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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that surely not EVERYONE hates Maggie?

1001 replies

LadyOfTheManor · 28/01/2011 12:27

Seriously, unless you're a miner or from a mining family, or Welsh... ok well even if you are, surely not EVERYONE hates Maggie T?

I'm a tad young, I was born in her "reign", but I did my degree in Politics and although I didn't really live under her (it was Major until I was 11) I couldn't see what she did that was SO terrible-let alone the sheer hostility when her name is mentioned here (in Wales!).

OP posts:
Portofino · 28/01/2011 20:32

The main downside of local income tax is that you don;t necessarily work where you live.

edam · 28/01/2011 20:34

yeah right, nationalisation is such a terrible thing according to those on the right wing. Until it's their banker chums who need to be bailed on. Then it's on with the gravy train...

It was Thatcher and Reagan's brand of economics that laid the groundwork for the collapse of the world economy two years ago. Tragically the two Labour government's failed to undo completely her venal work.

harpsichordcarrier · 28/01/2011 20:36

Er, I like it?
TBH I think your focussing on this issue suggests that you are a little shaky in your arguments Grin I am not sure that it is strictly relevant...

Portofino · 28/01/2011 20:37

In my case, I work in Brussels and dd goes to school in Brussels, but we live in Flemish Brabant. So my local income tax goes to them and not to Brussels where maybe we use more services. Now I have to scratch my earlier post, as this is one of the reasons that Belgium can't form a government - not that it seems to make a difference Grin

EdgarAleNPie · 28/01/2011 20:37

The reason there is so many problems with the lack of council housing is because she authorised them being sold off. The reason the NHS is still on its knees is because of the policies she authorised and it has never recovered

no as i said upthread, for the first five years the revenue was ringfenced for social housing - 13 years of labour and they didn't reinstate that!

vastly more people as a %age became homeowners for the first time during the 80's - giving more pople than ever secure accomodation.

ZeroMinusZero · 28/01/2011 20:38

She made some big mistakes, especially the poll tax and the total disunity within the party at the end of her reign, especially re. Europe. I don't know enough about the Faulklands to know whether I agree with it or not, but my hunch is that it wasn't a tenth as idiot and belligerent as Iraq and Afganistan.

The UK was left almost undisturbed in a better position in 1990 than it was in 1979. The seventies truly were a shit decade, so much worse than the supposed awful eighties. But I certainly agree that she should have stepped down at least four years before she did, and also that the Tories generally were a complete mess by the mid nineties and thoroughly deserved to lose as badly as they did to Blair in 1997.

Does make you wonder how Major managed to win in 1992, really, if Maggie really had been as bad as she was. And the answer is, of course, that Neil Kinnock wasn't much of an election winning leader (I'm trying to put that diplomatically) compared to Blair, who for all his many faults, was an absolute genius when it came to winning elections.

ZeroMinusZero · 28/01/2011 20:39

^ a tenth as idiotic

ZeroMinusZero · 28/01/2011 20:39

^ UK was left almost undisputably

EdgarAleNPie · 28/01/2011 20:39

and Reagan's brand of economics that laid the groundwork for the collapse of the world economy two years ago. Tragically the two Labour government's failed to undo completely her venal work.

you know Blair asked for her advice on economic policy? regularly? Her economics were sound - evidently.

Oldsilver · 28/01/2011 20:39

In our house her name is never mentioned. She was a bad example of womankind. And yes I do remember what it was like. If they hold some kind of state funeral then I would protest by going to the nearest party.

EdgarAleNPie · 28/01/2011 20:41

zero people were terrified of the return of the leftist economics of the 70's. they didn't get that though - with Blair they ot more of the same.

ravenAK · 28/01/2011 20:42

I'm all in favour of a state funeral for Mrs T. In fact, it's such a great idea, we should do it tomorrow.

^^What Grace said. Excellent post.

vesela · 28/01/2011 20:43

I think Labour was still too far left at that point, and Major came over as a nice guy with more humility than Thatcher (despite some of the arrogant types around him). The only time I've ever voted Tory was for Major. (I liked Ken Clark as well).

vesela · 28/01/2011 20:43

sorry, that was to Zero.

LoopyLoopsPoopaScoop · 28/01/2011 20:43

Can I ask, (sorry if it has already been asked) those of you who like/admire MT, are you, or were your parents, rich? I am yet to find a non-wealthy Thatcherite. (I don't mean mega rich btw.)

madamimadam · 28/01/2011 20:44

Glad it's not just me, Portofino. Next we'll have: 'AIBU to think that George Soros is a paid-up member of the Socialist Workers Party?'

Edam, I couldn't agree more.

huddspur · 28/01/2011 20:45

I'm only 24 and so didn't really live under Thatcher but when I see her opponents likening the 1980s to the holocaust and it just strikes me as the sign of a desperate argument. I wasn't alive in the 1970s but the fact we didn't have enough electric to power a 5 day working week etc and see that most of what was put in place has been accepted by all now and I think she can't have been that bad could she.

lv75 · 28/01/2011 20:45

Thatcher, Thatcher, milk snatcher (ok it was always warm and curdled slightly but you see my point). Cameron's no different, I hate all of the blue meanies.

ByTheSea · 28/01/2011 20:47

Haven't read all the threads.

I'm from America and we had the awful Reagan.

DH grew up in County Durham and was in sixth form when Thatcher came to power. His mother's side of the family were miners. By the time he got out of uni (in Scotland), there was no going back to his beloved northeast as his dad had been made redundant and relocated south and there were no jobs there. He hates Maggie so much he has a bottle of champers in the fridge for the day she dies.

Lovetheskinurine · 28/01/2011 20:50

Oh me, me, hands up, I'm a hater, count me in.

Just because Tony might have consulted her doesn't mean she was right, it just means he was a bit of a twat too.

ItsGraceAgain · 28/01/2011 20:50

Great points at 20:23, edam.

BeenBeta · 28/01/2011 20:53

Loopy - my parents were poor farmers and were days away from going bankrupt when the first Thatcher Govt came in and rapidly raised interest rates to kill off inflation.

I still voted for her every time and would again.

EdgarAleNPie · 28/01/2011 20:54

loopyCan I ask, (sorry if it has already been asked) those of you who like/admire MT, are you, or were your parents, rich? I am yet to find a non-wealthy Thatcherite. (I don't mean mega rich btw.)

don't you think that's a silly question? i mean, she was elected on 43% (odd) of the vote - do you think all that 43% were wealthy?

interestingly West Lancashire was then Conservative, and is not anymore - she had appeal to the populace at all levels, and in parts of the North as well.

EdgarAleNPie · 28/01/2011 20:56

She was a bad example of womankind

I think this is evident mysogyny. You wouldn't say of Callaghan 'he was a bad example of mankind' - you might say he was a bit lacking as PM.

CristinaTheAstonishing · 28/01/2011 20:58

Yes, very YABU.

Apologies if the thread has moved on from the OP, I assume you've all put her right on this one.

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