Margaret Thatcher: the Iron Lady
The Iron Lady
Lady Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to lead a political party of Britain in 1975. Four years later, she would become the only female Prime Minister in the history of her country.
Margaret Thatcher was re-elected by a huge majority in 1983, and again by a landslide in 1987. This made her the first Prime Minister of Britain to win three straight elections in over 150 years. Thatcher was elected by the British People to serve as the head of their country for a longer period of continuous time than any of her predecessors since 1812.
Lady Margaret Thatcher was eventually forced out of office by her own party in 1990. To Americans, this would mean she lost the primary.
Margaret Thatcher was nicknamed 'the Iron Lady' by the Soviets, a title she relished. Despite a concerted smear campaign by hateful Leftists that has been a non-stop barrage lasting thirty years, Thatcher was voted by the British people in 2008 to have been the best Prime Minister since the Second World War by a three to one margin.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was born in 1925. Her father was a grocer and a Methodist preacher. Margaret Thatcher graduated from Oxford in 1947 and became a chemist. Four years later, she married a successful businessman named Denis Thatcher, a marriage that would last until his death in 2003.
Margaret Thatcher passed the bar exam to become a tax lawyer in 1953, the same year she gave birth to twins. In 1959, she was elected to Parliament. From 1970 to 1974, Thatcher served as Britain's Secretary of State for Education and Science.
Though from humble origins in a nation that was very class conscious, Lady Margaret Thatcher would become a heroine for the ages. She was voted the 5th most admired woman in the world of the 20th Century, behind only Mother Theresa, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The Condition of Britain Before Thatcher
In order to appreciate the heroic accomplishments of Margaret Thatcher, first one must comprehend the condition that Britain was in before she came to power in 1979: it was an international laughingstock. By the time Thatcher left office in 1990, Britain was admired around the world.
In 1977, a humiliated Britain was bankrupt and forced to beg the International Monetary Fund for an enormous loan. British business was woefully uncompetitive in the global marketplace. The Civil Service had resigned itself to managing the decline of their nation—once the most powerful on earth. Everyone thought an economic and social collapse was inevitable. There seemed to be no hope.
The winter of 1978-1979 is known as Britain's "Winter of Discontent." Labor unions had a stranglehold on the economy and society. Unions blocked any new technologies. Unions blocked any downsizing of the labor force of old industries in terminal decline. Many labor union leaders were in fact quietly communists, loyal to the Soviet Union, determined to destroy Britain.
1979 was the year in which labor unions tried to overthrow democracy in Britain. Widespread labor strikes capped thirty years of disrupting the British economy. In 1979 alone, labor strikes resulted in thirty million lost work days. Imagine how much wealth would be permanently lost and how much damage it would do to the commonweal of any country to lose 30,000,000 days of work in one year. The demands of labor unions were for an immediate and incredible increase in wages of 15 to 25 percent.
Train drivers and nurses went on strike. Ambulance drivers refused to answer calls to help the ill and injured. Ancillary hospital workers blocked the entrances to hospitals. Refuse collectors let garbage pile up for weeks. Gravediggers refused to bury the dead.
Truck drivers disrupted oil supplies and closed refineries. 1,000,000 non-union workers lost jobs that were connected to these industries. Countless petrol stations went bankrupt. Violent union picket lines made it impossible for anyone to do the work that union members refused to do.
Britain was on the verge of complete collapse when it turned to Margaret Thatcher to save it from disintegration.
INFLATION
Before we turn to the rescue of Britain by Margaret Thatcher, we must look briefly at inflation. The power of labor unions to extort higher and higher wages every year—combined with meddling by the British Government in wages and prices—had created a 22 percent rate of inflation rate in the late 1970s. This means if you have a dollar on New Years Day, by the following New Years Eve it has diminished in value (purchasing power) to 78 cents.
It may be difficult for anyone who has never experienced such inflation to appreciate its significance. Massive inflation is often a prelude to political revolution, such as in NAZI Germany. It was inflation that brought Hitler to power, and it was inflation that was the catalyst to the French Revolution.
With huge rates of inflation, to let money sit in a savings account is a losing proposition. Decades of hard-earned savings become nearly worthless. To save money means to pay for tomorrow's higher-priced goods with yesterday's diminished dollars. Instead, people learn the bad habit (in the long-run) of buying today on credit what they can pay for later with inflated dollars before the price of the goods goes up again.
The economist Alfred Khan said, "Inflation was not just an economic problem but a profoundly social problem—a sign of a society is some degree of dissolution, in which individuals and groups seek their self-interest and demand more money and government programs that simply add up to more than the economy is capable of supplying."
Margaret Thatcher Elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of Britain in 1979. In her campaign for the office she promised to reverse the long national decline by curbing the outrageous power of labor unions to cripple the country; deregulating business; privatizing nationalized industries; ending the taxpayer provided subsidy of failing industries; lowering taxes; and giving the citizens more freedom.
Margaret Thatcher delivered on that promise. But it was not to be an easy road. Besides the labor unions, Thatcher faced fierce opposition to nearly everything she tried to do from the entrenched British Establishment—the Press; the Universities; the Bureaucracy.
Her support came from the Middle Class—the ordinary, decent, hard-working British men and women. They sensed that Margaret Thatcher was a courageous, no-nonsense, dedicated, hard worker who had high expectations of the British People.
Every Story Needs a Villain
Arthur Scargill is a communist who was elected president of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1981. Today he heads the Socialist Labour Party. Scargill has been quite public about his admiration of Joseph Stalin, that mass murderer of tens of millions of helpless human souls. Arthur Scargill says, "the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin" explain the 'real world'."
