Thatcher changed Britain for the worse

by Ivanhoe Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:29 pm

First topic message reminder :

Through the Thatcher Major, years, millions of British people were made poor as a matter of policy, while others got rich as a matter of policy.

Blair and Brown embraced Thatcherism due to the change in the British, and now Milliband wants to change Labour again due to a changed Britain.

I personally long for a political party that sticks to it's core values, that has conviction, that does not change itself to suit a greedy selfish uncaring British populas who'se only thought is "self". In my view this "self" is mainly among the British middle classes.

Thatcher changed Britain for the worse, and now we are reaping through this dreadful coalition, what has been sown.

by Guest Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:42 pm

Falkland Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The population, estimated at 2,841, primarily consists of native Falkland Islanders, the vast majority being of British descent. Other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian, and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, Saint Helena, and Chile has reversed a former population decline. The predominant and official language is English. Under the British Nationality Act of 1983, Falkland Islanders are legally British citizens.

The Falkland Islands took their English name from "Falkland Sound", the channel between the two main islands, which was in turn named after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, by Captain John Strong, who landed on the islands in 1690.^[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands

by **astradt1** Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:53 pm

And the two wiki article re-posts are relevant because?

by oftenwrong Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:55 pm

A contributor to MSN Trending blog today:

I am in full favour of the woman getting a state funeral and that applies to all our leaders of this country over the last 40 years, only I would like it to happen on the same day next week.

by Guest Tue Apr 09, 2013 5:21 pm

Falkland Islanders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Islanders are British, albeit with a distinct identity of their own:

“British cultural, economic, social, political and educational values create a unique British-like, Falkland Islands. Yet Islanders feel distinctly different from their fellow citizens who reside in the United Kingdom. This might have something to do with geographical isolation or with living on a smaller island – perhaps akin to those British people not feeling European.” (Lewis Clifton OBE, Speaker of the Falklands Legislative Council)^[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islander

by oftenwrong Tue Apr 09, 2013 5:34 pm

Details are emerging about the Military Funeral for Baroness Thatcher a week tomorrow which will process along Fleet Street, formerly the home of the British Press prior to the intervention of Rupert Murdoch.

Funerals invariably concentrate minds on events past, but an unexpected feature of this one may be the popular revival of a song which first appeared 74 years ago in the film, "Wizard of Oz".

by jackthelad Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:29 pm

Just heard on the grape vine that Maggie has only been in hell a few hours and she has already closed down 20 furnaces.

Anyone wanting to go to Maggie's passing away parade must bring there own stones to throw, but no more than a bucketful per person.

Most popular song put forward for people to sing at her state like funeral, is the song from the Wizard of Oz, The Witch is Dead.

by **Phil Hornby** Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:38 pm

Some of the posts on this thread are quite disgraceful.

MORE, MORE, MORE...! Smile

by witchfinder Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:44 pm

"ding dong the witch is dead" is now number 1 on Amazons best seller list and number 2 on ITunes.

It seems that Mrs Thatcher is as divisive today as she was in the 1980s with opinion bitterly divided.

by **Ivan** Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:44 pm

Thatcherism was a national catastrophe that still poisons us

Extracts from an article by Owen Jones:-

"We are in the midst of the third great economic collapse since World War Two: all three have taken place since Thatcherism launched its great crusade. This current crisis has roots in the Thatcherite free market experiment, which wiped out much of the country’s industrial base in favour of a deregulated financial sector.

A poisoned 'debate' about social security rages in Cameron’s Britain, focusing on the idea that there are large numbers of people stuck on benefits. It is certainly true that there were more people languishing in long-term unemployment last year than there were in all forms of unemployment 40 years ago. In large part, this is a consequence of Thatcherism’s emptying communities of millions of secure, skilled industrial jobs. Large swathes of Britain were devastated, and never really recovered.

5 million people now languish on social housing waiting lists, while billions of pounds of housing benefit line the pockets of private landlords charging rip-off rents. The scarcity of housing turns communities against each other, as immigrants or anyone deemed less deserving are scapegoated. But the guilt really lies with the Thatcherite policy of right-to-buy and failure to replace the stock that was sold off.

