Margaret Thatcher Thread - Read the first post before posting

[Vague_Boy]

And a few farmers, ship builders, fishermen, in fact most who used to be able to find work in places where we produced or grew or mined. Now we have call-centres and fast food places and most of our stuff is imported and farmers get paid to grow grass instead of crops or rear cattle.

 

Didn't the fishing industry start to die off after Iceland declared that the ocean up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its coast fell under Icelandic authority.

 

It led to something called The Cod War? Remember that? (November 1975 – June 1976)

 

Now correct me if I'm wrong (I was clearly still in nappies at the time----quite embarrassing for an 10 year old) but wasn't that before Mrs. T. became PM? And while she was in opposition?

 

Also EU quotas have limited the amount of catch than can be brought ashore, in accordance with the Common Fisheries Policy.

 

The EU. Now again, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Mrs. T. have something of a reputation for scrapping with the other EU leaders about the UK's contribution?

 

As for steel, Sheffield produces as much steel as it ever did

 

The [sheffield] steel industry now concentrates on more specialist steel-making and, despite appearances, currently produces more steel per year than at any other time in its history. The industry is now less noticeable as it has become highly automated and employs far fewer staff than in the past.

LINK

 

Now, employing scores of people who aren't needed, how exactly would that boost our competitiveness abroad?

 

I'm guessing you're one of many on SF who have never run a business (except, perhaps, into the ground).

 

Automation is the way of the modern world. I don't see how Mrs. T. can be blamed for this. Unless she invented all these automation systems?

 

Ditto farming. Farming has become a highly mechanized industry.

 

We could go back to the shire horse and the hand plough, but expect your food bills to skyrocket as a result.

 

 

As for coal:

 

Between 1923 and 1945, employment in the industry fell from 1.2 to 0.8 million, and the British share of the world coal market dropped from 59% to 37%. In part, this can be explained by increased competition, not only from other countries producing coal but also from cheaper substitute fuels. Before 1914 demand for coal was rising at an annual rate of 4%; after the war British exports of coal plummeted and domestic demand remained stagnant.

LINK

 

A 33% decline in the number of miners in 22 years? I blame Thatcher!

 

Hang on, how old would she have been in 1923?

 

 

 

and farmers get paid to grow grass instead of crops or rear cattle

 

Farmer earns pounds 19,000 a year for growing nothing: For five years, the only 'crop' on 215 high-quality arable acres has been grass. Nicholas Schoon reports

 

IT'S SPRING and once again no crop pushes up from Bill and Lieselotte Loyd's fields. For five years they have grown nothing on their 215 acres of high-quality arable land. In return for this inaction, the Government has paid them nearly pounds 19,000 a year.

 

Non-farming suits them. They plan to sign up for the same deal with the Ministry of Agriculture to cover the next five years. They will be paid a little more.

 

'One feels very slightly like a welfare scrounger,' said Major Loyd, a former Lifeguards officer. 'I don't think one can ever feel entirely happy doing nothing with the land.

 

The Loyds are among some 1,600 British farmers who took the European Union's set-aside policy as far as it could go, moving all their cropland out of production.

LINK

 

Woah, woah, hang on just a second there.

 

"the European Union's set-aside policy".

 

Was Mrs Thatcher President of the EU as well?

 

She sure packed all awful lot into 11 years didn't she?

[airking]

Here have a read.

 

I thought you didn't need google.

 

I have read all that and lots more on the subject and none of it alters two things.

1/ You was wrong when you said she did not support Pinochet.

2/ She still supported him after finding out about all the vile crimes him and his secret police had committed against innocent people.

 

I also observe you have totally ignored what I posted about her comments on Nelson Mandela.

Edited April 9, 2013 by airking

[poppet2]

 

There were many years and a 13 year labour government between what she did and now, you can blame her all you like but that won't alter the fact that home ownership was an aspiration that was affordable until labour destroyed it was their policies which caused the housing bubble made them once again unaffordable.

 

Rubbish. You obviously aren't old enough to remember the housing boom and bust of the late eighties, which was a direct result of HER economic and housing policies. Even council tenants were handing their keys back. She also deregulated rents meaning landlords could charge what they liked for rents. Oh, and don't forget interest rates went up to 15% under her economic policies.

Do you remember her slogan, 'if it isn't hurting, it isn't working'.

[Hillpig]

After reading the many derogatory statements regarding Mrs Thatcher I can only assume that most of those posting did not live in this country in the 60s and 70s and witness the humiliation of our country in decline.

 

Those that were have very selective memories.

[MrSmith]

I thought you didn't need google.

 

 

I did't, I posted the link for others to read.

[Staunton]

Mrs Thatcher was a conviction politician. She believed in her motives, and they were to reduce the state, reduce taxes and to create a free market. Ironically, Mrs Thatcher was not herself the architect of that doctrine which came to be known as Thatcherism, but her drive and clarity made her a formidable champion for the cause. She won the argument.

 

During the 1980s there were many who advanced her ideology with verve and confidence. Of course, there were also many who voiced their opposition to the policies that were emerging from Downing Street, but Mrs Thatcher prevailed. However, we now know that she was wrong, and it is truly horrific to watch as the heirs of her victorious doctrine have been exultant rather than magnanimous, and those who were failed by Thatcherism are now more exploited and more vulnerable than ever.

 

Tribute is due to this brilliant and determined politician, whatever the implications of her triumph, whatever her legacy.

[airking]

I did't, I posted the link for others to read.

 

Using google.

 

What do you think to Thatchers remarks about Mandela?

[MrSmith]

Rubbish. You obviously aren't old enough to remember the housing boom and bust of the late eighties, which was a direct result of HER economic and housing policies. Even council tenants were handing their keys back. She also deregulated rents meaning landlords could charge what they liked for rents. Oh, and don't forget interest rates went up to 15% under her economic policies.

Do you remember her slogan, 'if it isn't hurting, it isn't working'.

 

I'm old enough to remember to rubbish littering our streets and the endless power cuts of the 70's and yes I also lived through the housing boom of the 80's and the high interest rates which brought it under control.

[El Cid]

After reading the many derogatory statements regarding Mrs Thatcher I can only assume that most of those posting did not live in this country in the 60s and 70s and witness the humiliation of our country in decline.

 

 

It would be good to have a poll on who supports Thatcherism and the bedroom tax(withdrawing benefit).

[Michael_W]

Greed is an inherant human trait, anyone thinking they can purely blame Mrs Thatcher or her policies for that is seriously deluded. some people are exaggerating her legacy beyond belief.