General Discussion
Yes.
She gave people the chance to buy their house, run a business and emply people, buy what they wanted, she won 3 elections and the people decided that. Rid of us union power...just so outdated. Though a General Strike is planned now what good will that do!
so you admire her for selling this country to foreigners, and destroyed our council housing stock which is why we have a crisis now with social housing, snatched our manufacturing industries and took the milk from children, what a legacy she leaves behind, and this is from somebody who at present has no political leanings whatsover.
The Faulklands war is the only thing I will give her credit for
Possibly to be admired as a strong female character with her own assertive style in leading a motley band but single-handedly she has also probably done the most to destroy so much of the industrial infrastructure of the country and the compassion in society in the single-minded pursuit of market forces.
If she was so fantastic then why was it the tories themselves that got rid of her back in 1990?
Just an observation that this is a human being who has died. A mother, grandmother and friend. It might be better to leave the politics for another time
“It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher’s death. We’ve lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton”. - David Cameron.
less you are old enough may forget Miners, dockers, civil servants, people who now pay a fortune for gas electric water and transport thanks to privatisatiion, people affected by the deregulation of banking rules, people who now pay hidden taxes on insurance etc, all people who lost their jobs in the 80's when it was made easier to hive jobs abroad but keep profits with the few, children who had their milk stolen, Hillsborough cover up, the increase in Vat, education ruined by stats and league tables, pensions crisis caused by 80's deregulation and your pension payout lower because firms have taken more out of your pot when it was made easier and legal to do so in 80's, foot and mouth caused when local trading markets closed in 80's resulting in effected sheep moved longer distance spreading foot and mouth ruining farmers and finally people of Liverpool who Thatcher said in recently released documents to close the city- it is time to enjoy today. The damage however will go on for decades..... A status I read and sums it all up
and also eggs(salmonella)OK, so we had the predictable rants from Brazilnut and Lynne, now we can celebrate her life.
Margaret Thatcher made us all proud to the British again.
@michaelclayson. yes, she is a human being who has died but unfortunately the politics is never going to be left out of this - as you see from cameron's remark and from the announcement of a state funeral. personally i don't believe she deserves that - a simple family funeral, paid for by the family, would suffice with a subsequent remembrance service to acknowledge that she was a leader (one of many) of this country. and if we're talking about humanity, i'd prefer the millions that will be spent on a state funeral to go to providing adequate housing for those in need instead.
Paul by your own admission of age you have no idea of what it was truly like when she was PM
Hmmmm I'm wondering why there is an outpouring of public grief for a woman who, I clearly remember, brought out the worst in everyone
True, but I get the gist of all the moaning. She made life a bit hard for some, not on purpose, just purely for the good of the nation.
If Margaret Thatcher was PM now, we wouldn't have all this non-sense about benefits. She would make people work.
I don't see anything wrong about that.
How ironic that she should die on the day when the most severe cuts come in against 440,000 disbled households 17,000 who are blind!!!!!
Paul you have no comprehension of what its all about, its nothing to do with saving money thats a smokescreen its all to do with social cleansing and control. There is not enough jobs for everybody otherwise they would only have gone after the able bodied unemployed, not disabled,sick,mentally ill etc.
stop believing the propaganda, as Ive said to you before I hope your job is secure and god forbid you should have an accident or fall seriously ill
I lived through Margaret Thatcher's time at Downing Street (and quite a few others before her), and despite her faults I would rather have her than any of the current political leaders.
@Paul - not even pinko leftie liberals like myself would argue that benefits are better than work. however, just pay a visit to the office of national statistics web site( for example) and you will see that there are millions more applicants for work than there are jobs to be had. this is a fact and not some socialist conspiracy to rid you of your hard earned tax money. also, as i'm sure has been patiently explained to you many times, most benefit recipients are already in employment- therefore the reason for most people requiring benefits is because ( your presumably admired?) capitalist friends are underpaying workers to such an extent( whilst pocketing the profits) that they cannot survive financially even when participating in the market (the scandinavians, as usual, way ahead of us in their compassionate dealings with their less fortunates, have a word for this - decommodification). it is mrs thatcher who encouraged you and people like you to believe in 'scroungers' and whatever other ugly, ignorant words or concepts that are once again being bandied around by those who cannot be arsed to learn the difference between prejudice and fact
well said Libby and they are now considering abolishing the minimum wage which is what most people are paid
Well I remember the 1970s and the winter of discontent (you don’t mention that do you).. streets were full of rubbish. people on strike, so wonder businesses s closed.
