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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think you can have an opinion on Maragret Thatcher regardless of when you were born?

166 replies

NewStartInSpring · 15/04/2013 02:59

Sorry I know people are sick of MT threads. However this one isn't about whether you are happy/sad she died or whether she did have good/bad policies etc.

I have seen quite a few people say that your opinion (regardless of what it is) isn't valid if you were not born during the time MT was Prime Minister.

Aibu to think this is ridiculous?

Surely if you believe that then the majority of us wouldn't be able to express an opinion on Hitler for example.

OP posts:
limitedperiodonly · 15/04/2013 17:58

What are you talking about handcream? Arthur Scargill has been as vociferous in what he sees as his role in the strike as Margaret Thatcher and her allies have been in hers since it happened.

If you're talking about her death, I looked it up and learned that he has not commented publicly.

Is that what you want? If so, what do you want him to say? He's not going to be nice, is he?

I'm no flagwaver for Scargill but he has been uncharacteristically quiet on Thatcher's death. I keep hearing from people who liked her the mantra that if you can't say anything nice, say nothing.

Here he is apparently doing that and yet you apparently want him to say something. Who's being provocative?

handcream · 15/04/2013 18:02

I think if he says anything he thinks he will open himself up to his role in the strikes tbh. And he doesnt want to do that. So he says nothing....

Darkesteyes · 15/04/2013 18:03

my DHs take on the 1970s is very different. He says it was much better than it is now and much easier to find work even with the 3 day week.
Here is a post of mine from an older thread. He was speaking to me while i was typing it. So i typed exactly the way he was speaking. These are his exact words.

DarkesteyesSun 03-Feb-13 00:43:41

Eliza ive just asked my almost 63 yr old DH (hes a baby boomer too but without the baby boomer attitude)
He says it was better in the 70s that is now and that it was easier then because he was doing 3 12 hr days so that was 36 hrs in 3 days and then the other 2 days they used a generator which was shared between 3 small factories (note the lack of "im alright jack" here.) this was shared between 360 employees between the three sites. Food and drink was laid on for the employees FREE. In the circumstances ive described here from DH he says it was easier then BECAUSE THERE WAS WORK and you could finish in one factory one day and start in another the next day even with this 3 day week.
While this was all going on they were given fuel ration cards but you only had to mention where you worked to the garage and they guaranteed you would have the fuel.
All these companies ive mentioned were looking out for each other. DH says it was easier back then that it is now. (fuel ration cards they were given didnt even have to be used. Can you imagine that kind of selflessness happening now? Ha. Not by some of the attitudes ive seen on here!
Within this ten mile radius there were 7 contract firms which did the work for the bigger companies.
Now they would be fighting each other for contracts but back then they simply helped each other out with steel,materials etc which never got delivered because of the shortage of fuel.
Eliza DH has just said it was a completely different world back then so it cant be compared.
And they got paid OVERTIME RATE even on the 3 day week.

limitedperiodonly · 15/04/2013 18:14

And how will that affect his image for good or for ill handcream? It's history. It's written.

Most people agree that Scargill played a poor hand very badly. I would hope that people who dislike him have no animosity towards thousands of men who only wanted a living for their families but I hope for a lot of things...

I'm surprised Scargill hasn't said something, but he hasn't and he isn't here to be asked why.

You are, so why is it that you seem so desperate for him to stoke up the old emnity once again? I thought that admirers of Margaret Thatcher wanted a period of respect.

limitedperiodonly · 15/04/2013 18:51

I wonder how many people actually bother to vote these days

Well, why don't you find out moomins instead of deploring other people who are as ignorant of facts as you are?

grovel · 15/04/2013 18:53

Life's a bit tricky at the moment for Scargill. He's just lost a case in the High Court against the National Union of Mineworkers.

Moominsarehippos · 15/04/2013 19:48

Who put a bug up your arse? I was merely wondering out loud. No need to be so bloody rude. Do you speak to people in real life like that?

limitedperiodonly · 15/04/2013 20:14

You were wondering and I was asking. Why so aggressive?

Moominsarehippos · 15/04/2013 20:21

To wonder out loud how many people vote is being aggressive?

What an odd world you must live in. Don't have a go at people asking a genuine question. Sorry if I don't have a full and complete picture of 21 century british politics. I never said that I did.

limitedperiodonly · 15/04/2013 20:37

No.

To wonder out loud how many people vote when you can easily find out is ignorant.

To ask someone who put a bug up her arse when she points that out is aggressive.

I have no idea why you're on a thread about 21st century politics when you've said you don't know what you're talking about.

And this thread is about Margaret Thatcher whose political reign was in the 20th century.

HTH

Moominsarehippos · 15/04/2013 20:42

Asking out loud isn't ignorant. I have a crappy blackberry so not able to check - ok for you so far?

I was merely answering back in the tone of your own comment, my dear. And the ignorance of who votes now I'd 21 century not 20th.

And the bug/arse was a genuine question. You jumped down my throat, so I assume you were riled.

limitedperiodonly · 15/04/2013 20:59

Oh sorry moomins. I didn't realise that because you have a crappy Blackberry you were asking someone here to do your research into the voting patterns of young people.

On reflection, I still think it would be a good exercise in what Norman Tebbit called getting on your bike and not expecting other people to do things for you.

After all, you don't know what you can do until you try, and if you fail, well, it's your own fault, which is the central message of Thatcherism.

Moominsarehippos · 15/04/2013 21:10

Apology accepted.

Did I ask anyone to go off and check facts for me? Do my research? No. I wondered out loud. Wondered - not asked. I'm still wondering. "Do more people vote now than back then?" See I did it again!! Are people not allowed the think out loud any more?

And there was me thinking this was a formum for chat and comment.

DwellsUndertheSink · 16/04/2013 09:14

interesting article from 2008 about Thatcher myths. There are a number of other myth busting sites out there, but it never ceases to amaze me how much disinformation is out there, and to wonder why and who benefits from touting these myths.

MirandaGoshawk · 17/04/2013 22:04

Paradise chick - Miranda - could you be any more insulting?

If you think that was insulting then you have led a sheltered life!

The 'little darlings' comment was meant to describe the rejoicing 20-year olds.

Numberlock · 18/04/2013 01:08

Well at the end of the day, all it boiled down to was what SamCam was wearing.

Tragic.

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