In 1984, the National Coal Board of Britain announced the closure of twenty coal pits that were losing money heavily. The coal industry was in fact losing more than one hundred million pounds each year. Scargill called for a union strike in protest but failed to get the required majority vote of coal miners.
This did not deter Arthur Scargill. He and his more militant henchmen set about closing coal mines undemocratically through pressure, force, and intimidation. Scargill succeeded in closing down 131 out of the 174 pits. He then planned to bus goon squads to the open pits to stop non-striking miners from working. The police halted the union goon buses for the first time in decades.
The Scargill Strike was horrifically expensive for the British Public. The total cost? Over 7.5 billion pounds. More than 7,000 miners were arrested for violent acts and five men were killed. Scargill paid striking miners with funds provided by the terrorist Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
The strike failed, and because of the financial damage to Britain's coal industry this meant that instead of 10,000 miners let go, as was planned before the strike; 30,700 lost their jobs permanently.
Margaret Thatcher As Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The decline of labor union power revitalized many industries because no longer did people merely pretend to work. Real productivity per worker rose during the Thatcher years at a higher rate than in any other European country. The British economy as a whole grew by 4 percent per year during the 1980s—a post-WWII record.
In Britain, unlike in America, whole industries were owned and operated by the government. Even in a relatively small country, this proved, of course, to be an utter disaster. Margaret Thatcher privatized most of these, which was an absolute success. No longer did three workers stand around and watch one work; no longer did unions stymie technological innovation; no longer would a horse and buggy factory be kept open at taxpayer expense long after the invention of the automobile.
The year before it was privatized by Margaret Thatcher, British Steel set an all-time record for the one year loss of money by any entity in world history outside the Soviet Union: Five Hundred Million Pounds. Within seven years, British Steel had the highest productivity rates in Europe and had become the most profitable steel company on Planet Earth. British Airways experienced a similar turnaround.
Because Margaret Thatcher cut tax rates nearly in half, Britain ran big budget surpluses in the 1980s and retired 20 percent of its national debt as tax revenues actually went up! She had restored self-confidence and pride to her nation. It is hard to imagine that Britain would ever have stopped its decline into the ash heap of history without the miracle that was Margaret Thatcher.
The Legacy of Lady Margaret Thatcher
In 2007, Margaret Thatcher became the first living former Prime Minister to be honored with a statue in Parliament. And with good reason.
The total personal wealth of British subjects increased 80 percent during her leadership. She slashed inflation from 22 percent to 4 percent. The British People all benefitted from lower prices and increased efficiency from privatized industries. Home ownership increased 65 percent. Unemployment fell drastically. The economy grew strong and stable.
And she was no miser. Government spending on health care, social security, and job training increased 33 percent in the Thatcher years. Public safety spending went up 53 percent and lawlessness went down. And despite breaking the labor union stranglehold on Britain that threatened to choke it to death, only 39 percent of labor union members voted against her in the 1983 election.
The increases in labor productivity and the change from night to day in the British economy were literally amazing. And to top it all off, Lady Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, was instrumental in bringing down the Iron Curtain—freeing hundreds of millions of human beings from literal slavery under socialism.
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James.....This article is one of the most interesting & educational I have read in quite a while. This, because I admit, other than her name, (and nick-name) face and former political positions, I knew very little about Ms. Thatcher. WOW! What a Woman!
I would have liked to continue on and read your comment section, but as it involves nearly 900 comments, I decided to pass for now!!
I would just like to add that as I read your article, I developed a serious notion that Margaret experienced much the same obstacles, unfair treatment and lunatic opposition as a certain "current POTUS!!" So, perhaps we now know that HE will go down in history as "The Iron Lady" has.........OK...we're fine with that!!
I always liked Margaret Thatcher. Thanks for another interesting, engaging article.
There’s so much to say about Brexit - where do I begin?
Right now Britain must be an International Laughing Stock with its back & forth arguments of Brexit ‘Deal or No Deal’ & trying to get 'The Queen' involved - such nonsense! All these planned & unplanned demonstrations up & down the country & planned dates for Britain to Exit the EU & then it doesn’t happen - disrupting life to The Brits who don’t care one way or the other. It’s not the students or the pressure groups causing this disruption just a handful of politicians that can’t settle their differences inciting the public to take to the streets.
Britains economy will be worse than how Margaret Thatcher found it when she took over in 1979 as Britain ‘will be’ catapulted into collapse if this fiasco continues.
Hi James,
Whilst I know that the real issues lie with racist Britain - whatever government is in power, Margaret Thatcher’s Britain had the world eating out of her hands.
With the privatising of nationalised industries MT tried to get The Brits to think independently, think ‘outside the box’, and think of the future of Britain. Privatising was meant to get The Brits to ‘over-stand’ that when you pay for the things you want it brings you a certain amount of freedom & a greater amount of national pride & independence.
When it comes to the individualism of buying houses for ‘ourselves’ to live in or choosing private schools for ‘our’’children’s education we seem to understand the concept of privatisation is better, and those who can - do it. But when it comes to sharing the concept with ‘our neighbours’ - (as the bible puts it) - that’s a ’No! No!
If The Brits had accepted, got used to & welcomed privatisation & looked forward instead of looking back & whining about bringing back the services into public ownership, then Brexit without a deal would be as irrelevant as it was on election day - even to the racists.
Now some of those voters are crying how the government lied. The government didn’t lie. Some people are just too stupid to see past the end of their nose. They don’t realise that their Apple or Samsung devices are not British owned businesses or that Amazon or Google are American companies with UK subsidiaries. Just because Japan or the USA are not EU countries, it doesn’t mean that non-EU countries can’t or won’t decide to side with other EU countries - as does happen in peace or in war time. So anything futile, major or trivial can affect & disrupt Britain’s global market.