No wonder people wanted Labour removed in 1979.
Nationalised had to go... British Rail to mention one was a complete joke ..remember their advert 'were getting there' they never did. Dawlish now has more trains than ever. Re Electric or phone you now have the choice to do business with WHO you choose.
Under Nationalisation you have no choice...you get what you are given.
I remember some bus drivers up country working for a then nationalised bus company wanting double pay on Sunday and they went on strike for it.. after four weeks of Sunday strikes the already few passengers were lost when they started work again, their was a case to withdraw the Sunday services. This happened. So there was then NO Sunday work at all and no bus service in place.
Richard Branson was just on the radio (you wouldn’t like him) he said..'we now have various plane companies for people to choose from..in the early days only British Airways were around.
In 1970s, no where near as many people flew away on holiday like today, Today its perfectly normal for an 18 year old to be given a car!!! ..in the 1970s you would get a hifi if you were lucky.
Having said all this ...I do not expect Labour people to want or understand these points and that benefits are mainly their subject speciality..
You are quite right wondering, 70s Britain was not a great place to be, it took someone like Thatcher to sort it out. Some people have short memories.
I am not reliant on benefits, never have been, but if the corporate business men and women who own these companies paid their employees a living wage there would be no need for so many people who do work to claim top up benefits, instead their shareholders get a large proportion of their profits and many are mps.
I work at present doing 5jobs to earn a wage and this is what Ive always done several small part time jobs just to survive, maybe if I was paid a living wage I would only need to do 3
Human being v. politician - exploring the ethics of how to respond to someone's death
http://historyschipwrapper.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/ethics-are-thatcher-death-parties-ok/
@burneside: and 80s britain was better? try asking that of the millions made unemployed during that time who then got screwed by her poll tax policy.
I'll lay a bet that the further north you go in this country the more she was, and still is, reviled.
And note how even in death, just as in life, she is divisive.
My poll tax / council tax is only £3,175.74. which i think is good value to live in Dawlish.
Maggie had good ideas and a good life . God bless her and i hope she rests in peace.
Yes, I do think the 80s were better than the 70s, that is my personal view. And as for Thatcher being divisive in death, I expect there will be just as much vitriol flying around when Blair dies.
Well said Burneside - my personal view is:
1970s Britain was awful - as a child I remember all too well the strikes, rubbish uncollected, queuing for basics like bread and milk when there were shortages and power cuts being normal. When Thatcher came to power she did what she had to do to rid the country of the stranglehold from the Unions. The Unions have an important place in history and an important job to do to protect workers rights, but they had gone too far and got too powerful. That HAD to change for the good of the country. I remember Not the Nine O'Clock News doing some very funny sketches highlighting the stupidity of the stranglehold of the Unions.
Yes there will be things people didn't like that Thatcher and her Govt did, but equally there are plenty of good things that they did and plenty of people who did like her, otherwise she wouldn't have got re-elected 3 times.
As a female I was glad she changed the perception of just how far a woman could go in this country. Even small things like the change she made to the tax laws that meant I wouldn't have to get my husband to sign my tax return, I could actually sign it myself instead. And more importantly for the country, the rebate she secured for us from the EU that Tony Blair agreed to reduce.
And for all the moaning these days about privileged white men running the country, there you had someone born to a normal hard working family, in a normal town who by her own efforts raised herself up to become our first female Prime Minister. With the mess she had to deal with after the Labour Govt of the 70s it was no wonder she was unpopular with some, but at least she had some ideas and was prepared to see them through. And yes, I had to pay Poll Tax - was it really any worse than the huge increases we saw in Council Tax under the last Labour govt or the 98% tax rate in place for top earners back in the days before Thatcher?
Polls on whether she should have a "ceremonial" (state) funeral:
Guardian readers - 83% NO
Daily Mail readers - 67% YES
Margaret Thatcher should definitely have a "ceremonial" (state) funeral. She dovoted her entire life to her country. She gave people a real chance to make something of their lives.
