The sad thing

[Peoplesoft bloke]

This is one of the milder statements uttered by the Left since she died.
Some of the things that have been said make me ashamed to be British. Left wingers in Britain are showing how unpleasant they really are.

It's not a "statement issued by the left" , you utter, utter moron. It is me giving an opinion about DA. I thought it before Thatcher died and I still do.

I am arguing about DA's cliche ridden nonsense - specifically I am refuting his totally incorrect statement that Mrs Thatcher "cut my taxes" when she emphatically didn't.

This isn't about respect for the dead or otherwise - it's a simple statement of facts about spending and taxation during the Thatcher years. Such debates took place on here before her death and presumably will continue - sometimes morons try to interject with nonsensical dogma, that can't be helped; but I don't think it's disrespectful to counter it, and I don't think Thatcher would have thought so either.

For the avoidance of doubt - I am not celebrating her death in any way; but I am not suddenly going to start worshipping her just because she's dead either.

I am not a "Left winger" as you so quaintly put it - and if you think I'm unpleasant that's your problem - you're not giving a fabulous impression yourself.

[d000hg]

Didn't read the whole thread but what I don't get is why 20 odd year olds hate her when they haven't a clue about it... From what I can see in the papers nearly every single person involved in the 'parties' in the pictures weren't even old enough to vote.

Most people alive today weren't alive when Hitler was either, but he's still pretty unpopular

[Mich the Tester]

Most people alive today weren't alive when Hitler was either, but he's still pretty unpopular

He bombed my granddad's local chip shop.

[SupremeSpod]

Most people alive today weren't alive when Hitler was either, but he's still pretty unpopular

Not amongst the Germans and Austrians he wasn't. Funny how they changed their tune as soon as the fat lady started singing.

[xoggoth]

Try checking the facts on those poor miners and other workers. In 1972 the miners went on strike and were awarded a rise that made them the highest paid manual workers in the UK. That was probably fair enough considering the nature of the job but in 1974 they kicked off again and were given another 34% rise. In 1976 they went out again. Or the London Dockyard workers. They had been paid on piecework but struck to get an agreement for guaranteed weekly pay no matter how little they did. This was at a time when all the work was going to Felixstowe and importers were moving out of the London docks due to all the industrial action. Some were being paid for doing nothing much of the time.

Not a great Thatcher fan, her approach to privatisation was too dogmatic in my view, but taking on the Unions was one really good thing she did and those poor miners and dockers only had themselves to blame. We need another Thatcher to tackle Unite, Unison and the RMT who expect the rest of us to foot the bill for pensions, salary and job security that most taxpayers don't get. Those overpaid door operatives on the London Underground could all be replaced by technology.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

What is also interesting is that clearly the bile against Thatcher comes from a group of people who have been personally enriched as a result of her policies yet none of them are prepared to argue that this is not the case.

I have consistently argued this point with you.

1. Whether or Not Thatcher's policies directly served to personally enrich me cannot possibly be known - without the benefit of a time machine it's impossible to say what the alternative path would have been - it's certainly far from certain I'd have personally been worse off.
2. Disagreeing with some or all of Thatcher's policies doesn't make you a "leftie" and therefore an enemy of the State - this is a special piece of nastiness from that era, actually. It is also not "bile".
3. Being nasty and/or a hypocrite isn't the sole preserve of "The Left" any more than it is of "The Right".
4. I've never said she was wrong about everything.
5. I find the entire notion that I should be "grateful" in some forelock-tugging way to any politician, anathema - they do what they do for their own reasons, they don't need my gratitude.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

So taxes prior to 1979 were lower than in say 1989?

You didn't read that Accountancy Age link, did you?

[Sysman]

Well the point is really to be made for the anti-thatcherites who claim she cut stuff to the bone. In reality she didn't. She even allowed benefits to rise with inflation which the current lot aren't doing.

Wasn't NI raised substantially in the early 80s?

I wasn't there then but I heard my UK based colleagues grumbling about it.

[fullyautomatix]

Feck me imposssible though it may appear, I may even have over-estimated your intelligence.
What are your thoughts (I use the term with great optimism but not much hope) about the destruction of Britain's industrial base under Thatcher? Or do you think it doesn't matter?

Very true SAS. Another example is Rover. Blair killed it. He should have kept it going for ever pumping millions in just to keep the industrial base going.

[ZARDOZ]

Very true SAS. Another example is Rover. Blair killed it. He should have kept it going for ever pumping millions in just to keep the industrial base going.

That's is not exactly true is it, by the time Blair came in it was already fooked and somewhat diminished. Thatcher started the ball rolling but Major sold out the japanese collaboration to BMW splitting off Land Rover et al. How ironic given BMW started out making Austin Sevens under licence.

Strange that all those manuacturers we shouldn't have kept according to those proud of our demise, are now amongst the best selling and reviewed cars on the market.

But answer this, how did they manage to turn Germany in the world biggest exporter of goods while we cast our companies aside. We keep hearing that was best for Britain yet Last year their exports exceeded the value of our 1 trillion debt. That's nothing to be proud of.