Maggie Thatcher Is Dead.

[exeter]

A true British and world Icon, although to the scots she was English! Great Briton is perfect for her, conviction and drive to get things done and put the country back on its feet. We will not see here like again.

Edited April 9, 2013 by exeter

[Jingthing]

..

We will not see here like again.

Thank God!

[exeter]

Posters under the age of 40 years old making negative comments about Margaret Thatchers time as PM are, for the most part, simply not credible.

Perhaps some are the children of miners....and remember missing meals and sitting at home hungry. Very presumptuous post!

My family are from grimethorpe, many worked down the mine there, they would tell us that many of the shifts were spent asleep underground! They all seemed pretty well off to me as well, better than us and led my Arthur in his Jaguar, park it round the corner and walk the last few yards. It was not right that every year the NUM posted a wage demand or else, they were effectively government employees holding the country ransom, something had to change.

We can debate her legacy for ever but I thought that overall she was a force for good and sorted things out that needed sorting, if you were being sorted you would not like it but change happens, it always is happening you have to move with it.

Sad day for the UK and the world, both owe her a debt.

[Suradit69]

Maggie R I P

Just would like to say that this is one American that thought you were quite the lady and an excellent PM

RIP

>>>Many considered her Britain's Ronald Reagan. In fact, Reagan and Thatcher were political soul mates. Reagan called her the "best man in England" and she called him "the second most important man in my life." The two shared a hatred of communism and a passion for small government. What America knew as "Reaganomics" is still called "Thatcherism" in Britain.

Like Reagan, Thatcher was an outsider in the old boys' club. Just as it was unlikely for an actor to lead the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, it was unthinkable that a grocer's daughter could lead the Conservatives, the party of Churchill and William Pitt -- that is, until Thatcher. She led the Conservatives from 1975 to 1990, the only woman ever to do so.

http://gma.yahoo.com/margaret-thatcher--britain-s--iron-lady--prime-minister--dies-120034251.html

"Like Reagan, Thatcher was an outsider in the old boys' club."

Reagan was avuncular and senile, traits that work well in American politics. At best, right wing politics usually only manages to produce one of the two. Nancy Reagan almost always appeared at his side in order to prop him up and tell him what to say.

Thatcher was certainly not materteral (which I'm led to believe is the feminine of "avuncular."). And she certainly was a great deal more intelligent than the "gipper." She did manage to crank up the "War" of the Falklands to rally the people behind her when her popularity was sinking. Reagan used the same diversionary tactic in Libya. "Sacrificing" money and (other peoples' children's) lives to solidify party political support is a trademark of the Right ... as opposed to actually being willing to serve in the trenches oneself .

These days Reagan would be considered too moderate to appeal to the conservative hardliners. Probably the most damaging aspect of his legacy is that he introduced the Bush family to the White House.

Can't speak to Maggie's legacy, but like Reagan and George III, her mental stability didn't so much degenerate as become more obvious.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Suradit69

[catmac]

Posters under the age of 40 years old making negative comments about Margaret Thatchers time as PM are, for the most part, simply not credible.

Perhaps some are the children of miners....and remember missing meals and sitting at home hungry. Very presumptuous post!

If they did, they have only their own parents to blame. The stupidity of the miners in following that revolutionary playboy Arthur Scargill to their own destruction is almost beyond belief. Thank God that Maggie had the balls to stand up to him.

An aspect of the "Iron Lady" that is often overlooked, is that she had very liberal views on peoples' personal lives. She sincerely believed in letting people run their own lives, and keeping the nanny state out of things. She voted in favour of every Parliamentary move to reform the laws on homosexuality, for example, and she started the overhaul of Britain's ridiculous Licencing Laws.

A truly great Prime Minister to whom I shall ever be grateful.

[Theoutsider]

While i do not agree with most of the violence in Northern Ireland i believe she prolonged the troubles up there by about 10 years and made the situation for John Major and others that followed more difficult so i won't miss her too much

No, That was the terrorists.

totster

Like Nelson Mandela:)

[chiang mai]

Well at least now that issue of who runs the country has been resolved, now we know for certain, the banks. Scargill could not have dreamt in his wildest dreams of inflicting so much damage on the country. Thank goodness Maggie came along and got rid of all those regulations.

Rubbish.The banks were quite well regulated under Thatcher.The light touch regulation of the financial sector happened under Blair and Brown.Indeed they boasted about it.To be fair the Tories went along with it but by then Thatcher had long gone.