Thank you!
Clearly around the world leaders recognise what she did.
Yes I am sure people will be the same with Tony Blair. You know it must take a brave person to lead a country and do your best and when you know at the end of your reign you will be hated.
I think even Labour people didn't like Tony Blair in the end.
Winston Churchill saved us from Hitler ...and even Winston was voted out.
Its no different from locally where we read here about Councillors being unpopular.
Would anyone actually want to be PM or on the Council in these days of nastiness and negativity?..
She will have (as she wanted) a "ceremonial" funeral (same as Queen Mother and Princess Di apparently). To all intents and purposes it's the same as a state funeral but is technically one-step down because it doesn't require an Act of Parliament to enact. Still a waste of money which the country doesn't apparently have and which could be better spent on those who need to survive the benefits cuts.
it doesnt matter what we want, any excuse to pontificate the hypocrisy of it all, her own party ousted her, and now all the smarmy politicians will crawl out of the woodwork.
It should have been an ordinary funeral with maybe a memorial service later
Freeing the Falkland Islanders from dictatorial invasion.
Not negotiating with terrorists (see Iranian Emassy Seige, IRA/INLA Hunger Strikers) even though 2 of your closest friends had been murdered. The Brighton Bombing but Tory Conference continuing on time the next day.
Victory in the Cold War without nukes (sorry any communists out there - you wouldn't like that would you?) together with Reagan.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement which led (and wouldn't have otherwise) to the Good Friday Agreement which led to some kind of normality in N. Ireland.
Keeping the EU in their place and out of UK Legislation
Restriction of unfettered immigration etc, etc, etc.
Yep, it was ALL bad under Maggie wasn't it?
Show a little decency. She was a Mother and Grandmother. There's a time for slagging people off...and this isn't it!
There's a difference between decency and truth. The problem is that Thatcher is being eulogised in the tory press as the greatest peace-time prime minister of all time and is being accorded a state funeral. You can either sit back, keep stumm and accept that or say that this isn't a time for arrant hypocrisy and expose the propaganda for what it is. Thatcher was an assertive character with some attributes of strength of leadership, but misguided in so many ways and that combination was dangerous and deleterious to the country. As for some of the examples of her "successes". Falkland Islands - yes she won, a continuing example of British colonial gunboat diplomacy and at what cost in life? The Cold War - the western myth; I think Gorbachev and perestroika may have just played some part in all of that. Northern Ireland - Mo Mowlam was the driving force behind the eventual peace accord etc etc etc. Propaganda has to be revealed for what it is otherwise false myth perpetuates. And I do agree with you that it was all bad under Maggie.
The last sentence of your post exposes you for what you are - a Thatcher hater. And you expect people to give credence to the rubbish you write.
If neilh is a Thatcher hater then much as I hate to dissillusion you burneside, you need to know that he ain't alone. There are people all around this country who feel nothing but that exact and precise emotion towards her. And whilst you and others may not like that it is nontheless true.
I am well aware that there are plenty of haters out there. You only have to witness the shameful scenes of celebration and rioting reported in the press since last night. Odd that some of the people taking part couldn't even have been born when Thatcher was in power.
I would like to declare myself as a 'Thatcher hater' too. Dreadful woman who brought out the worst in everyone.
im would also like to declare myself as a 'thatcher hater', daughter of @neilh 'thatcher hater'. my cat also hates thatcher. x
You can send 'hatred' towards anyone ..as long as you are prepared that you will receive 'hatred' back towards yourself.
@wondering yes, i understood the first time. i was just finding it amusing. feel free to hate me, i have no idea who you are and what you think of me is the last of my worries. incidendtly for someone who hated unions so much, dear old maggie would not have been able to be prime minister if it not for the tireless campaign of the national union of women's suffrage. just some food for thought there :-)
@neilh. the cold war was a myth!!!!!!?
You obviously never travelled the Berlin Corridor or saw that rather big wall going through the middle of the city.
Or saw the Russian 3rd Shock Army lined up on the border.
Or remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, Korea?
All a myth was it.
