Does anyone here think Mrs Thatcher did a good job?

[Cortina]

It interesting to see how much she's disliked.

When I was at Uni she was much admired by a swathe of students whose parents had done very well during the 'Thatcher years'. Those who had come from mining communities, for example, had very different opinions.

It was rare anyone with self made parents back then had a bad word to say. Are our views shaped by our families experiences and how well off or otherwise we were growing up? There were a few I knew back then who came from a v well off background whose parents and wider families were labour supporters with a 'social conscience' but these were very much in the minority.

Illogical grammar check not working

She modernised the economy and stopped subsidizing inefficient and uncompetitive industrys

"I wonder how many who have picked up on the fashion to hate her "

She's certainly taken on the mythical properties of folklore! She came to power just over 30 years ago so if you're that age or younger you're relying on history books and tales at your father's knee for your info. And if Dad was a miner he'll have told you straight that she took to the air on a broomstick and ate small kids for dinner.

What people have to ask is... if she was so destructive and evil why did it take until 1997 for a Labour government to replace the Conservatives?

She enabled people to be free from dependence on the state because she facilitated the selling off off council houses?

Sorry but that is rubbish. Selling off those homes did not eradicate people's need for decent affordable housing (how unreasonable of them) and has left many councils forced to rent extortionately priced properties for those in need. That one move has cost the taxpayer an awful lot of money.

Chil1234

Exactly.

Those who hate her never seem to comprehend that she never lost a general election as leader.

They never stop and ask themselves: why?

Chil - I happen to have some inside knowledge of the reasons British Leyland went to the wall.

Basically, after the merger with DAF, the Dutch parent put in lots of cross-guarantees so that BL was propping up DAF. When DAF went belly up BL was allowed to go under by the British government (even though the basic BL business was sound) while the Dutch government bailed out DAF.

The merger was very unpopular in the first place as many people knew how weak the DAF end of the business was and knew they would pull the British end of the business down. As they did.

Well it certainly wasn't mass hypnosis that kept getting her re-elected. :) Could be argued that her popularity was with the 'haves' and the 'want to haves' and these numbers exceeded the 'have nots'. But my recollection is that people's memories of the misery years pre-1979 were still painfully fresh and that when Foot and Kinnock were trying to hammer home their old vision of a socialist utopia they were simply out of step with a public that were (mostly) excited by the opportunities they now had.

Labour should have marmelised the Conservatives in 1992 if they'd been even half-way credible... but they weren't

The selling off of council houses was a crime as social housing should have been kept for those who cannot afford to buy.

The result has been a sadly depleted supply of social housing which is now coming to crisis point, as with the cuts, building of new social housing has been severely curtailed.

Hmmm I know so many people who have done really well for themselves as a result of her time in office. They are still benefiting from her policies years later and will pass on the fruits of their efforts to their children.
Whether I am to be one of those remains to be seen.

Selling off council houses to tenants was meant to create a broader base of home ownership (home-owners big Tory supporters traditionally) provide councils with cash and get rid of costly old housing stock at the same time. I've never understood why they didn't take the cash generated to build new properties....

i dont think the argument that labour was shit - ergo the tories were great - is an argumetn at all.

She was entirely, entirely necessary. British industry was moribund, enterprise was stifled, the level of union control was damaging competitiveness. There were non-stop strikes 3-day weeks and IMF bailouts and the country was sliding towards the level of an Eastern European economy.

The consequences were awful for certain parts of the population admittedly, but Thatcherism had to happen.

DancingHippoOnAcid If Labour hadn't imported millions of poor immigrants, many of whom who serve absolutely no function in this country except as a vote bank, there would be much more housing available for those born here.

I say this as someone who is totally pro-immigration and thinks the cap on high-skilled immigration is a really stupid policy.

However, it was Labour who opened Britain up to large scale unskilled immigration. They should bear the blame for not anticipating the consequences.

'they' meaning the councils... take the cash and use it to build new social housing projects. Where did all that money go?

"i dont think the argument that labour was shit - ergo the tories were great - is an argumetn at all."

The 'ergo' is your own addition. Labour was shit which meant they were unelectable.... whether the Tories were great or not was almost immaterial

Chil - they weren't allowed to build new properties. That was the scandal of Thatcherism. Rolling back the state or something.

well its precisely the question so not immaterial at all.

Chil1234 Councils at the time (particularly Labour councils) had mountains and mountains of debt.

Maggie did allow councils to build new houses with the proceeds, provided they had paid off their debt first.

Maybe it was too centralist - but they were different times. In any case, the policy ended up making many councils which were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy through unsustainable borrowing solvent again.

Also don't underestimate the weakness of the opposition at the time. My father was friendly with Kaufman, a few frustrated others in the shadow cabinet, Livingstone (when he was indeed RedKen) etc and they all privately said what the GB public suspected about Kinnock, which was he wasn't terribly bright. He used to get hammered in PMQ, although he always said he was hampered at going at her because she was a woman and was advised a softer approach . My father perused Neil's bookcases, he had plenty on speech making, but his colleagues said he got into trouble when he went off piste.

Why were council houses not sold at a proper market value though?

Then there would have been more cash available to pay off the council's debt then build more housing.

no

she changed the economy of this country, we make nothing now
the financial sector makes money primarily for themselves

she was divisive socially for this country, heralded the acceptance of i'm alright jack attitude and fuck every other, council housing sell off policy leaves us in very dire straits today
she made it easy for the rich to get richer

she used the north sea oil money to pay for the dole, she fucked the miners over and left them to rot with no great energy plan for the UK after the mines were shut

rotten and sick governence supported by those it benefited most imho

Kinnock "got into trouble when he went off piste."

Was he a heavy drinker?

I think that she was the greatest peace time Prime Minister that we ever had.

As far as I'm concerned she made 2 mistakes. She ran for one term too many (as they all do) she made her son (who I find revolting) a life peer.

If it hadn't been for her I wouldn't have had the opportunities I did, neither would dh or many of our friends, all early 40's.

Mumsnet is the only "place" I frequent that is so anti Tory and anti Thatcherism. In rl, it and she are very popular.

i dont beleive that is correct that they could build, they couldnt

dancing hippo - the occupants were given discount on the cost in relation to their tenure, so they were much cheaper than market value
it was a flawed scheme but great for the banks no doubt

She used to scare me - and I am not even British and did not grow up in the UK...

Now, I can admire the steely bit of the Iron Lady and the fact that she made it to the top job of the country as a mere woman , but her politics and everything she stands for appal me.