It's so refreshing to watch and hear an interview with intelligent and thought-out responses.

@gaskin86

Жыл бұрын

True but Margaret's policies were straight until Michael Foot took Labour.

@SteveM-ly7oy

5 ай бұрын

It was a time when a whole programme could be devoted to a discussion. If you watch BBC World news, there is always some guest speaking from their home via Skype or whatever, has about three minutes to hurry through the answer, and suddenly the newsreader has to say ok thank you we have to finish, because the effing weather is on or that the BBC has to show an advert for other programmes or show adverts for Qatar airways. One can imagine the controller saying in the earpiece "ok finish finish!" We live in a world where there is no time for anything. Why does everything have to be hurried? We live in a world of instant gratification. If I had my way, I'd have more programmes like this. I would kick off the schedules stupid programmes like soaps and have more serious programmes. Even the BBC has got rid of Newsnight, which used to be 45 minutes, and now it's been shortened and I am sure they'd love to get rid of it totally. Even Question Time has been dumbed down and they let in a rabble with no manners or education to shout and scream, talking absolute rubbish. That's the audience I'm talking about, though the panelists aren't much better. Most people, in my humble opinion, in the UK today are THICK. It's their problem if they can't sit down and concentrate for 30 minutes and watch a discussion where someone is not interrupted. Turn off your bloody smartphone. We live in a dumbed-down world where we have an absolutely crap education system, with children taught by teachers who can't or won't teach, or who don't care, or who are burned out. I know I am in rant-mode now, but I truly believe that there is a silent majority out there in the real world in Britain today, who hanker for the 1960s and 1970s. If you look at the TV schedules in the 1970s, it is full of arts programmes, history and politics programmes, consumer programmes, with real heavyweight interviewers. BBC Panorama actually had decent presenters and had proper investigations.

My god. They were fretting in getting unemployment down to 700,000?!! A few years later under Thatcher it was 3 Million.

@prben2

5 күн бұрын

And back then Sterling was 2 Dollars to the pound. It has devalued much more under Tory governments.

This interview recorded during a particularly turbulent time in Britain. Not only had the economy been destabilised by the oil shock of the early 70s, but the problems that had been gathering since the 1800s really started to hit home. British industry had been in serious decline since the 19th century, due to the same old problems. Very poor levels of education and training, chronic underinvestment, poor management and an innate conservatism that meant we stuck to declining methods and industries long last their sell by date. Class division, in the form of strikes, was also a huge factor. As James Callaghan, who was PM during this period said, we had been "paying ourselves more than the value of what we produce" and covering the gap with borrowing from abroad. He said Britain had been living for many decades on "borrowed time and borrowed money". The Labour government then struggled valiantly to try and deal with these problems but they weren't new problems. The conservative prime minister, Harold Macmillan, wrote privately in the 1950s that the public had "no idea just how much the country is living beyond its means". Mrs Thatcher came along and pulled the plug on the whole thing, which of course brought very deep social scars that we are still suffering from today. Britain itself paid a very high price for the empire. It wasn't until the late 1960s that we started spending as much on education as defence - something which really held our economy back; and our industry had become bloated and inefficient because for so long we could rely on the captive markets of the empire. Once we had to compete in the world again, we were hopelessly out of shape. In many ways, we still are which is one of the reasons britain has the worst regional disparities in europe.

@liamquinn2011

2 жыл бұрын

Good note. I have been looking for a good book which details the 20th century decline

@ouss

2 жыл бұрын

Britain has been in decline since the romans left really, kings were awful

@dillonconstantine2411

2 жыл бұрын

Part of the UK's problem macro-economically during the period 1900-1939, was not taxing the upper-middle income and wealthy households to redistrbute wealth for social programmes. Moreover, the UK should have deregulated and encouraged free market principles as occured during the 1980s under Mrs Thatcher.

@controldata972

Жыл бұрын

@@liamquinn2011 "Reclaiming the State" by William Mitchell and Thomas Fazi covers the last 100 years very well. Callaghan and Healey actively decided against Keynesian full employment policies in favour of Monetarism. This mistake from the Labour Party led directly to Thatcherism, financialised capitalism and the Neoliberal era in which we still find ourselves. There are winners and losers throughout this process, of course. But the Healey / Callaghan decisions of '76 were a key turning point. The results have generally been favourable to capital over labour. The costs of the 70s oil shock were not shared by capital. The working classes bore the brunt of the costs .

