Ollie - like it or not, Thatcher was a bitch. I'd have been just as rude about her if she had been male, but in different terms. You should see that.

She was vastly more regressive than any other post-was British leader.

I half agree with you that " British class bigotry would never allow working people actually to get a decent wage and the involvement of the military and secret police show they would stop at nothing." I am not sure that it was class prejudice though.

You need to check what I have said on this thread about Ireland and take off your blinkers. Ireland's political landscape (that's the Republic of Ireland) is blighted by god-bothering and repression to an extraordinary extent - oh, and maybe just a bit more fraud in high places than other countries, remember the Mahon Tribunal?