The late Baroness Thatcher.

[Silver_Shiney]

I have no respect for Scargill, he was exactly the same as Thatcher just cared about himself and building his own empire.

At least Mrs Thatcher put him in his place.

The rich got richer and the poor poorer under Thatcher.

Pretty much the same under the recent commun .. Labour government. Add to that that the workshy also have a very comfortable lifestyle at the expense of those of us who work our socks off.

Selling off of council houses means that we now have more homeless than ever.John

Selling off council houses was, in itself, not a bad thing but the money raised should have been used to build replacement social housing. Like I said, she made mistakes.

[ChesterfieldJohn]

Alan .
As a Stoke exile you are obviously a rarity a Tory supporter in Stoke

Like I said I am a supporter of neither of the big 2 parties
John

[Capt Black]

Like her or loathe her, I doubt I'll see another Prime Minister like Maggie in my lifetime.

When I was a kid my dad dragged up to London for the day. In those days you could walk into Downing Street. So we went and stood opposite the door to No 10, and Maggie herself turned up in her official car. She said hello to everyone.

Same day, we went over to Buck House. Lizzi Windsor also turned up. Didn't say hello. Mind you, her car didn't stop!

RIP Maggie.

[Gill W]

Margaret Thatcher is a divisive figure, but thank God she was in charge during the Falklands War.

I don't think any of our recent PMs would have had her courage and resolve.

[Silver_Shiney]

Alan .
As a Stoke exile you are obviously a rarity a Tory supporter in Stoke

Like I said I am a supporter of neither of the big 2 parties
John

um.... how do you make out that I am a Stoke exile? I seem to recall visiting a pottery there one day, but that hardly qualifies me as an exile

[Dancing Queen]

Jo,
I am not nor ever have been a political person however I do care about people. I worked for British Steel during the steel strike, but got dispensation to work so that the pensioners could get paid.
I have seen towns and peoples lives destroyed by what Thatcher did and they have still not recovered.
Look at areas around Chesterfield , Shirebrook, Bolsover they have not recovered yet.
Look at Stockton on Tees, Scunthorpe destroyed by Thatcher.

What industry is there in Chesterfield now, all gone.

I have no respect for Scargill, he was exactly the same as Thatcher just cared about himself and building his own empire.

The rich got richer and the poor poorer under Thatcher.

Selling off of council houses means that we now have more homeless than ever.

I personally have not been affected by her politics, but I know loads of families that have.
Are we setting a pecedence now , will Tony Blair get the same sort of Funeral?
I doubt it.

John

I'm not a political person either John, yes there are area's that have never recovered and there is little industry in Chesterfield today I agree but my husband was a "victim" of the Thatcher years and we had a choice .. he either did nothing or got off his "butt" and turned things around, he chose to go self employed which wasn't an easy choice but fortunately it was the best thing that could have happened for us and I doubt we would have had the success we have if it hadn't been for Mrs T's government.

As for Tony Blair ..... heaven forbid that he ever gets any recognition for anything

[ChesterfieldJohn]

Alan .
As a Stoke exile you are obviously a rarity a Tory supporter in Stoke

Like I said I am a supporter of neither of the big 2 parties
John

um.... how do you make out that I am a Stoke exile? I seem to recall visiting a pottery there one day, but that hardly qualifies me as an exile

Apologies I misread Bradley Stoke,

John

[ChesterfieldJohn]

Jo,
I am not nor ever have been a political person however I do care about people. I worked for British Steel during the steel strike, but got dispensation to work so that the pensioners could get paid.
I have seen towns and peoples lives destroyed by what Thatcher did and they have still not recovered.
Look at areas around Chesterfield , Shirebrook, Bolsover they have not recovered yet.
Look at Stockton on Tees, Scunthorpe destroyed by Thatcher.

What industry is there in Chesterfield now, all gone.

I have no respect for Scargill, he was exactly the same as Thatcher just cared about himself and building his own empire.

The rich got richer and the poor poorer under Thatcher.

Selling off of council houses means that we now have more homeless than ever.

I personally have not been affected by her politics, but I know loads of families that have.
Are we setting a pecedence now , will Tony Blair get the same sort of Funeral?
I doubt it.