And Mo Mowlam, who did a great job in N. Ireland - no none can say different, would not have got her foot in the door of a local Sinn Fein office had it not been for the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Overnight the atmosphere in the province changed and ordinary people felt something was happening for the good and more importantly that it would be lasting. I know because I was there.
So the alternative to what Maggie did in the eighties would be to keep the mines open without coal, keep the dockyards open without ships, keep manufacturing goods much more expensively than other countries, how silly and impossible would that have been. Sadly for many people those jobs were gone. There was no option other than to retrain or just spend the rest of your life on the dole moaning about it. The idiot Labour Party would have just had miners digging up rocks with others putting them back down again, paid for by more UK debt.
Margaret Thatcher just did what had to be done. Without her we would be in a much worse mess now.
If you want a high standard of living, you have to work for it, don't expect others to work and then hand it to you on a plate.
I hated Thatcher her sibling Blair and her present devotees Cameron and Osborne, Im waiting for the day when we have the right people to do the job irrespective of their politics or wealth. None of them come from a poor working class background, and have no idea of what life is like for some families.
and Paul Im fed up with hearing you repeat the work ethic, your not cameron or gideon in disguise are you
@Paul i'll hazard a guess that you are quick to moan when you try calling your bank (or other institutions) and are re-routed to an indian call centre. that is a direct result of 'thatcherism'.
@Pumbly .. i am glad the post amused you, maybe it was a bit deep. i guess you were not around when maggie was in power and of this geneation going by the lower case text type of your post.
Paul ... someone was on local radio lunchtime saying...re the coal mines. He said in the 60s he worked at the mines in Wales and they were run down then, Harold Wilson (Labour) would not deal with the situation as he was for the workers.
@wondering sadly i was schooled in thatcher-britain. i apologise for use of lower case, is this better for you?
oh, it appears i cannot use upper case on this thread, so i cannot even blame thatcher for my grammatical downfalls :-(
@HuwMatthews2 My comment was not that the cold war itself was a myth. It was a response to your comment about "Victory" and Reagan and Maggie being the victors - those are both an Orwellian myth. The cold war ended, there were no battles, there was a new leader in Russia (Gorbachev) with a vision for a different Russia - perestroika. Without him there would have been no end to the silent cold war of attrition. As for Northern Ireland you could argue that Thatcher's dogmatic, hardline stance did nothing to stop the despicable wave of IRA bombings on the mainland - in fact it probably made the IRA more determined. What was needed was the more conciliatory approach that Mo Mowlam attempted to end that war of attrition and, just as Gorbachev did in Russia, it needed the same conciliatory engagement from the IRA. No-one was a victor here, there was basically an agreement that no-one could win, that people were tired of decades of fighting and that Churchill's old adage of "Jaw-jaw" is better than "war-war" once again rang true. Thatcher could have done the same with Argentina over the Falklands but chose "war-war" instead with the senseless loss of thousands of lives.
For those of you who agree that public money should NOT be wasted on a state funeral for Thatcher (Let the family pay and use the money saved to improve the lot of those more in need) here's the link to a petition which is going to be submitted. Don't forget that Thatcher herself was opposed to spending of public money so why should she be the exception?
Paul i can see you have never worked down a pit dear Mrs Thatcher closed dozens of good profitable pits that still had millions of tons of coal to be brought to the surface. She closed them to brake the miners union and then to add insult to injury imported coal to run our power stations from Poland. The woman was a menace if my fathers life hadnt been cut short by lungs full of coal dust he would celebrate her passing BUT I WILL ON HIS BEHALF.
Diplomacy would never have worked in the Falklands in 1982. Argentina invaded and blithely assumed Britain would not have the will to retaliate, sometimes firepower is the only answer.
The debate rages on both sides in the national media and that's the point - the divisiveness and a divided country is weaker than one where everyone is pulling in the same direction.
I knew the 'Lefties' wouldn't tolerate a neutral view and suspect the 'Righties' won't either.
This is the major problem with British politics. It doesn't matter if it's a good idea and will benefit the Nation if the Tories propose it then Labour will oppose it; if Labour propose it then the Tories will be against it.
Similarly if either implement it then inevitably it will be dismantled by the next opposition Govt.
