Maggie Thatcher Dies ...........

[Kwikasfuki]

So now we come to the flip side of Thatchers legacy.

Yes, the Unions had too much power. What Thatcher did was like finding an electrical fault in your house and demolishing the whole house. There was no middle ground.

She set in motion all the privatisation we see today where the private companies make a fortune at the expense of the taxpayer.

She introduced deregulation which increased corporate greed and was one of the catalysts for the banking crisis. The corporation as an entity probably has more rights than the individual thanks to Thatcher

What was amusing yesterday was they hypocrisy of the BBC. They published articles with rose tinted spectacles.  Probably the best one was on how she supported Nelson Mandela. They 'forgot' this was the man she labelled a terrorist. And not to mention her support for the likes of Pinochet and Pol Pot.

Her greatest legacy she said was new Labour. And she was right. She turned the left wing into the right. Same with the Lib Dems that are in power now. Labour never had the balls to undo any of her changes. That's a massive legacy she's left.

Selling off the council house stock and not replenishing it, another one of her legacies impacting today.

Lets not forget the miners strike. Arthur Scargill was an odious    . But Thatcher at the time was more cunning. She made sure there was plenty of coal reserves before the strikes happened. If the general public wouldn't feel hardship, there was little chance of them coming out in support of the miners. That was pre-planned and devious.

The introduction of the service sector and decline of manufacturing. The financial crisis has shown how ropey the service sector is, and whilst the consensus is that China, India et all have taken over manufacturing because of cheap labour, just take a look at Germany where they still manufacture and are the rich men of Europe. The UK now outsources servicing as well - another of Thatchers free market economics.

Individuals have got richer under Thatcher, and likewise individuals have got poorer. There is a bigger gulf between the two and that is another Thatcher legacy of there being " no thing such as Society".

[routemaster]

 

There are many who have memories of Maggie and being a Yorkshireman and working in the South Yorkshire mining community in the 80s I remember all too well the effects of Maggies and the Conservatives influence, I too experienced it first hand, also as I'm of a 'certain age' I experienced first hand the effects of living within the 3 day week, and all that entailed, which BTW was courtesy of the unions & miners ! It was an extremely tough time to bring up my family.

Maggie Thatcher did however make folk wake up to the fact that cheaper imported coal and steel was available, frankly many of the Yorkshire mines had bugger all coal seams left to mine anyway and had, for years, been running at a massive loss !

[O.C.]

Asif there is truth in what you say, you must have only been a nipper back then. 

I'm not a big fan of Maggie or any politician for that matter, but at the time it was absolutely necessary to deal with the major problems that existed not least of which was interest rates running at a high of 27% !

I suppose dealing with all the problems that faced her and the then government meant that if they had to take a firm stand on anything they were going to piss off half the people, I guess it was better to really piss off half the people than sort-of piss off all the people.

[Kwikasfuki]

Asif there is truth in what you say, you must have only been a nipper back then. 

I love politics. Nothing better than staying up on election night, especially a General Election. 

My dad was a mill worker and the number of them that shutdown during Thatchers era was incredible. Remember News At Ten on a Friday where they would broadcast the total job losses that week? It was a horrible time to be working class especially in a manufacturing industry.

As a family we were lucky. The place where my dad worked weathered the storm and closed shortly after he retired. But I remember some of his friends weren't so lucky and had a tough time.

[Kevin]

<snip>Lets not forget the miners strike. Arthur Scargill was an odious  . But Thatcher at the time was more cunning. She made sure there was plenty of coal reserves before the strikes happened. If the general public wouldn't feel hardship, there was little chance of them coming out in support of the miners. That was pre-planned and devious.

I let the rest of it go as I know MT invokes passion on both sides of the argument but this really is complete bo££ocks Asif (sorry). If you're going to to take someone on, and someone really did have to take the unions on, you need to prepare the ground which is what she did. The fact that Scargill, the person who set miner against miner and was eventually responsible for destroying them, was too stupid to realise that's what she was doing is neither here nor there. Of course it was planned and so it should have been.

I was working through the three-day weeks, the power cuts, the out of control unions who were striking over and over again, the flying pickets disrupting other industries, the national control of everything (anyone who thinks nationalised industry is generally a good thing is almost certainly too young to remember what it was actually like trying to get them to do anything or use them), the limitations on what we could spend and take out of the country, the high interest rates, the hand-wringing of successive failing and weak governments; the country was crippled. We could not have continued to subsidise mining and manufacturing to the extent we were.

Yes, she went too far in the end  and I think she was as mad as a hatter in her final term but I hate to think what state the country would have been in if she hadn't had the balls to say "enough".

