Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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.
Thatcher did not 'order' the sinking of the Belgrano. The Belgrano was part of an Argentine naval pincer movement with the Argentine aircraft carrier on one side and the Belgrano on the other. The Belgrano was being shadowed but HMS Conqueror (nuclear powered hunter killer submarine). Belgrano was heading towards the task force and approaching an area of shallow water where Conqueror could not safely follow. It was the task force that demanded she be sunk. Thatcher agreed but she did not instigate the action. The task force was very vulnerable and losing just one carrier would have been a disaster. As it was, sinking the Belgrano sent the Argentine navy back to port from whence they never re-emerged. Many of the deaths on the Belgrano were down to sloppy discipline. Water-tight doors were not closed and crew were not wearing flash hoods.
As to the miners ... I remember the first miner's strike, power cuts and the three day week. Scargill and co. tried to hold the country to ransom. Thatcher was absolutely right to take him on. And the coal mines were closed quite simply because they were no longer economical. The writing was on the wall long before Thatcher or the strike.
Thatcher was a symbol for some people in Russia, who believe that they can reform our country by shock methods. The results are contradictionary to put it mindly.
I don't like her and Reagan. Reagan once said that if a person is poor and homeless it's his own fault. I don't know anything about America, but in Russia even a normal person can be poor and homeless.
And Reagan's speaches struck me as a typical example of Cold War propaganda. That the USA is a paradise, a country of absolute virtue and morals.
The strange thing about Thatcher is she was working class, her father being a grocer, you Americans do not believe that was her normal accent do you ?
When she was at university she went out with the son of some English lord, but with his mother believing she was not from the top shelve he soon dumped her.
Pity about that, as the wife of a lord she would have had no right to become Prime Minister.
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.
And yet the reason many ordinary folks have a place to live and food to eat is because of her. England was circling the drain when Thatcher was elected. She brought England back from decline.
They do. Real women and pregnant teenagers to be precise. She doesn`t qualify.
Yes, "real women". Because everybody knows that "real" women are liberals, right? Just like Herman Cain and Tim Scott aren't real blacks.
The only way you guys can reconcile your ridiculous rhetoric that conservatives hate women and blacks with the plain obvious fact that the Tea Party put forth a black man for president and the Republicans put forth a woman for vice president is that they weren't "real".
It's like I can say I'm a real genius of physics because that Albert Einstein was just a fraud. That's what the left does. They make an absurd claim, and when reality doesn't match their claim they simply discount reality.
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.
Il didn't even though BT was once a public service. As liberal as I am, that's kind of odd as I can't imagine AT&T or Verizon being run by the government.
So the part of England I lived in (Kent) would have prospered during that time? If she was so bad, why was she re-elected (3 times)? I was under the impression that the Falklands conflict was unpopular? She never traveled to the north? It's a wonder the country didn't split or something.
Thank you for your insight. I find that era quite fascinating for various reasons. Would you say the UK is better or worse today? Does any aspect of her legacy still live on today? David Cameron strikes me as being pretty moderate.
Il didn't even though BT was once a public service. As liberal as I am, that's kind of odd as I can't imagine AT&T or Verizon being run by the government.
So the part of England I lived in (Kent) would have prospered during that time? If she was so bad, why was she re-elected (3 times)? I was under the impression that the Falklands conflict was unpopular? She never traveled to the north? It's a wonder the country didn't split or something.
Thank you for your insight. I find that era quite fascinating for various reasons. Would you say the UK is better or worse today? Does any aspect of her legacy still live on today? David Cameron strikes me as being pretty moderate.
The Falklands conflict was not unpopular. Of course, nobody wanted to go to war but there was a general feeling that it had to be done because Argentina had invaded British territory. And that could not be allowed.
The problem with the whole debate on Thatcher is that it never gets put into context. To understand why Thatcher got elected and why the Labour opposition was incompetent you need to understand what happened in the 1970s prior to her election.
The 1970s saw the three day week, the miners strike, a near general strike, the winter of discontent, compulsory wage restraint, massive unemployment and rampant inflation. Thatcher didn't destroy British industry, it was already a basket case when she was elected in 1979. Large sections of it were outdated and hopelessly uncompetitive.
Thatcher thought that she could turn things around. Some things she did, notably the financial services industry in and around London. The 'big bang' and modernization of that industry was down to her. But for the rest she failed and that failure led directly to the growing north/south wealth disparity that we see today.
The big problem with Thatcher and the one that has led to many people hating her was her style. She was uncompromising and uncaring. She was determined to restore Britain's economy, nothing was going to stand in her way and she didn't care about collateral damage. Had she been successful then it might have been different. But where she was unsuccessful, that style, the lack of jobs and the loss of industry made her hugely unpopular.
The Falklands conflict was not unpopular. Of course, nobody wanted to go to war but there was a general feeling that it had to be done because Argentina had invaded British territory. And that could not be allowed.
The problem with the whole debate on Thatcher is that it never gets put into context. To understand why Thatcher got elected and why the Labour opposition was incompetent you need to understand what happened in the 1970s prior to her election.
The 1970s saw the three day week, the miners strike, a near general strike, the winter of discontent, compulsory wage restraint, massive unemployment and rampant inflation. Thatcher didn't destroy British industry, it was already a basket case when she was elected in 1979. Large sections of it were outdated and hopelessly uncompetitive.
Thatcher thought that she could turn things around. Some things she did, notably the financial services industry in and around London. The 'big bang' and modernization of that industry was down to her. But for the rest she failed and that failure led directly to the growing north/south wealth disparity that we see today.
The big problem with Thatcher and the one that has led to many people hating her was her style. She was uncompromising and uncaring. She was determined to restore Britain's economy, nothing was going to stand in her way and she didn't care about collateral damage. Had she been successful then it might have been different. But where she was unsuccessful, that style, the lack of jobs and the loss of industry made her hugely unpopular.
Does Argentina not have a valid claim to the islands though? They are geographically much closer. What caused them to try to take them back? Was Thatcher arrogant with foreign policy?
I heard about how bad the 70's were, but do you think that things would have improved in Britain anyway with or without Thatcher? And aren't all politicians uncaring when it comes down to it? The ones that do appear to care just do it to win votes and get elected. Perhaps she was just honest in that sense, even if she did more harm than good? And people reminisce about the 80's like it was a great era to live in. I don't know, I guess I'm just trying to see both sides as all I have heard is negativity about her except from American conservatives who even use her quotes and hold her in high regard. I also admire that she was a woman, although I would rather see a woman like Hillary in charge.
I can at least say that I was alive for 13 days while she was still PM so I'm also part of that history
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