This is no way to move forward peeps!
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said he views favorably the idea of setting up a full scale permanent statue in memory of late Baroness Thatcher in the center of London.
I absolutely agree with this, a statue in the Nation's capital is a fitting tribute for such a Great Briton. Plus £10M for her funeral, so that we can all take part/watch her send off is money well spent. 
stop stirring Paul
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-funeral-growing-anger-1821652
This is a discussion board, people are free to post any links that are relevant to the thread, and it's not up to you to tell them otherwise.
I accept that Burnside but i get the impression that paul likes to provoke sometimes for a laugh, so sorry
I don't see why people aren't more grateful for all Margaret Thatcher did for us. People moaning about things that had to happen are just being childish.
Winning the Falklands War is plenty enough to deserve this rightful send off, then there is all her other great achievements.
we will disagree on all this paul!!!
heres one for you as you are a champion of people who work hard and support this goverments policies http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-osbornes-unemployed-brother-buys-245591
I see, George Osborne's father set up a business in the 1960's which has made them rich. Now he can afford to buy his family nice things.
A great example of what hard work can do for you. now we're saying from the same hymn sheet @Brazilnut!
"Sir Peter is the 17th baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon in Ireland. As eldest son, George will inherit the title"
I think you'll find they have always been rich! inherited titles and wealth that was no doubt obtained through exploitation of ordinary people in the past.
not what I quite meant Paul and you know it!!!!! the rich boys have nothing but contempt for the poor, they know nothing of life hving not had to worry about earning a living. His brother is UNEMPLOYED but does not make any difference to him as he has the family wealth to see him through
more waste of tax payers money
.http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/10/margaret
OK, it would be nice if we could all be so well off.
Just to show I'm not a fan of the Tory Party or any other party for that matter. Here is a comment by someone on an article about the funeral costs. I think s/he has a point!
You've got to hand it to the Tories, they're probably the most vindictive, underhanded, backstabbing and cowardly political party we've got. Not only did they stab her in the back when she was alive, they get taxpayers to pay for her funeral rather than pay out of their own bulging pockets, they then take soldiers away from their families to attend her funeral while they're on leave from fighting in Afghanistan.
What say ye @Brazilnut?
@neilh Gorbachev was shown on TV on Monday night being interviewed some years ago about the ending of the Cold War. He stated that without Mrs Thatcher bringing the USA and the USSR together at the negotiating table then it would not have happened. So yes, it needed a USSR leader who was prepared to do a deal, and a USA leader also prepared to meet them half way, but the one who brought the deal to the table was Thatcher. So you can't just write off her role in the history of that
And the same goes for Northern Ireland. Blair and Mo Mowlam both agreed at the time that it was the groundwork put in by the Tory Govt - first with Thatcher and then with John Major, that enabled the Good Friday Agreement to happen.
So no matter what you may think of her home based politics, on the world stage she was a main player and put this country at the very heart of things.
@goldenlad Have we really become a country where anyone who does well in this generation by working hard and creating wealth for themselves, may as well leave their children and future generations nothing at all because heaven help the future generations if they inherit any money. And on that basis, presumably you will make sure you inherit not one penny from anyone, because that would mean you haven't had to work for it yourself.
Of course that may make it difficult for all those children of football players and other sports stars, tv presenters, lottery winners, pop stars etc etc - or does that rule only apply to the Tories?
@DJ You're absolutely right. Thatcher had a part to play in the ending of the "cold war" and I don't think I was writing out her part in history. I was correcting HuwMatthews2 view that the West had a "Victory" in the cold war and Reagan and Thatcher were the "victors" - that is jingoistic nonsense. There was no victor in the Cold War. It needed the coming together of politicians from both sides to achieve an entente.
On the subject of NI, yes she did sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement but her heart wasn't in it (in the same way as she complied with EU) and I still maintain her hardline stance perpetuated the vicious wave of IRA response on mainland UK. Years later, if you remember, she regretted signing the agreement - here's the extract from the BBC news at the time:
UK Politics
Enoch was right on Ireland, says Thatcher
Lady Thatcher agrees with those who accused her of "treachery"
Lady Thatcher has said Enoch Powell was right to oppose the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave Dublin a formal say in the running of Northern Ireland for the first time.
