[Ice Constricter]

I'm in indifferent tbh. No way would I celebrate her death like the Americans did when Osama Bin Laden was apperently killed, but I'll never mourn over her, that's for sure.

[Jamie]

(Original post by Ben Butler)
I share your anger on the Falklands, but I disagree with you wanting her to die. The way she handled the Falklands was a total disgrace. I do journalism and I know how she censored the press at the time. She wouldn't allow any journalists to go and take footage and find out what was going on, any information was relatively easy to suppress without any real technology.

Different times.

You'll also be aware as a journalist that there was outrage at the time by the military that information about the size of their battlegroups and departure dates were published by some tabloids.

I used to be anti Thatcher as a child because that is what my family said. However I've since read more balance articles and gained an appreciation of the context behind her actions.
Still don't agree with them (like the massively undervalued privatisations) but thats different to some of the zealot and rather ignorant hatred displayed by some on here.

[Mad Cat Lady]

...people don't seem to be understanding, the OP says he doesnt respect thatcher and he won't after she dies. he's not going to celebrate, he just won't show respect. and i'm wondering... who gives a ****? your respect for people has no impact on anyone's lives, you just wanted to start a huge pointless argument about an old lady. you have no obligation to respect anyone in life or death, particularly if you never met them. what is the point in this thread?

[tinman1]

(Original post by Mad Cat Lady)
...people don't seem to be understanding, the OP says he doesnt respect thatcher and he won't after she dies. he's not going to celebrate, he just won't show respect. and i'm wondering... who gives a ****? your respect for people has no impact on anyone's lives, you just wanted to start a huge pointless argument about an old lady. you have no obligation to respect anyone in life or death, particularly if you never met them. what is the point in this thread?

You cracked it attention seeking thatcher hatred was the tone of the day. 10 points to slytherin!!!!!!!!!! well done honey xxxxx

[flugelr]

(Original post by muddywaters51)
I dont know a lot about Thatcher but the one thing I always hear about is "she closed the coal mines".

Now as far as I know (which isnt a lot) she stopped government funding of the coal mines. As the coal mines were not profitable they ended up closing down.

Maybe Ive got something wrong with my facts but if the above is true then she did the right thing. Maybe someone can educate me on what it is about her which people dont like.

You are right, but what really gets me is how she left the miners out in the cold. Everyone knew that the mines would close and had known this for years, yet the government didn't really try to help the ex-miners find new work, or even just interim work while something was sorted out.

(Original post by Faustu)
Just drop the bitch down a disused coal mine. No need to wait for her death either.

**** them, and **** anyone else who wants to criticise me. She made my families life a misery in the early/mid 80's and my grandad said that once she went he'd have a few celebratory drinks. Well he's not around to celebrate anymore, so I'm more than happy to do so on his, and many others, behalf.

Were your family dockers?

(Original post by Ben Butler)
I share your anger on the Falklands, but I disagree with you wanting her to die. The way she handled the Falklands was a total disgrace. I do journalism and I know how she censored the press at the time. She wouldn't allow any journalists to go and take footage and find out what was going on, any information was relatively easy to suppress without any real technology.

Im my time in the forces I've worked with journalists and a more self-centred, irritating and opinionated bunch I have yet to meet - and we essentially had to babysit them! We had journalists telling 'war stories' about how they were "embedded" with British forces in Iraq to blokes who had actually gone over the border and fought through the streets of Basra when all the journalists did was sit in the rear demanding interviews with blokes who were totally knackered after 36 hours of fighting!

Honestly, I'd be happy if I never saw a journalist again.

[Rascacielos]

(Original post by Faustu)
We will see just how divided this nation is when she finally pops her clogs. The 'working class' who supposedly no longer exsist will rejoice and those mostly in the South East of England and on Fleet Street will mourn. I'll be going out on the piss, I hate her with a passion, the problems with this country can be placed firmly at her doorstep. Okay, so called Labour men like Brown and Blair continued it...but she was the architect of the nation we live in today.

I believe that Thatcher was incredibly destructive with the social and economic fabric of this country, a wilful, spiteful individual with a perversely warped moral code. I will be glad when she's no longer breathing the same air as me. She cynically used unemployment as a tool for reducing inflation, regardless of the social costs. Her refusal to support British industry exacerbated the effects on unemployment, and have left communities with no source of employment to this day (and a so-called Labour government had three terms of failing to put this right.)

