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Thatcher was despised by many people in England. She earned herself the nickname, 'Thatcher the milk snatcher,' when she removed free milk for children in schools. This was in 1971 when she was the education minister in Edward Heath's government.
She earned herself a different nickname later on. The Russians called her the 'Iron Lady.' She lived up to it during the Falklands War in 1982, ordering the sinking of the Argentine ship 'General Belgrano.' 323 people died in this attack. The ship was thought to be sailing back to base, and outside the exclusion zone declared by her Government. Many of the sailors killed were young conscripts. The Sun newspaper delighted at the slaughter, put the words 'Gotcha' above a photo of the sinking ship.
In her later days as Prime Minister, during a strike by British coal miners, she set about crushing them using all the power, and money for police overtime pay. The miners were on strike for almost a year. After they went back to work, she set about closing coal mines. Many of these coal miners never worked again. Many of the coal mining areas never recovered, and suffer problems of unemployment, and drug abuse to this day. She was adored by the right wing, and still is so.
Many ordinary folks, including me, walked with a spring in our step, the day she died.
All this explains why Conservatives loved Margaret Thatcher.
The extraordinary political will from this one woman dragged her own party, then the nation, and subsequently much of the rest of the world back from the cliff edge.
She was nutty as a fruitcake!! The only time anyone saw a touch of humanity in her, was when her darling son Mark was missing in the desert, and when she was thrown out of Downing Street by her own Conservative party. She shed tears then!!
Maggie got quite girlish when she was in the company of President Reagan!! There was a great satire show 30 years ago on tv called 'Spitting Image.' It was fantastic. Puppets were imitations of politicians of the time. Maggie's puppet had mad, staring, blue eyes. One sketch I remember well was puppets of male members of her cabinet, going into the men's rest room to quietly take a leak, and insult her..... till Maggie came in, stood next to them, and took a leak also!!
My English relatives despised her-much like I do Reagan.
I just feel sorry for the people that thought they were rich enough to be included in either one of their corporatist/neo-con agendas.
All of my British relative despise her. What you and English Dave say is pretty much what I've heard and read about. I was also interested in the opinions of Americans themselves who were around during that era as to why she is so admired. I guess the Reagan alliance thing and the Cold War had a lot to do with it? Was the economy really that good in the 80's and do you think she was behind that in any way, or was she just in the right place at the right time?
I can't help admire her in a way simply because she was a woman in power but nothing beyond that about her would appeal to me if she were around now.
All of my British relative despise her. What you and English Dave say is pretty much what I've heard and read about. I was also interested in the opinions of Americans themselves who were around during that era as to why she is so admired. I guess the Reagan alliance thing and the Cold War had a lot to do with it? Was the economy really that good in the 80's and do you think she was behind that in any way, or was she just in the right place at the right time?
I remember the general election in 1979. Maggie got in Sachi and Sachi to do the propaganda for her. I remember well a series of posters on billboards. One showed a long line of people lining up outside an unemployment office. The wording under the picture was 'Labour isn't working.' Labour was the name of the party in Government at the time. Maggie won the election, and managed to double the unemployment rate within two years of coming to power.
She set about selling off the family jewels. Selling things to the public like British Telecom that we already owned. She became very unpopular very quickly. Just in time a war came along to save her bacon. Nothing the British public like better than a small war won quite quickly. A lot of people died, but she won the next election by a landslide.
Parts of the country did very well under her rule..... the south, London, but the people north of the Watford gap were left to rot. I know, that's my part of England. I was fortunate to work for Royal Mail, and was safe from her cuts. She didn't give a damn, she knew who to look after, and they voted her in again. She never to my knowledge ever traveled to the north of England during her reign. There would have been riots. Just the mention of her name in northern England can still make folks angry.
The British economy in the 70s was untenable and many reforms were necessary. Thatcher’s problem was, like George W. Bush, she had no tact or finesse. She could have pursed the same results with a softer, Third Way message—like Blair or Clinton. Much as Bush could have pursued the War on Terror without inflaming foreign opinion—like Obama.
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The only time anyone saw a touch of humanity in her, was when her darling son Mark was missing in the desert, and when she was thrown out of Downing Street by her own Conservative party. She shed tears then!!