De-regulation of the financial markets started under Thatcher. If you recall there were rock solid institutions called Building Societies with sensible lending policies. Also rock solid Mutual Societies almost all of whom went the way of the Halifax one of the most rock solid of all. What an achievement.

Is the wrong answer!

Big Bang in the City did start around 1985 although the effect of it on mutualisation was minimal, only a few building societies turned into banks, the majority stayed as building societies albeit many of them merged.

[nong38]

She was great supporter of our armed forces, next week they will have their chance to say thank you, it will be Great send off for the Iron Lady.

I will drink Scotch tonight, a Scottish tribute to a grocer's daughter from Grantham.

[chiang mai]

..

We will not see here like again.

Thank God!

What you know about this lady, her achievments and the country at the time is negligible.

[catmac]

..

We will not see here like again.

Thank God!

A rather silly one-liner from you, JT. As an American, I can forgive you for having no understanding of just how much she did to save Great Britain from utter ruin.

[chiang mai]

Posters under the age of 40 years old making negative comments about Margaret Thatchers time as PM are, for the most part, simply not credible.

Perhaps some are the children of miners....and remember missing meals and sitting at home hungry. Very presumptuous post!

It's not good to generalise I know but on this point I feel very safe, posts 276 and 278 really say it all so I will not repeat the detail.

[lannarebirth]

..

We will not see here like again.

Thank God!

Just out of curiosity, as an American, what is your particular beef with Margaret Thatcher? Did you ever visit Great Britain in the 70's, as I did? It was going down for the count.

[fasteddie]

Maggie R I P

Just would like to say that this is one American that thought you were quite the lady and an excellent PM

RIP

Shows how much yanks know, she was an evil old hag, a friend of pinochet, murderer of the belgrano and destroyer of British society who's fiscal policies have led the UK to where it is today.

[chiang mai]

Maggie R I P

Just would like to say that this is one American that thought you were quite the lady and an excellent PM

RIP

Shows how much yanks know, she was an evil old hag, a friend of pinochet, murderer of the belgrano and destroyer of British society who's fiscal policies have led the UK to where it is today.

Yet another poster who understands zero facts and enjoys imagining things, hugely laughable and very sad!

[delh]

Her great privatisation drive lined the pockets of her mates, and don't even get me started on the Falklands. The hag has the blood of our troops on her hands. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Er, the Falklands were invaded by foreign forces. Tell more of your comment please. Rather different to Blair, with his sexed up dossiers, 45 minute capability comments on so on.

[nong38]

Maggie R I P

Just would like to say that this is one American that thought you were quite the lady and an excellent PM

RIP

Shows how much yanks know, she was an evil old hag, a friend of pinochet, murderer of the belgrano and destroyer of British society who's fiscal policies have led the UK to where it is today.

What a sad things to say you have a particular view of history that I and many others do not share, have a nice day.

[howsthat]

Great loss to the UK political establishment, love her or hate her she was the 1st woman PM and won 3 elections with big majorities.

[Jingthing]

...

Did you ever visit Great Britain in the 70's, as I did?

...

Yes.

[chiang mai]

...

Did you ever visit Great Britain in the 70's, as I did?

...

Yes.

So your beef with Maggie is....?

[fasteddie]

A quote from someone on Facebook.

Much as I loathed her policies I find that I cannot gloat at the death of Margaret Thatcher. I had a brief, shameful moment of it when I heard the news but now I just feel a sense of relief that some of the weight of anger about privatisation, the miner's strike, Clause 28, the sinking of the Belgrano etc etc that built up in me during the 1980s has been lifted, a little.

There are far more pressing concerns to deal with now, all of them knock-on effects, furtherations and poisonous mutations of Thatcher's doctrine of insularity, privatisation and selfishness, propounded and, piece by piece, implemented by smaller, crueller, more fearful and less cunning politicians.

I believe that the only way the left in Britain should mark her passing is to stand, calm and united, against her legacy; to be as effective as she was as agents of change. Her body is gone, but the body politic she created lives on. The only death I would be prepared to celebrate is the death of her ideas.

Anything else is just cruel and small and pointless, and likely to fuel the anger of those who supported her to a point where it would be impossible to reach any compromise.

Margaret Thatcher left office in 1990...23 years ago..I think you'd be hard pushed to blame her for todays "ill's"...

RAZZ

Oh really! Her monetarist policies, carried on by all subsequent governments, have got us where we are today, Fecked!

She deregulated the banks, sold off british industries and even took the milk off the children, she was as evil as they come.

Rot in Hell!

