fatherpierre

I was a teenager in Leeds when she decimated industry and killed employment in my (then) part of the world. I saw whole towns and areas decimated by her southern related policies and experienced poverty (relative) as a by-product of her government's acts.

My girlfriend, on the other hand lived in Surrey, and her Father was a Merchant Banker, giving her the spoils that I could only ever dream of.

How did Maggie's era effect you?

Alas

Sorry m8
Not even going to get involved in this one. Bit like asking your views on the catholic church stance in America in connection with the alleged child abuse revelations.
Keep well clear as a lot of people will be very upset with this one.
All about personal opinion and flame suits will be handy.
Alasdair

DavidBrown

Maggies era didn't affect me, and she took no crap from the Europeans.

His Toniness did. The tosser. More taxes, less services, and bends over for any foreigner.



[Edited by DavidBrown - 7/26/2002 9:26:00 AM]

carpet

Dont think you can hold Maggie personnaly to blame for the North being a pile of 5hite !! Now youve got a Northern Labour leader ( PM )- have they improved things for you up there ?? ******* doubt it !

stop whinging - move down south if you dont like it up there !

[Edited by carpet - 7/26/2002 9:13:19 AM]

Tiggs

that era inspired me to earn and be happy, my only regret is that i was only 11 when i wanted to be a yuppie! left it a bit late!

T

dsmith

Manufacturing/Mining would have collapsed in this country with or without Maggie. Our expectations for standard of living are two great to allow us to compete on labour costs in those markets.

We could have attempted to put off the inevitable but the end result would have been the same.

Deano

Nimbus

A strong leader who wasn't going to be bullied by anyone (argies, terrorists (anyone see the SAS: Embasy Seige program last night??)).

Not like now... Need someone like that today...

Sheepsplitter

fatherpierre: Yes the North suffered big time. I was up there and was in and out of work like nobodys business. I was/am in IT and had 5 jobs in 3 years just to keep things going. However I picked myself up and thought only one thing for this, move south where there are loads of jobs. So I moved to Surrey. Until this year things were pretty good, then Tony and his cronies decided to bring in cheap, tax free labour in the form of FTVs(Fast Track Visas) from Asia and now IT employment for UK residents is dying off in the UK.
As I see it the labour party has done for IT what Maggie did for the coal mines, but because it's mainly affecting self-employed people (who don't show up on the unemployment list) then it's all 'silent unemployment' and nobody gives a toss.
At least Maggie was honest about the reasons for closing the mines. Tony's mob insist they are brining in FTVs because there is a skills shortage. What a load of bollo*ks, there are over 50,000 people in IT looking for work. The difference is the miners could go on the dole and at least have some income (albeit tiny), self-employed don't have this option.

Dark Blue Mark

Thatcher took no crap and made our country strong. She believed strongly in the forces, and I for one think that's a good thing. I can't even imagine what she think of Blair's foreign policy (Gibraltar etc..) Ok times have changed, but look at the way crime is going. Before long our country is going to become a hole, and no bloody asylum seeker / imigrant is going to want to come here!

Bring her back, even half mad, she would be good!

MB

bros2

Don't doubt, even for a minute, that Tony Blair is as ruthless as Mad Thatcher, and just as prepared to use special forces troops.

It's just that most of it isn't reported, which is the way it should be. Trust me when I say that there's a LOT more going on Afghanistan/Pakistan than the media would have you believe.

And just wait for the offensive against Iraq - that particular train is on the track and fast approaching.

bros

brickboy

Doesn't matter what party you vote for, you end up with the Government

Thatcher was a self-righteous, suffocatingly arrogant bore who thought she knew what was best for everyone -- same as every PM of the last 40 years. Problem is that the UK is simply not a major industrial power any more, so we get kicked around in the global market. We had our time in the sun, it all got pissed away in World War 1 and 2. One person didn't make that much difference -- she may have accelerated some processes and delayed others, but in the long run the result would have been the same.

camk

we're currently paying more for imported coal than we would if we would have continued to mine it ourselves. Miners strike was Purely a political battle. 1979 britain was in a mess, however thatch took policies too far to the right so good and very bad.

carl

The one thing she should be remembered for is enabling people in council houses to buy them off the council at ridiculously deflated prices. Got a lot of people onto the 'property ladder' (that's a cliché I hate, but I can't think of another one).

The community charge ('poll tax') seemed fairer to me -- surely the amount of local services a dwelling uses is a function of the number of people living there, not the size of the house

jasey

So where does that come from then - Seen the latest pay claims from the Unions on the railways - the cleaners are as important as the drivers and all that bollox (no offence to cleaners intended here but unclean trains don't (as far as I know) kill anyone !)?

