I realize that this response will set off major explosions amongst those who truely hate Lady Thatcher, and that as an American, it is somewhat inappropriate for me to comment without any real investment in Great Britain's internal strifes. That being acknowledged, and speaking only as a foreigner, in my opinion Lady Thatcher was a giant of her time.

While those who suffered from her tough social policies may roar at her visage, they may not realize that Britain was brought back from the back-bench of the world stage, to a front row in what is now badly called the New World Order. Prior to her government being voted in, Britain was a social and financial basket case, listened to by no one, and a morass of socialized government services, which could not pay for themselves, and were bankrupting the government and the new young workers coming into the job market.

Young and well-educated Britains were leaving their country at an incredible rate, not wishing to be burdened with what, to everyone, was a meltdown. Individual unions literaly Balkanized the country, striking whenever the mood struck them, and paralyzing the country and growth in the economy. At the same time Reagan was telling PATCO to go to hell, Maggie struck hard at the unions in her country, and together they brought order from chaos. Then together with the Polish Pope, and a Russian Party Secretary who could read a balance sheet, they fundamentally changed our world, with no loss of life in combat, on an order of magnitude we shall never see again.

She did not start the Falklands War, as some dimwit has written. Galtiari (sp?) of Argentina occupied the unarmed islands for several months, while the UN and Britain tried to negotiate; to no avail. Since the Spanish-speaking twits of Argentina had unilateraly declared war on Britain, and Argentinian jets had aready attacked British ships, the Belgrano was a lesson to the big-mouth idiots who only thought war was parading around the Presidential Place in a comic opera uniform.

The Argentinian Air Force earned international respect for pressing home the Exercet missle attacks on the British ships, (and the Western naval units quietly redesigned their shipping to take missle attacks, after BDA's disclosed fundamental flaws in ship designs of the period). But Lady Thatcher was firm, fair, and focused on insuring the self-determination of the islands, and it is no wonder that they are grateful.

As to those who lost benefits, jobs or welfare entitlements, there is much hatred for the woman who pulled the money train to the side of the tracks and reordered the passenger list to pay for the costs of running the train. But literally every working person below the age of thirty should honor her unto the ages. If they read history at all, they will find out she literally saved her country and their future...