[fasteddie]

Posters under the age of 40 years old making negative comments about Margaret Thatchers time as PM are, for the most part, simply not credible.

Perhaps some are the children of miners....and remember missing meals and sitting at home hungry. Very presumptuous post!

My family are from grimethorpe, many worked down the mine there, they would tell us that many of the shifts were spent asleep underground! They all seemed pretty well off to me as well, better than us and led my Arthur in his Jaguar, park it round the corner and walk the last few yards. It was not right that every year the NUM posted a wage demand or else, they were effectively government employees holding the country ransom, something had to change.

We can debate her legacy for ever but I thought that overall she was a force for good and sorted things out that needed sorting, if you were being sorted you would not like it but change happens, it always is happening you have to move with it.

Sad day for the UK and the world, both owe her a debt.

"Sad day for the UK and the world, both owe her a debt"

Ironic really, as thanks to her fiscal policies, we are all now IN DEBT!.

[simple1]

A quote from someone on Facebook.

Much as I loathed her policies I find that I cannot gloat at the death of Margaret Thatcher. I had a brief, shameful moment of it when I heard the news but now I just feel a sense of relief that some of the weight of anger about privatisation, the miner's strike, Clause 28, the sinking of the Belgrano etc etc that built up in me during the 1980s has been lifted, a little.

There are far more pressing concerns to deal with now, all of them knock-on effects, furtherations and poisonous mutations of Thatcher's doctrine of insularity, privatisation and selfishness, propounded and, piece by piece, implemented by smaller, crueller, more fearful and less cunning politicians.

I believe that the only way the left in Britain should mark her passing is to stand, calm and united, against her legacy; to be as effective as she was as agents of change. Her body is gone, but the body politic she created lives on. The only death I would be prepared to celebrate is the death of her ideas.

Anything else is just cruel and small and pointless, and likely to fuel the anger of those who supported her to a point where it would be impossible to reach any compromise.

Margaret Thatcher left office in 1990...23 years ago..I think you'd be hard pushed to blame her for todays "ill's"...

RAZZ

Oh really! Her monetarist policies, carried on by all subsequent governments, have got us where we are today, Fecked!

She deregulated the banks, sold off british industries and even took the milk off the children, she was as evil as they come.

Rot in Hell!

Think again, Gordon Brown admitted it was lack of action by him that caused the major issues in the UK banking environment

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375577/Gordon-Brown-admits-failed-rein-banks-shake-threatens-1k-branches.html

[fasteddie]

Well at least now that issue of who runs the country has been resolved, now we know for certain, the banks. Scargill could not have dreamt in his wildest dreams of inflicting so much damage on the country. Thank goodness Maggie came along and got rid of all those regulations.

Rubbish.The banks were quite well regulated under Thatcher.The light touch regulation of the financial sector happened under Blair and Brown.Indeed they boasted about it.To be fair the Tories went along with it but by then Thatcher had long gone.

Please don't try and rewrite history, SHE deregulated the banks, the blairs and browns were just her clones carrying on her fiscal policies as all who followed her have.

[robhufton]

i hope she was in intense pain right up to the end and that her mind and memory were intact enough to feel it. she destroyed every trace of community, goodwill and public spirit in the UK under a systematic campaign of making her wealthy friends simply wealthier. long may she rot in hell.

What a sad, uninformed, unintellegent view.

... she destroyed every trace of community pal.

What you know about community and the related issues in the UK during the 1980's is nothing, and I''m not your pal.

Is this the same 'community' of the miners? Where Scargill's miners turned on and intimidated the miners (and their families) that actually wanted to work?

[Gsxrnz]

The British working man stopped believing in a fair days work for a fair days pay, and we got what we deserved.............some of the industrial practises of the time were absolutely beyond belief.

I sat in a canteen in 1984 in BSC Ravenscraig and watched a vicious fight take place during a Union meeting, the Communists, ( yes we had communists, red stars on their caps, the whole works ) were demanding that we come out on strike to support the Miners. Other men objected as the miners had refused to support our Steel strike in 1980, one word led to another and a mass brawl broke out.

Entertaining as it was for an 18 year old to watch I'll never forget one guy saying, " the idea is a simple one, come to work, do your job, get paid, go home, not come to work and look for any excuse to go out on strike ".

I would suggest that just about anyone who was involved in the heavy industries during the 70's and 80's could tell you horror stories, deliberate sabotage, ( a regular occurrence in our steel works ) petty strikes, blah blah.....it was just unbelievable at times.

