Thatcher deid

[speckled tangerine]

P&B is largely populated by youngish posters to many of whom Thatcher is just a name from the past. I was married and bringing up a young family when she came to power; the impact of her policies, such as school closures, on my family and people in my immediate community was very real.

As someone has already said it wasn't just about the miners, many ordinary people were badly affected by the policies her successive governments implemented.

Spot on Granny.

The youngsters probably are all on hearsay and stories from older family members about "that wummin" and all that. I was young at the time when the first recession was about. My old boy played the game, lost his business and we were fucked. I remember the sole of my shoe coming off playing football and having to go to school the following day in wellies as we were struggling to keep a roof over our heads as he was on the dole. My grandmother had to buy my shoes as our cupboard was bare. This was the Four million out of work days (seasonally adjusted to 2.4 million or some such shit).

You can point to the mining communities that never recovered. You can point to the steel industry that was sacrificed on ideological grounds. You can point to the Poll tax or the deregulation of the City that has fucked us over now, thirty years later.

I have never been so poor in my life as we were then. I'm glad she has gone.

Edited April 8, 2013 by speckled tangerine

[The Naitch]

Was beginning to think she was immortal. Oh well, didn't like her and she was a stubborn boot who stood by what she believed in (not a bad thing, per se), even if it did cause all sorts of grief.

[MassiveFanDan]

Interesting approach to reporting the news in different regions.

BBC Network news all sombre.

Reporting Scotland starts with Sally McNair stating that "We have Scottish reaction to the death of the woman who introduced the poll tax".

Go on the BBC News site. Click on England - top news "Thatcher Dies".

Click on Wales - top news "Thatcher Dies"

Click on Northern Ireland - top news "Thatcher Dies"

Click on Scotland - top news.... "Men Guilty of Torture Case Murder".

No mention of Thatcher at all ... Not sure how long it'll stay like that, but it's pretty bizarre. Scotland is different I guess.

[Henrik's tongue]

Some of the uneducated morons on here discuss me.

.

OK, I qualify, I'll start the discussion. You're a knob

[Supras]

The days under Wilson, Callaghan and Heath were all great though.

Let's not forget that, when the unions dominated, things were amazing.

[captainkev]

All the people on Twitter saying have some respect, she was somones mum. Do they know who her children are? A racist and a fucking crook. Arseholes the lot of them.

None of the insults or criticisms made against her in this thread wouldn't have been made when she was alive either. Just because she's dead it doesn't change the legacy of her tenure. At least if nothing else most of the people on here are being consistant and not turning into snivvelling apologists and lying saying that they feel sorry that she's dead.

I've lost count of the number of youngsters on various sites hitting out with the "So if I wasn't born then I guess I can't oppose her, should I not oppose Hitler either?" line. It doesn't matter how many of you say it, it doesn't make it any more legitimate.

So just because we weren't born at the time she was in power doesn't mean we can't criticise what she stood for or did in government at all? Seems unfair.

[GreenockRover]

If it hadn't been for Maggie we would all be speaking Argentinian now.

:lol::lol:

[renton]

It really does surprise me how many kids who grew up under a Labour government and during an economic boom are suddenly delighted about the death of a PM who served 2 governments before their memory. You weren't there, you don't understand, give it a by.

I was born in 1984, so technically I'm too young to give a crap - except that you can't help but be affected by her policies. It didn't jsut stop when she elft office: The neo-liberal fantasies she put in place are still with us. The de-industrialsed regions and broken communties, the centralising of all growth on the city of London and the squandering of the north sea reserves to cover that growth. All these things occured on her watch, and were enabled by later governments. She helped define a social and economic epoch that we are still living through.

[renton]

The days under Wilson, Callaghan and Heath were all great though.

Let's not forget that, when the unions dominated, things were amazing.

They pretty obviously weren't, but that doesn't mean that Thatcher's solutions were the right solutions either.

[footiechick]

The Poll Tax

[Henrik's tongue]

Karma took its time for the poll tax

[sparky88]

Or we could frame this another way. What Prime Ministers do you like?

What Prime Ministers does anyone like? It seems like the worst job on earth to me. You're either incompetent - Brown and Major - or hated - Blair and Thatcher.

Excellent post.I'd argue the same is not so true of US presidents, probably because, unlike Prime Ministers the majority of those that vote have voted them in (Dubya apart I guess)

[jester]

The obituary of the Guardian just reads like one long list of reasons to hate the woman. I never realised she had called Nelson Mandela a terrorist at one point either.

The BBC might have been right to call her almost regal though only in the sense that she was a royal cow.

Pretty sure he was/is an unrepentant terrorist.

[Cardross]

There are simply not enough reaction gifs on the Internet..

Let's just remind any of those giving her plaudits, this is a woman who masterminded a £57 billion (yes, billion!) transfer of wealth from the public to the private sector in just one decade.

Wealth? FFS the privatised companies were fucked due to the commie loving union leaders. The true worth may have been £57 billion but that wasn't it's value under public ownership. these deadweight industries were dragging this country down, Pity the guys who worked so hard for them didn't try as hard for the privatised versions. Manyof them didn't bother there arse working again and became the welfare dependant leeches that have got us in the mess we are in now.

[Mark Connolly]

I was born in 1984, so technically I'm too young to give a crap - except that you can't help but be affected by her policies. It didn't jsut stop when she elft office: The neo-liberal fantasies she put in place are still with us. The de-industrialsed regions and broken communties, the centralising of all growth on the city of London and the squandering of the north sea reserves to cover that growth. All these things occured on her watch, and were enabled by later governments. She helped define a social and economic epoch that we are still living through.

I suspect the anger is referring to those born in the 90s who hate her just because, rather than people who have actually studied, or at least taken a small interest, in what went on.

[Sweet Pete]

I was born in 1984, so technically I'm too young to give a crap - except that you can't help but be affected by her policies. It didn't jsut stop when she elft office: The neo-liberal fantasies she put in place are still with us. The de-industrialsed regions and broken communties, the centralising of all growth on the city of London and the squandering of the north sea reserves to cover that growth. All these things occured on her watch, and were enabled by later governments. She helped define a social and economic epoch that we are still living through.

Absolutely, I completely agree. But the point I'm making is that some folk are "celebrating" when they're not really sure why. There's a lot more to it than "Thatcher bad". Her death is merely the tip of the iceberg where the legacy of years of Tory governments are concerned.

[Sweet Pete]

I suspect the anger is referring to those born in the 90s who hate her just because, rather than people who have actually studied, or at least taken a small interest, in what went on.

Correct.

[MassiveFanDan]

Cardross does a pretty good Thatcher impression.

Edited April 8, 2013 by MassiveFanDan

[SodjesSixteenIncher]

Was beginning to think she was an unkillable hell beast.

PLEASE let their a minute 'silence' on Saturday and Sunday :lol:

[Supras]

They pretty obviously weren't, but that doesn't mean that Thatcher's solutions were the right solutions either.

Clearly everyone elses' solutions were failing. These men, who inaction also greatly harmed the country, are exonerated whereas someone who did something and actually stimulated economic growth, is blamed entirely.

Some people might have lost their job, it's ridiculous - and idiotic - to blame this all on Margaret Thatcher.

Pretty sure he was/is an unrepentant terrorist.

Yep.