For many years, Londoners have marvelled at the Christmas Tree erected in Trafalgar Square. Norway who donates the tree as a ‘Thank You’ from Norway to Britain, for help during WW2 can pull the plug on what’s been a marvellous sanction, because it’s more beneficial for them to side with ‘their neighbours’.
Thank You!
Hi John
The problem with ‘The Poll Tax’ was not in the scheme itself but with the fact that The Brits could not see what’s in it for themselves - them as individuals. Margaret Thatcher’s focus was to ‘upgrade’ Britain or give Britain a ‘make-over’. Human nature is such that we wanna see what we’re paying for, we wanna see the value and worth of what we’re paying for. We want to see a tangible substance that reflects our moods, needs and wants. We know that when we play the lottery, a percentage goes to various charities/charitable organisations - but that’s not our focus, we don’t care what the names of the charities and organisations are. We trust the Camelot - The Lotto organisation that whatever charity they choose to fund - it’s all in a Good cause. Our focus is on ‘the returns’ - how much money we as individuals stand to win from The Lotto.
The Poll Tax had ‘no returns’, especially as many of us are living in areas and buildings that are not of our choosing but more to do with our income brackets.
Had The Poll Tax been ‘revised’ to include incentives or options such as:
Pay your Poll Tax and have the government pay for your Lease Extension;
Pay your Poll Tax and have the government pay your Service Charges and/or your Ground Rent for the year;
Pay your Poll Tax and let the government pay for you to have a new bathroom and kitchen installed;
Pay your Poll Tax and have the government pay for your new boiler and central heating installations, - or something like that - something where the individual household can benefit, then I Am 100% sure your Conservative businessman employer/friend would not have been so outraged.
And what was he so outraged at - a system he see as an’ unfair system’ or a system that sees him paying the same rate as someone with a bigger house than his or even a mansion? I doubt very much whether he was outraged at paying the same Poll Tax as a tramp living in a caravan? Besides there’s nothing to stop him from sponsoring someone less well off than him - No! He’s a self preservationist whose concern was for himself and the fact that he’d have to pay the same Poll tax as someone with a larger estate than his.
Where would the mobile phone networks be if they treated The Brits on the same principles as MT’s Poll Tax - and made The Brits pay the full price for their gadgets, or forced us to upgrade at the end of each contract - with no deals/incentives/offers? They’d be in the same place that MT’s Poll Tax went, but the reason for their success is because they made us a deal that The Brits as individuals can benefit from.
MT’s Poll Tax made ‘no deals’ with The Brits and that is why it was unpopular on all sides of society, but not as you would have me think that it was just so 'unpopular' or that it was unpopular because it was unfair to the poor.
Research shows that in business and marketing, when you want to sell an idea you have to select your audience and make the idea appealing and attractive - highlighting the benefits of the idea. When you're dealing with human nature you have to make 'the odds' look appealing and attractive, highlighting the personal benefits, and that's what MT's Poll Tax didn't do.
Thank You!
No penny, Thatcher "ruled" for eleven years. During that tme she decimated society only being brought down when she tried to introduce the poll tax which was unpopular with all sides of society.
Remember the unions had virtually gone, public utilities had gone. Industry had gone. All with no practical opposition. On;y when she tried to introduce a poll tax did she manage to upset enough people on all sides of the political spectrum.
Take the reaction of a Conservative I worked for at the time. He was outraged that as a very successful businessman with a large "posh" house he would only be expected to pay the same as a tramp living in a caravan.
Of course, call me John, it is my name.
We aren't yet ruled by media opinion polls, thank goodness.
It doesn't matter what we want, even less since Cameron passed a law in 2010 making it virtually impossible to unseat him between elections.
We have seen many new laws passed by Thatcher and her successors, very few of them beneficial to the majority. Very few of the laws in place now stretch back more than a few hundred years and those that do have been radically changed.
The suggestion that Thatcher sought to preserve Britain is frankly laughable. She hated the vast majority of the inhabitants and demonised us. She sought to destroy the very foundations of our wealth putting all her hopes (and ours) on the financial sector-and look where that got us!
In other words John, it was OK to have MT serve her time as PM - even if it wasn’t OK, you know that for a relatively short period of time MT has to be tolerated as the British PM - even if she serves the minimum amount of time. But ’24 little hours’ can have a massive impact, as in ‘what a difference a day makes’.
The moment MT’s policies started to effect the kind of change that closes the loop holes in the British economy by way of de-regulating social power, dismantling the funding of the institutions and dissecting the livelihoods of the self-preservationists for the capitol gains that preserves and presents ‘the niceties’ of British society as a whole and the solidarity of British society at large - as a ‘right’ angled form of socialism - an angle that has everyone/the whole nation on board, instead of ‘pockets’ of socialism here and there - all hell let loose.
Thank You!
John, (Since this is currently a two-way conversation, I hope you don’t mind if I just call you John),
Climate is everything. Whilst it may not be necessary to call a general election when a PM resigns, the climate is everything. I do recall that when Margaret Thatcher resigned, there was such an overwhelming sense of joyous relief - (for those Brits who disliked her policies) - and despair and shock - (for those Brits who loved her), - the immediate focus was on what her resignation means for Britain.
If my memory serves me correctly, I do recall that when Blair resigned the media public opinion polls acclimatised that The Brits are calling out for a general election or are ready for a general election.
As for the rest of names you mentioned, no, I don’t recall what The Climate was like - (the mood of The Brits) - I weren't interested then.