Sounds like you left (ie) Scotland cos of the Poll tax or something (That WAS when Maggie went too far!)

fatherpierre

Carpet, I did move south to London! The North (where I came from anyway) has improved drastically in the past 10yrs or so. Jobs aplenty and the prosperity is there for all to see.

south-star

Slag

Jerry*

Maggie - tough as old boots and stood up for our country, which is a lot more than can be said for that pr1ck in No.10 at the moment.

Maggie didn't kill industry in the north or anywhere - she gave it the sorting out it was crying out for... she took on the unions that had grown far too powerful under the Labour lot and were holding the country to ransome... I know a lot of people had it rough back then, but it was necessary to sort out the mess Labour had created !

I'm so sick of this pro-Europe/anti-Britain attitude of the Govt and a lot of people today ! They only seem to show a bit of national pride when the footy team play...

Times have changed - as the SAS seige program on the telly last night spelled out.

the sooner President fcukin' Tony "we're gonna" Blair gets the boot the better !! All wind and p1ss - no delivery !!

Right I'm off...

Shark

Way better than the jumped up little ***** blair we are stuck with at the moment.

David

Sheepsplitter

Jerry*:totally agree.
At least Maggie had ***** and wanted to make Britain great again.
Blairs only interested in feathering his own nest, having dinners and cocktail parties with the 'luvies' and spinning and sleezing.

sebastian

Thatcher was the last PM to have any charisma.

major/blair - God help us. Blair's a ponce and his wife's a sour, opinionated gargoyle. I cannot wait for them to get thrown out.

camk

what pish, maybe you all forget the 4M unemployed at the time, or were your dads were too busy buying low and selling high to think of the greater good, then the yuppies all got done by the housing slump, negative equity anyone......LOL....
This is the same woman who had a war so she could get voted in again. Blairs no political heavyweight but he's at least got some view of the wider world. Remember Norman Tebbit was a key player in Thatcher government throughout the 80's, another 'star' from the past. Get on your bike indeed.

jasey

I think you'll find she had a war because the Argies invaded the Malvinas (as Tony would probably call them) - Of course Blair doesn't want to wait invasions - the Spaniards just have to eye up Gibraltar for a couple of decades and he's going to hand it over to them - like the others have said here - he's a complete tw@t. (in fact he's probabbly giving away Gib on the promise of more summer holidays for him, his dick of a wife and pisshead sons ....

But You have reminded me of my favourite joke of all time

What do you call a man with a Hotel on his head
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Norman Tebbit

father_jack

Maggie was an evil witch. Have you all got such short memories?

jasey

Evil witch maybe - but at least everyone knew where they stood with her. Give me an honest witch over a Lying **** anyday

father_jack

So an evil witch is ok?

Maggie started all this ****. We should never trust any politcian or political party again after the Tories 17 years in power.
And that's a good thing.........

jasey

Evil witch is fine - you know your enemy and all that - what's Tony's legacy gonna be.

To$$er with a Grin that did nothing but spent Billions doing it !
We've had two huge rounds of increases in spending and the only improvement I can see is Tony ***** off out of the country more than any previous PM ever did

fatherpierre

Tony's legacy will probably be one of keeping the country stable. He may not have worked miracles but there's plenty of employment compared to 10+ yrs ago and there's little chance of us going back to the boom/bust stupidity of previous Labour/Tory governments.

Plus, I think we'll be stuck with Tony or a similar Labour PM for quite some to come as the Tories don't seem able to offer any credible opposition.

jasey

You think the current UK economy is Stable !

Hope you haven't got a big mortgage - biggest bust in history is coming - Just ask a Yank

fatherpierre

Compared to the late 80s and early 90s it is. I worked for Abbey Nat in '89 when interest rates shot up to 15%.

I'm actually hoping for a rate increase as I'm looking at buying another flat in London - so would like prices to fall!

Selfish I know!

father_jack

Don't get me wrong. Labour have cost me easily 25 large this year, what with stamp duty and IR35. I feckin hate them. I spit on their mothers. I would never vote for them. I vote SNP usually , but that's a choice most of you don't have
My point is, they're all *****. It's just a big game, and Maggie started it.

But also, all this jingoistic, "She was a strong leader" talk in this thread really pisses me off.
She started a war to boost her election chances, and people died because of it. She was evil, not semi-evil, just plain evil.
We should not have this American "lets kick ***" attitude.
It's feckin pants, the lot of it.