Why on earth is anyone surprised that their politicians are hypocrites?

didn't Vesta also produce some sort of curry effort ? Beef curry & Rice in boil a bag form IIRC - in the late 60s my dear old ma thought it was really exotic to be cooking 'foreign muck' in the wilds of Norfolk - what I recall most was the size of the portions, about three forkfuls of Beef and one extra of Rice, what a rip off ?

Did you also boil the crispy noodles that were an integral part of a Vesta Chow Mein?

No boil in the bag bollox with Vesta, it was all boil in the pan (apart from the crispy noodles of course)

Probably, my excuse being that none of us knew what crispy noodles were and "cooking" meant that everything either went in a pan on top of the stove or got cremated in the oven which was never set to anything less than "full".

But sanjunien is correct in that the portions were sufficient for a small child who wasn't very hungry and if you were lucky you'd find three small cubes of what was presumed to be some sort of meat in there - but I can still taste whatever they used for flavouring in there which was probably a concoction of chemicals but we took it to be an ancient exotic chinese recipe and would boast of eating a chinese meal at school the next day.

My kids think I was born in the 1800s.

Stop talking about bloody noodles and start laying into Cameron, you lot.

OK .....
Cameron is a noodle.

did you know that " VESTA STIR FRY NOODLE" is an anagram of....

"TORY STARVED ON FLIES" ?


just saying like......

To be perfectly honest, no-one needs to "lay into Cameron", the man is quickly becoming his own worst enemy, I don't think that this coalition ever had a "honeymoon period" but every time he pontificates on any random topic he digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself and he and Osborne have failed miserably to drop the "Posh Boys" image that even the Tory press have latched onto.

We just have to get through the next two to three years (easier said than done) and Cameron will sink without trace of his own accord.

I'm not sure it's that simple. Labour aren't exactly looking like a government in waiting at the moment. I agree that the next election should be a foregone conclusion, but unless Milliband and his mates get their act together, I have genuine fears of a second term.

TBF to Cameron, Blair etc it was much easier to be a hypocrite in the past than it is today, and get away with it because the press were not so intrusive. My hero Attlee went on a round Britain car tour with his wife for a holiday - totally out of touch with "the office" when he was PM. When asked by a reporter if he had any more to add, having just announced the general election date, he said "no" and that was that!
Churchill was p!ssed for much of the time during WWII. He had a stroke in his second term in the 50's, Butler was running the country and we were told by the media that the PM "had a heavy cold"
Eden took us into the Suez adventure when he was high on benzedrine.
The whole abdication scandal was known about all over the world but not in this country , because the compliant press barons, Beaverbrook and Northcliff hushed it up. The Beeb also knew about it but said nothing. It's said that George V'slife was ended prematurely so that it could be reported in the Times the following day, instead of the Evening Standard. We live in a totally different climate today.
The "statesmen" of the past had feet of clay but no one knew about it. So they remained and remain "statesmen"

Not to mention hiding their children away when they were less than "perfect" - rlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_John_of_the_United_Kingdomrl

He's doing his damnedest to make himself unelectable with all his talk of benefit cuts.
The man's acting like an idiot.

He's not acting.

There are a whole load of issues here before we slag off the current idiots so much. Some include:

1. Labour's obsession with "Cool Britannia" and celebrities caused them to listen to the film types and bring in the legislation that permits tax avoidance on an industrial scale via film schemes. They did not stop this when they knew full well what was happening. The current government looks set to finally introduce a GAAR (although we'll need to wait and see).
2. Labour's obsession with the City caused them to listen to their lobbying too much and take a market fundamentalist approach to the financial markets, even during the credit cruch. Only at the last minute did Brown / King take the steps necessary to prevent world economic collapse. Up to then he made huge mistakes by following free market mantra. He should never of assisted in the Lloyds - HBoS debacle. The current government is falling into the same trap, although have created an environment where big bonuses are frowned upon.
3. Labour, like previous Tory governments, have been enchanted by Europe. Blair in particular went along with everything that has helped make Europe less and less competitive. Europe is destroying itself via the EU as is being seen by what is happening in the peripheral areas and is our immediate future if someone in government doesn't stand up and take radical decisions.
4. The world IS changing and we are becoming relatively poorer and so those great things we have taken for granted, eg the welfare state WILL no matter who is in power sadly disappear over the medium term. The only way they will be maintained is by a massive upsurge is applied innovation and / or by people working harder for less real terms reward.

The problems we face are largely made by politicians in this country, the USA and Europe. As a people we need to stand up and be counted and demand real change - by removing ineffectual, low grade politicians and demanding a major shift in policy. I fear the British people are too docile for that though. The Tories are dividing and conquering on many levels. Public v private sector workers; middle class v poor; healthy v sick / disabled; North v South; etc, etc. That's because they understand how stupid the public are. Until the people start rioting in a controlled way (ie not fighting with each other and wrecking their own areas but in a targetted way that affects the interests that are driving the pathetic politicians, nothing will change.