By comparison Thatcherism is only a few years old. Much of Britain is governed by laws that are thousands of years old, which are only modified by clauses and subsections. New Acts/Laws that have been passed recently seek only to strengthen the old one rather than change it completely.
Domestic Brits in positions of authority and power tend to be the products of an institutionalised society living to preserve the acts of the institute whilst upholding the laws of the self-preservation society.
Margaret Thatcher was advocate who sought the preservation of Britain as a whole.
Thank You!
We don't elect our prime ministers so there is no requirement for a general election when the PM wants to resign.
When Thatcher resigned we did not have a general election, when Wilson stepped down, we did not have a general election.
Can you actually think of an occasion where a change of prime minister has triggered a general election?
We still carry the scars of Thatcher and her divisive policies.
Hi John Holden
Of course Thatcher claimed Blair and The New Labour as one of her greatest achievements - because she’s got Labour ‘eating out of her hand’ and continuing her work. But of course ‘we know’ that Blair is a Thatcherite masquerading as a Labour politician - so yes, I suppose he would have to ‘step down’. My argument on that point was not the he ‘did’ step down, but that the way in which he stepped down - without a general election - leaving Gordon Brown to ‘carry the can’ - was distasteful, treacherous and 'uncaring,' because that was not what The Brits wanted at the time. My reference to Blair’s poor standards of education was a tongue in cheek way of referring to Blair’s ’self-absorbed, self-indulgent’ school boy gimmick of remaining in office even though he’s no longer the PM is the actions of a 5 year old determined to play with one toy.
The ‘New’ Labour? Isn’t that the point - it’s not Labour at all, it’s just a ‘newer’ version of Labour, which consists of ‘the left’ angled ‘sides’ - (views) - of Thatcherism, and a mellow version of Conservatives.
My original point was that Margaret Thatcher was a Great Lady who tried to change the Attitudes of The Brits. What I didn’t say was that my motives for raising the point was that I’m sick of all ‘the complainers’, which Margaret Thatcher called them ‘Moaning Minnies’, and I’m sick of the poor standards of living we Brits accept for ourselves.
The privatisation of public services which are now privately owned - (that’s one of my areas of interest) - is steeped in so’ much the old ways’ of thought and the old ways of the civil service that even if they return to public ownership, I doubt very much if things get better.
Margaret Thatcher raised the bar in British politics and you can only but ‘admire’ her for that.
Before Margaret Thatcher came along, Britain was an ‘International Laughingstock’ (Hub Author’s words that I agree with). After Margaret Thatcher left office Britain is on the map of one of the most desirable places to live and work.
Thank You!
Penny Sworth, your argument falls at the first hurdle. Blair was (is) a Thatcherite. When elected he swore his admiration for Thatcher and her policies and promised to keep going with them. Why do you think Thatcher claimed Blair and New labour as one of her greatest achievements?
Hi John Holden
Margaret Thatcher (the once-upon-a-time Secretary for Education) did for Britain what her two predecessors - two Labour ministers couldn't do.
Thatcherism has got people caring about what happens to Britain. Thatcherism has got people interested Britain and British politics, whereas Blairism? Well, wasn’t Tony Blair the PM that performed an action synonymous with ‘abdication’ and showed the people of Britain what disregard he has for the systematic order of things? Can you imagine Edward the VIII abdicating from the throne (but with less serious consequences), telling both The Brits and Parliament ‘I shall still serve the country as King, and represent The Monarchy as King - until an heir succeeds me’. Staying in office after abdication wasn’t the done thing, but it was dumbed down and graciously labelled as a ’step down’.
So it’s Tony Blair that showed disdain for The Brits, the fabric of British culture and the foundations of British establishments and lead the way in ‘treachery’. He revealed ‘his’ own ‘poor’ ‘standards’ of ‘education’, and set trend for Brits ‘not to care’.
Of course people want public transport to return to public ownership - it’s time for a change of ownership - that’s all. Given the fact that school age starts from 5 years old, the secondary school child spends 5 years in preparation for exams, and a prime minister’s time in office in the UK is 5 years, 5 years is time enough to implement change, show growth and prove one’s worth or value but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me it’s not as simple as that? We’ve had more than 5 years of private ownership of public transport, and more than enough of inefficient and costly services - it’s just time for a change. In cases where ‘the people’ call for public enquiries on gross misconduct of public enterprise/s, an ‘inconclusive’ verdict is returned, so public ownership of public transport does not necessarily mean that things’ll get better. Besides market research, statistics, and surveys can be manipulated to show bias - it depends on who’s telling the story, what results is needed, and what ‘they’ want you to know.
I still say nobody cares who owns the business/public transport The Brits just want ‘efficient’ services at ‘next to nothing prices’, and public ownership of public transport seems like the way to go.
Thank You!
Penny Sworth, you talk about the poor education of children under an education system still reeling from the attack of Thatcher!
I would not agree that nobody cares about who owns public transport. A recent survey showed very strong support for returning public transport to public ownership.
Thatcher was not building infrastructure, she was destroying it! To say that we didn't have the time to catch up is wrong, we lead the way until she decided that our future was with financial services and everything else could go!
It doesn't matter how people regard HP sauce or Harrods or any other foreign owned company, the fact is that they are foreign owned and benefit their foreign owners and not us.
In the 1970s teenage pregnancies were at the lowest rate since the mid 1950s.
The thing about people mistreating public transport, putting feet on seats and the like is partly a facto of Thatcherism, she taught us not to give a damn for our fellow men.
Thatcher never had the support of the people, her largest majority was still a minority of the electorate.