We working men were our own worst enemy, and if you don't believe that, you weren't there.

In the early days Thatcher had no choice, she had to do what she did re British nationalized industries.

She lost the plot later though with the poll tax, allowing Nigel Lawson to turn on the credit tap, and talking tough on Europe while folding behind the scenes. She stayed on for one election too many, it's as simple as that.

I think your post sums up the 70's and 80's under her stewardship very well. The UK was a divided nation and casualties from both wings of the political spectrum were inevitable. It was basically a war of sorts. Perhaps the following lyrics from a song of the times by the Strawbs (I'm a union man, written in 1973) will remind some of us of the political feelings/power of the Unions back in those days.

Now I'm a union man

Amazed at what I am

I say what I think, that the company stinks

Yes I'm a union man

When we meet in the local hall

I'll be voting with them all

With a hell of a shout, it's "Out brothers, out!"

And the rise of the factory's fall

Oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

Until the day I die, until the day I die

As a union man I'm wise

To the lies of the company spies

And I don't get fooled by the factory rules

'Cause I always read between the lines

And I always get my way

If I strike for higher pay

When I show my card to the Scotland Yard

And this is what I say

Oh, oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

Until the day I die, until the day I die

Before the union did appear

My life was half as clear

Now I've got the power to the working hour

And every other day of the year

So though I'm a working man

I can ruin the government's plan

And though I'm not hard, the sight of my card

Makes me some kind of superman

Oh, oh, oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

Until the day I die, until the day I die

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

Until the day I die, until the day I die

[nong38]

Posters under the age of 40 years old making negative comments about Margaret Thatchers time as PM are, for the most part, simply not credible.

Perhaps some are the children of miners....and remember missing meals and sitting at home hungry. Very presumptuous post!

My family are from grimethorpe, many worked down the mine there, they would tell us that many of the shifts were spent asleep underground! They all seemed pretty well off to me as well, better than us and led my Arthur in his Jaguar, park it round the corner and walk the last few yards. It was not right that every year the NUM posted a wage demand or else, they were effectively government employees holding the country ransom, something had to change.

We can debate her legacy for ever but I thought that overall she was a force for good and sorted things out that needed sorting, if you were being sorted you would not like it but change happens, it always is happening you have to move with it.

Sad day for the UK and the world, both owe her a debt.

"Sad day for the UK and the world, both owe her a debt"

Ironic really, as thanks to her fiscal policies, we are all now IN DEBT!.

Well I am not in debt , perhaps I learnt something you did not, she too spent the countries money as if it were her own. She hated shirkers and scroungers, perhaps thats why they hated her, she made them go and do a days work for a days pay. At any point in time you take a point and say it was right or wrong. Today you might be right and tomorrow you might be wrong because of recent events.

Today she keeps that fat bloke from North Korea out of the headlines and the world pays tribute to a truly great leader, the scroungers nemisis, Kim Jun whatever take note, get back in your box.

[Commander Tamson]

This news comes 40 years too late. Thatcher, along with the brain-dead Reagan, set in motion the financial crisis of today. She destroyed the UK's manufacturing basis and opened the door for all the sharks to move into the money & insurance markets of the City

Why is Germany the only western country to have come through virtually unscathed by the present crisis - it maintained its industrial industries and I'm not just talking about cars [the merc, porshe, BMW. Audia VAG] but plants like Siemens and ABS and their white goods items etc. Britain was the powerhouse and manufacturing centre of the World and okay there were Union problems at the time, but she handled it with bulldozer instead of a dove.

Okay we almost all supported her stance on The Falklands, but even then she sent incompetents to handle it. How many British lives were lost in the fighting of the totally untrained and demoralised Argi army who were there?

Long may she rot in hell

[nong38]

You know what really surprises me about the comments and actions here and in the Uk is how much baggage people have been carrying around for over 30 years so they can release all their hate or perceived rights and wrongs. No one can go back and change things, nowhere is perfect, but the world today is better than it was when she came to power, it was better when she left number 10 than when she went in, unless of course you would prefer the likes of Arthur Scargill to be still making demands on the country, Arthur you will remember who recently took his own Union to court overa grace and favour flat, a true socialist to the last, a scrounger of the first order and he still has many followers. I am glad she took him and his bunch of flying thugs and put them in their place ( I could have used stronger language here I am being restrained).

I look forward to the funeral next week and the white ensign will proudly from the balcony of my house.

[Morakot]

[bobl]

I just had to hunt this down and watch it again...

Maggie and the vegetables...

http://vimeo.com/40086531