Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
EdgarAleNPie · 30/01/2011 21:34

wiki article

which points out the reasons for the strike. but obviously, having absorbed that information, and formed a different opinion to yourselves, i am utterly clueless, of course...Hmm

UnquietDad · 30/01/2011 21:35

Spongefingers - yes, people use the word "evil" because it stops them from actually having to do any serious analysis of the political situation in the 1980s. It's far simpler just to claim it was all the fault of "someone eeeeeevil".

gordyslovesheep · 30/01/2011 21:35

I do own my own home and earn more than minimum wage - mainly because I worked my way through university :)

home ownership isn't a new - my grandfather owned his own home as did my mum (still does)

but not for much longer - the lovely Thatcher boy has decided I serve no purpose and is making my entire profession redundant - thus making me a homeless single parent on benefits - which sits nicely in their view of lone parents = scum!

gordyslovesheep · 30/01/2011 21:35

unquiet I LIVED through the 1980's - no analysis needed :)

newwave · 30/01/2011 21:36

Edgar, erm, they were convicted, and 'no sympathy' is very far from 'cracking open champagne'

Bollocks were they, they were tried in a Diplock (kangaroo) court in a trial without a jury.

EdgarAleNPie · 30/01/2011 21:37

erm.. i don't think UQD is less than 20, though i hope he's not offended by that assessmen!

spongefingerssavedmylife · 30/01/2011 21:37

Buzz - you think I've got 'bile' to spill Hmm and you haven't answered the questions.

UnquietDad · 30/01/2011 21:37

But that isn't good enough - that's not an excuse. I lived through the 1980s too (do you for some reason assume I didn't?!) and I'm not bandying around words like "evil". Same goes for lots of people who did not necessarily vote for her.

carminaburana · 30/01/2011 21:37

If you can't see the irony then it's really not worth pointing it out to you ...

BuzzLightBeer · 30/01/2011 21:38

Well no it doesn't, because I'm sure like many other people on this thread, I'm really a perfectly nice person. I've been involved with left wing politics for nearly 20 years and am an active volunteer in various causes. Maggie would loath me on sight I'm sure.
I could not be any more removed from her vision of society, and am not demonstrating anything, other that she's a rotten human being who many of us will be glad to see the back of.

So yes, I get you, but I'm afraid you couldn't be more wrong.

newwave · 30/01/2011 21:39

UQD, if she was not evil then how would you describe a person who:

Destroyed lives
Destroyed communities
Increased unemployment
Increased homelessness
increased child poverty

Seems to be evil to me.

gordyslovesheep · 30/01/2011 21:39

well see I LIVED through the 80's actually you know politically and actively involved in that whole eara (still am involved)

people need to make their minds up either she was a great leader - ergo responsible for most of the political decision of her party OR she was some puppet - ergo not so great

if she was great then she was responsible

and of :)

southeastastra · 30/01/2011 21:39

it was the sweeping desire to sell off lots of services like the railyways

no forward thinking at all, the uk has always been made up of craftspeople - making money in the stock markets seems to be more aspirational now

it's grim and am fed up people still defend that old bag

BuzzLightBeer · 30/01/2011 21:40

and Edgar you read a wiki article about it? You should have said, you're obviously an expert now.

Hmm
spongefingerssavedmylife · 30/01/2011 21:41

New wave - that surely is Gordon Brown you are describing?

UnquietDad · 30/01/2011 21:42

Gordy - oh, come on, we are better than all that "either X or Y" crap and you know it. That's like George Bush and his stupid "you are for us or against us" reductivism.

You do not in the slightest need to make your mind up between those two poles of opinion, on Thatcher or any other political leader.

I hate it when people try to pretend there are no shades of grey in politics. It's all so simple for some people. I wish it were!

gordyslovesheep · 30/01/2011 21:42

amazingly under Tory Boy unemployment is at a nice new high - now then I guess that's GB's fault as well

how long exactly DO they get to blame the last government for - I mean when do you have to take responsibility for your actions?

gordyslovesheep · 30/01/2011 21:43

Thatcher herself wouldn;t say there where any grey areas - she's proud of her time in office - but please UQD do educate me on the grey areas you percieve :)

UnquietDad · 30/01/2011 21:44

Buzz, you see, you just contradict yourself in the space of one paragraph. Is there a sliding scale for this hatred (maybe you'll sing a small song when Norman Tebbit shuffles it off, or have a cheeky orange juice to mark the passing of Michael Heseltine) or is it all focused on Thatcher?

gordyslovesheep · 30/01/2011 21:45

I like heseltine - Tebbit is really just a harmless old stereotype now

fradello · 30/01/2011 21:46

Opinions on Thatcher are so extreme on both sides with some people worshipping her and some people who truely despise her. It makes me think that she was probably quite good without being brilliant

newwave · 30/01/2011 21:46

Sponge, nope that is Thatcher.

Destroyed lives, if you have evidence please post it.

Destroyed communities, not GB although he has much to answer for.

Increased unemployment, sorry but it was on the way down until the bankers damaged the economy.

Increased homelessness, do behave

increased child poverty, it was on the way down although not fast or far enough, just watch the Tories increase it again. Sorry they already are.

UnquietDad · 30/01/2011 21:46

I'm not about to try and summarise in the space of a forum post something to which whole books and websites are devoted. There is as much pro-Thatcher out there as there is anti, just as there is for Blair, George Bush and everyone else.

She's just as irksome a politician as they all are. I just object to the idea that she is some kind of special case deserving of such childish, simplistic rage.

spongefingerssavedmylife · 30/01/2011 21:48

Gordy - yes obviously it is Brown's fault that unemployment is high, it is his decade of reckless overspending (and creating ointless jobs) and failure to save that means the Coalition is having to make cuts. And the haven't even been in office for a year - it's going to take much longer to sort the mess out.

And incidently Labour were in for ages but I don't see much improvement in their time in power.

BuzzLightBeer · 30/01/2011 21:50

there is no contardiction there at all. I dislike a great many politicians, I hate Thatcher, she is most certainly one of the very worst.
Why do you have such a problem with that? What is your bizarre need to defend Thatcher from all the mean posters?

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.