[Aspiringlawstudent]

An awful lot of people seem to think that she is evil incarnate despite having a rather limited knowledge of her policies or what she actually did while in office.

What do you think?

[MagicNMedicine]

(Original post by Aspiringlawstudent)
An awful lot of people seem to think that she is evil incarnate despite having a rather limited knowledge of her policies or what she actually did while in office.

Correct.

And a lot of people that think she was the greatest PM ever also have a limited knowledge of her policies.

[Big-Benji]

I don't know a great deal about the majority of her policies although I believe that her overall philosophy and political beliefs that were evident in her policy making were the deep roots of a considerable amount of social breakdown; placing and perhaps even encouraging financial gain as the greatest priority of all, for us all.

She defined her political philosophy in an interview in Woman's Own magazine in '87 and after mentioning how people within our society face problems and then look for support, she states "they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing!"

For me that sums up a lot of the resulting issues that came after he leadership, most notably a lust for self gain - selfishness, greed and ruthlessness.

The same article also states that her supporters promote some of her achievments as "She oversaw an increase from 7% to 25% of adults owning shares, and more than a million families bought their council houses, giving an increase from 55% to 67% in owner-occupiers." I (and many others I hope) do not wish to live in a society in which 'owning shares' is placed as a bigger priority than eradicating poverty. Regarding the second point, we now face a current problem of having an acute shortage of social housing - to what extent I'm not sure, but surely Thatcher's grand state asset sell-off holds some accountability for this problem, and potentially many more?

[Cannotbelieveit]

Excellent, the first PM in a long time to actually have a backbone.

[LETSJaM]

There seem to be quite a few Thatcher groupies who've voted.
Surprised there hasn't been more of the 'SHE WAS THE DEVIL INCARNATE!' nonsense though.

<3 x

[sclez1]

Really disagree with her philosophy on social issues and not too keen on her economic standpoint but she had rigor that politicians now helplessly lack.

[Left Hand Drive]

Some say she used to feast on babies.

[flugelr]

I'd say 'Quite good'.

She was right to break the unions as they were huge, corrupt, bureaucratic bullies. She also greatly increased social mobility and raised the standard of living across the board.

However, I still cannot square the total lack of support she gave to people like the miners and dockers once they were out of work. She didn't even seem to try and get them back into work and the social consequences of that were horrific for thousands of people.

[AlexInWonderland]

It's interesting how most responses are on the extreme of the scale.
That's why I voted for 'quite good.' I agree with her ideology and much of her policies, but to have been so divisive a figure is not a good thing.

[chefdave]

She was too left-wing for my tastes.

[CAElite]

She was a terrible PM. She had no respect for places outside of England and she seemed to forget that she was running a Union. She put policies in place in Scotland which screwed over the working class to "test the waters" showing she had no respect for the local populus. Even in England she jumped at every chance she could to degrade the lives of those living in deprivation.

[antimilitarist]

Most of us working class folk will have a similar reaction to this.

[ukip72]

The best

[ForKicks]

(Original post by antimilitarist)
Most of us working class folk will have a similar reaction to this.

Is that because you think 'working class folk' should automatically dislike Thatcher without thinking for themselves? Grand.

How about being able to buy your council home? No, lets focus on spitting image characters which seem to be ingrained on your mind.

As for the video, poor old guy was probably having a stroke.

[antimilitarist]

(Original post by ForKicks)
Is that because you think 'working class folk' should automatically dislike Thatcher without thinking for themselves? Grand.

No, they should think of what her reforms have done for them which I think is pretty close to zero, especially for those in ex mining communities.

Blooming heck I was trying to lighten the mood with that video but obviously some people on here have no sense of humour.

[ForKicks]

(Original post by antimilitarist)
No, they should think of what her reforms have done for them which I think is pretty close to zero, especially for those in ex mining communities.

Blooming heck I was trying to lighten the mood with that video but obviously some people on here have no sense of humour.

Buying council homes allowed them to get on the ladder cheap. There's one

She also backed state schools and increased public spending. I think the whole negative image comes from her disruption of the unions. The pissed off unions then told every working class person who would listen that they were all being screwed over. This is why a lot of working class who denounce Thatcher will often just mention 'the unions' when asked why.

The unions were holding the country back and being inefficient though, so something had to be done!

[Scatach]

She spanked the trade unions good and hard, something that Cameron could learn from.

[Rainingshame]

Where is the option for "i'm too young to remember them"?

[ed-]

She was exactly what the country needed at the time; exactly what the country needs now. The best PM of modern times!

[antimilitarist]

(Original post by ForKicks)
Buying council homes allowed them to get on the ladder cheap. There's one

She also backed state schools and increased public spending. I think the whole negative image comes from her disruption of the unions. The pissed off unions then told every working class person who would listen that they were all being screwed over. This is why a lot of working class who denounce Thatcher will often just mention 'the unions' when asked why.

The unions were holding the country back and being inefficient though, so something had to be done!

Like completely smashing them? I think she did go a bit overboard and I would like to see anti trade union legislation being repealed today, some workers need to defend their jobs. Also when you mention the increase in public spending why is it that tories keep speaking negatively about Labour increasing spending on public services if they have appeared to have done the same?

(Original post by ed-)
She was exactly what the country needed at the time; exactly what the country needs now. The best PM of modern times!

We've followed her free market consensus and this is where it's got us. Don't worry we now have a male version of her in Downing street whose privatising roads, parts of the police force and parts of the NHS so alls good for you.