BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 20 May 04 - 08:24 AM

There is so much spin in today's politics that I cannot tell what Blair, or Kennedy, or Howard honestly feel about their country. And that worries me.

Yep, scary isn't it? The only thing I would feel confident they would serve is a little thing called "self interest".

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Ringer
Date: 20 May 04 - 07:48 AM

What are you on, weelittledrummer? McGrath's on your side.

The current state of British education, awful indeed, is something that Maggie didn't correct; but it's not of her origin. That's down to thoughtless bien pensant educationalists who advocated cretinous things like "comprehensive education" (I put it in quotes because, though it may have been comprehensive, education it was not) and "child-centered learning" (which sounds absolulely wonderful but is a euphemism for chaos in the classroom), at the same time denying that it was right to teach children but it was only permissible to "lead then into learning".

I spit on all educationalists.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 May 04 - 06:06 AM

well yes macgrath, its true we have a fair amount of crap going down in schools and society generally.

my point was and remains that there is no point in having children who can't read and write English in lessons doing two foreign languages, and that is what old smart arse Thatch and keith Joseph legislated, and which remains the bloody lunatic situation which nobody has the sense, or cares enough about to reverse.

mainly because there are people like you going round singing the praises of that golden age with its wise and wonderful leader

as for unions holding the country to ransom - when did our leaders ever listen to anything else except naked power

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Hrothgar
Date: 20 May 04 - 05:50 AM

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Bill KENNEDY
Date: 19 May 04 - 09:19 PM

the only quality of hers I admire is her mortality, I hope to live on this earth without her on it for a while, not soon enough,

less stink on the earth though more in it once she's gone

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Cluin
Date: 19 May 04 - 08:41 PM

Sorry. I was thinking of Margaret Trudeau.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:37 PM

She was good in Spitting Image.

She made the clip top handbag an item to be cherished.

She made the bloody house prices soar when she bought a pad in Dulwich.( which we paid for, she never lived in and police kept 24hr vigil there at our expense.)

She looked OK in that royal blue silk dress.

She became such a caricature of herself, the image is clearly etched and her like will not suceed again so soon.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:30 PM

Well said, Vectis and El Greko.

McGrath may huff and puff as much as he wants...

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: vectis
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:08 PM

Love her or hate her she did the job she said that she'd do. She took a country on the verge of bankrupcy and turned it round, and it was hard on all of us. She paid off the national debt, much of it left over from WW2 and got the country into credit.
Before she took over the reins my family was about to emigrate to get work and somewhere to live. We stayed and eventually the policies of the day paid off and the work came back.
We're still here, there is enough work to go around and we have a decent roof over our heads.
Those were not good or happy times but IMHO it was worth the struggle.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,lurker
Date: 19 May 04 - 04:54 PM

She had many admirable qualities.
She lurked where she wasn't welcome and was darn hard to get rid of.
If that isn't something to be proud of, I don't know what is...

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Teribus
Date: 19 May 04 - 02:00 PM

McGrath of Harlow 19 May 04 - 12:14 PM

"My comment on the Falklands/Malvinas war, and the green light given to the Generals was based on the decision to scrap HMS Endurance, which had been maintaining a symbolic Royal Navy in the Falklands area."

Never heard of Naval Party 8901 then Kevin? They were Britains symbolic presence in the Falklands - Not HMS Endurance.

Nick Barker, was Captain of HMS Endurance at the time leading up to, and during the Falklands War. I knew him years ago, and remember having a long chat to him just after he got back. Most of HMS Endurance's work was connected with British Antarctic Survey and she (Endurance) was getting pretty long in the tooth by the time the Falklands came along, the decision to scrap her had more to do with age and the cost of refitting her. Stanley was used as her "nominal" base between her trips down into the ice, the rest of the time she spent in Portsmouth Dockyard.

