RIP Maggie Thatcher.

[Mad Cyril]

Famously, when Franco died (in 1975), Barcelona ran out of Cava.I might be tempted to indulge in a glass or two of Juve Camps later tonight.

Italy got rid of their own fascist dictator a mere thirty years earlier rather than relying on the passage of time to do their dirty work for them.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Either the Mrs has invested in under floor heating while I've been at work or the flames in the land below have been specially stoked today.
Milk Snatcher.

 

[TrueBlue]

It's simple would you take the state of the country in 79 or when she left in 90????

SIMPLE 1990 all day long

 

[Mad Cyril]

It's simple would you take the state of the country in 79 or when she left in 90????

SIMPLE 1990 all day long

To be fair you were five when she left office so don't have much to compare it with.

I was seven when Thatcher was elected. I don't remember the eighties being particularly rough for my family (my dad is registered disabled and my mother worked at a school) but then again I never lived in a community where whole swathes of people were effectively thrown on the scrapheap.

 

[effy67]

muse shrimper you are a real scum bag the lowest of the low. My wife and I don't see eye to eye on Mrs T but even she was shocked at the amount of bile and poison that has been spouted.

 

[Pubey]

To be fair you were five when she left office so don't have much to compare it with.

I was seven when Thatcher was elected. I don't remember the eighties being particularly rough for my family (my dad is registered disabled and my mother worked at a school) but then again I never lived in a community where whole swathes of people were effectively thrown on the scrapheap.

Indeed. I raised a glass tonight because her actions directly destroyed the lives and careers of my wife's family. Her dad, grandad and uncles all worked in the pits and the rancid bitch (well said museshrimper) left them for dead and did nothing for community and everything for self-interest (typified by her comments, actions and inaction around Hillsborough). Yes she was a person, mother and grandmother, but a lot of people just do not understand what her policies did for the lives of millions. She deserves nothing, she definitely doesn't deserve a stage funeral. If she gets one then I definitely will be joining the millions who'll be celebrating

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

muse shrimper you are a real scum bag the lowest of the low. My wife and I don't see eye to eye on Mrs T but even she was shocked at the amount of bile and poison that has been spouted.

I genuinely don't think she'd be bothered, she was comfortable being hated by millions when she was alive and think she'd expect the same when dead. She had her own agenda and she couldn't have cared less how many she offended as long as she had enough agree to get voted in.

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

she couldn't have cared less how many she offended as long as she had enough agree to get voted in.

I think they call that Democracy

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Indeed. I raised a glass tonight because her actions directly destroyed the lives and careers of my wife's family. Her dad, grandad and uncles all worked in the pits and the rancid bitch (well said museshrimper) left them for dead and did nothing for community and everything for self-interest (typified by her comments, actions and inaction around Hillsborough). Yes she was a person, mother and grandmother, but a lot of people just do not understand what her policies did for the lives of millions. She deserves nothing, she definitely doesn't deserve a stage funeral. If she gets one then I definitely will be joining the millions who'll be celebrating

Sorry mate, I've read some crap in my time but that's right up there with the sort of mindless bilge Barnaby would come up with. So what if a few northern socialists weren't getting their subsidized handouts? How did we manage in the South when we didn't have pits and mills? We hustled and we got **** done. You don't understand what her policies did for the millions who benefited, people like my parents, who were able to buy their council house and use that capital base to start a small business which will pay for their retirement. So a few lazy, good for nothing northern monkeys couldn't keep up? Well **** them.

 

[Dick Bate's Protege]

Either the Mrs has invested in under floor heating while I've been at work or the flames in the land below have been specially stoked today.
Milk Snatcher.

It'll save us mining for coal. It seems even in death she's looking out for you.

 

[steveo]

Indeed. I raised a glass tonight because her actions directly destroyed the lives and careers of my wife's family. Her dad, grandad and uncles all worked in the pits and the rancid bitch (well said museshrimper) left them for dead and did nothing for community and everything for self-interest (typified by her comments, actions and inaction around Hillsborough). Yes she was a person, mother and grandmother, but a lot of people just do not understand what her policies did for the lives of millions. She deserves nothing, she definitely doesn't deserve a stage funeral. If she gets one then I definitely will be joining the millions who'll be celebrating

Maybe it was the right time Pubey. Digging coal was clearly unprofitable. It was never going to get cheaper but the miners always wanted more and more. I didn't see Labour re-open any coal mines when they got back in. Look at Sunderland for example now. The largest UK car factory. Would Nissan have considered building that in this country back in the day? The traditional UK car industry had been ****ed by union practises.
I can remember having a business phone line installed in the mid 80's. 5 different blokes all visiting on separate occasions over a period of about 4 weeks. The bloke doing the external wiring wasnt allowed to do the internal wiring. The bloke doing the internal wiring wasn't allowed to make the connection between the two, and the bloke doing the connection couldn't do it until an inspector had approved it.
Working practises had to change and Maggie had the bottle to change things.

 

[OldBlueLady]

The miners wanted more for mining less and less coal. Saw a very good interview with Lord Young just now on BBC Breakfast, he said she took steps in industry that needed to be taken - 3 of the biggest industries...coal, steel and cars, and forced changes that needed to happen. Our coal was running out, our steel was sub-standard and too expensive and our cars a joke overseas. The fact these were all Northern (or Welsh) industries was bound to make the North judge her unfavourably.

