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Margaret Thatcher dies aged 87
- Thread starter PeterJB
- 158 comments
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- 29,238
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Still, very sad news - for some people anyway.
- 1,081
- Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Well, as a kid growing up during the 1970's in the UK, my total dislike of that woman is probably best kept private...
Margaret Thatcher was very much like Marmite... you either loved her or hated her.
She's even more like Marmite now... cold, a strange colour, and smells bad.
Margaret Thatcher was very much like Marmite... you either loved her or hated her.
She's even more like Marmite now... cold, a strange colour, and smells bad.
- 7,177
- Lisboa
- FLAT_TWELVE
As a foreign viewer, but very much alert to what the cold war meant, I'd say she did an outstanding job in international affairs. Not sure about domestic policies, but what I remember is that she faced a disorganized / demoralized country and brought some self respect back into it.
Sadly, she showed up a bit too late to salvage the then existing remains of the UK's dying car industry.
I wish someone like her to become MY prime minister here in this sad litle country of mine ... can't see anyone up (and hard enough) to such a task though.
RIP
Sadly, she showed up a bit too late to salvage the then existing remains of the UK's dying car industry.
I wish someone like her to become MY prime minister here in this sad litle country of mine ... can't see anyone up (and hard enough) to such a task though.
RIP
Tired Tyres
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You should have said something earlier. We would have given her to you. 
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- Grim10
- Are you kidding?
It's interesting how people are reacting to the fact that she's died.
With utter lack of respect for someone who took the helm of the country, broke the boundaries for women in politics, said what she meant and meant what she said.
She's just died. Sheesh. Even if you didn't like her, there's no need to be a jerk.
With utter lack of respect for someone who took the helm of the country, broke the boundaries for women in politics, said what she meant and meant what she said.
She's just died. Sheesh. Even if you didn't like her, there's no need to be a jerk.
- 5,379
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- F1fan1
When someone is directly responsible for dismantling industries which in turn forced us to have to buy what we used to make for an inflated price and also caused millions to lose their livelihoods, this kind of reaction should be expected.
There's a reason this is in the opinions sub forum.
There's a reason this is in the opinions sub forum.
- 1,081
- Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Possibly. But seeing how you were born in 1989, I don't think you're the best qualified person to voice an opinion about someone who didn't directy affect your life.
If you lived through "The Thatcher Years", you'll appreciate that she made a lot of people's lives a complete misery, while making a select few better off.
Sure, some of what she did, maybe did actually improve the country in the long run, but the way she went about achieving her goals was nothing short of deplorable.
Tired Tyres
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Right, she 'possibly' wasn't as bad as Adolf Hitler.
Of course I'm not. But then so are a lot of the people who seem to think she was Satan incarnate and brought nothing but untold misery to the country, and therefore it's totally fine be as nasty as they can.
I just think the endless stream of critical hyperbole so soon after her death is a little unjust. It's not a political comment, it's a personal one.
- 19,013
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- axletramp
Not wanting to concentrate on the one point (I think you're talking about a wider respect here), but Maggie was widely and openly compared to Hitler for years whilst she was in power and very much alive. I don't think anyone could expect that to end now she's dead. She affected too many people.
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Well, whether or not people agreed with everything she did isn't too big of a deal to me, and mostly I was too young to really remember that much about her (I was born in 1979), but the impression I get is that she was a strong leader, not afraid to take un-popular decisions, rather than being a gutless liar, which appears to be what we've had for a while now. I seem to recall her getting a lot of stick for the introduction of Poll Tax, which as I understand it, is now council tax, that's the thing I remember most about her!
Anyway, RIP Maggie.
Anyway, RIP Maggie.
- 7,177
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Hummm ... this is interesting, and a bit unexpected I must confess. I guess you brits like her as much as the russians love Gorbachov.
I wonder if you guys do remember how the UK industry, economy and society was in the early 70's, before she got to power. Or if you do understand how did she manage to win so many elections, being so bad and evil.
Oh, I guess you think the Reichstag, ops I mean the Houses of Parliament were burned to the ground and the Gestapo then silenced the remaining critics.
Thank God for Monty Python. They fled to America, wasn't it?
Quite!
I wonder if you guys do remember how the UK industry, economy and society was in the early 70's, before she got to power. Or if you do understand how did she manage to win so many elections, being so bad and evil.