She sold off profit making nationalised industries to finance tax cuts for the majority (but the biggest tax cuts for the very rich!), while squeezing those reliant on state benefits.

She deliberately left British territory undefended in the Falklands, precipitating an Argentine invasion, allowing her to launch a patriotic war to boost her personal popularity. At the cost of 1000 young men slaughtered.

She put hundreds of thousands of people out of work fairly needlessly, literally destroying cities like Liverpool and the valleys in Wales. These are areas of Britain that created this nation's prosperity. When Thatcher deliberately declared war on the poor in this country, Liverpool was in the front line of that fight, and there are lots of people planning to dance on her grave when her time comes, and Kelvin McKenzie as well.

It amazes me how you can hate someone so vehemently when I expect you have never come within a 5 mile radius of the woman. All that is just politics - no different to the hundreds of other Prime Ministers of this country. Like I said to someone else, she may have made some people's lives worse, she also made some people's lives infinitely better. That's the same as any other leader I have ever known. You seem to be attributing value to the welfare of some people (i.e. the poor) over the welfare of others (the rich). How that makes you any better than you perceive her to be, I'm not sure.

[TheHansa]

Giving her a state funeral is ironic, celebrarion her death isn't cool.

[Osmond]

I couldn't give a damn if Margaret Thatcher lived or died, nor would I show any more or less respect to her when she's dead than I do right now when she's alive. Being old and having dementia doesn't deify you, nor does dying, nor does being a particularly "Important" member of British politics or even just a very "long running" member. I suppose that's one of the most glaring issues in the British political system - if you've "been around for a long time" you mysteriously get made a lifetime peer, then we can never get rid of you. Who the hell wanted John Prescott as a life peer?

[Cannotbelieveit]

Most people here who are badmouthing Thatcher I've noticed weren't even alive when she was in power.

[goape]

(Original post by Cannotbelieveit)
Most people here who are badmouthing Thatcher I've noticed weren't even alive when she was in power.

As are most people praising her, because *shock horror* most people here are students.

EDIT: Does it really matter, anyway? Are we not allowed to have an opinion on Hitler, Stalin etc because we weren't alive when they were in power?

[cl_steele]

you want to disrespect the dead? how about i piss on your grave when you die that disrespectful enough for you and just 'the way the cookie crumbles' all the dead should be respected whether you agreed with her policies or not, dont be such a prick.

[goape]

(Original post by Rascacielos)
It amazes me how you can hate someone so vehemently when I expect you have never come within a 5 mile radius of the woman. All that is just politics - no different to the hundreds of other Prime Ministers of this country. Like I said to someone else, she may have made some people's lives worse, she also made some people's lives infinitely better. That's the same as any other leader I have ever known. You seem to be attributing value to the welfare of some people (i.e. the poor) over the welfare of others (the rich). How that makes you any better than you perceive her to be, I'm not sure.

The difference with Thatcher is that, while adhering to the same vote-maximisation principles as other politicians, Thatcher clearly benefited some groups of society and clearly made others worse off in a more profound way than other politicians, and achieved this using means less agreeable than that of other politicians. For this she will be rightly criticised / praised more than other politicians.

For those directly negatively effected by Thatcher's policies, I cannot blame them for disliking her, though I would say that does not justify celebration of her death, as that makes them worse than her.

[Mishmashmoo]

This is why we should respect Thatcher, she was a real leader with conviction and presence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHGCz6xxiw

[Rascacielos]

(Original post by goape)
The difference with Thatcher is that, while adhering to the same vote-maximisation principles as other politicians, Thatcher clearly benefited some groups of society and clearly made others worse off in a more profound way than other politicians, and achieved this using means less agreeable than that of other politicians. For this she will be rightly criticised / praised more than other politicians.

For those directly negatively effected by Thatcher's policies, I cannot blame them for disliking her, though I would say that does not justify celebration of her death, as that makes them worse than her.

Pretty much agree with you on this. Dislike a politician all you like - that comes with the job description - but expressing your so-called 'hate' for someone and celebrating their death is totally out of order.