he Iron Lady - Maggie

[welsh.goddess]

is deceased

[bankhaunter]

Think of the large numbers of people whose health was shattered by working in the mines.

[al**bear]

The same people though choose to ignore it was a strike orchestrated by a fame/power hungry Scargill who wanted nothing more than victory over the tories.

No it wasn't ,

it was planned & orchestrated by Thatcher & Her backers, in revenge for the Miners crippling the Heath Government.

It was well prepared for, with massive stockpiles of foreign coal, stashed all over the Country. Feelers put out to the Hauliers , to make sure they would move the coal where and when needed. And Police trained in heavy-handed crowd control ( Southern Police only, so the Northern Police, couldn't tell their families).

If you want to know who put her in power look for  the 'Mayfair Set' & 'Great Britain 75', extreme right-wing zealots, who were preparing for a Military coup against a Labour Government.  Their plans were uncovered and closed down. So they changed tack & one of their Pals Wifes was pushed into power (Dennis Thatcher)

[ianseymoursalvage]

No it wasn't ,

it was planned & orchestrated by Thatcher & Her backers, in revenge for the Miners crippling the Heath Government.

It was well prepared for, with massive stockpiles of foreign coal, stashed all over the Country. Feelers put out to the Hauliers , to make sure they would move the coal where and when needed. And Police trained in heavy-handed crowd control ( Southern Police only, so the Northern Police, couldn't tell their families).

If you want to know who put her in power look for  the 'Mayfair Set' & 'Great Britain 75', extreme right-wing zealots, who were preparing for a Military coup against a Labour Government.  Their plans were uncovered and closed down. So they changed tack & one of their Pals Wifes was pushed into power (Dennis Thatcher)

How exactly could Thatcher get the miners to strike?

[upthecreekyetagain]

it was planned & orchestrated by Thatcher & Her backers, in revenge for the Miners crippling the Heath Government.

That makes little sense - it was that very crippling of the Heath government that gave her the party leadership

[bookhunter2007]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Plan

Reading around the various media outlets, it's ironic how those who applauded the loudest at communities systematically having their livelihoods pulled from underneath them are the same ones who complain the loudest about "welfare ghettos" and "scroungers". I guess the Thatcherite ethos of metaphorically knocking people over and then jumping up and down on their legs until they break is never going to change.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Considering the state of the UK, "The Sick Man of Europe", during the 1970s the Ridley Plan made perfect sense then and still does.

[spawnjohnuk]

I agree with al on she orchestrated the minor strikes and wanted in on the health industry...far to complicated to discuss but the ins and outs without nit picking were....  scargill was the voice of the minors and stood up to her now obvious ''working for her husband'' .As it ended scargill was found to be profiting from keeping the strikes going and had refused some very reasonable offers to keep most pits open...this is why he is a bad one.

She will have supporters still as she created the ''im alright jack'' society and some were ok,she was strong willed and she would not have let this country get in this mess....but she would have created a different mess and it would have been a horrible victorian country of wealth is power and those who are supporting her views today should be thankful she's not at the helm as her gang would also have taken everything from you had they wanted more (which they alwas do).

The real woman was a vindictive baby (her strength) and driven by greed ,mitzy posted early on and said she was a troubled woman...(good post) and yes she was, mainly because of a conscience.

I do not gloat over anyones death but all who think she was a good one will think churchill was a good one and she was not and nor was he. Blair and co worse ? ha, she was blair and co and the advertising media greed machine she installed into politics trundles on and lives worldwide keep turning off ..no state funeral for them .

Her legacy is same as blairs and bush and pol pots ..non  should  have been given power over others as non care one jot about others lives.

turn your back is harsh and for people who have caused misery, death and suffering to millions...I will turn my back on her.

[spawnjohnuk]

ps ..she is at the helm 😉

[upthecreekyetagain]

Yes she did turn the country from a pseudo-socialist driven economy where strength was power by introducing monetarism and the market economy.

It was her great "strength", (total belief in herself and refusal to compromise), that turned out to be her greatest "weakness".  She took monetarism and the market economy, to the ultimate, deregulating banks, privatising national industries and allowing unprofitable companies to fail, with little regard for the individuals who were the victims of such policies.

Monetarist policies had already been introduced by the Labour government but as part of a strategy to correct the economy, not the sole nor even major part of that strategy.  The economy was improving during the Callaghan term of office and if the unions had not exercised their power in a selfish way there is every chance that we would have ended with a much fairer society than we did.

It was the way in which the unions behaved during the "Winter of Discontent" that put paid to any hope there was that the Labour government could continue to turn the country round.

The unions, not the members of those unions but rather their leaders, must take equal responsibility with Margaret Thatcher for the way in which the management of the economy and the social policies of this country have evolved.

[bookhunter2007]

Considering the state of the UK, "The Sick Man of Europe", during the 1970s the Ridley Plan made perfect sense then and still does.

The Unions did have to much power in the 70s, but the response created similar problems elsewhere. And the Financial Services Industry has proven to be a pretty crappy antidote.

