eric the red
"You had to be working class to understand the damage she did to the working classes in this sceptic isle."

So I am not working class am I?
Apart from serving in the RA from '36 to '46 my dad was a miner at Newbiggin colliery until it closed, then worked the Lynemouth Bewick Drift until he took early retirement in '78 under The Viscount Stansgate's scheme that closed more pits than the big strike.

My mum was the daughter of an Ashington miner who, rather than be allowed to take up a domestic science teaching scholarship in the '30s was pushed into service by her mother.

After going to a decent Secondary Modern, Glendale in Wooler, I did 11½y serving my country, followed by 16y on the railway, before being made redundant and going into teaching. I did qualify, but I regret could not take the abuse from some of the children in the sink schools I was working in, so packed it in.
Following that I spent 2y as a driver/navigator doing trials on a new radio system.
Last job I did was washing cars.

Given the fact that the ruling clique of the Labour Party has long been the preserve of the libertarian minded upper-middle class socialists, making snide remarks about "working class" is a bit off the mark. Appart from a few token trade unionsts like the fat bastard Jonnie Two Jags, there are not many MPs in NL who understand the Working Class!

The damage to the working class was done by a combination of bad management and the unions during the '60s and '70s. All Mrs. Thatcher did was to create the conditions where that damage could be reversed.