People who think Margaret Thatcher was good...why?

[malificent7]

I have s tory froend who worshipd Margaret Thatcher and cried when she died...just why? Can anyone explain please?

I'm guessing none of your relatives were blown up while working underground?

Several members of my dad’s family died in pit accidents, including his 16 year old cousin. That doesn’t alter the facts in the way you’re attempting @TheGardenFairy.

I grew up in the 80s, she inspired me and still does. She really turned this country from a whimper into a Big Bang.

So you know those people do you@TheGardenFairy? The miners and their families were heartbroken when their livelihoods were torn from them

Yes. I vividly remember my grandfather and his brother being blown up underground and the devastation that caused my grandmother, aunt and cousins.

I lived within a mining village. Lots of men lost their lives. Most were my friends fathers, brothers and grandfathers. Nobody was sad when the mines closed. Maybe you'd like them to be reopened so your sons will have guaranteed work? Guaranteed because nobody who has lived through the horror of mine explisions will think of going under ground. Still...the choice is yours

I am old enough to remember the 3 day weeks, candlelight, rubbish uncollected, etc. The country was in a right old mess.
I certainly don't agree with everything she did, but she was the PM we needed in those early years.

As for Right to Buy, I doubt that anyone foresaw then how expensive houses would later become. Incidentally council houses were being sold off well before Thatcher. My dd bought an ex council house which had been bought by the previous owners in 1971 - well before Thatcher was even elected Tory leader.
Dd paid just over 100 times the 1971 price.
It does irritate me how Labour bang on about the evils of Right to Buy. They had 13 years in power when they could have changed the law and stopped it.

So why didn't they?
Presumably because they thought it would lose them votes.

I had this discussion with my DM last week. She dislikes MTs politics, but admired her as a person... Because she was a girl from a normal background who through hard work and determination rose to one of the top positions in the country. She wasn't born into privilege.

At the risk of being slightly outting... My DDs attend the same primary school as she did. I hope they do as well as she did. But not in politics and definitely not as PM.

Not as a Tory PMtbat should be

it does irritate me how Labour bang on about the evils of Right to Buy. They had 13 years in power when they could have changed the law and stopped it.

You’re right but, to be fair, by 1997 there wasn’t much council stock left.

We bought our first home in mid seventies. House prices had risen crazily in the early seventies. Our mortgage went from 4.5% to 18%. Our salaries did not rise. The economy was in such a mess, strikes, inflation, I would take our family housekeeping and walk around adding up every item, once I had spent it, that was it. We could not afford to start a family. So I guess when Thatcher came in and stood up to the unions, we all breathed a sigh of relief. What I cannot stomach was her giving the right to buy and not ensuring that councils would continue to build social housing to replace what was lost.

I don’t agree with all her policies, but I do admire her for getting to where she did in what was very much a man’s world.

I have so much respect and admiration for thatcher. She ended the rule of the unions and all the strikes. She closed mines and other industries that were costing the country far too much money. She stood up for the Falklands islands.

She wasn't afraid to do the right thing even though it was unpopular.

Fwiw I'm not opposed to right to buy in principle as it encouraged aspiration in the working class. The mistake was subsequent decades of not building enough houses and high immigration leading to shortages and houses prices rocketing.

There are some very interesting comments on here and I now can see a more balanced view...some good and bad points.
Imo the mines needed to be shut eventually but therr should have been more northern regeneration.
London yuppies did well...Northern workers...no.

Towns like Hartlepool where the only work available is wiping old people’s arses. Thousands of people deprived of earning an honest living to fuel ideology.

So care workers are not earning an honest living? You are disgusting, @Alsohuman.

I live not far from Hartlepool and there are plenty of jobs here but time has changed, it needs technical skills, people need to take responsibility to educate themselves. And thats not happening in a certain section of society sadly.

Plenty of miners did their utmost to make sure that their sons didn't have to go underground. Brian Blessed had to leave school and become a plasterer after his father was killed in a mining accident.

