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Baroness Thatcher
Topic Started: Apr 8 2013, 02:27 PM (792 Views)
mikemagic
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My condolonces to her family. I am sure she will be missed by many.......but not by me.
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Red Andy
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Quote:
 
Margaret Thatcher dead: Facebook campaign launched to make Judy Garland's 'Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead' number one

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/marga...ampaign-1818341

I post this merely for information.
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John
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I'll echo the sentiments of mikemagic... Today is for her family so I'll offer them my condolonce and leave it at that.
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Pasta
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I was reading in the BBC today how she is much more universally respected abroad than at home. I can understand that. I have mates that talk about the suffering of the working class in places like Wales as a result of her tough stances.

The rest of us didn't have to suffer. We did, like the UK, benefit. The twin towers of Thatcher and Reagan really toughened up their nations and provided an example to the rest of the world. They restored some balance to the me first movement that has lasted, though been eroded, since their days.

Thatcher and Churchill remain by far the two most quoted British prime ministers of the last 100 years.

As to mikemagic:

Quote:
 
I am sure she will be missed by many.......but not by me.


No one really misses their medicine, however useful it was in curing the ills. You take your medicine, get better and move on.
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Red Andy
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Pasta,Apr 9 2013
08:01 AM
I was reading in the BBC today how she is much more universally respected abroad than at home. I can understand that. I have mates that talk about the suffering of the working class in places like Wales as a result of her tough stances.

I think that is often the case. I understand that Gordon Brown's actions in the wake of the global financial crisis are much more widely admired abroad than they are here in the UK.

Myself, I was too young to remember Thatcher's years in power. But the impact of her policies is still keenly felt in some parts of the UK. I remember talking to some members of an old mining community in central Scotland. They told me that it wasn't so much that her government had closed the pits, but the way they suggested that it was a "price worth paying." For what, they were not sure. Certainly their community hadn't benefited.
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John
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She was not the demon some would have us believe but then neither was she the saint others think she was...

I do not think she was a Great Prime Minister as she was disliked by quite a significant section of the nation and to my mind that is not the mark of a great leader... only those people who made off her policies would call her such... but to millions of ordinary britons she did nothing but sow the seeds of many of the problems we see in the UK today.

A popular polict that many celebrate was her right to buy your council house... (or the how to create working class tories policy)... However selling off council (public) property at a fraction of the market value without investing in replacing the sold off housing stock has cause many problems in todays housing market... (indeed many councils where banned from re-investing the money made by selling off council houses in new housing...)

She was also steadfastly against imposing sanctions on one of the 20th century's greatest shameful regimes... apartide in South Africa lasted far longer than it should have primarily because of HER support... labelling the ANC terrorist... how wrong she was.

Anyway, like I said she was great for many people but she was also abhorrant for many more... She is dead and after wedensday I will think on her no more.
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pedal power
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i agree with you John.

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Pasta
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My word this thread could be as divisive as one dealing with Islam or women's rights.
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H16 BRM
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Pasta,Apr 10 2013
10:51 AM
My word this thread could be as divisive as one dealing with Islam or women's rights.

'm keeping out of this, once bitten twice shy!

By the way Pasta as a result of our visit to the Philippines I an awaiting more details from the BBC of a proposed interview to discuss child poverty. I'll keep you informed.
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Pasta
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What I remember of the time was the ridiculous power unions were getting, and how counter productive they were.

Unions still do try to bully their way with no apparent regard of the consequences to any other than their members - and even sometimes they don't care about that.

Often heavily influenced in North America by mafia and other organized crime and in the UK by Soviet sponsored communist groups, unions were anti free enterprise, anti business and anti government.

For certain I will get people questionning my above generalizations. In substance, however, I believe I am right.

Thatcher took on the unions and beat them. The suffering was huge and unnecessary.

To primarily blame Thatcher for the suffering would be wrong. The unions caused the problems. And their memberships bought into the nonsense and in large part brought it on themselves.

Even today young workers often dislike the closed shop nature of their workplace. Union priority is given to the tenured with only management giving recognition of value. The young members of unions have no say.