Healey was trying to maintain the old Labour programs and he gave it a great effort but it was just too much to tame. I never agreed with a lot of his positions but he was an honest and principled man.

5:10 - "PSBR" mentioned here means Public Service Borrowing Requirement, in case anyone wondered what Healey meant.

@highdefboxing8056

14 күн бұрын

Public SECTOR Borrowing Requirement.

I think that the opening explanation was excellent.

Nice to see reasonably candid and direct answers to the questions.

How the Labour Party of today need a few more politicians of Healey's calibre. Honest and well thought out responses, and genuinely principled.

Splendid introduction by Mr Dimbleby.

@8:04 "Well, now that's like saying have you stopped beating your wife, because both you're wrong and Sir Geoffrey Howe is wrong." Legend.

Whatever you think of Healey -- and I wasn't a great fan -- at least you can see a brain at work between those ears. Compare today's politicians -- Boris and his chums on the one hand and Corbyn/Abbott on the other, for example. All you get is waffle, making it up as they go along (because they rarely understand the subject) and soundbites. Also we had intelligent current affairs programmes in those days, This Week (on ITV!) being just one. Nowadays all you get from politicians is US-style videobites ("Which camera am I on?"), flashy graphics, 5 mins of adverts every 10 mins (another US import), and the assumption by programme-makers that their audience has an attention span of only two minutes. It's a pity Healey couldn't control the unions, thus shooting themselves in the foot and rolling out the red carpet for Thatcher and the other Tory "extinct volcanoes" Healey refers to.

ThamesTV brightens my mornings!

15:43 "I've been trying to find out from Howe, Thatcher, and the other extinct volcanoes on the Conservative front bench what they would do..." I'm made hungry at his wit!

26 minutes of intelligence.

@robdewey317

3 жыл бұрын

Except that he blew it.

@deanedge5988

2 жыл бұрын

@@robdewey317 really? what would you have done?

@Mike8981

2 жыл бұрын

A ridiculous defence of policies that didn’t work!

Great stuff

Denis was dealt a very bad hand and did as good a job anyone could.

Wonderful field of depth.

Difficult to work with perhaps but an excellent Chancellor and, as well, possessing a wonderful sense of humour.

A political heavyweight was Denis Healy, he makes the current politicians look very weak and incompetent by comparison. He would have been a lot better leader of the opposition than Michael Foot to have taken Mrs Thatcher on.

I'm currently studying this in Economic & Social History in my undergraduate degree. So fascinating! Great interview! Many what ifs regarding the Labour Government of 1974-79. Can it be argued that such events like the oil crisis of 1973 wasn't dealt with properly? Had the Conservatives been re-elected in 1974, would they have faced the same problems that the Labour Government faced? I think that, to some extent, Kenyesianism was unrealistic and paved the way for monetarism and Thatcher's neoliberalism. Denis Healey did his best, in spite of such economic difficulties.

@th8257

2 жыл бұрын

If you haven't read Healey's autobiography "The Time of my Life" then I strongly recommend it. It's absolutely brilliant, and covers this period in some depth.

@majorsharpe5208

Жыл бұрын

If Heath had won either of the two '74 elections I think it can be reasonably argued that the situation would in fact have been even worse. He'd already had the disastrous "dash for growth" budget of Anthony Barber blow up in his face and been blown further off course by the miners strike in 1972. I think the inevitable industrial strife that ensued from the oil crisis etc. would likely have ended in a general strike and brought him down in any case.

The best prime minster we never had👏

@MrThorfan64

Жыл бұрын

John Smith?

@KJM.72

9 ай бұрын

Tony benn

OMG Dimbleby with young hair :o

@Sootaroot

3 жыл бұрын

That's because he was indeed young, but it prompts a valid question: how did this green reporter came to be presenting Thames TV's flagship programme ? He demonstrated several times in this interview that he was too lightweight to interrogate someone like Denis Healey, time and again being easily deterred from persisting with tough questions. If he had been the son of a steelworker from Sheffield, does anyone seriously believe he would have got past the first stage of any Thames job selection ? But in fact he was the privately educated son of Richard Dimbleby, and then as now, privilege and the right name will open all sorts of doors.

