Whether you loved her or hated her - Rest in Peace.
I’d say a fair innings at 87
Loved and hated by an entire nation and world wide with equal amounts of vigor, from milk snatcher to Argie basher you’d best not mess with Thatcher.
RIP Ol’ Gal
You can hate her with a passion - as I did at the time…
…but it’s difficult not to admire some of her qualities - misdirected as they might have been.
Bet that Arthur Scargill is having an extra pint tonight…
I have to agree with all the above
But I wish we could have someone like her back in power now
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If it wasn’t for her trend of the privatisation of everything and ruining them, that eventually led to the privatisation of the railways through her grey puppet, John Major, I never would have got a motorbike. So for that I love her and hate her in equal measures.
I hope Scargill chokes on that pint. I saw he recently lost a battle to live rent free in a £1.5Million London apartment paid for by the Union for the last 30 years. So if you want someone to despise - he’ll do…
Ding dong, the witch is dead…
More balls than anyone in government today! Clock’s ticking on a TobyKenobi rant! 
agree with bigvern she had more bollox than any government since…and she looked after the Armed forces and never cut them to the bone like now…and as for Scargill I hope the money grabbing piece of dung chokes in his own shite, living of the miners he destroyed for years
f*ck better not post on this… Edited
OK – love her or hate her, many people have NO IDEA howimportant she was for this country. She was a GREAT leader of this country – ofthat there is NO doubt. Some of the things she achieved…
· She cut higher rate tax from 83% to 60%.Subsequent governments (Labour and Conservative) have continued to reduce thisrate because lowering the rate actually gets more tax (because people don’tmind paying a FAIR rate).
· She abolished a 98% tax rate on unearned income.Imagine paying 98% tax. How many people declared unearned income at that ratedo ya think.
· She recognized Gorbachev as being a leader “wecould do business with”. In doing so she became heavily influential on theworld stage and played a part in ending the cold war. Gorby famously stopped byto check in with Thatcher on his way to meetings with Reagan to see how heshould handle the upcoming meeting.
· She took no ****, period.
o WhenArgentina invaded the Falklands she was told by her cabinet that we couldn’tdefend ourselves and we’d better just accept it. No frickin way was her answerand she resolved that we weren’t gonna take that crap - no matter who was telling us to accept it.
o Shegave the SAS the go ahead during the Iranian embassy siege.
o Whenshe was first elected it was immediately after the “winter of discontent” wherethe unions had this country by the balls. The NUM was one of the largest unionsbut others were also bringing this country to its knees. I remember blackouts(power unions) trash in the streets (binmen unions) and bullshit like this countrypaying more to mine coal than the coal itself was worth!!! F that she said andshe made a plan. She quietly stockpiled coal for MONTHS and then took on themine unions. That strike lasted 51 weeks and in the end the miners returned towork wityh NO concessions.
· She introduced economic and political policiesthat improved this country immeasurably. “New Labour” was partially successfulbecause they adopted many of her policies.
She was vilified and stabbed in the back overher attempt to reform the old version of the council tax. That tax was (and is)unfair and in need of reform, but her attempts caused her to lose power. Thatwas a great shame, in my opinion….
I’m sure some will pick holes in some of what I have listed and some may be able to add to her list of achievements, but before you slag her off, who else in the modern era even comes close to being the leader she was…
Someone at work actually wooped and started dancing. Rather sad really.
Some of the comments are bewildering, Tony Bliar said that his predecessor was a towering political figure who change the landscape. Err, that was John Major you fuckwit.
The problem with MT is that a lot of watch is accredited to her was not her doing. She actually argued against the withdrawal of free milk. A lot of the landscape financially, politically, and socially is due to her. For good or ill she was a changing force within this country who stood on the international stage and bent it to her will.
It is unlikely we will see anyone like her again. Modern politicians are money grabbing yes men who look after themselves and their cronies and screw their constituents and the country.
As it’s not good form to speak ill of the dead so I’ll say RIP.
Her influence lives on at the heart of government and a large proportion of the population still buy into the image she projected…even if they are a bit woolly on the now historical effects of her policies (albeit they were widely predicted at the time). Sad to say some lessons from the past are never learnt.
High youth unemployment, widening gap between rich and poor, a lack of affordable housing, education system in constant flux, sabre rattling abroad, government centralisation and lack of accountability etc. etc…
plus ca change…
Very one sided argument there. She divided this country down the middle and I’m in the half that fucking despises her time in government. You can cut and paste all that facts you like but there are some of us who were greatly affected negatively by her reign in power. I’ve started on the beer already.
Yes Rob she was a divisive figure - and yes my opinion is from the like her side, but again, can you give an example of a better leader?
Just Gone the same way as our manufacturing industry
RIP both
well said Art.
History can never be changed.
RIP.
Yes, but I won’t as I don’t want to be drawn into a pro/con Thatcher debate. There are a million debates going on the internet right now about why people love/hate the woman. However as you are clearly a supporter of her then you have to accept that there are others who hate with just as much passion. My life under her regime was crap and that’s all I’m saying. This sums it up:
Anyone care to give an unbiased history lesson to a young whippersnapper?
I know the basic stuff but I’ve never really been taught much about her or what she did.
So far I’ve managed to gather that she didnt like unions having so much power. That seems to be what everyone focuses on…
so how were you greatly affected then Rob ??
I was affected by the crap unions holding the country to ransom in the 70s/80s Ex Army so got called to the Dustmans strike, Firemans strike, Ambulance strike, was permanent staff at a Trg Regt when Falklands kicked off so never went…didn’t stop us all applying though.
you can say Maggie wrecked the industry
but how about Red Robbo…and his cronies who were ALWAYS out in the 70s that wrecked the car industry because nobody would buy British cars Leyland, Rootes,Humber,Mini,Vauxhall etc etc because they were crap with no spares.
Scargill…who wrecked the coal industry my Dad was in it but still lived in his FREE house with HUGE pension while all the miners suffered
and we still havn’t learnt with the unions…look at the teachers wanting shorter working week and more money christ they get 3 months a year off
the firemen…most hold 2 bleeding jobs because they get so much time off
train prats…how many times the tried holding London to ransom ?
yes she got few things wrong…but so have all the rest
just my opinion