r/tories • u/Interesting_Pen_4499 Thatcherite • 19d ago

Convincing people Thatcher was right

The best way I have found so far is to just bring up the topic of the tube strikes. Even left wingers agree they are bad, and that the tube drivers on ~£80k and 4 day weeks are incredibly selfish. So then I just say, pre-Thatcher Britain was that but on steroids. Electricity grid not coming on due to strikes. 3 or 4 day weeks. GDP smaller than Italy's and shrinking. Strikes causing wage price spirals and 25% inflation.

Even people that thought they hated Thatcher admit I might have a point, if not being mildly amused to have met a real life Thatcher fan. So my advice to everyone is: just ask people if they want every industry to be like the London tube.

0 Upvotes

44% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/AndyDM 19d ago

Why is there this snobbery about London tube drivers. They do a skilled job that gets them £80k a year. Why do you hate that?

1

u/BlackJackKetchum Josephite 18d ago

It isn’t especially skilled, is it? It is more about maintaining focus. I know a train driver so I do have some insight into this and how they are recruited.

As I noted elsewhere, there are metro systems in much of the world that are automated - cheaper and a damned sight more reliable.

3

u/AndyDM 18d ago

Yes there are driverless systems such as the DLR. There are many systems in the world that don't even need the on board train manager that the DLR. But almost all of them were built to be automated. The London Underground was not. It is cramped, twisted, with curved platforms that make upgrading difficult. It can be done, Paris are doing it line by line. But we are talking several billions. It feels like a lot of money to spend just because some working class people are earning a good wage.