks. And, the former Rockingit isn't going to claim some moral high ground, either.

So...on one hand you have Trevs argument that prohibition has failed and if you legalise then you can both control and profit. But on the other, two weeks ago at a festival I was assisting Paramedics dealing with some kid who nearly killed himself on Ketamine (which I think is 'only' class C). Somewhere there is a middle ground, but I think - as with alcohol abuse - that the answers lie within social attitude and not the law.