The British politician who did give the Argentinians the green light was Dennis Healey in 1966. After that all they had to do was watch and wait, had they in fact waited another 12 months they could have taken the Falklands and we would not have been able to do anything about it.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Cluin
Date: 19 May 04 - 01:46 PM

Margaret Thatcher could rock! Ever seen her go to town on her `64 Strat? MAN!!! She could peel off some great leads.

She also always had a good stash of the best weed available and was real generous with it. After a few jays, she'd go down on you too.

But she just wouldn't change her hairstyle, so we kicked her out of the band. Years later, she had us banned from touring England. The woman knew how to hold a grudge, I'll say that for her.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 19 May 04 - 01:41 PM

She had strength and resolve, yes. She also had a vision for her country. I did not agree with her vision, but she HAD one, and committed herself to achieving it. She rode roughshod over obstacles and dissenters. There is much there to admire. But she went and shat all over it by having no ears to listen and no heart to feel with.

At the end of it all, mistaken though her vision was (in my opinion), I believe that she did love her country and that she honestly thought she was doing good. There is so much spin in today's politics that I cannot tell what Blair, or Kennedy, or Howard honestly feel about their country. And that worries me.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 May 04 - 12:14 PM

My comment on the Falklands/Malvinas war, and the green light given to the Generals was based on the decision to scrap HMS Endurance, which had been maintaining a symbolic Royal Navy in the Falklands area.

Perhaps it wasn't intended as a signal that the British government didn't give a damn about the islands, but it must have looked that way from Buenos Aires, especially in light of the fact that in l981 Thatcher's government had been trying to arrange a leaseback arrangement that would have given sovereignty over the islands to Argentina.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: JennyO
Date: 19 May 04 - 11:48 AM

Apparently this little ditty was doing the rounds in the Thatcher days:

If you think Maggie Thatcher is an old shitbag then smile smile smile
If you think Maggie Thatcher is a prune-faced hag, smile boys thats the style
Maggie and her cabinet, should be boiled in oil
If you think Maggie Thatcher is an old shitbag then smile smile smile

(with apologies to Pack Up Your Troubles)

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Teribus
Date: 19 May 04 - 10:02 AM

McGrath of Harlow, 19 May 04 - 06:00 AM

"She took a crisis and turned it into a disaster."

Complete and utter hysterical crap - your journalistic tendencies are showing Kevin (never mind the facts, I want this message put across, alter the facts or better still get some fake, staged photographs to prove my point)

Margaret Thatcher as an MP supported gay rights; supported woman's right to abortion; was pro-comprehensive eductation. And to those who rabbit on about the ending of free school milk (The "Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher" crowd). If you are going to castigate her over that issue, you could at least give her the credit due for at the same time saving the "Open University" from oblivion.

MGOH in one of his earlier posts to this thread that includes his opinions on the "As for the Falklands/Malvinas" - like that comment of his I quoted above, again complete and utter crap.

Oh, and weelittledrummer 19 May 04 - 04:06 AM

"we applied for a loan to the imf because the country" had all but been bankrupted by a finacially irresposible Labour Government and Trade Union movement that was totally out of control.

And, "Thus we have a massive literacy problem in this country." well weelittledrummer if, "We are left with thousasnds of children who hardly know vowel sounds in classes pointlessly doing two foreign languages." That might have a great deal to do with poor discipline, "can't be arsed to bother trying pupils", "can't be arsed to bother trying piss poor teaching" aided and abetted all the way down the line by "can't be arsed to bother trying piss poor parents". But neither what you, or MGOH, describe is the case - is it?

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 May 04 - 07:25 AM

I have to admit, sorefingers, I never really thought she was capable of showing much feeling to people outside her own.

One there that has interested me was when her son Mark got lost in the desert. She seemed worried then but could equally imagine that had it been somone else's son, she would have been saying "foolish irresponsible young twit - we should not have to help people like that out".

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 19 May 04 - 07:16 AM

She stole hope, she abolished chrismas, she stopped free school milk for little kids, she refused to talk to the hunger strikers - which may I add in any other world would have been the UN kicking the loyalists back to where they came from -, she created the most cruel and criminal economy that the UK had since the days of Dickens and Ginparlours.

