Iron Lady

[lumpyv]

Sorry to hear she is gone, always thought she was one of the greatest women to ever rule a country.

evil old witch. did nothing for the working man..

[NHSH]

Her policies were only possible on the back of horrendous unemployment (unprecedented level of 3 million) and social problems (recession, poll tax, culling industry), for which she had little regard. The Tories sensing they were unelectable under her leadership unceremoniously dumped her.

For a taste of what life was like under her I recommend the series 'Boys from the Blackstuff' which gave 'gizza job' as a phrase for the those times...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_from_the_Blackstuff

[youtube][/youtube]

Wicky, can you clarify than, what was her goals, or rather what she was trying to achieve with her policies that didn't work before she came to power? Also, this whole thing about miners can't be just personal vendetta... something else was behind it...?

[NHSH]

She was the closest thing I hope Great Britain ever gets to having a dictator

We are living more in a dictatorship now than then, with all the CCTV, less freedom of speech. You can't even take a photo around Westminster without being approached by a copper and searched on the grounds of anti terrorism unless your dressed like a tourist. etc etc. At the end of the day 99% of politicians are not going to be good for the public. There's always going to be pros and cons and you can't please everyone.

(:-})

+1 Also true, as time goes by, the Gov' learns how to be more sophisticated in applying control over people, sort of new feudalism.

[Stratman]

I'm not sure who you want to run the country instead of elected representatives then? The choice is there for everyone, if you really don't like how things are run and done, campaign to become a councillor or even an MP. We get the Government we deserve; bit like the press, The Sun is an awful rag run by someone who has truly acted as a dictator, yet it outsells decent newspapers so it continues to trot out its bile. Stop buying it and it would change or die.

[Wicky]

Wicky, can you clarify than, what was her goals, or rather what she was trying to achieve with her policies that didn't work before she came to power? Also, this whole thing about miners can't be just personal vendetta... something else was behind it...?

Privatisation defined Thatcher era

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/51ccaa1c-20c2 ... z2PwyWUhVQ

and her tool in implementing it was massive unemployment and the heavy handed use of the police to break the back of the workers / cum unions, so the industries could be sold off/dismantled on the cheap. It saw the rise of the yuppy satirised in 'Wall Street' (Gordon Gecko) and Alan B'Stard the extreme right-wing conservative who cares for no one but himself.

[youtube][/youtube]

Then Blair took the Tory baton and ran with it....

[VTRDark]

I'm not sure who you want to run the country instead of elected representatives then? The choice is there for everyone, if you really don't like how things are run and done, campaign to become a councillor or even an MP

If only it was that easy. As for choice, there is none. All party's are similar to each other there is no yin and yang and all they seem to be concerned with is getting one over each other and bicker over things. They make promises they do not keep, they go against what the majority of people want. They will give you all the sales blurb to get into power and once they have their foot in the door they no longer give a sh1t.

To campaign takes a hell of a lot of money and to have people in the know to back you and do some behind the door deals with companies and those in power. How often do you get a politician that is a lower class citizen and is on the side of the general public. The majority of politicians with any power or any say in matters are from Eton, Oxford, or some other place where the rich and privileged come from. Yeh you get some lower class small time local councillors but they have no real say in the running of the country. They are just pawns for the big boys to play with. Otherwise you would not have the likes of Diane Abbott or Portillo making money from television. They are good at talking the talk but can't walk the walk.

And to be honest I would not want to run amongst them. I would rather see the downfall of the whole system. Bye bye parliament and all the politicians. Cromwell will be turning in his grave if could see the way things turned out. What it is replaced with I do not know, but we would possibly be better off being run by Virgin or something or the Banks. Abandon taxes and pay for everything out of the profits they make.

(:-})

[BigVeeGrin]

She still stirs up strong opinions. The "where there is discord may we bring harmony" speech when she became PM is the essence of her as it meant "on my terms".

The country needed a kick out of its stupor but the manner of it was the problem in my opinion. To set out to be controversial, divisive and run a country based on political dogma was wrong - she divided the country, the government, the Cabinet, her party, international bodies. And for what? For all the wake up call the UK needed we still are living with the legacy of selfishness, greed, the erosion of community, the worship of money and the economy, the putting the Police on a pedestal as an arm of the state, international isolation in many ways etc. The realities did not match the rhetoric and I feel we all paid a price for a clash of political wills, some the price was their lives, their health and their communities. She was the catalyst of this and there could have been another way I always thought, as did a lot of other people.

[NHSH]

I'm not sure who you want to run the country instead of elected representatives then? The choice is there for everyone, if you really don't like how things are run and done, campaign to become a councillor or even an MP

If only it was that easy. As for choice, there is none. All party's are similar to each other there is no yin and yang and all they seem to be concerned with is getting one over each other and bicker over things. They make promises they do not keep, they go against what the majority of people want. They will give you all the sales blurb to get into power and once they have their foot in the door they no longer give a sh1t.

To campaign takes a hell of a lot of money and to have people in the know to back you and do some behind the door deals with companies and those in power. How often do you get a politician that is a lower class citizen and is on the side of the general public. The majority of politicians with any power or any say in matters are from Eton, Oxford, or some other place where the rich and privileged come from. Yeh you get some lower class small time local councillors but they have no real say in the running of the country. They are just pawns for the big boys to play with. Otherwise you would not have the likes of Diane Abbott or Portillo making money from television. They are good at talking the talk but can't walk the walk.

And to be honest I would not want to run amongst them. I would rather see the downfall of the whole system. Bye bye parliament and all the politicians. Cromwell will be turning in his grave if could see the way things turned out. What it is replaced with I do not know, but we would possibly be better off being run by Virgin or something or the Banks. Abandon taxes and pay for everything out of the profits they make.

+1 That is almost the same picture here in the states unfortunately.
(:-})

[woaty]

she had bigger balls than both of the two pratts weve got now

[callam_nffc]

she had bigger balls than both of the two pratts weve got now

That's not hard though is it, its like claiming to be "the most attractive burns victim" haha

[sirch345]

NHSH, this will give you a bit more of an idea of what went on during her reign.

Probably most if not all Governments have asset stripped our beloved Country at some point, but I doubt none have ever gone so far in doing so as Mrs Thatcher did:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... tised.html

Chris.

[VTRDark]

she had bigger balls than both of the two pratts weve got now

(:-})

[ernie234]

she won't be turning now

[ernie234]

she also sold off the country assets so we now pay though the nose for water etc, hope she rots in hell.

[Steve97]

She's dead, I'm glad, for all the above reasons and few more, apart from kicking the argies , I dont remember anything good.