Hi John Holden
Sorry for the delayed response, I couldn’t decide which item I wanted to follow up on.
I shall continue...
You say; “We have no free services and never have had”, it's all about insurance? I say tell that to a London 11-18 year old, who thinks their ‘entitled’ to ‘Free' Travel on London's public transport. Their 'poor education' has 'not' taught them the concepts of business nor about the concepts of 'Free' Travel - which I presume their parents have paid into this 'Insurance' scheme.
Yes, sometimes when I Am talking I do confuse public and private ventures because sometimes I forget that public transport is actually owned by private businesses, but nobody really cares who owns the business. Nobody cares who owns the product - supplies on demand is what we want, supplies on demand is what we care about. When I go on the internet and ‘click’ to buy a product, ‘I don’t care’ where the product comes from I just want it. However, I have found that for deliveries, import duty tax purposes and if necessary, returns, life is much simpler when both the buyer and seller transactions are within the UK.
It’s the subliminal consciousness that matters.
HP Sauce still comes with the Royal Crest and is still regarded as British. Harrods is still in the same location and is still considered a British entity.
Most countries have built their systems of infrastructure based upon the system that exists in Great Britain, but they’ve had time and money to perfect theirs. With age and time in office against her, MT was never given the proper funding, opportunity and support she needed to perfect the infrastructure in Great Britain, so I agree that what we have is an inefficient transport system - where commuters/passengers across the board (age group/class/income brackets) think it’s OK to let their dogs sit on the seats, or they themselves think it’s OK to put their feet on the seats, leave their rubbish, their newspapers etc lying around for someone else to clean/collect/pick up - for a first world country with 'supposedly' high morals and high standards of education.
Britain did have a high rate of teen pregnancies and a high rate of illiteracy.
Yes. Britain certainly is/was the most inventive country in the world, but most of the creatives have had to travel to other continents to prove themselves, their worth and their value by getting the financial help, support, recognition they deserve and training they needed in/from those other lands - and then they come back to Britain to show their skills or wares. That's when Britain becomes proud of their own.
The mistake MT made is that by being voted into office twice, she thought that she had the support of the people to facilitate change.
Thank You!
Penny Sworth, where do I start!
We have no free services and never have had. We have universal insurance in that everybody who can pay does pay.
Private sector housing in the UK has now become so expensive that very few can actually afford it, instead many are forced back on to the private rented sector with its unaffordable rent and reliance on the government to be able to afford to pay private landlords their inflated profits.
Britain did have the best systems in the world but Thatcher and Thatcherism destroyed them. The myth that Labour governments spend excessively is no more than a myth. The last Conservative government borrowed more in five years than every other Labour government combined ever did.
I think you confuse public and private.
How can foreign owned businesses and services be keeping it British? We have private and foreign owned railways that are the most expensive and most inefficient in the western world but are actually owned by foreign states.
Before Thatcher the UK did not have the worst record in everything. We were the most inventive country in the world. We did not have high teenage pregnancy rates neither did we have high rates of illiteracy.
I take it that you weren't actually alive when Thatcher was in power.
It’s my day off today (Tues 19th May 2015).
The previous day I start planning what I’m going to do, what I’d like to do and what I have to do, but something happened at work this week - (nothing serious - trivia really), but it’s stuff that I must simply get off my chest, so-much-so that I had to make an unplanned visit to HP website to see if anyone else shares my sentiments. I picked your Hub because I liked your sense of humour on using terms like ‘International Laughingstock’, and was encouraged by your recent updated dates, but I do hope this doesn’t turn out to be a monologue as so very often happens to me when I try to ‘revive ‘ conversations or Hubs where the last comments are over 6 months old.
The thing that got me so mad caused me to reflect on ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ - the Attitudes of The Brits towards ‘fre’-’dom’ . What I mean is that the Attitudes of The Brits towards its ‘free’ services, the ‘frequency’ levels for the provision of services and the nature with which ‘all’ services dominate our existence/our society - The Brits have quite a disgusting ‘Attitude’ towards it all. Sometimes I get the feeling that I’m the only one in the world thinks that ownership or private sector housing gives me a sense of pride - knowing that I Am resting on my laurels/standing on my own two feet’ and using more than that 10% of brain power that scientists say that the average human uses.
Margaret Thatcher was a Great Lady who tried to change the Attitudes of The Brits via Privatisation.
Thatcherism has taught ‘me’ that The Brits has ‘the best’ ‘system of systems’ in the world but rather than ‘pay’ to keep it that way, they are too lazy and too stupid. They’d rather settle for a minor league ‘freer’ version of ‘it’ll do’. When problems occur in the ‘it’ll do’ system, labour governments spend loads more money trying to ‘fix’ it or ‘modify’ it. Margaret Thatcher set about changing the system completely. Today we celebrate what she achieved. It's only a shame that her time in office was cut short due to the ignorance of The Brits, but change happens.
In ancient times the King/Queen's rule was sovereign, now it's shared with Parliament. Change happens.
When I speak of The Brits I don’t just mean the people, I also mean ‘The Media’ and both public and private sector companies. Public companies don’t want to pay the workers their worth, because they have to make profits for themselves and their shareholders. Private companies can’t afford to pay their staff their worth but tend to ‘make-up-for-it’ with either ’perks’ or ‘in-house’ social activities and/or further training or higher studies. No-one wants to pay for high standards of care, improvements, maintenance and upgrades etc, and no-one wants to make sacrifices ‘to pay’ for better, so a lot falls on the shoulder’s of ‘taxpayers’, because the average annual income/salary/wage, bonus schemes and pay rise is so far below the rate of inflation, that understandably no-one ‘can’ pay. Those that ‘can’ pay are ‘exempted’ from paying with 'Acts' laws, rules and rituals dating back to ancient history.