Her name is forever linked with misery and depression for all but a few Paki flop house owners that made money from it.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:42 AM

I must admit I've never undertood the voting system - perhaps proportional representation would be better?

Perhaps the most worring thing to me is that a) so many people seem to have lost interest to the point that they don't vote and b) I'm sure I'm not alone in casting votes against who I percieve as my greatest enemy rather than voting for someone.

I've harped on about this before but there has not been a possible PM candidate since John Smith that I would have voted for. We never can know how he would have turned out but for me, he had integrity, a social awareness and an ability to balance that up with what, whether we like it or not, is a money driven world - I wish the world was different but not even revolutions will change (some) human nature.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:18 AM

Thatcher would become a popular choice for voters

She was never a popular choice for voters - by which I mean far more people always voted against her than for her. (The same is true of Tony Blair of course.)

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:08 AM

Teribus,

I think history will always be divided over Maggie. My own version FWIW is that she was around in the right place at the right time. I don't think you needed to be Einstien to see the mess we were in and know that some changes needed to be made. She seemed to be the right choice for the time - someone who would stick with her beliefs and take action. Unfortunately, as is perhaps common in people with such strong beliefs, she went too far and I believe the only reason for her long reign was not so much what she was doing but fear of another Labour goverment. I'd have had her do the initial job and then booted her out!

One thing with the history I still can't figure is who's side the union leaders were really on. I know this is my own conspiracy theory and should not be taken too seriously but when I look back, I find it hard to credit that they could create a situation whereby Thatcher would become a popular choice for voters unless they themselves had investment intrests and wanted to bring Labour down. In reality, I suppose it was more a case of blind stupidity.

Jon

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:00 AM

...thing!

Sorry - There I go again. Can't wait for anything. See what I mean...;-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 May 04 - 06:00 AM

She took a crisis and turned it into a disaster.

But once again, the people who backed her bear the real blame.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 May 04 - 05:55 AM

She brought the song 'Maggie May' to life...

That dirty Maggie May, they have taken her away
and she'll never walk down - ing street any more :-)

Strange as it may sound I am of the firm opinion that it was the 'stand on your own feet' selfish attitude that spawned the yuppie generation and is responsible for a lot of the selfishness we are seeing today. Couldn't stand the woman and we are still suffering from the effects of her dogma today.

Yet, to answer the question, she did do away with the 'super' authorities (Greater London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside etc). In my opinion a good

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 May 04 - 05:01 AM

Without doubt Sein Feins best recruiting agent, she was responsible for prolonging the mayhem in the north of Ireland.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 19 May 04 - 04:54 AM

weelittledrummer, unemployment wasn't a consequence, it was a very deliberate tory policy, one of thatchers political weapons which she used against the trade unions she hated so vehemently.

She introduced the ' poll tax ' in Scotland to punish them for daring
to vote against the torys.
Incidently ' tory ' I believe is the old Irish word for thief.

And as guest old solder said, she sent British slodiers to their deaths to futher har political ambitions.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 04 - 04:39 AM

Inventing the Poll Tax
Creating the idiom of the New Age Traveller
Making the music of the 1980's some of the most depressive listening, ever.

Sometimes I still shiver

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 19 May 04 - 04:28 AM

Her tacit approval of her protege, Tony B.?

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 04 - 04:14 AM

Self confessed Fallibility, humility and tolerance.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 May 04 - 04:06 AM

we applied for a loan to the imf because the country needed investment. parts of the country and our community went to hell under her leadership.

if you go to a great city like Liverpool and see the quid shops in the main city centre where most cities and large towns have the big retailers - you can see that we still do need investment.

the vileness of the woman was in her indifference to suffering and her belief that if we just pretended it was 1952 Len Hutton would score a century, we could hang derek Bentley again and all would be all right with the world.