Champions of Thatcherism hail the crippling of the trade unions, which were battered by anti-union laws, mass unemployment, and crushing defeats of strikes. This has not only left workers at the mercy of their bosses, but has made them poorer, too. With no unions to stand their corner, workers’ living standards have long been squeezed – driving large numbers to cheap credit. Britain was one of the most equal Western European countries before the Thatcherite project began, and is now one of the most unequal."

For the full article:-
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/owen-jones-thatcherism-was-a-national-catastrophe-that-still-poisons-us-8564858.html

by Tosh Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:56 pm

She did some very good things but a large section of the working class paid a high price, right ideas with the wrong tactics.

by sickchip Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:15 pm

It should be pointed out that the stronger countries in the present world are those that retained a strong manufacturing base.

Thatcher and her successors greedily pinned their faith to the financial sector....and look what happened in a relatively short space of time - they ruined our economy and we will be suffering for many years because of the massive bail out payments the banks required. Aside from ruining our economy the banking crisis has had dire consequences for our society. All this can be traced to the ignorance, and idiocy of dog eat dog Thatcherism

The UK has also become over-dependent on service sector jobs that produce little of value or worth.

by oftenwrong Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:15 pm

"right ideas with the wrong tactics."....

Only if you think that the "right idea" was to demolish any group or organisation that might form a focus to oppose the Tory Government.

Which of course continues under the Tory-led Coalition government.

by **Ivan** Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:43 pm

Clearing up the mess that Margaret Thatcher left

Extracts from an article by Frances O'Grady:-

“Thatcher was good at destruction, and the seismic shift from industry to financial-based capitalism that Thatcherism ushered in rattled the establishment. Her unwavering belief in the invisible hand of the market meant she did not believe it was part of her job description to put anything in its place. A big decline in traditional industries took place across Europe and the US in the 80s and 90s. What was different in Britain was that she assumed no responsibility to minimise social disruption or to create new jobs and industries. Instead state assets and a huge income stream from North Sea oil were used to fund a populist programme of tax cuts, privatisation and council house sales. The family silver was squandered on bribing voters rather than modernising the economy.

The issues at the top of the government's agenda are all to do with clearing up the mess she created. Above all has been the hollowing out of the labour market. The 70s was Britain's most equal decade. The jobs that went during the 80s tended to be good, skilled jobs, delivering decent incomes and some security. She failed to replace those jobs with well-paid equivalents. Demonising unions and stripping the great mass of private-sector workers of a voice and power in the workplace is still the root of the great living standards crisis that saw the share of wealth going to wages slide long before Lehman Brothers failed. Even the nasty politics of 'welfare reform' is driven by the high cost of subsidising low pay through in-work benefits, and indifference to the plight of jobless communities who have never recovered from de-industrialisation.”

For the rest of the article:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/09/clearing-up-margaret-thatchers-mess?CMP=twt_fd

by sickchip Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:48 pm

Excellent link, Ivan. Thanks.

by blueturando Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:58 pm

Extracts from an article by Owen Jones:-

Ivan, sometimes you do give me a great laugh. Little Owen Jones??? You would be better getting your political insight from Justin Beiber

by **Ivan** Tue Apr 09, 2013 11:03 pm

Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette

Extracts from an article by Glenn Greenwald:-

News of Margaret Thatcher's death instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her. This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure's death is not just misguided but dangerous. That one should not speak ill of the dead is arguably appropriate when a private person dies, but it is wildly inappropriate for the death of a controversial public figure, particularly one who wielded significant influence and political power.

Those who admire the deceased public figure (and their politics) aren't silent at all. They are aggressively exploiting the emotions generated by the person's death to create hagiography. Demanding that no criticisms be voiced to counter that hagiography is to enable false history and a propagandistic whitewashing of bad acts, distortions that become quickly ossified and then endure by virtue of no opposition and the powerful emotions created by death. When a political leader dies, it is irresponsible in the extreme to demand that only praise be permitted but not criticisms.

Thatcher denounced Nelson Mandela and his ANC as "terrorists", something even David Cameron ultimately admitted was wrong. She was a steadfast friend to brutal tyrants such as Augusto Pinochet, Saddam Hussein and Indonesian dictator General Suharto ("one of our very best and most valuable friends"). And as my Guardian colleague Seumas Milne detailed last year, "across Britain Thatcher is still hated for the damage she inflicted – and for her political legacy of rampant inequality and greed, privatisation and social breakdown." To demand that all of that be ignored in the face of one-sided requiems to her nobility and greatness is a bit bullying and tyrannical, not to mention warped.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/16856-focus-margaret-thatcher-and-misapplied-death-etiquette

by ROB Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:46 am

The New York Times - Europe

Margaret Thatcher, ‘Iron Lady’ Who Set Britain on New Course, Dies at 87
By JOSEPH R. GREGORY
Published: April 8, 2013

Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” of British politics, who set her country on a rightward economic course, led it to victory in the Falklands war and helped guide the United States and the Soviet Union through the cold war’s difficult last years, died on Monday in London. She was 87.