Ultimate!

When Labour admitted what they did. They did again and the Torries are paying for it.

Oh wow look how young dimbleby is!!

WoW! Bad news and he was brave enough to state the facts but also the reporter was not a dick about it.

It's the TREND! The TREND! Don't you see? - Peter Shore, 1975

Wow...I am a staunch conservative but I could work with Healey.

@johnking5174

4 жыл бұрын

Healey was much more centrist than people think.

@johnmajor9564

4 жыл бұрын

John King I suspect Chancellors are always more „realistic“ because they know the facts..

0:07 “Good evening - tonight on Ethel the Frog...”

When I want to watch a Dennis Healey video eyebrow's the internet.

@brianocallaghan7172

2 жыл бұрын

so so clever. Healy was extraordinary in terms of brain power and intellect and then you had the eloquence thrown in for good measure .a masterclass in measured intelligence.He may have had some Irish blood too!!

Now we have Tory politicians saying people are bored with experts.

Point of curiosity: Why did they say 'thousand million' back then instead of billion?

@johnking5174

2 жыл бұрын

I have noticed that too. The term billion must not seemed to have been used much back then. That changed in the 1980s.

@grahamfigg5817

2 жыл бұрын

@@johnking5174Technically speaking a thousand million is a "milliard". A billion is a million million. It's only a linguistic, not a mathematical convention that a thousand million is known as a billion.

@th8257

2 жыл бұрын

It's because the current definition of billion is American, one thousand million. Up until the 00s, the British definition of a billion was one million million. It was Gordon brown who took the decision to officially redefine the term billion to match the American version.

@th8257

2 жыл бұрын

@@johnking5174 It's because the current definition of billion is American, one thousand million. Up until the 00s, the British definition of a billion was one million million. It was Gordon brown who took the decision to officially redefine the term billion to match the American version.

@thebitlot

2 жыл бұрын

@@th8257 oh wow!

I quite fancy David Dimbleby back in the seventies

When the IMF takes over dictating economic policy inequality rises.

@Garyboldyful

5 жыл бұрын

When the Labour party runs the economy it always ends in tears.

@dantory1

5 жыл бұрын

We had to go to the IMF because Labour were spending vast amounts of money that the country hadnt earned

@spittingimageclips3485

4 жыл бұрын

What would happen if the IMF wasn't there to bail-out troubled economies? What sort of austerity would that result in?

@Sootaroot

3 жыл бұрын

@@spittingimageclips3485 Here's a thought: where does the IMF get its money ?

@Sootaroot

3 жыл бұрын

@Paul Gavin Find out where the IMF gets its money, and cut out the middle man.

4:35 - He says here 1978-1979 for the larger parts of the cuts, and we all know how crap 1978-1979 was with the winter of discontent, never ending strikes and the fall of the Labour government.

@th8257

2 жыл бұрын

The two aren't connected. The winter of discontent was brought about by unions striking for more pay - the government was trying to keep pay rises to below 5% to control inflation, and the union's weren't willing to stick to it

Nobody remembers the better 79 under Labour

So the term "billions" did not exist back then?

@robertcook2572

2 жыл бұрын

A British English billion was one million million. The American English one thousand million was officially adopted here in the 1970s, but the British version continued to be used by many people into the 1980s. To me, the British version makes more sense: 'bi' (two) and 'million' = 'billion' i.e. 1,000,000 x 1,000,000. Not sure why 1,000 x 1,000,000 is called a billion.

@archie7218

2 ай бұрын

@@robertcook2572American version is much better suited to economic/financial talk, which is the majority of the use of the words million and billion, so i can see why they changed it

How many billion

The New Labour Chancellor in 1997 following Conservatism, after selling the UK s Gold fund has made a mismatch and a shit if our country's finance's

"surveyance"

and we continue until 1997

You can now see why Labour installed healy as chancellor. That calm and assuring voice pretty much concealed over what was an erratic and panic induced economic policy. Cutting spending whilst taking out a loan, whilst allowing the private sector to take up more public duties whilst also slamming them with tarrifs and regulation is beyond all comprehension. Thatcher later had to deal with the revealing cracks that labour merely skimmed over, and unemployment went to catastrophic numbers. Could have all been avoided if healy had bit the bullet and sorted the issues out earlier on

Good evening and welcome to the absolutely ridiculous hair championships 1976. My first question Chancellor, is this summer f@ckin hot or what?

