Ted Heath

quote:

didn't know, until I watched the BBC2 programme last night, that Teddy lived in Salisbury.

Yes - he had a very nice house right in the cathedral close - a superb location if you have ever been there. I saw the programme too and the gauche attempt at marriage brokering made me laugh. It was scary to think they were serious!

Brad

I seem to remember from a very old copy of Hifi Choice that he had and LP12. Can't remember what amps he used, but I've got a feeling they were American.
John

No idea what kit he used, but it was a fascinating programme. I thought he came across really quite well.

regards,

Tam

A great bloke.

I liked him - it was said he was to the left of Tony Blair. Confess, although a socialist, to voting his party in the first year in UK we were allowed to vote when reaching 18. Nice to hear some eulogies/his name with Wilson's in Beatles' 'Taxman' ...

Chaps

Because someone is dead is not a reason to view them through rose tinted glasses.

Heath was a washout.

He got us into the common market for the right reason (less chance of a war in Europe) but his negotiation ability was rubbish. We were screwed from day one until Thatcher secured a rebate.

He allowed inflation to rise (£1 pw + 4%) and his track record on controlling the unions was abysmal.

The rank and file Tories of today are glad to see the sulky old sod go six foot under.

Thatcher undid his mess and when she dies, there will be a state funeral, she ran circles around Heath in both domestic and foreign policy.

Heath is best regarded as a bad memory.

Regards

Mick

The only thing I remember about Heath the tory leader was his grin, his tan and his fondness for yachting in times of crisis. So it's "Hello sailor and goodbye".

I'm still trying to forget the princess of darkness. As are most of those who survived her term as a war criminal. What little good she did in this world was always for completely the wrong reasons.

Class hatred was her faith and class hatred will be her epitaph. May her final years involve at least a fraction of the suffering she caused in this world.

Her grave will have to be totally inaccessible, constantly guarded or armoured to survive a week unscathed.

A living flame would be an excellent reminder to others of her precise destination when she goes. We will remember the miners, Argentina, Rhodesia and South Africa. We will bow our heads, not to her memory, but in shame.

Nime

I agree that we shouldn't view people in a better light than they deserve simply because they're dead; Heath clearly made a mess of a number of things. When I said he came across quite well, I meant in the way he chose to answer some questions and not others in the interviews, not in terms of being a great prime minister, he clearly wasn't.

As far as Thatcher goes, while she certainly did an awful lot of things that needed doing, particularly smashing the unions (as well as the rebate and some generally good economic policy), there were other things that were less glorious: the westland affair, the poll tax and the Falklands war. We shouldn't rush to deify her either.


regards,

Tam

All very intersting (or maybe not), but did he have any Naim gear?

G

Mick

You crack me up. All I have to say is keep writing. In a world of political correctness, you are never dull. Occasionally you are even thought provoking. I don't always agree but you are, as I say, never ever dull.

Regards
Clay

I somehow don't think Mick would be a great fan of Tory Amos

Brad

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
The rank and file Tories of today are glad to see the sulky old sod go six foot under.

And what about you, Mick? Are you "glad to see the sulky old sod go six foot under"?

I liked Ted Heath & voted in referendum against joining EEC.

I am sure that Mr Heath as all of us including Mr Mick Parry had faults.

quote:

Originally posted by Chumpy:
....including Mr Mick Parry had faults.

you speak of Mr Parry's faults in the past tense, has the unthinkable happened?

I did wonder about semantic linguistic interpretation possibilities of my post - I'm sure Mr Parry as all of us is amending his faults.

quote:

And what about you, Mick? Are you "glad to see the sulky old sod go six foot under"?

I do not rejoice in the death of anyone but Heath was useless. He was a glorified Pinko and allowed the state to meddle in our affairs far too much.

Thank God we had Maggie to put his and Callaghans (who was an equally useless sod) mess right.

She was something special.

Regards

Mick

Unfortunately, however, Maggie was barking mad!

All of which takes us ever further away from Ted Heath's musical equipment, but I'm giving up hope on receiving any response to that.

Graham

Damn shame! I'm sure if Sir Mike Thrust hadn't hated him so much you would have had the inside story from one of Ted's own social circle. Luckily he wasn't. So nobody was hurt.