John

I'm not a political person either John, yes there are area's that have never recovered and there is little industry in Chesterfield today I agree but my husband was a "victim" of the Thatcher years and we had a choice .. he either did nothing or got off his "butt" and turned things around, he chose to go self employed which wasn't an easy choice but fortunately it was the best thing that could have happened for us and I doubt we would have had the success we have if it hadn't been for Mrs T's government.

As for Tony Blair ..... heaven forbid that he ever gets any recognition for anything

As for Tony Blair ..... heaven forbid that he ever gets any recognition for anything Tory Bias

[Silver_Shiney]

Apologies I misread Bradley Stoke,

John

No worries, mate.

Here's looking forward to a UKIP landslide!

[Delboy]

Jo,
I am not nor ever have been a political person however I do care about people. I worked for British Steel during the steel strike, but got dispensation to work so that the pensioners could get paid.
I have seen towns and peoples lives destroyed by what Thatcher did and they have still not recovered.
Look at areas around Chesterfield , Shirebrook, Bolsover they have not recovered yet.
Look at Stockton on Tees, Scunthorpe destroyed by Thatcher.

What industry is there in Chesterfield now, all gone.

I have no respect for Scargill, he was exactly the same as Thatcher just cared about himself and building his own empire.

The rich got richer and the poor poorer under Thatcher.

Selling off of council houses means that we now have more homeless than ever.

I personally have not been affected by her politics, but I know loads of families that have.
Are we setting a pecedence now , will Tony Blair get the same sort of Funeral?
I doubt it.

John

No not a precedence, did Sir Winston Churchill not have a full state funeral. This funeral has been arranged years ago, I think it was decided during the last governments time in office, probably during the Blair years in office, so he will get some recognition, if that is so.

The country was certainly in a far better condition and far greater, when Mrs Thatcher left office, than when she came to power.

She also won 3 elections, and was never voted out of office by the public.

[Dancing Queen]

Alan .
As a Stoke exile you are obviously a rarity a Tory supporter in Stoke

Like I said I am a supporter of neither of the big 2 parties
John

um.... how do you make out that I am a Stoke exile? I seem to recall visiting a pottery there one day, but that hardly qualifies me as an exile

My husband is a Stokie SS and I know Bradley Stoke is not the potteries I think John must have only noticed the Stoke bit, mind you most of the pot banks have gone now even Royal Doulton is now made in China

[Silver_Shiney]

... now even Royal Doulton is now made in China

and, I trust, OF china

[gfwgfw]

Dear Shipmates

Thread going slightly "OFF PISTE" methinks

Give the deceased lady a tad of respect if you can

Why

Your time will come somewhere . . . sometime

[Silver_Shiney]

Humble apologies, Graham, you're quite right

[Kendhni]

The lady who ruined towns, destroyed lives and the reason why gas and electric bills are so high for the average person now.

The unions, poor management and weak government had already done most of the damage in the 70's and Callaghan had totally lost control ... fortunately we finally got a prime minister with a pair that put the country first..
I suppose in an off hand manner, if you go down a few tangents then you could be right about utility bills ... however the difference then was that back in the 70's we had several points added onto taxation to support inefficient, over staffed and under performing utility companies ... the only difference is that now everybody pays for what they use.

Ruined all the Industries in this country, robbed the children of their milk and was Americas lacky.

That was done in the 70's, all she did was dispose of ineffecient money zapping industries that could not compete on a global market and then put the Great back into Great Britain. How long do you think the British home owner would be willing to pay the ransom the unions were forcing for British manufactured goods when they could be imported for a fraction of the price. In the seventies British industry was the laughing stock of the world.

Sorry I do not believe that she should have a special funeral.

No idea about that either, but apart from Major (who just carried on her legacy) she was the last prime minister that put this country first .. and served it well. Some of the remarks coming from union leaders, those that truly destroyed industry in this country, make them sound like obnoxious misogynistic neanderthals.

[Kendhni]

I thought the funniest comments I read was one that said
"We now live in an era where Britains greatest living prime minister is John Major"

[oldbluefox]

'obnoxious misogynistic neanderthals'

Not much love lost there then, Ken!!

And I agree with every word you say. When MT took over the country was broken and on its knees thanks largely to unions which had been allowed to take control - inefficient industries riddled by wildcat strikes, outdated restrictive work practices, shoddy workmanship, uncompetitive and reluctant to embrace change and a society being constantly held to ransom resulting ultimately in the winter of discontent and the fall of the Callaghan government.