Thus we have a massive literacy problem in this country. In the 1970's we were starting to buckle down to sort out this problem - we were beginning to honour the idea of comprehensively educating our population in comprehensive schools. All that went out of the window with the national curriculum. the idea that if we all followed a 1952 syllabus all would be well. We are left with thousasnds of children who hardly know vowel sounds in classes pointlessly doing two foreign languages. the remedial reading departments in schools were all but dismantled.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Hrothgar
Date: 19 May 04 - 02:07 AM

She was consistent. That is possibly why some people hate everything she did, and most people hate at least something she did.

I grind my teeth when I say this, but I respect her far more than I do this weasel Blair. Don't even think about her successors in the Conservative Party.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Teribus
Date: 19 May 04 - 01:37 AM

First female Prime Minister of the UK

Longest serving Prime Minister of the UK

She took over a country that was close to being an economic ruin in 1979 (Counter to what MGOH would wish us to believe - Question for you Kevin when before or since did Britain have to go to the IMF for a loan) and managed to completely turn the situation round. She achieved it by the application of leadership and common sense, that many in the country, while not necessarily liking it, did recognise the need for it.

History, I believe will be very kind to her - she will probably be seen as the most effective Prime Minister the UK has ever had.

The policies that were the corner-stones of her government are all still in place today and they have been adopted in other EU countries.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 May 04 - 07:51 PM

I think where you live in England tends to colour you view of the lady. My southern friends used to say throughout the 80's, what recession...?

There was no hard drug problem before Thatcher. No beggars on the street. that was mainly because she closed down the mining industry and the mining villages became citadels of the drugs trade. they had always been places where the police thought twice before sailing in - and it provided some kind of alternative economy.

I don't think she planned to break the power of the unions. I think it just happened out of dumb luck. She was bloody useless at running the economy. Unemployment was a natural consequence. When nobody had jobs - people were in a weaker bargaining position.

There must be some reason why things got better after we got rid of the tories.Maybe Brown is just a better than lamont, Major and clarke were as chancellor. Its hard to figure out what she did achieve and what was going to happen anyway.

Can't say i liked her handling of the hunger strikers. They wanted a set piece like the 1916 rising with martyrs and thatch gave them it on a plate. sin Fein has never looked back electorally. Neither did I like her way with sacking anybody who disagreed with her - Hesseltine and sadly MacGregor - the best Education secretary in my lifetime.

I think if there was anything i admired it was her handling of the media. Hard to imagine these present tales of of the unacceptable getting out of a war zone. I admired her adroitness in debate - she made Kinnock sound like a verbose idiot - even when he had something valid and important to say.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Gareth
Date: 18 May 04 - 06:57 PM

I have no love for the woman - But I would not wish her a "long and lingering death" - May she continue to exist to remind people what the ultra Conservatives are like.

A good quality ? Hmmm ! Supporting Howard I think. (or is that to cryptic for the purists ?)

BTW - And this s not inrended to reopen old threads the actions i the Falklands were correct, but taken for the wrong reasons.

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 18 May 04 - 06:57 PM

She has one redeeming quality; a person could not have been better planned as a wife for the whinging drug addicted neonfascist Tush Bumsores.

I cannot help but notice at this remove that she would have been the person to tell hungry little orphans that the OWNER would not let them have any supper.

She like the other one does not have any of her own money or power, so must suck off those who do. Such wealthy people do not have the brass to be nasty, but rely on the likes of her and that other scumbag who's 'meaness' is done so well that some, in a sort of Gollum way, aspire to be the same. Hence our nasty troll.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,A wolf
Date: 18 May 04 - 06:25 PM

i admire the way she sorted out the GLC - She just abolished it, and Red Ken and his minions couldn't do a thing about it. Classic bit of handbagging from the Iron Lady.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Shlio
Date: 18 May 04 - 06:16 PM

True, Ed. But then, we don't get taught useful logic in schools these days. Or any recent UK history (though I did understand nearly all the references in this thread, so I'm quite proud of myself).
But hey, you can't get an unbiased opinion.

