"is, and hopefully will remain the most hated Prime Minister in British history – it says little for her continuing supporters and for those less affected by her policies that she received the support she did"
...
& continues to do so, Jim, quite widely. Is not Guest KeithA's post of 9 Jan, 1031 AM not a bit enlightening? I have at least twice conceded the force of your point about the hatred among sections of the population. And admit also that it was the ill-judged support of Pinochet, which I in no way defend, which began the undermining of this which culminated in her ultimate defeat over the Poll Tax. But it is no use your claiming that she did not thru most of her time in office command a considerable majority of pro's over antis.

~M~

And I still think this loose use of the emotive term 'fascist', which ought to have a precise political connotation but has degenerated into such an all-purpose term of denunciation as to have lost both accuracy and effectiveness, is one of those which should be avoided as undermining of the user's argument because blunted by overuse, and so liable to reduce what should be a valid argument to a cliché: tho must concede that an effective alternative does not come instantly to mind. 'Totalitarian' perhaps?