Instead of Unions "holding the country to ransom", we now have empowered bankers doing the same.

Instead of "hard working taxpayers" propping up the coal and steel industries, they are now propping up the banks.

Instead of decent living wages (helped by union clout) we now have public consumer spending largely dependent on credit.

Instead of industrial related diseases, we now have alcohol and drug addiction.

Thatcher gets the credit for "transforming the economy", yet it's almost universally overlooked that much of this short-fused "boom" was possible by the great oil sell-off  Norway resisted in doing the same and guess what?

By the IMF’s own calculations, Norway’s public savings exceed public debts by 160% of GDP.

No kidding: In the IMF’s tables, Norway’s “net debt” figure comes up with a big minus sign. Nowhere else comes close.

The reason for this miracle? Norway has a ton of North Sea oil. But instead of blowing its oil windfall on tax cuts and a housing bubble, like any normal country, Norwegians decided to save for a rainy day.

They’ve diverted their oil revenues into the Government Pension Fund Global, which the Ministry of Finance invests in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds — outside the country.

The fund is now worth $512 billion, making it the second-largest sovereign-wealth fund in the world

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-04-13/commentary/30759988_1_national-debt-north-sea-oil-finances

Murdoch and Dacre's nodding dogs often regurgitate "Brown sold our gold" but nothing comes even close to "what could have been" regarding our oil reserves.

[upthecreekyetagain]

I can't argue with a lot of that Book but ultimately the unions behaved in such a way that the electorate found the Labour party to be unelectable.

It doesn't matter one jot whether the voters were right in that because the perception was there and the leaders of the unions behaved in such a way that the victory of MT was assured.

If the unions had behaved differently there wouldn't have been the climate for MT to carry out her policies, assuming that she had even been elected into office.

[bookhunter2007]

It doesn't matter one jot whether the voters were right in that because the perception was there and the leaders of the unions behaved in such a way that the victory of MT was assured.

Yup. The "perception" was there all right...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/may/27/mondaymediasection.politicsandthemedia

[upthecreekyetagain]

The miner's strike took place after the damage was done - it was the behaviour of the unions during the Callaghan era that caused MT to be elected.

[treefrog6352]

   No matter what you may think this lady was British through and through and had more backbone than the whole of todays Parliament!!

[upthecreekyetagain]

   No matter what you may think this lady was British through and through and had more backbone than the whole of todays Parliament!!

Quite true imo - whether her beliefs, strongly held, and the policies she followed in accordance with those beliefs were the best for the country is the debatable factor.

[bookhunter2007]

   No matter what you may think this lady was British through and through and had more backbone than the whole of todays Parliament!!

Yep. There's nothing more patriotic than selling assets that we all own to private foreign companies...

[upthecreekyetagain]

The electricity, gas and English water industries were split up and sold off. Exchange controls, in operation since the war, were abolished in 1979. British net assets abroad rose approximately ninefold from £12 billion at the end of 1979 to nearly £110 billion at the end of 1986, a record post-war level and second only to Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United_Kingdom#1979.E2.80.931990:_the_Thatcher_era

[logbox]

The sale of more than half of the country's gold reserves between 1999 and 2002 has proved to be deeply controversial.

Critics say that signalling such a large sale of bullion to gold traders helped to drive the precious metal to a 20-year low.

In 17 auctions, Mr Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer sanctioned the sale of 395 tonnes of gold.

Figures released by the Treasury show that the total proceeds from the sales was around $3.5billion. According to a Parliamentary answer, if the gold was sold last month, on December 15, it would have raised $10.5billion.

The difference - $7billion - would be worth £4.7billion

Are any of them really any better?

[bidder.17]

I am sure for friends and family they may mourn her, just as for any other person.That's the person, friend or family member

As for the politician and her period in office goes, doubtless there will be very divided opinion.

I thought her policies such as they were,  divisive and selfish.

As for public assets sold at a discount, it's a lost income for future generations.Some ex ministers later appeared on the same privatised boards. Some will be happy they got a cheap property off the rest of us under right to buy, and that's as far as their interest appears to extend.

As for the party, it was the start of a period which saw the Conservatives become more of a grocer's collective, which  knew the price of everything, and value of nothing.

Several ex-ministers I have seen interviewed over the years since leaving office confirmed they wanted to end the mining industry for largely political aims.

[Anonymous]

#44, yes she allowed the councils to sell their house's to those who wished to buy them, but alas she did not allow the councils to spend that money on new house builds, giving the housing crisis a firm start. as for me i think i will be in Easington this wednesday having a good knees up (Easington i hear you say, well thats one of those pit towns she shut, and to rub salt into the wounds Easington was in profit at the time).  so i am with joe, i will not boo her but i will turn my back like she did to countless 1000's. Karma, what goes around comes around.  strange how some say they never had it so good while she was in power, as for me i lost my job with that tory party, and with the present one the odds are against me keeping the job i've got. so ask me just why i loath that party.