To wonder if Mrs T would have been loathed less if she was a man?

[Lucyellensmum95]

I was a teenager in the Thatcher years, many of my school friends were the children of miners and they suffered serious hardship. Then there was the poll-tax, reposessions, etc etc....... So, im not saying she was great. But no worse than Tony Blair following bush blindly into iraq to look for non existent weapons of mass destruction, no worse than Cunty Cameron (who actually i dislike quite deeply because his incompetence and indecision is destroying our country), but I am sure that when he dies no one will be dancing on his grave, he will probably be long forgotten (hopefully - like a bad dream).

It doesn't matter which party is in power, there will be people who dislike them, people who like them.

I think it is wrong that Mrs T is to be given a state funeral, i thiought it was wrong that Diana got one - its a waste of tax payers money and well, a bit naff really.

Does anyone else wonder if it is because, regardless of her policies, she was a strong woman (no one can deny that) that people hold her up as such a hate figure - I think it is unfair. I didn't like her - but all this glee at her death is quite frankly, embarrasing.

Did she prove it though inde? She didn't do a very good job did she?

As someone who has never voted Tory and never will, I would say it was most of her policies that were wrong. Not the fact that she was a woman. A man with the same political viewpoint, like for instance Tebbit, would have done just a bad job or maybe worse.

The Brixton Riots, the Toxteth Riots, the Poll Tax Riots, the Miners Strikes, the Hunger Strike, The Greenham Common protests were all a result of Thatcher's policies. It was these policies, not her gender that resulted in her being hated.

Do you think there would have been less civil unrest at the time had Dennis, not Margaret, implemented these policies?

I'm not sure what you are referring to with regards to travellers. What did she allegedly do?

And i don't agree that she purposely destroyed communities. The only 'destruction' was of people living a unsustainable lifestyles, didn't want to change because they were on a cushy number and expecting someone else to pay for their 'rights'.

Yes, her gender is part of the hatred for her without a doubt. I find all the 'ding dong the witch is dead' stuff particularly distasteful - especially because a lot of 'right on' PC friends seem to find it acceptable because it's MT.

I read on Facebook yesterday a comment from a man I had previously taken to be well adjusted and intelligent. It was "Old woman dies...no-one notices". And I just thought that must sum up his attitude towards women, that no matter what they achieve in life, they are classified
as "old women" in his mind.

Misogynistic under-achiever that he is himself!

inde i agree, but would he have been so villified?

niceguy - you should take a walk through an old mining town if you want to see a destroyed community - your post is a fucking joke. Mining? A cushy number?? ahahhahahahaaahha, oh stop it, it hurts, no, really!

Dionee - i take that point and no, the civil unrest would have been the same, i just don't think people would have danced on his grave 20 years on.

I am torn because i could never defend her policies, but as a person? I have to say there is respect.

Lucy...i live in an old mining town.

niceguy2

Look for the "battle of beanfield"

Had she not been female I would imagine that she would have seen active service during the latter part of the war years. This might have given her a very different perspective. As it stands, closeted away at Oxford, I imagine her life at the time was quite comfortable.

Is she hated because of her gender? Not entirely, because I think Blair is probably hated almost as much.

niceguy2 The only 'destruction' was of people living a unsustainable lifestyles, didn't want to change because they were on a cushy number and expecting someone else to pay for their 'rights'.

Have you ever met anyone who worked in coalmining? Go and speak to someone who was a miner and then come back spouting about 'cushy numbers'.

Then that makes your post even more idiotic then doesn't it. Of course, the middle classes have probably taken over now - taking advantage of the reposessions That is what has happened around here.

Good post less.

We do have Something To thank her for though

Its probably why she snatched the milk - now have image of some mad wonka type parody

YANBU. Look at this RIDICULOUS 'the witch is dead' ranting. Misogyny, pure and simple.

I'm not sure women did hate her as much as men, inde. Since Disraeli more women have voted Tory than men. it was one of the arguments used to deny women the vote.

What's Mrs Thatcher got to do with ice-cream?

LaVolcan

She was on the team that developed the "fluffy" ice cream that you get from ice cream vans.

It reduced the amount of ingredients that making the ice cream needed by increasing the amount of air contained within the product.

It also had the effect of increasing the price of normal icecream by allowing it to become a premium product (ben and jerry's etc.)

niceguy

if uou think coal mining is so cushy explain that to my granddad. No wait you can't ...because he died of black lung in absolute agony years before I was born.

Try again Lucy. I haven't bought a repossession.

By cushy number I actually was referring more to the protective job for life practices than the actual labour. I grant you mining is/was hard work.

But let's be clear. Mining was losing the country a LOT of money. Literally billions per year was lost propping it up. Billions the country didn't have and billions of pounds in the early 80's was certainly a lot more than now.

I'm not sure what the alternative was? If the miners didn't strike then yes, there would have been an orderly closure of the mines and I'm sure the impact on the communities would have been more manageable. But Scargill took the miners on strike meaning they had no access to any benefits. He was the real culprit.

Even Kinnock himself said on Monday: "I?m much more inclined to blame Scargill for the appalling defeat he inflicted on the coal-mining communities of Britain."

Remember, UK was on its knees. It was hardly a socialist workers paradise. But typical leftie nonsense. You always need someone to blame for the failure of socialism.

Boney - i love the way you make even her ice cream inventions sound like a bad thing

I can say quite honestly I loathe Cameron just as much as I despised Thatcher.

There is, sadly, an element in truth in what you say about mining to be fair, but an industry is nothing without its workers, and as such, has a responsibility towards them. The miners were let down, but not just by Thatcher. I do accept that.

LBE - i hate him more!

YANBU. I'm no fan of MT but i do think that some sexism is at the root of her unpopularity.

And yes, I hate Cameron, Osborne and Blair more.