YTS - a year spent working for the National Trust at Stourhead - one of the best years of my life - I'm a pro with a pair of secateurs & a hydranger to this day
Britain was in deep decline in the '70 when she took over. We'd been a once great nation (Empire) that had gone and conquered the world, teaching the locals how to make things for us so we could become rich on the back of their efforts. Then, it's no surprise when those chickens come home to roost, in manufacturing (I'm not talking about highly skilled, specialist manufacturing) we were out priced by those very same people. The unions in this country just didn't understand the reality. We couldn't compete, not on price anyway. They wanted more and that was just unsustainable. The unions broke the previous governments (I remember the winter of discontent) but Thatcher knew it couldn't go on or we would have become too uncompetitive. Obviously some people were going to loose out and I feel now as I did then, it was an awful shame. Not brought about by themselves or the government but mainly by the unions. But it still doesn't alter the fact that it was necessary, sometimes the medicine is almost worse than the disease. I think the poll tax (although fair) was a step too far and alienated her against the majority. Also, I think she was wrong to support so many political dictators and tyrants around the world but to balance that, she did have a massive involvement in ending the cold war. The thing that still stands out above all else was her integrity, determination and un-bending will. She wasn't corrupted by personal wealth and didn't court fame. It was all about the job with Maggie and you could see that when she left No.10 R.I.P.
I did a YTS as a junior designer (with no experience or qualifications in the industry). 26 years on and I've been a designer ever since. Ran my own business, employed my own staff, paid back hundreds of thousand of pounds in corporation tax. I would NEVER have had that opportunity without that YTS.
I don't think it's so much what she did that alienated her to a great swathe of people, but it's how she did it. No sane person would argue that British industry needed to be reformed when she came to power. However, to decimate a whole industry in a very short period of time was a disaster and she ripped the heart out of many communities. In the meantime, the Essex wide boys were allowed to run riot in the financial services industry which eventually ended with the massive crash of 2008. Talk about a North/South divide ! I think she polarised opinion because she is credited, along with Ronald (the presidents brain is missing) Reagan of bringing about the end of communism and the cold war. However, Mikhail Gorbachev started the end long before Thatcher ever thought it was possible. For me, the main thing she did was to introduce a culture of avarice and greed never seen before in the UK which still exists to this day. It started with the sale of the nationalised utilities. Think about it, her and her government actually developed a jolly little wheeze to sell us, the tax payer, something which we already (as tax payers) owned in return for the promise of a profit. Mmm, that's like me taking your Ducati and offering to sell it back to you with the promise that if you sell it in the future you can make a profit on it ! She definitely shifted politics to the right in the UK. New Labour under Tony Blair most certainly moved his party into her territory to become elected and the old left/right in British politics (with the odd exception on both sides) is dead. She modernised British industry but in doing it created a sink or swim culture and that signalled the death of "the community" in the UK. The Poll Tax, endless divisions on Europe, the constant attack on the NHS, the Big Bang, the decimation of the coal industry (there's still plenty of coal under our seabed) and the Falklands war polarised opinion to the extent that it signalled her death as the leader of the Conservative party and the Iron Lady was unelectable. Michael Heseltine challenged her but the ammunition was given to him by her former Chancellor, Sir Geoffrey Howe in his resignation speech. This quiet politician who Dennis Healey (the Chancellor under the previous Labour government) described as "being savaged by him in the house of commons is like being savaged by a dead sheep" delivered a devastating attack on her policies during his speech in the house of commons from which she would never recover. For me, the lasting thought would be the pre-1979 election poster designed by Sir Tim Bell of Saatchi & Saatchi showing a long queue at the old "Labour Exchange" with the slogan Labour isn't working" When she came to power just over one million people were unemployed, by the middle of the second term of her government, three million were unemployed. RIP Maggie Thatcher.
But Colz the biggest majority of you Scots vote Labour anyway. Do you have a single Tory MP up there? Never mind after next year you lot will be voting for independence and hopefully will be able to stop whinging about the "Westminster Parliament."The amazing thing is that the last three PM's have all been Scots,if that is, you include David Cameron who although born in England is the grandson of the Earl of Fife and very pro Scotland.
The idea of the Poll Tax was fair. However, in practice, someone in a one bedroom council flat in Peckham ended up paying not much less than someone in a six bedroom house in Richmond. That's why it was so unpopular. The Iron Lady unfortunately wasn't Iron enough in dealing with pressure from her backbenchers worried about the reaction from their constituents.
Call me cynical, but the sinking of the General Belgrano, outside the 200NM exclusion zone, heralded the start of the war. A deeply unpopular PM, then became instantly popular overnight and won a second term.
Isn't this interesting we wern't allowed religion or politics on ducatisti's website, now we've discussed both with passions rising high on both sides but nothing that could bring about the demise of this forum , credit to you people for staying away from the personal verbal insults to one another.
Mr C. You hit the nail on the head, her policies never affected you. No one would deny that Scargill made a mess of running the NUM. However, he was right when he revealed to the public a massive pit closure programme that was denied by Thatcher and Ian McGregor the American brought in to run the industry. Unless you are a dictator, there's no such thing as a hard headed, no nonsense leader. Politicians are like how Japanese manufactures describe motorcycle frames - "they need to bend like a tree." In public she, like all politicians, liked to pick a fight she knew she would win. In reality, deals were always done for political expediency. I'm not saying this is wrong or is a trait that was particular to her. She was just good at exploiting the publicity in battles she knew she'd win.
The problem is that some of Plod were reputed to be army. They wore army issue clothing, no PC numbers, etc. Ted Heath (the last truly great "one nation" conservative and a man with more principles than Maggie ever had) went to polls and asked "who runs the country, me or the miners" ? Sadly, for him, the county said the latter.
Personally, I've vented my spleen about Maggie. I would never denounce someone who either supported her or not. She did some good things, things that needed to be done, but went about it in a callous and uncaring way whilst others were allowed to profit on the misery of others. Some posts have said she didn't court publicity, she did what she thought was right. I don't agree, I think she was the first politician in modern times to truly understand the power of the media. She quoted St Frances of Assisi in her first speech as PM, part of which was "where there is discord, may we bring harmony". Her failure to do so was ultimately her downfall. She brought to an end an era of true one nation conservatism. Despite his failures, Ted Heath was a much better leader than her. Despite your faults, RIP Maggie.
I was just thinking the same. It's really good to hear other peoples views. Nothing wrong with a healthy debate on politics, religion or what's the best chain lube (all of which were banned previously)
I was on a YTS when I left school £17.50 a week lol and she did take my milk so I guess she did affect me, but to a lesser level. I still have an opinion though and great respect for the Lady. I do remember the miner strikes and all the shite that went with a trade union run country lol!! I was brought up in Leyland where everyone's Dad worked at BL, I remember when it all shut down but I don't remember the community being ruined. I do remember power cuts in the 70's and flared trousers
I hope the forum Police (You know who you are) does not lock the thread. Or I maybe forced to stick potatoes up your exhaust pipes at Donnington
I don't think there's the same puritanical culture here, I used to enjoy the old witch trials, telling offs and of course lets not forget the swearing ban!