I just think whatever people think of her as a PM, you can't overlook the sea of change that happened under her, which was largely for the good of the country, nor the position she took over the Falklands. Apart from John Major, I can't think of any other PM in the last 40 years taking the mantel upon themselves as well as she did.

Oh, and I know that there will be plenty of people from Heath's cabinet and ministry who will be quietly rejoicing at the news. He couldn't abide her and referred to her as "THAT woman"!

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

As befitting your Champagne Socialist credentials. Established middle class indeed...

Indeed.But my parents were working class.

 

[Pubey]

Yes the mines were unprofitable and yes something had to be done. However she did nothing to help the miners when she took the jobs from them. these were low-income, low educated people in towns and cities with no alternative opportunities. It's easy to say they should have 'hustled' to make something for themselves but that was near impossible (from my understanding). Maggie should have provided for them so that they could have finally stood on their own two feet but she hated northerners a and couldn't give a toss. The attitude on here regarding northerners is ****ing typical of the attitude the thatcher instilled. She was manipulative and divisive and played the 'working man' argument to ensure the divide between the north and south widened.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

With a bit of luck you might choke on it. Remember the Kevin Ayers thread and your request to show some respect? I said then you wouldn't have the decency to show Thatcher the same good grace.

****ing weasle that you are. My contempt for you really does have no bounds.

Sory no such luck.Actually it was a bottle of Cordoniu -not Juve Camps-that's all we had in the fridge.Went down well last night though.(Certainly wasn't going to pop out to the shops for a better bottle for Thatcher's sake).

Even I have to admit that Thatcher was much better known and certainly more divisive than Kevin Ayers.

We seem to share the same high opinion of each other.

 

[steveo]

Yes the mines were unprofitable and yes something had to be done. However she did nothing to help the miners when she took the jobs from them. these were low-income, low educated people in towns and cities with no alternative opportunities. .

According to 5Live this morning the South Yorkshire miners were the highest paid manual workers in the Country. Maybe if Scargill had been prepared to negotiate and accept the fact that some mines were unprofitable, and digging coal from them was unsustainable, he would have done better for his members.
However, as he was used to having whatever he wanted whenever he wanted he thought it would carry on forever.
If you were given a choice to buy imported coal at ( figures for example purposes only) £5 per sack or British coal for £6.50 per sack if it helped keep the miners in work, which option would you choose?

 

[Pubey]

According to 5Live this morning the South Yorkshire miners were the highest paid manual workers in the Country. Maybe if Scargill had been prepared to negotiate and accept the fact that some mines were unprofitable, and digging coal from them was unsustainable, he would have done better for his members.
However, as he was used to having whatever he wanted whenever he wanted he thought it would carry on forever.
If you were given a choice to buy imported coal at ( figures for example purposes only) £5 per sack or British coal for £6.50 per sack if it helped keep the miners in work, which option would you choose?

I've never said she was wrong to privatise/ close the mines. She should have helped the thousands she made unemployed, and helped develop and support the towns and communities, but she didn't.

 

[Cricko]

Sorry mate, I've read some crap in my time but that's right up there with the sort of mindless bilge Barnaby would come up with. So what if a few northern socialists weren't getting their subsidized handouts? How did we manage in the South when we didn't have pits and mills? We hustled and we got **** done. You don't understand what her policies did for the millions who benefited, people like my parents, who were able to buy their council house and use that capital base to start a small business which will pay for their retirement. So a few lazy, good for nothing northern monkeys couldn't keep up? Well **** them.

I thought you didn't believe in benefits :winking: With all due respect to your parents the way they went about selling off the council stock was ridiculous. People were getting houses at up to 70% off the market value just because they had lived there a number of years. It brought about the boom in the property developer who was going around offering people a cash lump sum and to live in their house rent free for a period of time. They gave them the cash to buy these houses then brought them on the cheap from the so called new owners. The council house programme for those in need of a home but unable to buy one has NEVER recovered. Over 2 million council houses have been sold off. I saw it at the time as may be a good idea if the money they collected went to a pot to build more, it didn't.

It also saw the increase in dodgy mortgages been given out by the likes of the Chelsea and Kensington (sic) amongst others where people could self-access their own income or lie through their teeth and the companys handed over a mortgage to them and to obtain easy credit.This was the time of the Credit card boom!

This was when the seeds were first planted for the collapse of the banks we have seen since.The rise of the landlord who could then start to dictate rents that people found hard to pay and the ridiculous farce of local councils now paying out these high rents with nothing to show for it, at least when they owned the houses themselves it made some sense.We are now in a position where councils pay out huge rents to landlords for those in need for houses they once owned.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I've never said she was wrong to privatise/ close the mines. She should have helped the thousands she made unemployed, and helped develop and support the towns and communities, but she didn't.

Did Labour? I didn't see them creating much in the way of opportunities for these communities?

 

[steveo]

I've never said she was wrong to privatise/ close the mines. She should have helped the thousands she made unemployed, and helped develop and support the towns and communities, but she didn't.

But this was a result of Scargills non negotiating attitude. There could have been a programme of closure but he wouldnt accept anything other than top money and full employment at non profitable pits. Blame Scargill for the miners problems or alternatively thank him for creating the momentum that took the Country out of union control.