Barnoness Margaret Hilda Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS
13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013
J.R. Hartley
Right... I am going to come down a peg from my usual writings and defend Mrs Thatcher, people who have no idea of her or were even born at that time are just repeating what they have heard from other people like a broken record, without finding out for themselves the data (Like i have done) I may not have been around at the time but i am able to comment as I've done my homework unlike the majority of bobbysoxer's ranters on twitter. Now i would not say i was a Thatcherite or even that i was a big fan of hers but people need informing, she was a steadfast, sturdy politician who followed her instinct, she had more back bone than all the following cabinets and governments added together.
Let my take on the general criticisms now;
1) She killed the country, Killed off the Coal and steel industries, destroyed manufacturing up north.
2) Sold off council homes
3) Privatized the entire country
One) Right this is always my favourite point to tackle, i used to agree with people that she had killed off the industries of Britain and that it was an awfully bad thing, Well firstly, yes she did destroy the industry and forced workers to be on the dole or go into the service industry. Yes that may be so but it had to happen at some point if we look at the Newly industrializing countries at that time, (1980's and 1990's) China, India and Brazil, EVEN if we had kept our heavy industry, would we have been able to keep up with them? a place where labour is so cheap you can pay them in rice? where at that time all the clever money in the Transnational corporations was looking to these places as a way to maximize profits.
The countries that are up and coming would have over taken us the hard way later on, it would have lead to massive job losses as Thatcher caused BUT we would have not had the chance to form a strong service sector so we really would have been screwed...
Two) Sold off council homes, essentially should the Government be there to look after those who are struggling? well yes in a sense but should it not also be the responsibility of society as a whole, in a way where the richest are not throwing in tonnes of money with income tax at 98% (the highest since the war) but also where the middle classes and the poor are not struggling. It is a difficult issue to even consider combating but i will comment merely that should we put such a focus on house prices thereby putting the lowest of the low unable to buy their own home, she enabled those to do this and almost in a sense like the American Dream allowed anyone to aspire to be great.
3) Privatized the Entire Country, Now to try and explain this concept to someone of my generation is immensely difficult that there was at one point in time, that the government controlled companies, now i may not be able to name them all but i will try; Her Majesties Government owned at one point
- British Gas (Gas company)
- British Petroleum (Oil Company and Petrol retailer)
- British Rail ( The entire British Rail network, all the trains, stations, everything.)
- All the Water companies
- All the Electricity companies
- British Telecom (Landline phone services) Before mobile phones were mega popular
- British Steel (Metal Workings and Foundries)
- National Coal Board (all the Coal mines in Britain)
- Pickfords Removals (Home moving company)
- British Leyland ( MASSIVE car manufacture)
“I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it." - Mrs Thatcher
Anyway to return to my point. Industry had no idea what it was doing it was similar to the banks in 2000's they made one silly decision after another but it was ok because the Government would always bail us out. Thatcher changed this, she sold them off to the people of the UK allowing many people to buy Shares, Shares, commoners buying shares that was something people never had been able to do before.
Another huge problem in 1970's (it was the Winter of discontent that propelled her into power in my opinion) Britain was Strikes, in the late 70's on average 30 MILLION days a year were being lost to strike action, something had to be done to keep Britain moving. Thatcher sorted it out and during the 1980's and 1990's days spend in strike tumbled down. The miners’ strike bumped up the figures for the 1980s, although, with an annual average of 7.2m days lost, the trend was improving. But the real breakthrough came in the 1990s, when fewer than 0.7m days were lost on average. is that progress or is it not?
If you're sick of Austerity measures Thatcher was about the complete opposite it was about the boom, making, spending, creating, circulating, MONEY having everything you wanted and keeping up with the Jones' who could not want that?!
Now to summarise the political aspect of this Blog post, You speak of Baroness Thatcher as this great big Dictator, no-one had a gun to your head in the 70's and 80's and made you vote Tory.s Mrs Thatcher won 3 General Elections and never lost a single one. The Labour Government before her really piddled this country up before she went in and sorted things out, there will always be contrasting Views on how this looks but in my opinion her decisions may have been wrong at the time but they sure did end up being right today, if we had carried on as an industrial country we would have been fucked over the Indians and Chinese in the previous two decades. Thatcher did us a favour.
Not to mention how she furthered the feminist cause... Not in what she said but in what she did, becoming the First Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Never backing down to a condescending man, she lived in politics from 1959 right up to 1990... that is a long time to last especially in that era.
She was also classless. In the sense that she was a grocers daughter from up north and aspired to be a Conservative prime minister, i believe that no such prime minister in recent history has ever been that ' of the people'
In summary all together. She was a woman at the end of the day and i think it very rare that someone should have masses of people celebrate when they die, Thatcher in my eyes did nothing wrong, politicians screw up they always have and always well but at least in the long run Lady Thatchers Screw ups worked out really well for Britain.
"we are not simply carried along by the currents of history—we can shape them with moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will."
Barnoness Margaret Hilda Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS
13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013
Rest In Peace.