Is there such a thing as a GOOD politician? I think not! Oh sure a supporter can find some highlights in a typical political career to point to, which may or may not have been that individual's idea ( I refer to the old "power behind the throne" effect).

In my opinion at least over my life span there have been no shining stars in the political firmament only degrees of badness and incapability.

At least Heath was consistent to the end. In the film they showed on BBC Two he refused to be pushed from any of his dogmatism or reveal anything as a retrosepctive defence of some earlier criticism.

God preserve us from the ones that apologize all the time with such insincerity,which we are supposed to find so reassuring. Their the one's that really scare.

Ted was a bit rubbish, as anyone who lived through the three day week will testify. He was also a lot more right-wing than people think - many of the policies of his goverment could be described as "proto-Thatcherite". History will probably show that the country was not yet ready for these policies (or indeed for "taking on" the unions) in 1970-74; wheras it was in '79.

However, he was a lower-middle class grammar school boy who got where he was through talent and hard work. He was also, well before the war, a passionate anti-fascist (when many members of the Tory party were either Nazi appeasers or Nazi supporters). He also fought in the war with a great deal of distinction - which is more than one can say for those cowardly and pampered right-wing columnists in papers like the Mail.

Heath was also a magnificently grumpy (and intriguingly self-destructive) presence whose bad temper brightened up the political scene no end. He was also just about the only person in his party with the guts to stand up to Thatcher, so full marks to the old boy for that.

Those who criticise his enthusiasm for the European project also fail to take into account the fact that he fought in the war and saw at first hand the terrible suffering and destructon wreaked by that conflict. Reasonably enough, and like many of his generation, he thought closer integration would prevent that happening again.

Heath's a bit like Major. Both will be remembered for things they'd rather not be remembered for - in Heath's case, conflict with the miners, the three-day week, industrial strife and inflation; in Major's case, sleaze and the National Lottery.

As for the wicked witch of Grantham, once the obsequies are over, and once the dribbling fools in the right-wing press have written their fawning profiles, what will Thatch be remembered for?

For a series of ill-conceived and disastrously managed privatisations which (with the exception of BA and BT) have led to higher prices and worse service for the hard-pressed consumer. For dogmatically following the cretinous monetary policies of quack economists like "Dr" Milton Friedman and Alan Walters with scant regard to the consequences. For allowing the imperialiist Yankees to invade a member of the commonwealth. For presiding over a disastrous diminution of the availability of social housing. For a pointless and bloody war (the great writer Borges likened the Falklands spat to two bald men fighting over a comb). For stalinist centralising policies that destroyed much of the fabric of local democracy in this country. For selling off much of the nation's wealth. For her contempt for decent working people. For riots in Bristol, Brixton, Toxteth, Southall, Tottenham, Handsworth and other places. And so on and depressingly so on.

Not much of a legacy is it, really?

Kevin

I was taught that self-praise was no recommendation. Politicians make a living from doing so. That surely can't be safe.
Why should one person be more able at politics than any other? At least you know where you stand with industrial managers. They had to get there by fair means or foul. Politicians have no track record until they are elected purely on self-praise. I can only assume that they are all barking. Or none of them have mirrors in their homes.

Such a thing as a 'good' politician? Probably not.

Harks back to that old idea that the people who would best do the job lack the ability to get there; conversely, the people who can get to the top should under no circumstances be allowed to do so.

Take Jimmy Carter, for example. Clearly a decent man with his heart in the right place but a totally useless president. That said, probably the greatest 'ex-president' the US has ever had.



regards,

Tam

Whatever the forum think of Heath (and I pretty much think Kevin got it right), to turn his passing into a victory parade for the vile and disgusting bitch Thatcher is just about the most tasteless, perverted, crass public defecation possible. Congratulations to us on reaching for and achieving an unprecedented low. What place does that walk-in have here in a thread saying good bye to a human being?

Actually, the thread was intended to be about his reproduction gear (of a musical variety, you understand). But you're not far off with your assessment of the Milk Snatcher.

G

Oh sorry. Got a bit carried away there - but feel much better for it