Kevin

[coman37]

The majority of the vile posts I have seen on Facebook in the last 36 hours in relation to the death of Margaret Thatcher, are by people who were not even born when she was Prime Minister.

Yes, she allowed the mining industry and others to effectively close down...

Why, the winter of discontent! I remember it well. The trade unions bought the UK, to a standstill. Everyone suffered. My family suffered!!!

Everybody was on strike. Bin men, busmen, councils, trains, firemen, including funeral parlours... Etc.

The list was massive. A close friend of mine, who passed over, could not even get buried!!!

However she kicked butt! Yes, she introduced, poll tax.... Christ wake up. How on earth do you think vital services like Fire, ambulance, police, etc are funded.... They are not free!!!!

We would not have so many issues, like the open door policy immigration that all current political parties are guilty of perplexing.

The appalling state of our education system. Our third class health care, our dilapidated transport non-Infrastucture. Armed forces under funded, over stretched. Etc

With the Chav faculty... Who think they can milk the benefit system without any consequence...

Or our lets try and prove we are a major world player and help everyone else out with aid, whilst letting our own very deserving people suffer !!

If only the muppets that are in power now and since she was forced out, had the inspiration, patriotism and shear determination to do the best for the majority of us.

This country would still be great!

It still can be...

First we need to look after number one. Our own deserving people and stop wasting precious resources and funds on international aid and other countries wars, that are not our problem.

We need to pull together as a nation. English, Welsh and Scottish and Irish!

So, get off your butt and do something to help this country...

Check on your neighbour, go to the shops for the old man/lady next door...

Or just Say hello, just don't ignore the next person you see...

We all have challenges to deal with. Make someone else smile. Try it, it is infectious... :)

Or really make a difference and vote at the next opportunity.

I don't care who you vote for. But do not waste the opportunity you have. If more people voted we would get what the people want. Not what the minority think we want!

However, most importantly. Tell the people you care about, you love them!

If you don't like what I have wrote. You can always delete / block me. So get on with it. This is my opinion!

Hi Debs,

     I dont always see eye to eye with you but on this one you are spot on, you will never convince the mining and steel luddites who were lied to by their own Union officials, Scargill encouraging less well educated to go on strike while he drew a salary from their contributions, etc etc

    Sometimes you just have to stand up and say  Enough is Enough

Coman

[Kwikasfuki]

I let the rest of it go as I know MT invokes passion on both sides of the argument but this really is complete bo££ocks Asif (sorry). If you're going to to take someone on, and someone really did have to take the unions on, you need to prepare the ground which is what she did. The fact that Scargill, the person who set miner against miner and was eventually responsible for destroying them, was too stupid to realise that's what she was doing is neither here nor there. Of course it was planned and so it should have been.

I was working through the three-day weeks, the power cuts, the out of control unions who were striking over and over again, the flying pickets disrupting other industries, the national control of everything (anyone who thinks nationalised industry is generally a good thing is almost certainly too young to remember what it was actually like trying to get them to do anything or use them), the limitations on what we could spend and take out of the country, the high interest rates, the hand-wringing of successive failing and weak governments; the country was crippled. We could not have continued to subsidise mining and manufacturing to the extent we were.

Yes, she went too far in the end  and I think she was as mad as a hatter in her final term but I hate to think what state the country would have been in if she hadn't had the balls to say "enough".

Kevin

I don't disagree that the unions wielded far, far too much power, and they still do today, through the Labour party hence why Ed and not David got elected. Scargill, Hatton, Red Ken et all are a bunch of f***wits on the left and Thatcher was the equivalent on the right. My personal view is her policies were too right wing.

As for nationalisation, most people tend to forget that certain industries were born out of privatisation e.g. the railways. With the passing of time entropy overtakes and chaos ensues, whether it be private or public run.

As for Thatcher, I'm a product of her policies  I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing ...

[O.C.]

As for Thatcher, I'm a product of her policies  I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing ...

Well you've turned out alright, so it can't have been all bad   

[100milesaway]

Irrespective of how good or bad she was at her job, as a fellow human being she deserves everyones respect now that she has gone.

[skill]

Well im an EX MINER and was on strike for a year with two small children, a small mine around here employed 1000 men. With seven mines of which two were big ones thats 10,000, then you have all the timber, steel oils etc to keep them going. Now theres nothing but dole, charity shops and crime, even Northumbria water belongs to the Chinese. Well done maggie.

   Ding dong the witch is dead, ive waited 28yrs for this party and im going to get arsed with all the EX miners who are left on wednesday night