I am not unsympathetic to that view. I see no definitive evidence, only strong circumstantial evidence. So I try to hold a neutral view of the episode.
With respect Alan, the problem is you’re asking a complex question about the most divisive politician in modern history and looking for simple responses that really only reflect the point of view of the person replying. All you can really do if you’re interested is to look up both sides of the argument through various resources. (ie: Don’t just Look at the Socialist Worker or the Daily Mail & you should get a fair balance) In many peoples opinions and not just historic Tory voters, Thatcher was necessary at the time, whether you ultimately consider her a necessary evil or necessary politician is a matter of your politics. The winter of discontent was brought about largely by labours economic policies, having to borrow money from world banks and the IMF being underpinned by the radical left-wing unions with vicious shop stewards like Red Robbo, who brought Britain’s largest car manufacturer to it’s knees and ultimately destroyed it. Labour continued to pump money into British Rail, British Leyland & the coal mines amongst many other nationalised industries that were badly run and had no sound economic structure. Had they been properly supported they might well have succeeded & that is the real tragedy of Labours economic policies & the Tories cost cutting austerity that always follows. As Mrs T once said, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of everybody else’s money” The Falkland Islands were/are a sovereign state of the UK. Whatever the rights & wrongs of that at the time. Dismissing them as some little rock is wholly unfair as the people living on that little rock believe themselves British. We were obligated to protect them against invasion by a foreign power. Thatcher took us to war, acted decisively & won the war. I mean she also blew a battleship up that was arguably trying to flee, which didn’t play well there (or here actually) but Labour wouldn’t have done that & those islanders would now be under a foreign inhabited country. Right or wrong? You decide. There’s a lot more of course, some positive, some really not so (poll tax anyone ?) but she was a strong leader, something we’ve not had since. Right now, they’re all as bad as each other imo.
I do try to look at both sides of the argument and find other people’s opinions interesting too (often leads me to look at something I might not have). I will watch the BBC program about her too. I agree she was a strong leader and we could do with one now, however things pan out. Though I am not convinced her policies etc have helped the country in the long term (council houses for one).
You’re right about that, nor has privatising the essential utility companies instead of supporting a properly structured publicly owned gas/water/leccy board but hey there we are. As I said earlier, my politics are kinda all over the place! Good luck with your research buddy
That's economics. It was a massive shame to see our industry go to the wall. But if you could buy your same groceries 40% cheaper over the border, that's where you'd go shopping. She had some good leadership qualities. Fearless. Took shit from nobody.
ISTR that she took shit from the doctors during their dispute and had to smile whilst she swallowed. That was fun. Still, Blair and May were worse.
I was only kidding about the lift thing. I just wanted to see all the tight wads on here getting all excited Am I a cnut or what???
I've seen the re-education camps, I've read histories, Comrade. I know the drill! 001. Steal from the Rich, give to the Politburo 002. Steal from the next richest, give to the Politburo 003. See #002, repeat ... 301. Eat pets. Tried and trusted!
Do you know what i think ? I think you know fvck all, yes fvck all. Why you must be watching darts as you type your fvck allness.
Bit harsh. I watched the programs about her, nothing really new in them. She was good at winning votes with things that looked ok short term, long term not so good.