There was no place worse than the UK in those days and of course taking on the unions would prove to be incredibly divisive.

What Thatcher did was show that with resolve, the particularly stubborn unions could be beaten.

In the absense of reason, there was no alternative but war.

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Pasta
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H16 BRM,Apr 10 2013
09:56 AM
Pasta,Apr 10 2013
10:51 AM
My word this thread could be as divisive as one dealing with Islam or women's rights.

'm keeping out of this, once bitten twice shy!

By the way Pasta as a result of our visit to the Philippines I an awaiting more details from the BBC of a proposed interview to discuss child poverty. I'll keep you informed.

Very cool. I wish you looked me up whilst here. But then again you prefer the jungles and the monkeys to the metropolis.

A mate of mine has asked me to look at his rather innovative concept respecting charitable donations. He has run a pilot with a couple of multinationals with great success. I like the concept and will likely get involved to help him build his model.

I am sure you will find this very interesting. One of the potential benefits is that it can get the money to the needy with minimal administrative erosion.

Another benefit is it gives people who want to donate a big and immediate voice in where their money goes.

I shall keep you posted.

Perhaps you can send me an email, as my computer died and I am having trouble locating your email address.
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ELUSIVEJIM
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As far as I am concerned she was last in office back in 1990 and was in power for 11 years.

Twenty three years later and after having Labour back in power why did they not change all her policies if they were so bad? Is this country better now than it was twenty three years ago?

If any leader has messed this country up it would be Tony Blair. He now has more properties in London than the local council.

Labour was suppose to be a party for the people but as with all MP's it is a job for the boys.

I hope Baroness Thatchers place of rest is hidden from the public as I can imagine it will be targetted.

Yes I am not a fan of hers but we are not talking about Hitler.
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Pasta
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Leading up to the funeral I suspect many rather non-Einstein types will do their thing. Such as this police officer who has resigned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22124015

I really don't have much against Blair. He was, like Clinton, a decent custodian in good times - such good times having been created by others. But Blair was no Ronald Reagan.

Thatchers policies were good, even if flawed.

As my Brit and Welsh and Scottish friends said today, when she took over the rule of the day was "strike strike strike". Lost wages would be made up with wage increases. Garbage was piling up in the streets. They were there.

She was the only person with enough guts to tackle the unions. Her victories showed the way to other national leaders in other countries and brought some balance back to the entire western world respecting unfettered power of special interest groups.

Neither Thatcher nor Churchill enjoyed many moments without massive and vitriolic criticism. Yet they knew what needed to be done and did it. They are the two great PM's of the UK for at least 100 years.

Similarly Lincoln and Reagon took very tough stances and won, leaving their countries much better off.

God bless her. The whole world owes a debt of gratitude to Margarate Thatcher.
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Pasta
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By the way, Elusive, a good point. Would labour ever want to roll back those gains against special interests and unions? No way.

Oooh - forgot to mention. Thatcher was one of the very few who willingly offered to be audited. She was squeeky clean respecting expenses and similar. Probably the only one.
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Steelstallions
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Pasta,Apr 9 2013
08:01 AM


No one really misses their medicine, however useful it was in curing the ills.  You take your medicine, get better and move on.

The medicine as you put it, killed the patient! The massive mining industry and manufacturing industry we had, is gone. Her green shoots of small business one day replacing the lost jobs was fantasy. She laid the path for all our hopes and riches to be gained from the financial sector. This corrupt sector has bankrupted us with their fraud. Quote anything she said, but only a war with a stupid dictator and a war with a stupid union leader kept her in power until her own party sacked her.

The dictator merely had to wait until September when most of the fleet that went to war would have been decommissioned, meaning we would not have had the means to fight. She was also that far behind on the polls her first term would have been her last. Then in her second term, a union rep so deluded with his self importance decided to have a national miners strike without having a national miners vote, then whilst not all of the production is halted, he starts the strike during the summer when less fuel was needed.

The baby got flung out with the bathwater!
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