In a review for the Daily Telegraph newspaper of a biography of Enoch Powell, the former prime minister reveals her regret over the deal she signed with Garrett FitzGerald, the then Irish prime minister, at Hillsborough in 1985.
_______________
The Good Friday Agreement was 13 years later when the whole shape of politics had changed and the aggressive Thatcherist stance had been replaced by a more conciliatory, inclusive approach through Mo Mowlam.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/10/margaret-thatcher-not-a-w_n_3053402.html
What a woman, noooooooo not Maggie Glenda Jackson, at least she had some balls!!!!!
@neilh. I didn't need 'correcting' and certainly not by you.
Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, dissolution of the Communist Bloc, end of the USSR, freedom for Soviet satelite states (dare I say the end of the USSRs colonialism!!!!!-oh no!). And changes in the West? None!
Of course the West won the Cold War!
Didn't Gorbachev's policies of Perestroika and Glasnost and how they impacted on the (then) USSR ultimately have something to do with the ending of the cold war?
Not denying Thatcher's involvement for one moment in the falling of the wall (both literally and metaphorically speaking) but are some of us saying that no others were involved?
Glenda Jackson has done nothing compared to Maggie. Her disgraceful outburst was uncalled for and shows the general despicable behaviour we've come to expect from the Labour Party.
People moan about the banking bosses, but Blair, Brown and the rest of the irresponsible lot should be in the dock and held to account.
Glenda Jackson as well as being a female policitican has something else in common with Maggie T.
She speaks as she finds. A conviction politican. She's got guts - something that Maggie T would no doubt approve of even if she disagreed with every word that Glenda Jackson said.
And it wasn't a disgraceful outburst. What she said, she said on behalf of many in this country. It needed saying.
I am sure there are many who would say that what was coming from the Tory benches was disgraceful.
Glenda Jackson, remembered mainly for getting her kit off in films in the 60/70s.
Now representing one of the wealthiest constituencies in the country, she must see lots of hardship there.
Like I said - she was talking on behalf of many in this country. (and I don't doubt there is hardship in her constituency)
Jackson is a Champagne socialist representing the Hampstead set. She has below average attendance at the Commons,
and is wisely standing down at the next election after scraping in by only 42 votes in 2010. I doubt she will be missed.
Reading this thread it is clear that the vast majority of the people really loved Margaret Thatrcher and wish she was still our Prime Minister.
However, so we can all remember her great love of this country and all the people, a statue on the fourth plinth will be a very popular tribute.
Excellent news - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9986422/Thatcher-statue-in-Westminster-will-be-given-go-ahead.html
If a statue of her goes up in a publicly accessible place that really is just asking for trouble.
I have emailed Glenda Jackson congratulating her on what she said and I agree with Lynne, Maggie would have approved even if she disagreed with what she said, pity some of the males couldnt have been so forthright instead of all the fawning and hypocrisy, and only 1 in 3 people are for the £10m funeral.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brian-reade-margaret-thatcher-legacy-1821696
as Glenda mentioned greed thought Id post this
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brian-reade-margaret-thatcher-damned-1823211
heres another one higlighting why she was hated by some
Paul Thatcher didnt win the Falklands war the soldiers on the ground did if you ask any Falklands veteran why we went we will answer with one voice to free the Falkland people from tyrany all she did was sit on her fat arse and watch on
@leatash, if it was up to Michael Foot / Neil Kinnock, there wouldn't be a Falklands Islands as they would now be called Las Malvinas.
@leatash seriously, all you think she did was sit there and watch????!!! are you for real? do you have comprehension of what actually happened? SHE spoke up for the people of the Falklands, many even on her own cabinet were against military action to reclaim the islands, the ONLY reason it happened the way it did was because SHE made it happen, which is why the Falkland Islanders were so grateful to her and they are honouring her fully on the day of her funeral. They are in no doubt as to why their islands remain protected by us.
And yes, she didn't actually go and fight on the ground - she did her fighting and organising back here at home, just like Churchill did during the second world war. And I'm sorry but I know plenty of Falkland Island Veterans who would totally disagree with your point.
