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Margaret Thatcher's Legacy

This is probably (almost certainly, in fact) a duplicate thread - but I thought I'd set it up anyway since I really don't have the inclination to trawl through 15 pages of a 6 month old thread :h:

But anyway, what do you think about Margaret Thatcher's time in office? Was she one the greatest Prime Ministers or one of the worst? What is Thatcher's legacy?

I've seen quite a few Thatcherite's around here so this could be interesting!

I'll start by saying that I believe her to be one of the worst Prime Ministers this country has ever seen; socially repugnant and economically belligerent.

What about you?
(edited 10 years ago)

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She gave Meryl Streep another Golden Globe.
One of the best. She brought a broken country into the modern age.
I have a question for people who hate her: if her policies were all so terrible then why has no government since hers reversed them?
Reply 3
Avatar for Asolare
Asolare
20
Original post by clh_hilary
She gave Meryl Streep another Golden Globe.


If I could, I'd so +rep you.

I genuinely think she's an admirable figure in a way, politics aside. She took crap from no-one and she always spoke her mind. People said we'd never have another PM like her and so far we certainly haven't.

I for one am glad we don't live in a country where everything is still nationalised.
Original post by Inexorably
If I could, I'd so +rep you.

I genuinely think she's an admirable figure in a way, politics aside. She took crap from no-one and she always spoke her mind. People said we'd never have another PM like her and so far we certainly haven't.

I for one am glad we don't live in a country where everything is still nationalised.


Well then do it tomorrow. :smile:
Reply 5
Avatar for Asolare
Asolare
20
Original post by clh_hilary
Well then do it tomorrow. :smile:


You'll have to remind me :tongue:
Original post by Inexorably
You'll have to remind me :tongue:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qzhngp7jh8
Awful. She sold off this country for ridiculous prices, removed whole communities work and suckered in the votes through war rhetoric. Genuinely terrible. There are mining communities near me that are still a mess even now.

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Acknowledged as one of the best and most influential politicians of the 20 th century.

As ken Clarke described her legacy. ' She made Labour have to move to the right'
(edited 10 years ago)
The obvious problem to have with Thatcher is that her policies left entire areas unemployed. Fair enough.

But those policies absolutely needed to happen. It is sometimes forgotten just how much the ridiculously bloated, inefficient nationalised industries contributed towards the nation's contemporary mess. If you wanted to buy something, you had to put up with 20-30 per cent inflation, in no small part due to the trade unions. The government was wasting vast sums on running inefficient firms, and so tax was at 83 per cent. 83 PER CENT!

So to say her 'aims' were wrong, is, I think, madness. The problem people have is how she achieved them. Lefties don't like her attitude, and they don't like that industries were wiped out, taking many jobs down with them.

If somehow jobs had been found for all those people, I don't think many would complain about what Thatcher did. Which perhaps means that what she did was the right thing, done in a less than ideal way.

Nevertheless, a price was paid for carrying out policies that were essential. And it shouldn't be forgotten how much the trade unions and industries were actually ruining it for the rest.

Something needed to change, and she had the balls and the intelligence to change it.
It's like marmite
Reply 11
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meenu89
19
I think you have to consider what state the country was in to understand her rise to power. The Trade Unions just about brought down a Government she was a member in 1974, and she never wanted to see it happen again.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Obiejess
Awful. She sold off this country for ridiculous prices, removed whole communities work and suckered in the votes through war rhetoric. Genuinely terrible. There are mining communities near me that are still a mess even now.

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May I ask how old you are?
I'm not keen on her really - she was pretty awful.
Original post by InnerTemple
I'm not keen on her really - she was pretty awful.


How old we're you in 1990?
Original post by MatureStudent36
How old we're you in 1990?


A year.
Original post by InnerTemple
A year.


So how at the age of 1 when she stepped down as PM can you make such statements.

By every measure of humanity, things have improved in the UK from. Before she was in power to after she was in power.
You can not run a major country on personal "conviction". The old girl was clearly losing her marbles from the start.
Reply 18
Avatar for UK rain UK
UK rain UK
Original post by MatureStudent36
So how at the age of 1 when she stepped down as PM can you make such statements.

By every measure of humanity, things have improved in the UK from. Before she was in power to after she was in power.


This doesn't work. How can I judge Hitler if I wasn't 26 years old during the war? How can I judge Cicero when I wasn't alive in the Roman Republic? Clearly this is what history is for...
(edited 10 years ago)
Her legacy included the creation of the chav, the destruction of industries that could have continued I think for at least another ten years, the seeds of what became the 2008 financial crash, the housing shortage we now face.

The good things- being the first woman prime minister, nailing the lie that politics cannot change things, her insistence on being on time, the abolition of the dog licence, and the end of composite tax on savings.

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