Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013

Debs, you truly are becoming a parody of yourself....

Phil

Blimey! It's 1381 all over again. Better call reinforcement...

+1 the winter of discontent was not our finest hour !

Debs:

You have no evidence that Margaret Thatcher was a racist or supported apartheid. She didn't support economic sanctions because she believed they wouldn't work that is different.

I was far from an admirer but lets get things in balance.

Unfortunately it seems you have entirely forgotten:

• Hospitals with huge waiting lists
• Patients dying on trollies in corridors
• Massive homelessness issue - do people remember tripping over sleeping bodies going into shopping centres etc?
• Fire-sale of social housing stock - now we have a housing crisis.
• Schools with not enough books or pencils to go around
• One-way bet on deregulated financial services industry which has resulted in...[your recent experience here]
• Homes for votes scandal
• Support for apartheid regime
• Friendship with mass-murderer Pinochet
• Swathes of the country left in economic ruin
• Destruction of social fabric
• The reclassification of greed and selfishness as virtues
• The cheap politics of aspiration....for more things
• The credit boom...to pay for more things

All of this forgotten because we had a small war. Still, that winter of discontent was pretty bad eh?

Driving around the last couple of days I've never seen so many union flags. I didn't realise so many people had flag poles in their garden, a bit sad IMO.

However, don't be fooled into thinking I live in a tory heartland, only one flag was half mast, the others at the top.

My wife isn't happy we won't be getting a day off work for the funeral. I pointed out that I couldn't complain, as she gave me six months off in 1981.

She left office in 1990! Please remind me who's been in office since? And then, there was 1997, again...

Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron. Does this help?

For my continuing education, please detail the specific items from the list above which you feel only became problems after 1990.

Mark,

Please define "small war" so we carry on this conversation.

KR

Tony

"The mistakes my party made with respect to relations with the ANC and sanctions on South Africa make it all the more important to listen now”.....David Cameron

Why does Cameron feel the need to apologise now if it was simply an administrative matter back then?

Falklands. Now that is two questions I have answered so I'm afraid it is your turn to answer a question Tony. Drum roll...which of the specific items from the list above do you feel only became problems after 1990?

Mark,

Before we can proceed;

Why would you consider "The Falklands", or "Malvinas", for the sake of argument,  a "SMALL WAR"? That "SMALL WAR" changed  what  the UK is today!

KR

Tony

Tony, my apologies for calling it a small war although it is interesting that you have chosen to focus on this above all else.

In my very brief analysis, with 907 deaths the Falklands was a small war. Conversely, with 60+ million deaths, I would consider WWII to be a BIG WAR.

Tony, I have answered three questions now. It is your turn with no more sideshows please. So...once more a drum roll...which of the specific items from the list above do you feel only became problems after 1990?

PS Don was right above.

A surprisingly intelligent, thoughtful and well written article by Russel Brand (who I can't abide)

http://m.guardian.co.uk/politi...nd-margaret-thatcher

The Falklands Fracas -

649 Argentine military personnel,

255 British military personnel, and

3 Falkland Islanders died.

That's an awful lot of dead people just so one sadistic woman can further her political career.

Mark - I'm not saying the Tory party position was correct - it wasn't - but that doesn't mean for one minute that Margaret Thatcher was a Nazi racist. Incidentally I agreed entirely with Nick Clegg's excellent summation yesterday in the H of C.

Mista h,

She may come across and seem all mumsy and nice but don't be fooled:

She’s a nasty homophobic bigot.

Probably gets it from the roman catholic indoctrination she’s had.

One Widdecome in the house is far too many.

Debs

So you would have stood aside and let a true fascist dictator have his way against the wishes of the inhabitants. And typically of many on the Left - you maintain this facade of being liberal but as soon as someone has an alternative view to yours they are sadistic, racist, homophobic...........of course I appreciate it must be hard for you to accept but she was voted in with a clear majority on 3 occasions.

My view on the Falklands is much as on most conflicts-by the time it gets to a miltary confrontation is already a failure by all concerned. These things should not be allowed to reach that stage.

I find the 'glorification' of conflict generally obscene. There is no glory in unnatural and premature death.

The only thing that can be said about the Falklands is that it is usually the old and young, the sick and the weak etc who suffer most in war zones but that was not the case this time. Except the widows and the orphans of course.

bruce

Agree with all of that Bruce. Although of course lack of Defence although tantamount to negligence by the Gov't concerned in itself does not excuse the act of the invader.

What do you reckon fellow posters ? does our debs have insider info on Ms Widdecome. I reckon our Debs is in fact a Welsh labour MP and is keeping very quite about the fact.

Mista h

+1

And +1 to the reminders of the country in the 1970s.

The best thing Thatcher did was stop the milk; didn't drink milk at home because I thought it was all like school milk, foul - left in the sun during summer and by the radiator in winter.

Your daft right wing extremist views and wild over assumptions about my comments are purely based on your inability to deal with facts of history.

Instead of talking about the real stinky issue here [Thatcher the Tyrant] you display your immature bulling tactics of confronting forum members in your usual patronising and insulting manner.

I never use this forum to single out forum members for bulling but suppose it’s what you right wing types do is it?

If you don’t agree or like what someone has to say [even if it’s the obvious truth] you attack that person instead out of your own ignorance.

All I can say is you are very obtuse, and if you don’t like what I have to say then that’s your tuff-luck.

Here are two more facts for you: Most people did not vote for Thatcher.

The electoral practise in the UK is that people vote for the local MP of their choosing.

Indeed. It is very well written, reflective and observant of subtleties not evident in most of the boring rants making up either side of the 'divide' in the press and elsewhere.  G

Debs

When reading your posts I would suggest that Mista H is not the one using the insulting language, or indeed attacking an individual based on assumptions and opinion rather than facts/history. I refer to your comments about Ann Widdecombe for example.

Personally I cannot stand her, and none of her views really correspond with mine but your abuse of her is unreasonable (and unreasoned).

I think you weaken your arguments by adding vitriol.

Bruce