(I did say the only good thing, as I'm not sure I think that her treatment of the general strikes, and privatisation of public services was good (thought it may have possibly been the lesser of two evils - I don't know). Sorry, just had to point out that I do know some things...and was being sarcastic too. With all respect of course - whether it's due or not)

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Ed.
Date: 18 May 04 - 04:30 PM

no free milk for schools means that kiddies since and now tend to drink far too many carbonated, sugary drinks

A cast iron cause and effect proof, Shilo! Well done! (I'm being sarcastic, btw)

The fact that it's the 'only thing...I could think of' says more, with all due respect, about you than about Thatcher.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Shlio
Date: 18 May 04 - 03:53 PM

I think she did great things for the dentists in this country. Think about it - no free milk for schools means that kiddies since and now tend to drink far too many carbonated, sugary drinks and don't get enough enough calcium to grow healthy teeth.

Yes, it's a tenuous link, but it's the only good thing I could think of. Dentists, Rejoice!

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST
Date: 18 May 04 - 03:40 PM

Admire:

Mostly, although I strongly disagreed with much of her policy (the early bringing some balance to what had become a country ran by an out of control left being an exception), the thing I liked about was that I had some feeling that I knew she would try to do what she said she would do and that we knew where we stood with her even if we didn't like it.

This to me is a sharp contrast to Tony Blair who I think would say anything to gain votes/ remain in power.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST
Date: 18 May 04 - 03:37 PM

She was Tom Sawyer's first. And it must've been great 'cause he never married.

Icon

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Ed.
Date: 18 May 04 - 03:07 PM

I have no intention of becoming a Thatcher apologist, but this thread saddens me.

Comparisons with Hitler, Pol Pot and Ayotollah Komeini are absurd and ludicrous. Wishing here a slow, agonising and long drawn out death, is basically barbaric. I trust that that was a joke (abeit a poor one), ced2?

Thatcher certainly made lots of bad decisions, but she also did a few things that were really needed to help the general prosperity of the average Joe Bloggs.

To simply dismiss everything that she ever did as wrong and bad, is to show a show a small mindedness of the worst kind.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: ced2
Date: 18 May 04 - 02:26 PM

2 things:-
1)Her ability to shed not a tear at the growing plight of many under her boot, yet the sobbing she clearly did when her so called mates stuck in the political knife and she was given the order of the boot from no 10; &
2) her death, may it be slow, agonising and long drawn out.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: C-flat
Date: 18 May 04 - 02:05 PM

I could never find much to agree with about Thatchers policies but I wish some of todays' politicians had a fraction of her resolve.
She said what she thought and, when she spoke, her opponents knew she meant what she said.
How many of our current crop of sound-bite-speilers could instill the same amount of confidence or fear (depending on whose side you were on)?
Like a lot of other people I know, I look at the politicians on both sides of the political spectrum and see very few natural leaders.
Unfortunately for Mrs.Thatcher, her greatest qualities, courage and conviction, made her the most hated politician of our times.
C-flat.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 May 04 - 01:53 PM

And the search goes on....

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 May 04 - 10:47 AM

"The winter of discontent was a low point for England."

"The "winter of discontent", a great phrase which has been used to fool an entire generation into thinking that life before Thatcher was absolutely awful. Shakespeare was a great phrase maker, but he didn't control what people would use his phrases for a few centuries down the line. That phrase has been used to con people for decades.

In fact the time before Thatcher was a great deal better in all kinds of ways than it subsequently became, and stayed. What the "winter of discontent" actually refers to is that there were some strikes, and that some public services for periods of days or weeks went down to the kind of level that a few years later became commonplace, as services were cut to the bone; the damage and inconvenience caused by strikes pales into insignificance compared to the damage caused as unemployment soared into the millions and whole communities were devastated.

As for the Falklands/Malvinas - there wouldn't have been any war at all if she hadn't cut back on the token naval support provided out there, which was taken by the Generals in Argentina as a green light for sending in the troops. Was that sheer stupidity on her government's part? . Or was it an intentional false signal designed to lure the Generals into providing her with a war that won her an election landslide?