By Privatising everything Margaret Thatcher allowed foreign investments to infiltrate British businesses so The Brits can have ‘more’ - more choice and a better record of achievement - (other than the First and Second World War years, and the 1966 World Cup.
Before Margaret Thatcher Britain had the worst record in everything - from domestic things like high rate teen pregnancies, a high illiteracy rate, the lowest rate of graduates, to a successful 'internal' trade and industry - like the car industry (Austin, Mini, Morris, Rolls Royce, Rover, Triumph), rather than an internationally renowned company - like much of Britain’s infrastructure today - which are now owned by foreign businesses and investments - keeping it British - like Harrods and HP Sauce.
Before Margaret Thatcher, Britain had a flourishing trade and industry in minerals such as coal, steel - but British families couldn’t afford to buy it for themselves for their own personal uses or pay for it to remain in British hands, and foreigners didn’t want to ‘invest’ in an industry that they can’t have a piece of - where their migrants didn’t stand a chance of getting a job because they don’t speak the right kind of English. Privatisation allowed change to happen, so that the ‘Great’ in ‘Great Britain’ can remain intact - and that’s the point that so many ‘labourites’ and socialists miss.
Not wanting to hog the show or end up writing a mini Hub on your HP space, once my comments become a two-way conversation, I shall tell you the thing that got me so mad, because it’s not going to go away…
Thank You for listening/reading my comments.
That's a smart way of thinnikg about it.
Great inhisgt. Relieved I'm on the same side as you.
Its politicians in geranel I don't trust. Theres no such thing as a working peoples party anymore. Thanks the the daily fail and the renamed news of the screws joe bloggs things he has to vote BMP or UKIP. As for the coalition, I can't see all the dissolution voters tick liberal again. Once bitten twice shy. Basically camerwrong will be remembered as the king who presided over the worst cuts and riots since mankey snatcher. Good luck with that one!
Tamarajo , perhaps you can explain to me why when Americans so much seem to love freedom and hate big government, they adore Thatcher who did more to restrict personal freedom and increase the power of central government than any other leader in the UK?
Thought this was a fitting read in light of her recent death. How interesting that you posted this article so recently. What an admirable woman.
A thought provoking portion of the article was about inflation that leads to political revolution many times in some not so beneficial ways which we all should be mindful of in the times we live.
Glad to have learned about this memorable woman today.
THATCHER THE SONG JUDY GARLAND SANG IN THE WIZARD OF OZ DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD IS GOING TO BE A NO.1 HIT IN THE UK
Well that is very good news that people like here(Maggie)are very rare and not many around says oceansunetes. Yes James the World is a better place today. I can breathe easier but still people are being upset by the memories she has stirred up. I have done nothing wonderful in my life but I know I have never hurt anybody. Even planted some magnificent trees,
best to you from jandee
It is a true loss to us all, that Margaret Thatcher passed away. I hope people never forget what we learned from her. People like her are more and more rare, I mean people that hold similar values. The cause and effect that is seen in her life is undeniable. Thanks for sharing this great information on a wonderful woman. Enjoyed the photos as well.
VW A STATE OWNED CAR COMPANY THE MOST SUCCESSFUL IN THE WORLD WHERE IS DETRIOT NOW?
James my boy !! How the hell would I ever have the time to read your German book when I am spending all my time on trying to figure out what you are saying -very confusing!
James, not that men have forsaken God, more that some worship a new God - the dollar!
James, what was socialist about the German Democratic Republic?
It was neither democratic nor a republic, why should you imagine that it was socialist?
Another great article and a worthy subject, especially in pointing out the role that inflation has played in the advancing of tyrants. Thatcher was one of the greats of the 20th century.
DOE'S NOT AMERICA HAVE THE BIGGEST PRISON POPULATION IN THE WORLD THE HIGHEST HOMICIDE RATE AND THE HIGHEST INFANT MORTALITY RATE IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD
SOMETHING MUST BE OUT OF ORDER
James I do hope you are feeling okay ! Over here the 'London Review of books' is commonly known for it's lonely hearts column and now that same sex marriage is the law well who knows what else ?
Off on a Gig now or would write more ,see you,
jandee
Lenin - "Left wing communism is an infantile delusion"
Wikipedia also says of co-founder Mary Kay Wilmers "Politically the review is not known for following a consistent party political line,[7] although Wilmers described herself as being “captivated by the left but not of it”.
You are in one case one up on me, though I recognise many of the names in the list of notable contributors, I do not know them well enough to be sure of their religious and political persuasions and following the links in most cases did not make the question any clearer.
Although I did spot Tony Blair in amongst them who is a Christian and isn't averse to letting everybody know it. There are many of us who would also argue that he is neither left wing or a socialist either.
James, the London Review of Books is not a left wing magazine.
No I do not consider the USSR, Red China, Cuba, and North Korea to be on the Left! I have argued that before but you obviously overlooked that.
If,as you claim, social liberalism is of the left, how do you explain the coalition government in the UK - Conservative and Liberal?
There is really no need to go on proving that you do not understand left and right or even socialism.
James just go back to never never land.
Nothing of the left is totalitarian - we leave that to the right. Totalitarian communism was not communism. The USSR started out as communist but with the rising of Stalin and the New Economic Plan quickly reverted to capitalism. Notwithstanding that it did maintain some socialist ideals - the people weren't overfed, but they didn't starve either, and you have to remember that pre revolution they were still a feudal state complete with poverty and starvation.