The IMF sure think about politics now!

Dennis Healey saying very wise not to push it from Dimbleby lol

@johnking5174

4 жыл бұрын

Healy was a known thug and a bully in parliament and so many journalists were scared on pushing him too much in interviews. His own Labour party MPs called him a thug.

@GA-wq8xq

3 жыл бұрын

John King the thugs came from the far left of the Labour Party. Henley was pugnacious and fought for his more moderate views.

Looks like history repeating

Healey and Callaghan helped pave the way for Thatcher. Labour would have been far better off in the long run had it lost either of the 1974 elections.

@stephenmatura1086

2 жыл бұрын

I think you might find that the trade unions had more than a little blood on their hands in that regard.

@wilsonfisk6626

2 жыл бұрын

Heath stays on until 1979. Labour wins a comfortable majority. The 1983 election would be a super majority for Labour if they decided to kick the Argentinians out of the Falklands. I like it!

@jonnobloggs8642

Жыл бұрын

Let's guess that the Tories elected Willie Whitelaw as leader in 1979 who makes Thatcher his deputy .After losing heavily in 1983 he hands the gig to Maggie .Labour implodes during its second term and Thatcher wins in 1987.

LOL, David Dimbleby.

@johnking5174

3 жыл бұрын

Jonathan Dimbleby

Thousand million 😂

@maximoo9861

Жыл бұрын

A thousand million is now called a billion In those days a billion was a million million in the UK hence him saying a thousand million or two thousand million

That's the socialist Labour Chancellor telling people, don't eat, vegetables are as good as a lamb chop or a steak?

Same old Labour: tax, spend, borrow and bust.

Nicknamed 'the eel' because he was so slippery. Famous for saying he would squeeze the rich until the pips squeaked. Didn't go too well did it mate? Everyone left the country.

@CK-cz6ml

11 ай бұрын

Seems not everyone did

When the Labour party runs the economy it always ends in tears

@johnking5174

5 жыл бұрын

Well remember under Mrs Thatcher the economy imploded from 1979-1985. Unemployment sky rocketed under her. Under Heath, we had a three day week, power cuts and strikes also. So, it is not a Labour Party thing. It is poor management, bad unions and politicians unwilling to take reasonable actions to keep a country on financial track.

@johnking5174

5 жыл бұрын

I do feel the Labour attitude then of high taxation was pathetic. I always have been a centre left man in my politics, but when tax is concerned I have felt there should be a limit. I agreed with Thatcher's tax cut in 1979 to 60% from 83% for high earners and from 33% to 30% for low income. The 83% tax was a disgrace.

@th8257

4 жыл бұрын

It should be added that a large part of the problem had been inherited from the previous conservative government. The Barber Boom had been disastrous. Recently declassified documents confirmed that the Conservative Government had discussed the need to go to the IMF too.

@Alex-cw3rz

4 жыл бұрын

@@johnking5174 it was 83% over a very high amount of income we know now, when Thatcher cut it the country lost almost £6 billion in Tax revenue that is including the increase in spending from reducing tax, it was also true that if it had not been coupled with the tax cut for lower wages the amount of spending would not have changed at all. That tax was not a disgrace if you truly still think that, you really need to rethink your position of "centre left" because you sound just like a neo-liberal Thatcherite.

@jackmatthew1880

4 жыл бұрын

@Paul Gavin So why did we end up with a higher tax burden after 18 years of Tory rule? BTW, since ww2 only a Labour Government has left office with a budget surplus.

One of the most horrible politicians ever to somehow reach high office.

@deanedge5988

2 жыл бұрын

actually one of the most interesting - a cultured humane man with a fine intellect.

@ysgol3

2 жыл бұрын

@@deanedge5988 None of your 'actuallys', he was a thug disguised as an intellectual.

@liamquinn2011

2 жыл бұрын

Not much sense in this comment.