by Newswire

Tory adviser Lord Young, who claimed in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that “For the vast majority of people in the country today, they have never had it so good ever since this recession – this so-called recession – started…” has just resigned.

Over on twitter, people have been giving their own examples of how they’ve #NeverHadItSoGood:

@pcs_union: Home Office staff losing their jobs, department takes on people on work experience. http://bit.ly/a1Q7If #neverhaditsogood

@thedancingflea: #neverhaditsogood Unemployed workers stigmatised for not applying for jobs that aren’t there.

@richardblogger: Waiting lists for hip and cataract ops in my county are now 6 months #neverhaditsogood

@jackdaw100: 500,000 public sector jobs to go #neverhaditsogood

@wdjstraw: VAT to rise to 20% with knock on effect on retail jobs and growth #neverhaditsogood

And let’s not forget that Lord Young is hardly the first Tory to sing praises of recessions

Andrew Lansley, The Blue Blog, 24 November 2008

I’ve been reading up on the impact of previous economic downturns on our health. Interestingly, on many counts, recession can be good for us. People tend to smoke less, drink less alcohol, eat less rich food and spend more time at home with their families.

Dr Liam Fox, Hansard, 22 October 1992, column 636

all we hear from the Opposition is poverty, poverty, poverty–la, la, la, always on the one note, never accepting the complexity of the issues. Not once did the Opposition mention that. They are always hitting on the one strand. That does not advance the debate one little bit. It is just boring for Conservative Members.

Sir George Young, now Leader of the House of Commons, Independent, 29 June 1991