Have a look at post communist Russia and compare. I heard a Russian recently say that before capitalism there might have been little choice of food but everybody ate, now that had a wide selection of food, but many could not afford it.
Do you not realise how much suppression there is in the right wing press? No, it is so good you wouldn't know about it!
But as an example you only have to look at your misunderstanding of right and left.
Social liberalism still believes in a market economy and is generally said to inhabit your empty centre ground (halfway between socialism and capitalism) and its principles have been adopted by much of the capitalist world.
Although originally fascism took its ideas from both the left and the right by the time of Franco and Mussolini it had become decidedly right wing - kow towing to the capitalists and oppressing the proletariat. The UKs anti fascist league is made up mainly of left wingers and UK fascists are right wingers.
By the way, have you ever considered liberty, libertarian and liberal? They all have the same root and the same meaning.
James, there must be something amiss with the forums, I can't find anything about a left wing magazine anywhere!
As I said James, you fail to understand socialism!
Neville Chamberlain was never a socialist, he was a liberal and to remove confusion, in the UK liberals are right wing with some of the greed knocked out of them. They still believe in the free market, nationalism with a laissez-faire economic policy.
I think if you look into the matter you will find that though socialists are liberal, Liberals are right wing. Hence the Conservative/Liberal coalition that supposedly governs this country at the moment.
You also say that "Thatcher is responsible for leaving her nation far stronger internally and on the world stage than she found it;"
Really! Without any help from the millions she threw on the scrap heap, the businesses and utilities that she sold overseas. The oil that she promptly sold off to finance tax cuts for the wealthy?
Yup, you fail to understand socialism, and you fail to understand the UK and Thatcher.
Get labelled a mad leftie by James ' if you speak for a World that is saner.'
get called a liar by James 'if you see a news vendor get his spleen ruptured by a U.K Bobby in London,on a peaceful protest.' open your eyes James....................
IN REPLY TO NICK BEACH WORK AND EARN ARE NOT REARLY
THE SAME THING SINCE 1979 A DOCTORS ANNUAL SALARY
HAS GONE UP 5 TIMES WANKER BANKERS WHO HAVE CAUSED THIS MESS HAVE GONE UP 500 TIMES!!!! FOR DOING WHAT
FOR DECEIT CORRUPTION AND CONIVING PRACTICES .
Jandee, you do realise that we are just hateful lefties without the great insight into the working of government in the UK that James has?
We should realise that the unemployed, the homeless and the dead didn't really happen outside our imaginations and I'll do the decent thing and get myself committed forthwith for my madness in thinking that Thatcher was in anyway responsible for all the evil that James insists never happened.
'sfunny how the left wing press is full of lies about her and the right wing press speaks only the truth.
I tried, unsuccessfully to find a direct quote from Scargill re "Mr Scargill argues that no pit should be closed until its reserves of coal are exhausted, no matter how expensive it is to extract the coal from it, and that there should be no job losses in the industry." instead found this in Hansard, which is the official record of government business.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1984/ju...
Quoted from your article -
"The community as a whole, which benefits from economic growth and progress, has a responsibility to help those on whom the costs of economic progress fall most heavily: miners made redundant at uneconomic pits must be given every assistance in travelling to, or being relocated at, viable pits, or in being retrained for new jobs, or being aided financially in setting up their own small businesses."
And that is exactly what Thatcher didn't want to do. There were far too many miners to be relocated to "viable pits" and not enough jobs for them to be retrained for!
James you are a Waffler. If you must insist in trying to understand our system in UK at least respond in your own words. I find that you are rude and the vulgarity that you display must inform your followers more about you than you would wish. If you do have any more to say on this Subject I would beg you to use your own words and not that of the Right Wing Media and others . I would also ask you to stop putting people in Boxes,labelling !How can you possibly think that you would ever know which political party ,if any, that I belong to when you cannot understand the difference in the many political parties,
jandee
Firstly, I never said that she increased control over industry. She increased control over the people whilst removing constraints on industry designed to protect the workers.
Secondly, I'm not a communist and my impressions of living in a country split asunder are not delusions.
Thirdly, Hitler was not a socialist, neither was Mussolini, though he might have started off as one. They certainly are no heroes of mine.
Is your definition of a terrorist one who kills millions? I take it that a few hundred don't count then.
You try to humour me! You present your sick fantasy of this wonderful benign woman who never had a bad thought or did an evil deed and you think I am possessed and prevented from telling the truth! My whole involvement with this hub is to counter the lies it propagates and spread some truth!
Thatcher was a fascist, terrorist, censoring dictator, fact.
Go away and read some of her comments on consensus government and people in general and then come back and tell me that she wasn't divisive, fascist, censoring and a dictator and then step out of your fantasy.
Stop telling us that we don't know what we do know, that it is purely political bias. It isn't Ted Heath was OK as a PM, Harold Macmillan deserved his sobriquet of super-mac, even John Major had some humanity, humanity which earned him Thatchers hatred.
Jandee, I'd say that great minds think alike, but then somebody would come along and complete the line :)
By the way James, your continued insistence that Hitler et al were socialists doesn't strengthen your argument, it diminishes it.
It proves that your basic understanding of socialism is sadly lacking.
James, you said - "I didn't think there was hardly any socialist influence until the late 40s."
You forget where the trade unions were born. You forget Robert Owen, Joseph Chamberlain, the Cooperative movement, the Diggers and the Levellers.
In fact socialism has a long tradition in the UK.
And James you can not have it both ways. You can not have Thatcher responsible for the good things that have supposedly happened to us but blame others for the bad things. Either she is responsible for the whole post-Thatcher state of the country or none of it. She was the one who instigated such radical reforms, changed the face of industry, of banking, of everyday life even.
