Thatcher deid

[Broken Algorithms]

Was it not Chancellor Gordon Brown that handed the Bank of England control over monetary policy or did I make that up?

You're correct on that one. It will be interesting to see Browns legacy over time. He'll certainly not be seen in the same light as Thatcher.

[cyderspaceman]

"mourning" has been mentioned several times,"Mourning" is just feeling sorry for yourself because you have lost a loved one. I shall not be for mourning in this instance.

[capybara]

Well for what it is worth here are my thoughts. I was old enough to remember Thatcher, 79 was the first election i voted in. There were plenty of warnings on what may happen. . Even Ted Heath had her in the cabinet as a token women.

I remember the 70,s as a time of strikes of power cuts. It was the norm. Thatcher made it her business to target the unions. She also went after the old industries and their working practices. She did not see the harm that closing pits and industries down, and not replacing them. It seems that you can spend billions proping up banks but not millions saving a coall or steel industry. We now import these goods.

Mind you Scargill made it easy for her, he dived head long into a strike without a solid mandate and split the miners union. Game over. Once that battle was won she was unstoppable. Everybody was fair game. Tory , Labour , Nationalist. European.

I remember her coming to Scotland and preaching to the Curch of Scotland. No such thing as Society. She never understood Scotland , she could not understand why we did not embrace the full fury of Thatcherism. We bought our council houses etc but we never fell in love with the concept. The poll tax was her biggest mistake and although the Tories were aware the damage it was and would do, there was no u turn. She grew more and more presedential in the roll, nobody would lay a finger on her. We sent 50 odd Labour MP,s to the commons and Thatcher rolled over them as well. But did she sow the seeds for another go at Devo? We waited for the wealth to trickle down and it never came. The rich got richer and tight working communities were cast aside. We were offered jobs in the new service industries. Low wages poor conditions , little union cover.

The rest is historty. And the Tories are all but history in Scotland. Even after all these years her party in Scotland is not trusted. Will that ever change? I dont think so, ironically it is the Devolved Parliament she was so against that gives them a voice in Scottish Parlaiment.

[WaffenThinMint]

Let us not forget that if we had a 'Thatcher free world' in the 80s, chances are, we'd all have been nuked. Ronald Reagan, for all his cuddly, doddery persona was a dangerous figurehead of the USA. Can you imagine Cameron trying to stand up to him and the Ruskies during the Cold War? *shudder*.

Nuclear war was a very real prospect at the time, it's staggering how many people simply forget this.

Thatcher didn't exactly stand up to Reagan over Grenada - a matter which caused us enormous damage with the rest of the Commonwealth - or with using British aircraft bases to attack Libya from when there was already the US 6th Fleet offshore (in the hope any terrorist retaliation would be on British soil - not American).

The Falklands effect that left Reagan punchdrunk for a while had worn off by 1986 & she was back to being a Yankee poodle dandy. It was the Russians that built Maggie up as "someone we can do business with" for tactical reasons - the KGB head of the time Yuri Andropov (later Soviet leader) knew from reports they were getting how much of a nutter Reagan was (in particular his obsession with End Times biblical theory) & that cultivating Thatcher as someone he'd listen to made good sense. It was also partly playing to the Russian people: the Kremlin misjudged badly their own people's reaction to the Falklands crisis, who saw it as their old allies smashing fascists again just like the good old days, & got on the wrong side of public opinion in initially backing Argentina.

The film "The Day After" did more to get into Reagan's thick skull the consequence of a nuclear war (it was specifically made with Reagan in mind) than anything we or anyone else ever did.

Edited April 9, 2013 by WaffenThinMint

[kirkyblue2]

Been posted?

Whose square, George Square.

Titter

[lanky_ffc]

The Daily Mail is absolutely seething - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306165/Margaret-Thatcher-death-parties-The-Lefts-sick-celebration-Brixtons-streets.html

[GordieBoy80]

The Daily Mail is absolutely seething - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306165/Margaret-Thatcher-death-parties-The-Lefts-sick-celebration-Brixtons-streets.html

It's hilarious how seething they are. You'd think immigrants were stealing our wheelie bins

[capybara]

Thatcher didn't exactly stand up to Reagan over Grenada - a matter which caused us enormous damage with the rest of the Commonwealth - or with using British aircraft bases to attack Libya from when there was already the US 6th Fleet offshore (in the hope any terrorist retaliation would be on British soil - not American).

The Falklands effect that left Reagan punchdrunk for a while had worn off by 1986 & she was back to being a Yankee poodle dandy. It was the Russians that built Maggie up as "someone we can do business with" for tactical reasons - the KGB head of the time Yuri Andropov (later Soviet leader) knew from reports they were getting how much of a nutter Reagan was (in particular his obsession with End Times biblical theory) & that cultivating Thatcher as someone he'd listen to made good sense. It was also partly playing to the Russian people: the Kremlin misjudged badly their own people's reaction to the Falklands crisis, who saw it as their old allies smashing fascists again just like the good old days, & got on the wrong side of public opinion in initially backing Argentina.