A statement from the White House said that “the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend.”

Abroad, she won new esteem for a country that had been in decline since its costly victory in World War II.

Mrs. Thatcher’s relentless hostility to the Soviet Union and her persistent call to modernize Britain’s nuclear forces fed fears of nuclear war and even worried moderates in her own party. It also caught the Kremlin’s attention. After she gave a hard-line speech in 1976, the Soviet press gave her a sobriquet of which she was proud: the Iron Lady.

Yet when she saw an opening, Mrs. Thatcher proved willing to bend. She was one of the first Western leaders to recognize that the Soviets would soon be led by a member of a new generation, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and invited him to Britain in December 1984, three months before he came to power. “I like Mr. Gorbachev,” she said. “We can do business together.”

Her rapport with the new Soviet leader and her friendship with President Ronald Reagan made Mrs. Thatcher a vital link between the White House and the Kremlin in their tense negotiations to halt the arms race of the 1980s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/world/europe/former-prime-minister-margaret-thatcher-of-britain-has-died.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

by Guest Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:30 am

Henry Kissinger - Thatcher A Great Friend To The United States [08.04.2013]
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/ZcZldrGepmk

by boatlady Wed Apr 10, 2013 8:23 am

Ivan, some brilliant links there - nicely summarising a lot of my own memories of that particular era.

Rock - you weren't here - you can't know

by Deadly Nightshade Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:03 am

jackthelad wrote:Just heard on the grape vine that Maggie has only been in hell a few hours and she has already closed down 20 furnaces.

Anyone wanting to go to Maggie's passing away parade must bring there own stones to throw, but no more than a bucketful per person.

Most popular song put forward for people to sing at her state like funeral, is the song from the Wizard of Oz, The Witch is Dead.

Gonna put forward The Prodigy's ~ Smack ma bitch up for the wake

by bobby Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:41 am

Three days and the Bitch is still dead, and i'm glad to say she hasn't risen like the other geezer who thought he was the messiah

boatlady said: Rock - you weren't here - you can't know.
Theres the rub boatlady, he thinks he was, there again by the way he writes you would think he has been every where. In his mind though he probably has been, and all to the sound of Tamela Motown.

by bobby Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:56 am

I've just re read the rubish rockonbrother posted about the Bitch Thatcher, like everything else he thinks he knows better than we Brits who suffered under her leadership, he obveously has as much compassion for the people of Britain as he did/does for the 500 plus victims of the My lai Massacre in Vietnam who where raped, mutilated and murdered by his countries brave soldiers.
boatlady, may I sugest you take absolutely no notice of anything rockonbrother says, as quite frankly 90% of it is just a load of bollocks and the remaining 10% he dream't.

by oftenwrong Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:05 am

If you want to know the time, ask a Policeman. There will be THOUSANDS of 'em lining the route of Thatcher's Last Ride, next Wednesday.

Why aren't they giving us a Bank Holiday? Are they frit?

by **Ivan** Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:06 pm

Thatcher’s glorious record as Prime Minister, 1979-1990

1979
Elected on promises to reduce unemployment and lower taxes, Thatcher increased VAT from 8% to 15%. Interest rates reached 17%. Prescription charge increased from 20p to 45p an item.

1980
Inflation more than doubled in twelve months to 21.9%. National insurance increased from 6.5% to 6.75%. The link between the state retirement pension and average earnings was ended. 25% starting rate of income tax abolished. British Steel axed 11,000 jobs in Wales. Unemployment rose to 1.9 million. Nicholas Ridley sent to the Falkland Islands to try to persuade the inhabitants to accept Argentinean sovereignty. Nutritional standards for school meals abolished. Prescription charge increased to £1.

