Obviously, not everyone, but by and large, the people who actually won the war wasn't limited to just Churchill. For example, the people who actually fought and were drafted.

Oddly, WWII was the busiest time for the Flying Squad in the UK. Looting and black marketering were rampant - of course some people who were looting were also people who'd previously been bombed out etc.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
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Pressure on the economy and rationing meant increased crime and black market activity. There were also strikes.

Us Brits don't let a little thing like a world war get in the way of "business".

We all gotta eat.

People did help each other,our family,parents and three kids, gave two of the three bedrooms to a lady bombed out of her home. we also took in a girl from Liverpool for one night who stole my dads wallet,so we were very helpful....bin dippers even then!

The common parlance for people engaged in sharp or shady practise was spivs often known to wear wideboy ties, often worn by the comedian Arthur English.

Aside from bombing the other delights included dried egg powder. bread and dripping and (pom) potato powder something akin to glue.

A classic!

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
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Having read through many of these posts as well as having read many bios, pro and anti, about Churchill for me he took over the government after the Tories had allowed GB to go to war completely unprepared while ignoring his warnings and managed to keep the country together for virtually a year and a half without allies (but with the Commonwealth countries) until Germany invaded the USSR and the US came in (better late than never). He was also saddled with many of Chamberlain's people in the beginning, especially Lord Halifax, who wanted to negotiate with the Nazis after the fall of France.. Fortunately, Churchill sent his sorry butt over here as ambassador. I agree that not enough is said of Labour's participation in his War Cabinet, for it was Labour and the Liberals that were his main support in the early days of his leadership.

As to the 1945 election, there hadn't been one for 10 years and many were angry with the Tory MPs who they saw as primarily responsible for the destruction Britain suffered. Many when polled said if they could they would have Churchill Prime Minister with a Labour majority.

A politician who lasted as long as Churchill will be right some of the time and wrong some of the time on the issues. Two that come to my American mind are supporting the Duke of Windsor during the 1936 abdication crises (even his wife told him to shut up) and opposing the independence of India. Gallipoli was possibly a good idea gone bad, as was Norway due to the lack of forces and equipment necessary to do the job. On balance, name me ten American or British politicians who can match Churchill's record, especially his power of oratory. These days, 99.9999999% of them can't even put one decent sentence together. Imagine what they would do with "blood, toil, tears and sweat" or "Never in the field of human conflict..." They'd probably spew about a thousand multi-syllabic words that mean absolutely nothing.

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