to think that surely not EVERYONE hates Maggie?

[LadyOfTheManor]

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!).

Ok- I've tried to catch up as much as possible.

Hmmm so the main problem is that she closed/supported/encouraged those who closed the industries...and that the people involved were expected to "live within their means".

I was born in 86 so I was a baby and or unborn when the majority of this was going on...did anyone actually starve to death? Or has the "poverty line" been exaggerated a little?

I understood that milk was only "taken away" from high school students, and like another poster said, "should it be up to the Govt. to parent?"...is she really held responsible for today's Broken Britain? Is none of the blame lying with Blair?

She was a vile person.
On top of all the damage she did at home, her support of the South African regime during apartheid is for me totally unforgiveable.
For her Mandela and the ANC were terrorists, she was happy to support the persecution of black people.
I too will dance on her grave and make no apology for it.

Standing ovation for Alouiseg - a voice of sanity and reason on this thread imo.

Good point usedtobe, she did in fact support apartheid. And was big buds with Regan

And she was married to a wanker who liked to rant publicly about "pinkos, homos and trots", for a start.

Maggielovers must be so proud

I don't hate her but I hate everything she did and stood for: she was the worst thing to happen to Britain. Now it's Cameron and Osborne etc who are inducing in me the same depths of despair and hatred and fury at their self-serving divisive ideology.

lemon - are you a racist? If not, how do you defend Maggie's and Denis's role in sustaining apartheid S Africa?

Oh Edam (shakes head wearily) not even worth answering love.

no answer then. ~Shocker.

Yes it is worth answering.

Lemon, I think it?s a very fair question for a Thatcher supporter.
Ok so if we remove the 'are you a racist?' part of the question and then just ask 'how do you defend Maggie's and Denis's role in sustaining apartheid S Africa?'
Would you or any other Thatcher supporter be willing to answer that?

Thatchers view and policy towards South Africa was wrong as were her policies towards Chile. When evaluating her premiership these are counted as negatives IMO but taking everything she did into account I think she did the b est job since Churchill

friend of Pinochet too wasn't she? Judge a leader by the company she keeps...dictators, murderers and racists then.

I don't claim to be a Thatcher supporter. I don't know enought about that period to be a supporter or a hater.

I'm open minded on the subject and am interested to hear both sides. My comment related to Alouise's posts on this thread which i've found to be reasoned, calm and, well, grown up.

So much more persuasive than the hate speech being spat out out by some posters who are glorying in a prospective death.

To be fair to her, the friendship with Pinochet was strategic to help us in the Falklands war and so I don't judge her on that but her stance on S Africa was undefensible. Overall I think opinion of her is far too polarised and she was probably in the middle between those who hate her and those who love her.

A quiet giggle at comments about the Left being unreasonable yet we have Pascoe28 whose self acclaimed ambition is to convert everyone one by one to his own beleifs; comments about right being less reactionary 9sanitised version!) than left and and about voices of sanity- er are the left insane then?

I judge her on it, strategic or not, you don't take tea with mass murderous dictators to win a "war" that you shouldn't have been in in the first place. And sinking the Belgrano, that too.

You have to sometimes deal with people you'd rather not in war, look at World War 2 where Churchill had to cosy up with Stalin.

I lived through the Thatcher years here in Scotland as a child. Both my parents rejoiced when the Conservatives came to power after the terrible years of strikes and power cuts.

My mother now detests everything Thatcher stood for and has never and will never vote Conservative again. Her years in power decimated Conservative support here in Scotland.

As an adult I have never considered voting Tory and can trace that feeling directly back to the Thatcher years. I believe that her legacy reflects her policies - divisive, polarising and distasteful.

On a lighter note!

Check out the Maggie Thatcher song on You tube.

I sing it regularly in my house and the kids know it!

Don't get hung up on S. Africa and Chile.

Thatcher did what had to be done. South African coal kept the lights on during the miners strike and Chile helped keep Argentina out of the Falklands.

There were plenty of countries doing business with both S. Africa and Chile. It happens. Its how the world works. We did business with the Soviet Union for years buying their oil, metals and other commodities and that was surely one of the worst regimes the world has ever seen and posed a huge threat to our sovereignty.

Look at China today, the UK, USA and just about everyone else desperate to do business with them. All of us buy goods made in China.

'hung up' is an unfortunate choice of phrase given the murderous apartheid regmine.

And really, saying she used S African coal to break the miners' strike makes it even worse, not better. Good grief.

especially given the young Tories were busy singing 'Hang Nelson Mandela' with such enjoyment.

I would like the people who think maggie was great to know my story.
I grew up in the 80's and my mum and dad both had jobs until maggie came to power and started closing and privatising things.
My dad became redundant and struggled to find work. We had no money and he turned to drink. He became severley depressed and became agoraphopic and hasnt left the house for around 20 years.
He has a lot of mental health issues and my mum did her best to support the family on one wage but it just wasnt possible.
We never had no food or clothes and my mum used to regularly cry in desperation.
My dad turned to violence against my mum and we were brought up listening to all this going on.
I hated life and watch The Boys from the Blackstuff with tears in my eyes because my dad was just like Yosser Hughes who wanted any job and became very depressed. His children reminds me of the childhood we had and all of this because of the lack of jobs around that time.
Im sure some people on here will say its not maggies fault he turned to drink and violence but we had no money and the poll tax just about killed our family

Ah yes the Young tories.

Dh lived close to where they had their little much-publciised gathering. had to help clear up a few times.

I shall not mention to him; the sight of a man foaming at the mouth is most unattractive.

Reality1, that is very sad, and even more sad that your family were just one of many who suffered the same fate. I too grew up under Thatcher and it was a depressing and scary time.