1981
National insurance up to 7.75%. Personal tax allowances frozen. Tax on beer increased by 24%, tax on petrol increased by 24%, tax on cigarettes increased by 16%. Manufacturing output down 17% since May 1979, the fastest recorded fall in history. Unemployment exceeded 2.5 million. Thatcher sacked most ‘moderates’ from her cabinet. Riots in Brixton, Southall, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.

1982
National insurance up to 8.75%. Unemployment over 3 million. After cuts to Royal Navy’s budget for patrols, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.

1983
National insurance increased to 9%. NHS ordered to privatise cleaning, catering and laundry. Tory plan to abolish Greater London Council and replace it with quangos. Cecil Parkinson forced to resign over an affair and an illegitimate child. Protests at Greenham Common.

1984
Tax relief on life assurance premiums abolished. Miners’strike with pitched battles at Orgreave and other pits. Chatham Dockyard closed, with the loss of 7,000 jobs. Unions banned from GCHQ. Sarah Tisdall jailed for leaking details on cruise missile deployment. Clive Ponting charged for leaking details of the sinking of the Belgrano.

1985
Scope of VAT extended. Currency crisis; about £100 million of foreign reserves lost trying to stabilise sterling. Riots in Handsworth and Brixton. Thatcher boycotted anti-apartheid sanctions on South Africa. Prescription charge reached £2.

1986
Treasury abandoned monetarism. Heseltine resigned over Westland affair; Leon Brittan forced to resign over leaking to press, but not investigated by police like Tisdall and Ponting. Government injunction banned ‘Spycatcher’.

1987
Black Monday wiped £50 billion off stock market. Thatcher denounced Mandela’s ANC as “a terrorist organisation” at Commonwealth conference. Jeffrey Archer awarded £500,000 damages after lying in court.

1988
Poll tax legislation passed with help of hundreds of hereditary peers. Inflationary Budget reduced top rate of income tax from 60% to 40%. First plans to commercialise NHS. Charge introduced for eye tests and dental check-ups. Benefits withdrawn from 16 and 17-year olds, leading to a stream of young homeless.

1989
Interest rate raised to 14.75%. Poll tax introduced in Scotland. Housing bubble burst and negative equity began. Water companies turned into private monopolies.

1990
Pound joined ERM at what proved to be an unsustainably high rate of exchange. Interest rate reached 15.4%. Prescription charge reached £3.05. Riots across England because of poll tax. Ridley forced to resign after comparing Helmut Kohl to Hitler. Geoffrey Howe resigned, which led to Thatcher’s resignation.

by jackthelad Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:17 pm

An article in the Daily Mirror written by John Stalker former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester says he saw at first hand how her authoritarian policies could have shattered the bond of trust between the Police and People. Says she turned the police into a paramilitary force and put the police on war footing. Margaret Thatcher was not only the Prime Minister but took a great interest in Law and Order, and acted like the Home Secretary as well. The article makes interesting reading, says our country came very close to be coming a police state under Margaret Thatcher.
He did make a comment about troops being dressed has policemen, and how the police taunted the miners over their extra large wage packets during the miners strike.
I have seen comment about greedy miners and a greedy miners union leader Arthur Scargill, only the 1984/1985 strike was about jobs not wages, the end result proved Arthur Scargill was right about mass pit closures.
There are only two deep coal mines left in Yorkshire, yet Germany are opening another 70 mines, China 300 and India 90. While we are using farm land that previously grew food, now growing willow to burn in bio power stations, supposed to be better for the climate. We are cutting down on polluting the atmosphere while the rest of the world carries on. Soon we will be having food shortages because of the land being taken up growing willow, and we will be paying through the nose for food imported from abroad.
But then, we are British, stiff upper lip, and grin and bear it, while the women who brought us to this by closing industry and encouraging banker who practically ruin us, is going to have something close to a state funeral.
10 million pounds it will cost the tax payer, and any miner would gladly bury her for nothing, and stamp down on her grave to make sure there is no resurrection, it has happen once before. But the fellow was no Maggie Thatcher, he had more followers than her.

by Tosh Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:28 pm

Thatcher destroyed loony left wing socialism and loony unions who cared only about their members and their political ideologies.

Anyone who thinks nationalisation creates productivity and efficiency has never worked in one, they were an absolute joke run by unions and weak management.