The film "The Day After" did more to get into Reagan's thick skull the consequence of a nuclear war (it was specifically made with Reagan in mind) than anything we or anyone else ever did.

It is interesting that there are plenty of Americans on the radio singing her praises. I heard one say that they had won the cold war without a shot being fired. So what was Angola , Vietnam, Korea etc all about. The cold war cost millions of lives, but the protagonists fought it as far away from Europe as they could.

[Scary Bear]

Has she formed a newco yet?

[wunfellaff]

I have no feeling towards her death, I was 5 when she left number 10 and I have chosen never to research why do many people loathed her (due to the fact I have no interest in politics both at home or abroad). I find the feelings about her from both sides both compelling and amusing, some of the reactions yesterday were hilarious, there were folk on the verge of tears, and folk throwing street parties. Has there ever been a politician that has divided opinion so much as her?

At a guess, Cromwell and Churchill ...

[lanky_ffc]

That Frankie Boyle tweet about the horcruxes is a belter.

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

Reynard's on suicide watch IMO.

[Jacksgranda]

Well for what it is worth here are my thoughts. I was old enough to remember Thatcher, 79 was the first election i voted in. There were plenty of warnings on what may happen. . Even Ted Heath had her in the cabinet as a token women.

I remember the 70,s as a time of strikes of power cuts. It was the norm. Thatcher made it her business to target the unions. She also went after the old industries and their working practices. She did not see the harm that closing pits and industries down, and not replacing them. It seems that you can spend billions proping up banks but not millions saving a coall or steel industry. We now import these goods.

Mind you Scargill made it easy for her, he dived head long into a strike without a solid mandate and split the miners union. Game over. Once that battle was won she was unstoppable. Everybody was fair game. Tory , Labour , Nationalist. European.

I remember her coming to Scotland and preaching to the Curch of Scotland. No such thing as Society. She never understood Scotland , she could not understand why we did not embrace the full fury of Thatcherism. We bought our council houses etc but we never fell in love with the concept. The poll tax was her biggest mistake and although the Tories were aware the damage it was and would do, there was no u turn. She grew more and more presedential in the roll, nobody would lay a finger on her. We sent 50 odd Labour MP,s to the commons and Thatcher rolled over them as well. But did she sow the seeds for another go at Devo? We waited for the wealth to trickle down and it never came. The rich got richer and tight working communities were cast aside. We were offered jobs in the new service industries. Low wages poor conditions , little union cover.

The rest is historty. And the Tories are all but history in Scotland. Even after all these years her party in Scotland is not trusted. Will that ever change? I dont think so, ironically it is the Devolved Parliament she was so against that gives them a voice in Scottish Parlaiment.

I agree with a lot of that post, but I've run out of greenies.

The celebrations over the death of Margaret Thatcher leave me as cold as the grieving over the death of Princess Diana. So that's my tuppence worth.

[Jacksgranda]

It is interesting that there are plenty of Americans on the radio singing her praises. I heard one say that they had won the cold war without a shot being fired. So what was Angola , Vietnam, Korea etc all about. The cold war cost millions of lives, but the protagonists fought it as far away from Europe as they could.

Sensible option for them (the protagonists), surely.

[WaffenThinMint]

That Frankie Boyle tweet about the horcruxes is a belter.

He's playing a blinder just now: "Thatcher is the reason that the tweets saying you shouldn't joke about her death are riddled with spelling mistakes."

[Mr. Brightside]

So did we clarify if it was okay to celebrate the death of any human?

[Cliche Guevara]

Anyone that celebrates the death of an old lady is a bit weird IMO. Probably the same type that celebrated as O'Donnell took his last breaths on the pitch and sing the Tommy Burns skeleton song. Maybe even got a twinge of happiness at the Iain Banks news last week. Sad sad people.

Fair enough folk didn't like her policies or whatever but actively going on the internet to post celebratory messages is a bit odd.

Probably not actually.

[Ayrforce1]

Big trend on twitter http://redmolucca.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/tramp-the-dirt-down/

[Ayrforce1]

That isn't a "big trend on Twitter", that is you Paul trying to plug your blog & get some easy hit counts

It's GG's blog you fool and it is trending big on twitter right now.

[WaffenThinMint]

It's GG's blog you fool and it is trending big on twitter right now.

I stand corrected, you were the one however that posted the link to his BLOG not his TWITTER.

https://twitter.com/georgegalloway

Completely different platforms.

He's talking bollocks about Linwood, btw. It was destroyed by the machinations of John Carty & his thugs on the factory floor, & by the French offering the exasperated Renault-Talbot two shiny new factories so they could take jobs back to France. Nothing to do with Thatcher that time. But as ever why should Tiddles allow facts to get in the way of blatant opportunism.

Like Thatcher, he's another one whose death will be the cause of wild celebrations - an odious creature.