-
Welcome to Stafford Forum. Please or sign-up and start posting!
Margaret Thatcher is dead - Monday 8th April 2013
- Thread starter Andreas Rex
- Start date
Alan B'Stard
Well-Known Forumite
Selling off council houses was not only the biggest bribe ever offered to an electorate but also possibly the greatest transfer of public assets to private ownership ever.
All of us, me, my father, his father and his father before him (I use the male tense here and the female should be read as given as an equal partnership) paid for these houses through years of local & national taxation for them to be sold off at 80% discount.
It fueled the economy Thatcher wanted and created the conditions we have today. Extreme house prices, estates left to sink because nobody wants to buy and high levels of homelessness.
ATJ
Well-Known Forumite
Congratulations. You either win idiot of the century or satire of the millennium.
I can't imagine many people who even agree with you about That cher would endorse such nonsense.
Bob
Well-Known Forumite
I don’t understand people who change their opinions of a person once they have died. I didn’t agree with much that she stood for. I also believe she ruined many lives during her time in power. I’m not naive enough to pin all the blame on her, I believe the job of prime minister is largely that of a spokesperson for a great many ‘advisors’ and she did not come to decisions alone.
There are a lot of tributes being paid to her, the most surprising from: American leader Barack Obama also released a statement hailing Thatcher as an inspiration to women across the world, saying, "The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty” I can’t imagine they had that many political beliefs in common.
I won’t say I’m pleased she’s passed away because I’m not that sort of person although if the film made about her has any truth to it I hope her death is a release both for her and her family as dementia is a terrible infliction for all those that deal with it on a daily basis and now they can hopeful come to terms with a loss that in reality came about many years ago.
There are a lot of tributes being paid to her, the most surprising from: American leader Barack Obama also released a statement hailing Thatcher as an inspiration to women across the world, saying, "The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty” I can’t imagine they had that many political beliefs in common.
I won’t say I’m pleased she’s passed away because I’m not that sort of person although if the film made about her has any truth to it I hope her death is a release both for her and her family as dementia is a terrible infliction for all those that deal with it on a daily basis and now they can hopeful come to terms with a loss that in reality came about many years ago.
Cheers, damn this forum makes me laugh
proactive
Enjoying a drop of red.
Debatable, depending on whether you agree with her policies or not. A great leader unites. Churchill was a great leader (during war time) by uniting the British people against a common enemy. The emphasis here is on the word uniting and you can't honestly say that she united the country.
Without a doubt.
In terms of having a 'leader' who stood for something, and went ahead and did it, irrespective of popular opinion, probably. She certainly had backbone, something which leaders from John Major onwards have totally lacked.
You would have to be a cretin of monumental proportions to believe that!
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
She saved some, she destroyed many. I guess your standpoint on this depends on which policies affected you. I shall not mourn.
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Too often Maggie Thatcher crossed the line from strong to headstrong. It is one thing to know your own mind and to be unflinching but another not to listen to good advice.
What people have to realise, Thatcher followed a long line of publicly educated old style tory leaders. She had seen the weakness of people like Ted Heath who were concencus politicians who were struggling to come to terms with the loss of the Empire and there was a sense of defeatism in the government. Not for her the concilatary approach and the beer and sandwiches at Downing Street to keep union leaders sweet.
Sadly most of her policies were disasterous for this country. In the early 80's sky high interest rates and a too strong pound decimated alot of our industry which was in already in a bad way and lead to serious unemployment. Later in the 80's when things had improved a little inflation was allowed to get out of control and soon after ended up with 13% interest rates again that caused another recession with tens of thousands of people having their homes repossesed.
When it comes to the miners strike, has there ever been a better example of both sides being both right and wrong at the same time , The NUM were right to defend the future of our coalfields but totally went about it the wrong way, Arthur Scargill still thought it was 1974 and believed strong armed tactics and flying pickets were more important than a national ballot that would have legitimised the strike. As for The Tory government they had a strong case to rationlize and modernise many of the loss making state owned industries but they failed to offer a positive alternative other than unemployment.
When it came to foreign policy Maggie Thatcher's strengths were to her advantage. She turned the shambles of the loss of the Falklands into an amazing victory considering our forces had to travel 8,000 miles. Also she gave Ronald Reagen the mettle to face down the Soviet Union with an arms race that bankrupted Russia and it's allies. When Gorbachov came to power he realised that it couldn't carry on and the three leaders worked togeather to start disarming and have a better relationship between East and West. This in turn led to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.
It can be said that Thatcher had bigger balls than most men but she did show signs of being a bit mad.
What people have to realise, Thatcher followed a long line of publicly educated old style tory leaders. She had seen the weakness of people like Ted Heath who were concencus politicians who were struggling to come to terms with the loss of the Empire and there was a sense of defeatism in the government. Not for her the concilatary approach and the beer and sandwiches at Downing Street to keep union leaders sweet.
Sadly most of her policies were disasterous for this country. In the early 80's sky high interest rates and a too strong pound decimated alot of our industry which was in already in a bad way and lead to serious unemployment. Later in the 80's when things had improved a little inflation was allowed to get out of control and soon after ended up with 13% interest rates again that caused another recession with tens of thousands of people having their homes repossesed.
When it comes to the miners strike, has there ever been a better example of both sides being both right and wrong at the same time , The NUM were right to defend the future of our coalfields but totally went about it the wrong way, Arthur Scargill still thought it was 1974 and believed strong armed tactics and flying pickets were more important than a national ballot that would have legitimised the strike. As for The Tory government they had a strong case to rationlize and modernise many of the loss making state owned industries but they failed to offer a positive alternative other than unemployment.
When it came to foreign policy Maggie Thatcher's strengths were to her advantage. She turned the shambles of the loss of the Falklands into an amazing victory considering our forces had to travel 8,000 miles. Also she gave Ronald Reagen the mettle to face down the Soviet Union with an arms race that bankrupted Russia and it's allies. When Gorbachov came to power he realised that it couldn't carry on and the three leaders worked togeather to start disarming and have a better relationship between East and West. This in turn led to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.
It can be said that Thatcher had bigger balls than most men but she did show signs of being a bit mad.
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Unlike The Conservatives my standpoint depends upon which policies affect the poorest and weakest in society
And that is how any Nation should be judged
I have very mixed views on Maggie!
At the time I thought she was right having just lived through the 70's when the unions were out of control but in hindsight she did an awful lot of harm and I don't mean getting rid of free school milk which was horrible in the summer!
Selling off council houses has proved to be a disaster and destroying the power of the unions is one thing but to be vindictive enough to then destroy the industry as well is another thing altogether.
I hate to think where we would have been without her but then again I am not too enamoured at where we are with her!
At the time I thought she was right having just lived through the 70's when the unions were out of control but in hindsight she did an awful lot of harm and I don't mean getting rid of free school milk which was horrible in the summer!
Selling off council houses has proved to be a disaster and destroying the power of the unions is one thing but to be vindictive enough to then destroy the industry as well is another thing altogether.
I hate to think where we would have been without her but then again I am not too enamoured at where we are with her!
Alan B'Stard
Well-Known Forumite
I do enjoy the irony of part of Tony Benn's alternative economic policy, nationalisation of the banks, being partially implemented some 40 years later.
gilbert grape
Well-Known Forumite
miners and scousers being a class below everybody else? talk about ostricising yourself!
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
I enjoyed the Newsbiscuit take on the subject:
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2013/04/08/honest-reporting-dies-aged-87/#
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2013/04/08/honest-reporting-dies-aged-87/#
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
Dividing is always the first part of the attack.