Britain was a holiday camp for miners, steelworkers and shipbuilders, when push came to shove they just could not compete in the real world, it was just subsidising fictitious jobs.

by **Ivan** Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:31 pm

oftenwrong wrote:-
If you want to know the time, ask a Policeman. There will be THOUSANDS of 'em lining the route of Thatcher's Last Ride, next Wednesday.

More than 700 armed forces personnel will line the route of the funeral procession. There will be marksmen on rooftops, presumably in case anyone tries to get a look in the coffin to make sure that the evil git is dead.

I suspect that the funeral is being held next Wednesday so that Cameron can avoid PMQTs yet again. It's well known that he hates the occasion, which is hardly surprising when you consider how badly he performs.

by Tosh Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:40 pm

If Thatcher changed things for the worse then how come no Labour government rescinded any of her policies ?

Viva Maggie.....we love you more than Scargill, Hatton, Foot and Red Robbo.

by jackthelad Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:57 pm

Tosh wrote:Thatcher destroyed loony left wing socialism and loony unions who cared only about their members and their political ideologies.

Anyone who thinks nationalisation creates productivity and efficiency has never worked in one, they were an absolute joke run by unions and weak management.

Britain was a holiday camp for miners, steelworkers and shipbuilders, when push came to shove they just could not compete in the real world, it was just subsidising fictitious jobs.

Thatcher didn't destroy the unions they are still there, she destroyed whole communities though, steel, shipbuilders, and mining, were proper jobs, I can assure you, and they never came out on strike for nothing, but a reason.
I was a miner for 40 years came out on official strike three time in all that time, twice for better wages, and yes the mine was prospering, the final time wasn't about money but about pit closures, putting people out of work because a woman had a Vendetta about one group of workers. She resented the fact that a Conservative government capitulated to the unions over a just demand, Joe Gormley was the miners leader at that time, a fair and just man, certainly was no Arthur Scargill, (Scargill wasn't my cup of tea, but events proved him right over mine closures).
If you think working down a coal mine was like being in a holiday camp, then it just proves you know nothing. I have never see memorials in memory of holiday camp disasters like you get in Pit villages. Mind you safety in regards to miners improved when we got unions, still couldn't prevent all the disasters though.

by **Ivan** Wed Apr 10, 2013 2:05 pm

jackthelad. Very good post, sir, spoken from the heart. You beat me to it in countering the obscene suggestion that working down a pit is akin to being at a holiday camp. However, Tosh is a troll so we need to make some allowances for what he posts (but not too many).

I think I'm right in saying that safety was one of the main reasons why the pits were nationalised by the best Prime Minister we've ever had, Clement Attlee.

by Tosh Wed Apr 10, 2013 2:37 pm

Jack,

You must have worked in one of the few mines that were economically viable, most were subsidised up to their neck.

Thatcher identified a real problem in our country with our nationalised industries but I do accept her remedy was cruel and ideological in nature, she should have revamped our manufacturing base rather than destroying it.

But lets be clear the blame must lie with both Thatcher and the Unions for the demise of British manufacturing.

by blueturando Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:11 pm

The Unions were and acted just like the Bankers of today. They were greedy, only looked after their own and didn't give a toss about the rest of us who had to deal with powercuts, mounting piles of rubbish, unburried bodies and soaring inflation and debt due to greedy wage demands.

They too were bailed out over and over again by the tax payer as the nationalised businesses were losing money hand over fist. So there is no difference to what we see today with the banking industry.

The only difference is we then had a PM with conviction, but today none of our politicians on either side have any at all

by **Ivan** Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:35 pm

blueturando. What a hypocrite you are! You repeatedly accuse me of posting lies and "making things up as I go along" - which I've never done - then you post that pile of rubbish, with no facts, no references and no sources, not even 'The Daily Mail', which is obviously far more reliable than Owen Jones or Billy Bragg in your book.

I suppose inflation had nothing to do with the quadrupling of oil prices? And if Thatcher was so wonderful at dealing with it, how do you account for the fact that inflation was 10.3% in May 1979 and 10.9% in October 1990, her last full month in office? Source? No, I'm not going to provide it, because you'll still rubbish it, so look it up for yourself.

There is no comparison whatsoever between trade unions, fighting to maintain the living standards of their workers, and bankers feeding off multi-million pound bonus and pension funds as their reward for failure. Trade unions represent millions of ordinary workers, while bankers represent themselves, a handful of greedy City parasites. Trade unions didn't cause a global credit crunch either. Oh, I forgot, that wasn't the bankers was it, "it was all Labour's fault".