Council House sales? The way that they were imposed, and the restrictions on councils using the money to replenish their housing stock it had the long term effect of robbing young people in the future of any possibility of renting good housing for a reasonable amount. It needn't have been done that way, but the intention was never to extend choice, but to narrow it by destroying public housing.
..................

However I've always felt that focusing the anger on Thatcher is a mistake. The people to blame were the people who backed her - never a majority, but a sizeable enough minority in a distorted electoral system to give her absolute power.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 May 04 - 10:44 AM

"The winter of discontent was a low point for England."

"The "winter of discontent", a great phrase which has been used to fool an entire generation into thinking that life before Thatcher was absolutely awful. Shakespeare was a great phrase maker, but he didn't cvonbtrol what people would use his phrases for a few centuries downtye line. That phrase has been used to con people for decades.

In fact it the time before Thatcher was a great deal better in all kinds of ways than it subesequently became, and stayed. What the "winter of discotent" actually refers to is that there were some strikes, and that some public services for periods of days or weeks went down to the kind of level that a few years later became commonplace, as services were cut to the bone; the damage and inconveniance caused by strikes pales into insignifcance compared to the damage caused as unemployment soared into the millions and whole communities were devastated.

As for the Falklands/Malvinas - there wouldn't have been any war at all if she hadn't cut back on the token naval support provided out there, which was taken by the Generals in Argentina as a green light for sending in the troops. Was that sheer stupidity on her government's part? . Or was it an intentional false signal designed to lure the Generals into providing her with a war that won her an election landslide?

Council House sales? The way that they were imposed, and the restructions on councils usingteh money to replenish their hosuing stock it had the long term effect of robbing young people in the future of any possibility of renting good housing for a reasonable amount. It needn't have been done that way, but the intention was never to extend choice, but to narrow it by destroying public housing.
..................

However I've always felt that focusing the anger on Thatcher is a mistake. The people to blame were the people who backed her - never a majority, but a sizeable enough minority in a distorted electoral system to give her absolute power.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: freda underhill
Date: 18 May 04 - 10:38 AM

Margaret Thatcher strongly pushed a philosophy of personal responsibility. Thatcher also led a campaign demanding that General Augusto Pinochet go free. A man responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of workers, socialists and other political opponents, who presided over mass executions, torture and rape. Pinochet put an end to Salvadore Allende's democractically-elected socialist government. He destroyed any possible opposition to his new government by arresting anyone who was ever likely to have supported Mr. Allende and socialism, or democracy, or unions, or free speech, or human rights.   

Once they were arrested, the army tortured most of them to try to get the names of more people to arrest. They used electric shock, torches, rubber hoses, and lots of other devices. Then thousands of them were cold-bloodedly murdered. All of this was done at the direction of Herr Pinochet. He was arrested on an Interpol warrant by Scotland Yard detectives at the request of Spain. Both Switzerland and France added their weight to the pressure for Pinochet to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, by issuing international warrants for his arrest for the murder of Swiss & French nationals.

But Margaret Thatcher had a cup of tea with him.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Old Soldier
Date: 18 May 04 - 10:23 AM

The FALKLANDS, you wanker, Thatcher sent British slodiers to their deaths to further her political career.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Peter T.
Date: 18 May 04 - 09:57 AM

The other thing she did which I thought was interesting was giving working people the chance to buy their own council flats/homes. As someone from North America living in Britain at the time of the winter of discontent, I was quite surprised when I was told that this was a radical idea!!! It was clear then (and clearer now) that people like to have equity in their own homes, and that lefties needed to rethink the role of property rights in modern societies. I think it is pretty clear that this was a stark challenge to the utopian kibbutz model that underlay a lot of socialist rhetoric. It made people smarten up.

Her real damage was rhetorical: the stance that vicious "take-no-prisoners" language and ideas were part of modern conservatism. She was the model for the vicious neo-conservative vulcanism that goes on now.

yours,

Peter T.