Margaret Thatcher

[accyman]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

Choose a Political party, any party you like & this will fit the bill somewhere in their history. The fear of losing their grasp on power no matter how tenuous is an amazingly motivating thing.

i agree just like how our very own MP folded and went back on his word to stay in his leaders good books and get his feet under the table

like iv said before as soon as they get elected they forget they are there to serve us not us to serve them and look out for tehir own interests not their peoples

[jaysay]

One of the things that's always forgotten when talking about all political parties, is who is behind the scenes, if anybody thinks that all decisions are taken by politicians then your living on cloud cuckoo land, has as been mentioned before, politicians don't always know what is going on in their name, and that's the case at every level of politics, even HBC. When politicians propose their spending, its civil servants who say whether it will fly or not and how much money is needed and where it comes from or its obtained, i.e. taxation borrowing, selling assets etc. some manage this better than others

[Less]

Originally Posted by jaysay

One of the things that's always forgotten when talking about all political parties, is who is behind the scenes, if anybody thinks that all decisions are taken by politicians then your living on cloud cuckoo land, has as been mentioned before, politicians don't always know what is going on in their name, and that's the case at every level of politics, even HBC. When politicians propose their spending, its civil servants who say whether it will fly or not and how much money is needed and where it comes from or its obtained, i.e. taxation borrowing, selling assets etc. some manage this better than others

Time you got worried then, we haven't heard much from AndrewB, maybe he's Tory middle Management now?

God Help You!

[DtheP47]

Simon Hoggart in todays Guardian reminded me of the joke about Thatcher passing a derelict down and out soldier lying under a placard " Falklands Veteran please help" She delivers a homily about sacrifice and valour before dropping a £20 note into his cap. His eyes light up "Muchas gracias, senora"

[Retlaw]

Millwall FC has announced as a tribute to Margaret Thatcher there will be a minutes violence at Wembley on Saturday.

[Guinness]

Dingles are...weird!!..but hilarious

Thatcher Supporters Back Rival Song - YouTube

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Less

Time you got worried then, we haven't heard much from AndrewB, maybe he's Tory middle Management now?

God Help You!

No wards and upwards for young AndrewB, Less. Mind you its shows great minds think alike, I was also think he hadn't been on here for ages

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Guinness

Dingles are...weird!!..but hilarious

Thatcher Supporters Back Rival Song - YouTube

Can't stop laughing, the film in itself was hilarious, probably ran off after giving high sixes

[Lucysgirl]

Originally Posted by Eric

And she fixed things by turning GB into a net importer of manufactured goods for the first time since the reign of Henry Vlll

I need to correct your assumptions. My other half and I had a small manufacturing company and she pulled out all the stops trying to get orders for all British manufacturers whether large or small.

Every overseas British Embassy and Consulate was instructed to send back intelligence of the needs of local buyers. I know of one small company who manufactured FIRE extinguishers and he used to receive weekly lists of possible customers in foreign countries. The only drawback was invariably a quotation was needed for a quantity of: "FIRE electric"

[Lucysgirl]

Originally Posted by Restless

When I think of her I think of the Belgrano sinking documentary that I watched.

... and when I think of the Dictator General Galtieri who was responsible for the torture and killing of many of his innocent young people I hate to think of what would have happened to the people of the Falkland Islands.

As for the Belgrano, we don't know what sort of cat and mouse game the captain was playing nor did we know at the time what cargo he was carrying. (depth charges? sea to air missiles? sea to land missiles?) I'd rather the sailors on our ships were safe and I lay the blame firmly on Galtieri.

[cashman]

Yeh n i think of me friend who lives down Clitheroe now, Who lost her husband to win n election fer that cow, Still she's caused me to learn to dance.