Agree completely. History is being re-written through political eulogisation and if people don't speak up then that's what remains on the record.
I didnt know until today that Labour closed more mines than Thatcher ewwww >>
How did Labour get away with that then?
These are the figures for the sharply declining number of coal mines open each year under those Labour Governments.
1964 545
1965 .. 504
1966 .. 442
1967 .. 406
1968 .. 330
1969 .. 304
1974 .. 250
1975 .. 241
1976 .. 239
1977 .. 231
1978 .. 223
1979 .. 219
These are the figures for the Thatcher years:
1979 .. 219
1980 .. 213
1981 .. 200
1982 .. 191
1983 .. 170
1984 .. 169
1985 .. 133
1986 .. 110
1987 .. 94
1988 .. 86
1989 .. 73
1990 .. 65
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/leftwatch/2013/04/wilson-closed-more-coal-mines-than-thatcher.html
Preparations for operation True Blue are going well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/15/margaret-thatcher-funeral-dress-rehearsal
Am I right in thinking that the Tories don't even have one Scottish MP these days? Certainly the Tories are almost universally hated in Scotland. A Maggie legacy perhaps? And am I right in thinking that the Scots vote on whether or not to go it alone (ie stop being part of the UK) later this year?
If I were Alex Salmond and the SNP right now I'd be smilling quietly to myself for what better reminder to the Scots that they should be independent.
And how ironic it would be if the 1980s economic policies of someone who so fervently believed in the union of the United Kingdom (MT) might, all these years later, cause its break up.
The Tories will love it if the Scots do vote for independence, that will be around 40 Labour MPs removed from Parliament in future elections.
Labour might never form another government.
@burneside - so you'd think the tories would be wanting the Scots to go it alone then if it meant no future Labour governments.But Tory policy is pro-unionist not pro scottish independence. And why should the scots give a damn about the political make-up of Westminster if they vote for independence?
@ABC - i'd never heard of him! it seems he is the only one though.
and if the death of MT wasn't in itself enough to remind the Scots of what it is like to be on the wrong end of Tory policies - now a load of welfare cuts are being implemented that will really be felt in places like er..........Scotland.
Despite official Tory policy being pro-union I am sure there are many Tories who would be delighted to see the back of the 40 Scottish Labour MPs, it will make their chances of being elected to government in England and Wales so much easier. I daresay the Scots won't give a damn about Westminster if they achieve indepenence, likewise we won't give much of a damn about Scotland either.
I can't remember much being reported in the last few days about Thatcher's monetarist policy. Have people forgotten about galloping inflation, interest rates upto 18%; negative equity; many, many people losing their homes and the legacy of Black Wednesday when the pound crumbled. A truly great time. I'll have to update my Iron Lady history of the Thatcher years.
So you're a Welsh Nationalist are you Neil?
'Wales Forever'? I'm half Welsh but don't blow that particular trumpet because I have chosen to live in England.
It amazes me how many nationalists there are, from so many countries, who have decided to live in and fight their cause from England ....and then intimate that it's shite and they would be better off apart from it!
@HuwMatthews2 LOL. Not a nationalist but someone who feels his heritage and, having been born in the valleys, empathises with the community destruction that was caused by the pit closures. And, of course, I will always support Welsh rugby even though I now live in England.
HuwMatthews - what are you on about? With respect, you do realise that your inability to form an argument makes you sound like a plonker?
Thought B would like this! ...look at the video of the yobs shouting ,,,they wernt even born ..not got a clue!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/17/protesters-turn-backs-thatcher-coffin
This is a well written assessment
I am neither left,right or middle they are all as bad as one another, what this was about today was the taxpayers funding a funeral for such a divisive woman, who in the eyes of 75% of this country was reviled.I have watched none of it too busy earning a meagre living, and I will not watch teatime news either.Most of the protests were of a silent nature turning there backs as she passed. I hope by now she is cremated and gone to rip
It's not a well written assessment at all, it's a slanted article by a left wing journalist.
And how do you know that Thatcher is reviled by 75% of the country, you read it somewhere?
Thatcher WAS past tense now shes gone and by the way the tories are now well called "the nasty party"
It was mean feat to get elected three times, while , as you claim, being reviled by 75% of the country.