Oh, I guess you think the Reichstag, ops I mean the Houses of Parliament were burned to the ground and the Gestapo then silenced the remaining critics.
Thank God for Monty Python. They fled to America, wasn't it?
I think you are taking your Anglophilia too far
Quite!
Brend
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Predictably I've read some sick things on Facebook about this, mostly from people too young and more importantly too stupid to make informed comments about her politics, most of them brainwashed by their parents and whoever else they've been brought up around. (I live a couple of miles away from the start of the miners' strike)
Long story short she had more balls than every successive PM combined and did a much better job of running the country than any keyboard warrior would be able to do.
But at the end of the day she's someone's family, and when another human being dies it's wrong to show anything other than respect. RIP
Long story short she had more balls than every successive PM combined and did a much better job of running the country than any keyboard warrior would be able to do.
But at the end of the day she's someone's family, and when another human being dies it's wrong to show anything other than respect. RIP
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Well the LFC in my user name is Liverpool FC so that should be enough to let my feelings be known.
Brend
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RIP, Margaret Thatcher.
She broke every glass ceiling, destroyed the autocratic power of the trade unions, saved the British environment, introduced Libertarianism to Tory ideologies, boosted the economy by almost 25% during her time as Prime Minister, saw the British victory of the Falklands War, ended a recession - and was then stabbed in the back and forcibly ousted by her fellow Conservatives.
I honestly can't name a better British Prime Minister since Thatch; she had this incredible ability to get things done - and after almost a decade of Labour allowing the country to be held to ransom by unions and haemorrhaging money while taxing aggressively, Thatcher's mentality was a much-needed change. The country's market exploded, allowing Britain to become a truly competitive force in the then-expanding global trading environment - and under her time as leader, the British Pound grew ever-stronger, and inflation shrank by an incredible amount.
Of course, selfish former unionists will forever propagate the belief that she's the devil incarnate, but the country at large was a better-off, freer place after the union-run dictatorship's stranglehold over the UK's government was shattered - and the war between Thatcher's government and the self-appointed trade unions was a war between the majority-elected democracy and the narrow-minded, one-sided greed of the undeserving socialist minority.
So, here's to one of the most divisive, decisive and effective politicians of all time, whose influence we still see in economics, politics and the physical landscape of the United Kingdom to this very day: the original "Iron Lady", Margaret Thatcher.
She broke every glass ceiling, destroyed the autocratic power of the trade unions, saved the British environment, introduced Libertarianism to Tory ideologies, boosted the economy by almost 25% during her time as Prime Minister, saw the British victory of the Falklands War, ended a recession - and was then stabbed in the back and forcibly ousted by her fellow Conservatives.
I honestly can't name a better British Prime Minister since Thatch; she had this incredible ability to get things done - and after almost a decade of Labour allowing the country to be held to ransom by unions and haemorrhaging money while taxing aggressively, Thatcher's mentality was a much-needed change. The country's market exploded, allowing Britain to become a truly competitive force in the then-expanding global trading environment - and under her time as leader, the British Pound grew ever-stronger, and inflation shrank by an incredible amount.
Of course, selfish former unionists will forever propagate the belief that she's the devil incarnate, but the country at large was a better-off, freer place after the union-run dictatorship's stranglehold over the UK's government was shattered - and the war between Thatcher's government and the self-appointed trade unions was a war between the majority-elected democracy and the narrow-minded, one-sided greed of the undeserving socialist minority.
So, here's to one of the most divisive, decisive and effective politicians of all time, whose influence we still see in economics, politics and the physical landscape of the United Kingdom to this very day: the original "Iron Lady", Margaret Thatcher.
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- MP-Omnis
Increase government spending by 13% (adjusted for inflation). Be remembered for reducing government.
Well, at least she was good at fighting the socialists. Certainly the best thing to happen to Britain since the Soviets started pushing the eastern front.
Well, at least she was good at fighting the socialists. Certainly the best thing to happen to Britain since the Soviets started pushing the eastern front.
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- haitch40
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No matter what your views on her policies you cannot deny she certainly had a lasting and significant impact on this country. And I have to say I am grateful she intervened in the Falklands crisis. There were many of her backbenchers asking her to leave it and let Argentina have the islands.
RIP.
RIP.
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