[Lucysgirl]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Cashy, that is not the issue here....it is respect for the whole family who are grieving regardless of their past.
It isn't about what he has done or what he hasn't done, it is about the loss a family are grieving for.
They have lost a mother...and you only ever have one of those...and however bad they are....you still have lost.
I cannot explain it any better than that.
Her life has to be about more than the 11 years she was in office.......but, that is just how I see it.
My mother is almost the same age and I know how I would feel if she were to die tomorrow......perhaps some of you cannot empathise with this.

Customs have certainly changed Margaret - at one time it used to be said that there's good and bad in everyone and the sign of respect to the family was to stop and acknowledge a cortege. This didn't happen in 1999 when the cortege of my late husband travelled to the cemetery which frankly I found quite upsetting - until one old man stopped, took off his hat and acknowledged in the old fashioned way. I must say that I found solace in his courteous action.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Lucysgirl

Customs have certainly changed Margaret - at one time it used to be said that there's good and bad in everyone and the sign of respect to the family was to stop and acknowledge a cortege. This didn't happen in 1999 when the cortege of my late husband travelled to the cemetery which frankly I found quite upsetting - until one old man stopped, took off his hat and acknowledged in the old fashioned way. I must say that I found solace in his courteous action.

It didn't happen wi me late missus 2 years after either, have to say i was too gutted to bother about anyone else.

[Lucysgirl]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

I thought this was one! What a sad outpouring of venom and bile.

This was the woman who persuaded Regan to talk to Gorbachev about ending MAD. She persuaded Gorbachev to talk to Regan about ending MAD. It worked. Lucky for us that's how much they respected her.
She did with the Falklands something no PM or opposition leader since would have had the guts to do.
She had the guts to tell the Union barons they didn't and wouldn't run the UK- Parliament would. When Scargill took her on she couldn't afford to lose, if she had we might as well dismissed Parliament forever. The price the miners paid was horrific and she went too far in changeing our energy policy after Scargill was beaten- that bordered on the vindictive.
When she got it right she was very right. When she got it wrong she could be very wrong. But she tried and she had conviction- she was bold, a leader of the calibre we haven't seen since.And we could certainly do with a bold leader with conviction now.
When she said something you knew she meant it and believed it, even if you violently disagreed with it. Can you say that of any of our politicians now?
Towards the end the power went to her head- power corrupts eventually. But she and her party were put in power for 11 years by the UK voters, 3 elections, so she was more popular in her time than you would think from reading some of the outpourings on this thread.
I didn't always agree with her but I sure as hell respected her as a person of commitment, drive and conviction. Rare qualities in politics these days.
A Leader- a dead one now. No need for the extremes of opinion being aired on here.

I have the utmost sympathy for the ordinary miners who quite frankly were used as a tool by a Marxist fanatic who had a communist father.

I'd just like to say something about the UK's energy. People forget that a previous government had put in place the "Clean air Act" which put a stop to the smog we had endured due to the "mucky" coal we were using. Even after that was put in place you'd still find the laundry on your washing line was covered in black smuts. France had already introduced nuclear energy and unfortunately for the miners this new technology was seen as the way to go forward.

I wasn't too happy about going nuclear and was horrified a few decades later when it was discovered that scrap nuclear rods we'd dropped into the ocean were affecting marine life.

[cashman]

Although first sighted by an English navigator in 1592, the first landing (English) did not occur until almost a century later in 1690, and the first settlement (French) was not established until 1764. The colony was turned over to Spain two years later and the islands have since been the subject of a territorial dispute, first between Britain and Spain, then between Britain and Argentina. The UK asserted its claim to the islands by establishing a naval garrison there in 1833. Argentina invaded the islands on 2 April 1982. The British responded with an expeditionary force that landed seven weeks later and after fierce fighting forced an Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. With hostilities ended and Argentine forces withdrawn, UK administration resumed. In response to renewed calls from Argentina for Britain to relinquish control of the islands, a referendum was held in March 2013, which resulted in 99.8% of the population voting to remain a part of the UK.------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is taken from the C.I.A. World Factbook, Lucy, Its always been disputed by 4 countries not just the argies, we occupy the islands, but were they ever ours? Debateable.even Doubtful.