The thing is though, the reason that they went underground generation after generation was that they had mouths to feed. There was no alternative employment.

Thatcher is hated passionately by a lot of people for some very valid reasons- as have been discussed on this thread. Very few people would vehemently defend her unless they were purposely trying to be contentious. Your friend might fall in that category.

Interesting character though and a darn sight more backbone than most of the 'leaders' we are presented with today.

MaButterface

So care workers are not earning an honest living? You are disgusting

I don't think that's what she's saying. I think her point is that there aren't thousands of care worker roles available. If the only jobs available in a town the size of Hartlepool are care work, how many of those jobs can there possibly be? Inevitably, that leaves thousands of people unemployed.

Thank you Jamie that’s exactly what I was saying. It was pretty obvious that’s what I meant.

I haven't RTFT and wasn't alive when MT was PM, but I will say that I have appreciated growing up in a country knowing that at some point we did have a female PM. I think that is a 'good thing' and putting any of her politics aside, that alone has inspired some of my generation of young women to try and reach greater heights.

How many pits and steel works did Labour reopen out of interest?

She was PM for 11 years, so clearly very popular as she was re-elected

Not in Scotland she wasn't. But that didnt matter.

She was a wicked woman and a disaster for the UK.

I think she changed Britain from a country that cared about each other and supported each other to a selfish 'I'm alright Jack' nation.

There are no council houses any more and fuck the poor seems to be the attitude.

She also supported Pinochet and apartheid and said that the Khmer Rouge were 'reasonable' but hey..

I lived through the 60s and 70s and remember how grim a lot of it was. Frequent power cuts. Mountains of rubbish on street corners. Constant strikes. The U.K. returned to being the sick man of Europe once again.

Even so, I disliked thatcher and it took a while to realise that much of what she did was needed. I work with young people and of course nowadays they see the wholly positive side of trade unions- the reasonable protection for workers’ rights, safe working environment etc They simply don’t know what the militant unions were like back then. Literally demanding the right to go to work, do nothing and still get paid. Production lines were stopped when goods weren’t being purchased yet employees still felt entitled to just carry on going to work in the same place and still be paid...I also remember Union strikes and aggressive picketing in support of workers who were supposed to be working but bunked off and hid away for a snooze during their paid shift. There was a real sense that employees were entitled to take the piss.

It was necessary to break that cycle and thatcher did it. She refused to allow the country to be held over a barrel by unions who believed people had a right to continue working in the same industry in the same place doing the exact same job whether it was profitable or not.

I really disagree with the selling off of social housing (though that began before she was PM) and I also believe strongly as pp have said that where thatcher went wrong was not investing in regeneration of the communities where industries were closed. The bleak hopelessness of some of the northern former mining communities was awful to see. You can’t take something away without replacing it with viable alternatives. But she was absolutely right to Break the very negative power that some of the unions wielded.

I believe strongly in unions supporting workers and fighting their corner in a rational way but the aggressive stance we saw in the 70s had a hugely detrimental impact on the UK

From a little girl growing up in a shop to becoming PM surely thats something for anyone to be proud of.A working wife,mother,barrister and PM ....she not only broke but shattered the glass ceiling making it possible for any woman today to achieve anything. That is to be admired alone.A life long tory here who didnt always agree with her policies I don;t think it is possible to over estimate her personal achievements as a woman.She was strong ,smart and powerful.And she gave women the permission to follow her lead and go out and grab life by the balls....I admire her sheer determination and her unfailing belief in herself.Take the politics out of it for a minute and What a woman! Put the politics back and she did some amazing things and some feclkess things ...she was only human and made mistakes like we all do but on the whole for personal attriblutes and leading the way I admire her greatly.

I would say I thought she was good. At the time I was too young to understand so I look at it with hindsight. But my father adored her, he's a lifelong Tory. For me though, growing up with a female PM and a Queen in her own right really helped cement that women are not lesser than men. I didn't like Theresa May either but my DD has seen similarly that being a woman isn't something that can stop you holding the highest offices in the land. It's probably the only positives I'll give them mind you.