John are you a mind reader? Remember the time I mentioned Jack Collins of the kent miners? The ,almost,last conversation I had with him and others in committee rooms were the words exactly as you said to James re. gays ! He said the same words as you re. straight men..
John I am proud of you ,
best from jandee
James, you write that in the USA about 40% of the people vote for the losing candidate. Such is the electoral system in the UK that about 60% of the people vote for the losing candidate. Thatcher was elected with about 36% of the vote at one election and even at her highest never received 50% of the votes cast.
I have to disagree with you about typewriter factories and buggy whip manufacturers as well. Ever since before the industrial revolution fashions have changed and high demand has turned into no demand. The workforce generally adapts.
"But what about the miners," I hear you say.
The mining industry and the NUM were well aware that some pits were unprofitable and had agreed a system of planned closures with the Labour government. This took the form of a gradual closure with voluntary redundancy and natural wastage with redevelopment grants for displaced workers. All this over a period of ten years or so. Thatcher threw out this agreement without consultation and demanded immediate closure with no compensation.
As I have said many times, she was divisive.
I wouldn't really call telling the truth about somebody "smearing them". And as for history revisers, I'm afraid you are one.
"If you are referring to men lusting after the exit hole for feces of other men, and in fact identifying their person by this one perverse facet of their personality, I think they should keep it to themselves."
Actually James, it is you doing the identifying.
Would you describe love between a man and a woman as a man lusting after a woman's vagina?
The fact is that while some gay men do indulge in anal intercourse, so do many straight men with their female partners.
An awful lot of gay couples lead celibate lives, the bum thing is a distraction.
James I sent you a long reply and it has gone elsewhere,maybe for the best,
jandee
"So Lady Thatcher could not have been a Fascist. She was elected, not a dictator; she never used terror on the British people nor censorship; and she loosed not tightened socioeconomic controls, and decentralized not centralized authority. She was the opposite of a Fascist."
WHAT!
James, reread your books, she used terror, maybe not in the way of guns and bombs but she terrorised countless of her own. Ask the miners whether they felt terrorised by her and her tame police force.
Ask the countless unemployed whether they felt terrorised by her.
She exercised censorship, many of the controls on government information are traceable back to her.
She tightened socio-economic controls and centralised authority, big time!
Many aspects of government that were vested in local authorities were taken under the umbrella of central government by Thatcher.
Oh, and she was elected always by a minority. Many dictators assumed power through election.
I'm sorry James but you really are straying into fantasy land here.
"As far as my line "Despite a concerted smear campaign by hateful Leftists that has been a non-stop barrage lasting thirty years," I lifted that from—I paraphrased it from—Paul Johnson, who in fact IS British and DID live through the times we are discussing."
Yes James, he did live through those times - as one of Thatchers closest advisers! Hardly prime for an unbiased opinion.
As I have said countless times, she was divisive. She did not "rule" all equally, those who she thought of as "one of us" she dealt with a Kidd glove, those who weren't "one of us" got the iron fist.
I'm not disputing that we were in a mess in the 70s, but we were climbing out of it.
I'm saying that the solution wasn't Margaret Thatcher, it might have been another Conservative, but one with some humanity and humility.
The effects of Thatchers decimation of the country are still with us today in the form of unemployment, high taxes and large central government control, incidentally three things that she claimed to be opposed to!
It wasn't free enterprise that had made us prosperous, it was a mixture of free enterprise and socialism. The millions in this country lifted out of drudgery had socialism and liberalism to thank, not free enterprise!
James you are kind in your intent to educate me with reference to your advice for me to read of the Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl.
Too late ! read him! Even so, I have my own Holocaust Survivors. Wonderful people who I had the privilege of calling personal friends. They were -LITERALLY dragged though Europe to the Channel Isles in order to work and toil in inhumane conditions ,
jandee
James I could just say that Christopher Hitchens was a turncoat but that is too easy and cheap. Was he a reactionary ? I don't know. Maybe he just gave in after the 70s, wasn't strong enough to stand up for his original beliefs, so I am not prepared to vilify him. Some of his earlier writings were worthwhile such as "The trial of Henry Kissinger ." He is sometimes called a "Political Poacher ." In his speech at Kenyon College,Ohio 2004 on the destruction of Fallujah he said "The death toll is not nearly high enough........too many escaped ."
He admitted to being a supporter of Paul Wolfowitz,
jandee
James I wasn't just 'whingeing' about the death of a comrade. I was attempting to make the point that the terrible sacrifice the miners have made causing them in many cases to get leukaemia,asbestosis . Of course they are not alone in the many illnesses that industrial workers are open to. When these illnesses strike ! May your God help them because your philosophy wont.
best from jandee
Still no straight answer I see!
What you did was not to comment on Thatcher and the opinions of those who do not think she is the best thing since sliced bread, I have no problem with comments. What you did was to deny the experiences of millions of people and do it in a less than sympathetic way.
"I find it hard to believe . . . " would have been a fair comment. "hateful leftists" is bias and totally incorrect.
You haven't touched on how it was her own party that threw her out as an election liability instead making it look like some leftist overthrow of our beloved leader. Do you really think that the Conservative party is full of hateful leftists, all holding high position?
Anyway, enough for now, I have to go to work but just let me reiterate that fair comment is fine, telling me my own very real and painful experiences are just down to me being a hateful leftist is not fine and not fair comment.
In fact Jan, at this very minute the right wing conservative party are putting an act through parliament almost forcing churches to perform gay marriages.
Some left wing plot!
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