Kindly stuff your lies somewhere that the sun doesn't shine - and don't try posting them in an avatar again.

by blueturando Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:03 pm

I don't need to post a link for everything Ivan, I just lived through it...that was enough

by Tosh Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:33 pm

I will not be watching the funeral due to fox hunting commitments, however I will name the first fox I kill " Arthur " in memory of her.

If you lived in Britain in the 70sand 80s one suffered every week from the excesses of left wing socialism and no one wants these nutters back.

by **Ivan** Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:49 pm

Dispelling the Thatcher myths

Extracts from an article by Alex Nunns:-

"The performance of Britain’s economy in the 1980s was below par. Economic growth was higher and lasted longer in the 1950s and 1960s. When the economy did pick up speed in the late 80s, it was because of a credit bubble that promptly burst and threw Britain back into recession.

It’s said that Thatcher was a tax-cutter. She wasn’t. The overall tax burden rose from 39% of GDP in 1979 to 43% in 1989.

It’s said that Thatcher’s greatest free market legacy is privatisation. Her legacy is one of parasitic cartels, like in the energy sector, where a few big companies are free to bleed customers dry.

It’s said Thatcher stood up for freedom and democracy in the world. She didn’t in South Africa, where she opposed sanctions against apartheid. She didn’t in Chile, where she supported the murderer and torturer Pinochet. She didn’t in Cambodia, where she gave support to the Khmer Rouge.

Thatcher didn’t ‘roll back the state’. She attacked local government, cut its funding and restricted its powers. She intervened directly in schools, setting a national curriculum for the first time.

It’s said that Thatcher restored law and order. Crime increased by 79% under Thatcher. There were riots in Brixton and Toxteth at the start of her rule, and riots and civil disobedience against the poll tax at the end of it.

Thatcher created a ‘property-owning democracy’ through the sale of council houses. That led to a chronic shortage of social housing which has pushed up house prices. Home ownership is now falling and the taxpayer still subsidises housing through housing benefit, but now the money goes to rich private landlords."

For the full details:-
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/dispelling-the-thatcher-myths/

by Tosh Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:20 pm

Why did Labour not tackle the chronic shortage of social housing when it was in power for 13 years and we were rolling in money ?

Why did Labour not nationalize all the energy cartels ?

by boatlady Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:32 pm

And maybe now we've all spent enough time and energy thinking about the dead bitch

by Tosh Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:48 pm

And maybe now we've all spent enough time and energy thinking about the dead bitch

You will not go to heaven and meet baby Jesus like what I will.

by oftenwrong Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:54 pm

"Why did Labour not nationalize all the energy cartels ?"

They WERE nationalised, until Thatcher sold them in a manner that made a reversal impossibly expensive due to the compensation claims which would have arisen. Now the owners of Energy supplies in Britain are foreigners.

by **Ivan** Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:04 pm

Why would anyone celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher? Ask a Chilean

Extracts from an article by Dave Zirin:-

Thousands took to the streets of the UK and beyond to celebrate. Immediately this drew strong condemnation of what were called "death parties," described as “tasteless”, “horrible” and “beneath all human decency.” Yet if the same media praising Thatcher and appalled by the popular response would bother to ask one of the people celebrating, they might get a story that doesn't fit into their narrative, which is probably why they aren't asking at all.

I received a note from a friend of a friend. She lives in the UK, although her family didn't arrive there by choice. They had to flee Chile, like thousands of others, when it was under the thumb of General Augusto Pinochet. He was a merciless overseer of torture, rapes and thousands of political executions. He had the hands and wrists of the country's greatest folk singer, Victor Jara, broken in front of a crowd of prisoners before killing him. He had democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende shot dead at his desk. His specialty was torturing people in front of their families. As Naomi Klein has written, he then used this period of shock and slaughter to install a nationwide laboratory for neoliberal economics.

Pinochet was in charge of this human rights catastrophe. He also was someone who Thatcher called a friend. She stood by the general even when he was in exile, attempting to escape justice for his crimes. As she said to Pinochet, "Thank you for bringing democracy to Chile". Therefore, if I want to know why someone would celebrate the death of Thatcher, I think asking a Chilean in exile would be a great place to start.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/173731/why-would-anyone-celebrate-death-margaret-thatcher-ask-chilean#

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