enoch powells Rivers of Blood speech , Thirty years later, Heath would admit that his remarks on the "economic burden of immigration" had been "not without prescience." 74% of the UK population agreed with Powell's opinions, and mosleys opinions where during WW2 and before, and hitler was voted american "time magazine man of the year" because of all he did for the german people, what that got to do with MT
All politicians and all hated and loved to varying degrees at various times during their careers and afterwards. My contention is that OM and EP were, rightly or wrongly, probably hated more than Mrs T at one time or another.
OK, I should have said "leading politician". Powell and Mosley were both fringe figures who made speeches but had little chance to influence actual policies or legislation. Incidentally in 1969 I was one of a crowd of demonstrators getting our heads beaten outside a meeting where Enoch Powell was speaking, not long after his "rivers of blood" speech. Still rather proud of that.
She was Prime Minister of this country three times for christs sake,elected by the same system that got Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson into the House. Which means that for a number of years,her Party was more popular than any other amongst people of voting age.So don't start claiming that nobody liked her,because they did She took the country to war to defend British territory.Blokes died doing what they'd signed up for,defending British people.It was awful to watch,but anyone who signs up surely knows they might end up being shot at? I don't recall Irag or Afghanistan being regarded as British territory,at least in my lifetime,but I'm not hearing any bleating about about our service personnel dying out there? Maggie Thatcher took on the Unions because they were destroying this country,holding back progress in many industries tofurther their own selfish ends. If she'd been elected years earlier then we'd possibly be riding one of the many British makes of motorcycle that used to exist,and driving British cars. Arthur Scargill made himself wealthy and his members poor, by trying to bully the elected Government of this country. And losing. The coal industry no longer exists because imported coal is cheaper,end of. And I'll never forget that the miners dropped rocks onto trucks deliveriing coal to power stations,killing one of them. So much for working class solidarity.i.e,"if you don't agree with us miners then we miners reserve the right to murder you"... . Yes she let the city run riot.Just like Blair/Brown etc did. And what exactly was so wrong with making every single adult make a contribution via the Poll Tax?. Surely thats a Socialist ideal,a level playing field for everyone? Like all Governments/Politicians,she did some good and some bad.You can't prove a negative,so we'll never know what life would be like if she hadn't been voted in. But a lot of us remember what it was like before her,and we're probably a bit better off because of her. I'm not bothered about her passing:"An Old Lady Dies",is not news and no surprise. But when I look at the slimy toads that have been in since the early Nineties,I look back at those times with a strange nostalgia...
an old lady died Rip people going on about how she ruined citys towns need to remember how parliement works look at the state of the country now worse then it ever was
Strangely enough I don't recall the miners ever being allowed to have a vote about going on strike... And yet when the British public DID have a vote, they elected Margret Thatcher - three times... She was unpopular with some, hated even, because she did away with the "jobs for life", "don't mess with the union", "the world owes me a living" culture that was destroying this country. She did not destroy the coal industry - it tried to hold the country to ransom (again) and by doing so signed its own death warrant. I think history will judge her - as it will all leaders. At least she didn't take us into two illegal wars purely to further her own career ( within and beyond politics ) like that slimey toad Tony "lining my own pockets" Blair did...
And at least she had principles, and stuck to them. Unlike the "new", "let's drop clause 4" labour party.
Can't wait to buy the Daily Mail tomorrow, and burn it. Margaret Thatcher's death greeted with street parties in Brixton and Glasgow | Politics | guardian.co.uk
Would now be a bad time to mention LOCAL DERBY Sorry, I tried to resist it. Well done City, a small measure of pride reclaimed
Lots of posts, some well informed, some emotional, some callous, all valid to those who made them. My view is that Thatcher had integrity and dealt with some of the most difficult situations in recent years with a clarity of purpose and direction sadly lacking before and since. She had bigger balls than all of us on this forum (sorry El T!). RIP MT.
