maggie thatcher

[harvey b davison]

I wish she was pm now. I'm from a strong mining community and saw first hand the devastation caused by the pit closures, the rioting, the thuggery of the met police up here.The pride of the miners when they went back to work. But if you speak honestly to the old miners now (as i do daily ) they will tell you it should never of happened. Yes my area has gone downhill since, BUT the air is a lot cleaner, there are more small units to rent for small businesses, yes there are call centres and distribution centres, but these have created work. She did good as well as bad. Just leave her alone and let her be.

[TreeswingerPerth]

I'm old enough to remember the four day working week and the threat of the three day working week, power cuts, car worker strikes, newspaper strikes and the miners strikes....Oh - and the Irish problems - and we think we have problems now:lol:

 

The Callaghan Goverment was proving pretty ineffective in resolving these issues, difficult to show strength against the Unions when your government depends on their money!

 

Something had to be done - just think of the mess if it had carried on another four years.

 

I do remember earning some good dosh through the eighties, solid economy, good growth and some decent times - it didn't end too well though but we still managed well exporting to Germany......and in Manufacturing!

 

Maggie wasn't good for manufacturing but it was the ex Eastern Bloc countries and China that did us in in the end and not Maggie.

 

Like it is often the case....we had a leader for the times - just my opinion!

 

Well said Spud , I remember those power cuts well !

TS

[Minotaur]

Margaret Thatcher - the Iron Lady.

She Empowered women!

Sorted Kinnock & the Labour party, the Miners, Scargill and crushed the Unions!

Then her greatest achievement. She almost singlehandedly galvanised a Nation, and ensured the Argies were kicked back into touch.

She stands alongside Winston Churchill as one of GB 's greatest leaders!

 

RIP

[Stereo]

I've tried to stay out of this one but my blood is boiling. Thatcher was nothing more than a bully. She bullied her own political party and a lot of the people of this once great country.

I come from the north midlands. We had coal mines, steel works and the pottery factories. Thatcher put an end to all of those industries in Stoke-on-Trent and they have never been replaced with anything apart from call centres and distribution centres that pay the minimum wage. As for letting people buy their council houses she should have to be strung up for one of the biggest scandals in modern history. She promised to build new council houses for the next generation, did she? no, she spent the money fighting the Argies. Mrs Egg is from the south and she had no idea what devastation Thatcher caused in the north industrial areas that made this country great in the first place. As a boy I saw my uncles and cousins destroyed by what she did. I could go on but I'll leave it there.

 

Did the coal mines / steel works / factories pay more than minimum wage? If so, why did everyone live in a terrace with an outside bog?

 

Socialists were / are the real bullies. The left always occupies the moral high ground but they are the most controlling and destructive of anyone. The unions destroyed UK manufacturing, nobody else.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Socialists were / are the real bullies. The left always occupies the moral high ground but they are the most controlling and destructive of anyone. The unions destroyed UK manufacturing, nobody else.

 

Precisely; you want socialism in all its fullness? Fine, but it can have you in all your fullness too then; that is its philosophy and exactly the Orwellian nightmare.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Al Pacino played Scargill brilliantly. Maybe we'll get another brit blockbuster.

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eniqdudvIhk]3x01 The Strike 02 20 1988 3 - YouTube[/ame]

[fen01]

I disagree with the whole union structure. A good idea spoiled.

Holding the country to ransom, you either want your job or you don't.

If it's not good enough let someone else have it. And the union leaders rabble rousing and manipulating the members, as it transpired not in their best interests, should have been stripped of all their cash and assets.

It was unfortunate that the UK mining industry was no longer viable in it's traditional form, and that the unions destroyed any chance of a more streamlined mechanised version of the industry continuing to employ a smaller number of workers.

 

What it wasn't, was entirely the government's fault. Modern history shows time and again that unions harm workers more often than they help them.

Business and industry is, like it or not, led from the top. When mass action by employees tries to strong arm management into a business model which cannot work, the workers end up with less than they had before.

I'm not saying the closure of the collieries was right, but I do think it could have been avoidable in more cases than it ended up being, had union leaders not been so arrogant insisting they knew better than NCB leaders. Even if they did, they didn't hold the deeds so it wasn't up to them.

 

It was a sad period of our history which, just like the failure of BL and latterly Rover, should have been a wake up call to unions, and their members.

Unfortunately humans rarely learn from our own mistakes....

 

FWIW, I think she was, without compare, the greatest post war PM this country has had, and that will probably hold true for some years to come.

 

Well put :thumbup:

 

Sent from my GT-S5690 using Tapatalk 2

[welsh wood]

She never lost an election.

 

but got evicted by her own back benchers when they put Major in :lol:

 

I'm with the EX miners and every hard working man that she drove

her tank over.:thumbup:

[Shane]

She sold the family silver so taxes could be reduced.

So now our legacy is..

The French own most of the water utilities,

Gas, telephone, railway, airport services etc. are run for maximum profit

There are few council homes for the 'needy'

You now have a better choice on health care (If you can afford it - go private)

etc...

We now pay less tax - but look at the education and health services.

 

As for the Falklands - what a joke, Galtieri invaded the Falklands just as the tories popularitty was crumbling. She couldn't wait to go and destroy an easy enemy with all the chest-puffing empire talk that politicians rely on.

I feel really sorry for the families of those who fell in that conflict - I don't recall MT suffering too much.

 

She was a very strong and positive character - but so were Ghengis Khan and Hitler.

 

Just my opinion.

 

This is just my opinion

[wrsni]

As for the Falklands - what a joke, Galtieri invaded the Falklands just as the tories popularitty was crumbling. She couldn't wait to go and destroy an easy enemy with all the chest-puffing empire talk that politicians rely on.

 

You also forgot to mention the fact that for a year or so prior to the invasion she had empowered her foreign secretary to open discussions with the Argentians with a view to a handover.

 

But Galtieri jumped the gun and invaded, UK public opinion (bolstered by that bastion of intellect "The Sun" ) went nuts and Thatcher seen her opportunity!