If …. as related by Neil Kinnock of a Conservative government

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Neil Kinnock said this in a speech in Bridgend, Glamorgan, on Tuesday 7 June 1983:

If Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as prime minister on Thursday, I warn you. I warn you that you will have pain — when healing and relief depend upon payment. I warn you that you will have ignorance — when talents are untended and wits are wasted, when learning is a privilege and not a right. I warn you that you will have poverty — when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a government that won't pay in an economy that can't pay. I warn you that you will be cold — when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don't notice and the poor can't afford.

I warn you that you must not expect work — when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don't earn, they don't spend. When they don't spend, work dies. I warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light. I warn you that you will be quiet — when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient. I warn you that you will have defence of a sort — with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding. I warn you that you will be home-bound — when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up. I warn you that you will borrow less — when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.

If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday, I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.

It resonates even more powerfully 30 years later.

Hat tip.


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