It was the ordinary worker who came off worst and areas of the country are still devoid of work. However instead of laying all the blame at Margaret Thatcher's door, who had the guts to put GB Inc back on the rails maybe we should be asking what successive governments have done to remedy the problem over the past 23 years. Why did we invite more and more people to come and live in this country when we already had a shortage of houses and a shortage of jobs, except in those jobs we were unable to fill ourselves?

Watching those 'individuals' dancing in the streets in Glasgow on TV this morning most of them weren't old enough to remember Tony Blair let alone Margaret Thatcher - obnoxious misogynistic neanderthals.

[Manoverboard]

Selling off Council Houses was actually an idea developed by Labour to release folk who lived in tied cottages owned by the hated Tory landowners but it backfired because it hadn't been thought out properly.

Mrs T also made a Grammer School education ' acceptable even desirable ' on job application forms which helped a large number of the poorer traditional Working Class kids get decent jobs ... including me. The previous regeme was based on the old boy network or Trade Union closed shops.

However, she eventually became too extreme so had to go.

ps ... the wrecking of British Industry started in earnest in the mid 60s.

[oldbluefox]

A lot of people made a lot of money by buying their council houses for peanuts and later selling them at a vast profit. The mistake made was in not building more social housing.

The problem with many politicians and governments with large majorities is they become too powerful and forget the people who put them where they are. Regrettably I don't have much time for the majority of them but some I admire much more than others, even if I don't agree with everything they say.

[Boris+]

I was concerned to see people on the tv news this morning jumping up and down and making a real exhibition of themselves, rejoicing at the death of Baroness Thatcher.

Well, it doesn't say much for the intelligence and integrity of those people in my view. If they have an opinion - fine, that's what this country is all about. However, I also believe that this country is about a modicum of decorum - and as such this display in public of disgraceful behaviour was really uncalled for.

At the end of the day - put to one side the working life of Margaret Thatcher ....... she was a mother and a grandmother. Can people not show a bit of respect for those who have just lost someone extremely special and close to them?

Em

[qbman1]

I was concerned to see people on the tv news this morning jumping up and down and making a real exhibition of themselves, rejoicing at the death of Baroness Thatcher.

Well, it doesn't say much for the intelligence and integrity of those people in my view. If they have an opinion - fine, that's what this country is all about. However, I also believe that this country is about a modicum of decorum - and as such this display in public of disgraceful behaviour was really uncalled for.

At the end of the day - put to one side the working life of Margaret Thatcher ....... she was a mother and a grandmother. Can people not show a bit of respect for those who have just lost someone extremely special and close to them?

Em

Weren't they the imbeciles having a reunion of the "Poll Tax Riots"? I caught a snippet on the radio this morning. One bright spark said "I disagree with everything she stood for". Some people....!

[kaymar]

Inevitably, anyone with a profile the size of Mrs Thatcher's will attract extreme views. She was instrumental in taking on the over-powerful, dictatorial unions and winning and for that, many people are eternally grateful - the alternative would have been close to communism. At the same time, many "working-class" people were severely disadvantaged by the outcome of Mrs Thatcher's actions and determination and probably can not be expected to have fond memories of her - they do not share the view that it was the unions and their leaders who caused the problem in the first place.

It is these people who have passed on their bitterness to their families, who are now celebrating the death of a lady of whom they have little or no clear recollection. At the very least she deserves respect for taking on a job which no-one else had the courage to do and it is a great shame that today's society appears to be incapable of such respect for anyone whose views they do not share.

Margaret Thatcher was an outstanding lady and an outstanding leader and her passing should be mourned by all those who enjoy a better life because of her. Those who cannot do so should at least maintain a respectful silence.

[jay-ell71]

Margaret Thatcher was an outstanding lady and an outstanding leader and her passing should be mourned by all those who enjoy a better life because of her. Those who cannot do so should at least maintain a respectful silence.[/quote]

I entirely agree K, very well said. Jay

[Boris+]

Precisely - my thoughts exactly.

Em

[oldbluefox]

I am frankly disgusted by the lack of respect shown towards somebody who has just died and those she has left behind. Whether you liked her or not it just goes to show how low, as a society, some are prepared to stoop.