commonwealth

i'd say the US is doing better with the stimulus and quantitative easing still in place. no rush to have a surplus. besides the US is not too much into financial services with its more diverse economy and can borrow heaps more money with little worry for ratings downgrade.

the tories are cutting fat too fast the body can barely survive. and it's all about politics really.

moneypenny20

It's not a Tory thing though. Labour and Liberal don't trust the Tories, the Tories and Liberals don't trust Labour and so on. People don't trust politicians regardless of leanings.

I'm honestly gobsmacked that after 21 years people are still blaming Thatcher for the woes of the country. it's total bullshit. She came in and did her job, she got shot of those that were bringing the country down. Yes areas suffered, but as has been said, she didn't really have a choice, she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't. I loathe the woman, well as much as someone can who doesn't know the person, but it's a generation ago and the country has been shafted quite happily by successive governments both before Thatcher and after and to continue harping on about her is dumb.

As for parties when she dies, really? How sad that there are people out there so bitter and twisted about an elderly lady who did nothing more than her job that they wish her dead. Don't expect many to mourn her but to celebrate? That's just sick.

odyssey

I don't wish her dead and admired her for what she did for equal opportunities. But it was cruel and I don't think she did what had to be done. She was like a mild pol pot - sticking to an ideal regardless of who suffered. I think the uk has ended up where it would be regardless overall but for the poorer areas such as wales, we ended up with less and with community divides that needs Ed have been t nhere.
I sound like a revolutionary but perhaps that's the wine and memories of my poor old dad sobbing over an open fire in an oil can and notbhaving any food for months on end and no solution in sight. It would be interesting to know how many of you didn't have food in the 70s? We were quite well off compared to the neighbours actually but I spent my life picking coke from the old furnaces for our fire and thought that was life - being brought up to resent the controlling conservatives. I remember voting conservative at about 20 and my dad driving to reading to talk to me about it .....

Turban Explorer

Galbraiths? I was at Clarksons! Dry freight derivatives..

papilon

Killed Wales really? you mean a few mining valleys in the Rhonda, compare Cardiff today with the Cardiff of the 70's. Wales tends to get hit hard in times of recession but the Wales i see now when i go home is much more prosperous on the whole than the one i saw 30-40 years ago.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

The relative prosperity seen in Wales and other traditionally poorer parts of the UK, have nothing to do with anything that Thatcher's Tories did, its there despite of what they did. The entire country, at least until very recently, is financially better off after 20yrs of growth across almost the entire Western world.

Rambi

The prosperity of SE England compared to the rest of the UK is why we should never get rid of the states in Aus. This is what happens when you have highly centralised government. The region with the most electoral seats wins.

As for the minor's strike. Thatcher was too vicious. However Scargill gets the blame in my book. At the point when a[n] union leader thinks he can take down an elected government the government is within it's rights to stop him. It's a shame he used the minors as his pawns.

odyssey

Everywhere in the world has obviously moved on from the 70s - Cardiff is fab now, I love it - I cant wait for my 3 months there this year

just a few mining valleys in the Rhonda? - where were you living during the strikes then? You surely can't have been in wales and untouched?

jimbo_d

Probably does have a bit to do with the Torie's policy of encouraging business growth in previously industrial areas with favourable tax and grant incentives. Wales is now an aerospace centre of excellence due to this.

sonlymewalter

EXACTLY!

She stopped the cycle of subsidisation, made workers and managers more responsible and accountable and industry work smarter.

Shame the only thing some people remember is she stole their kids milk

ozzieeagle

They managed to do this in other Countries most notably European, with a smigeon of the pain that the revengeful filth, forced the mining communities to go through.

How does shutting down mines make the UK mining industry work smarter ?

sonlymewalter

So constant striking was making the mines profitable? From memory it was cheaper to mine abroad and import? what about the health of the miners? Wasn't exactly a healthy industry and major health claims were on the horizon......

Also other countries wouldn't tolerate the miners strikes, the unnessesary stupidity and silliness from the unions that MT had to deal with. She had to take a tough stance not only on the unions but the lazy, incompetent bosses of industry. Long lunch hours, days on the golf course, jobs for the boys and low GDP were to become (in the main) things of the past.

This must have been one of the hardest things to do as she needed both groups to make these major changes. She couldn't make it happen without hurting the unions, the various industries and their leaders and also the workers. But she had the forsight to see it would eventually work and pay dividends. To do this she needed to kick arse. Someone had to do it and none of the fellas had the balls. She changed the way management operated within business, made people get off their fat arses and work for a living and made it clear unions who took the hard line would lose power. She favoured workers councils and equal opportunities and sponsored equal worker/management rights. She put in to place workplace reforms and laws to create equal responsibilities and accountabilities.

Anyone who stands up to be counted and changes industry for the better, creating accountability and responsibility needs to be thanked for having the balls to do it rather than whinging about the good old days before she made the changes.

They weren't good old days. And the grass was never greener.

papilon

The Shires in the South East

papilon

Rubbish, most of western europe stood still whilst Uk prospered first during tories and later under Tony. But it was the foundation laid by Maggie that lead Tonys labour without it's union constraints to prosper.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...&postcount=152

Odd. That graph seems to show that something went a bit pear shaped for the UK in 1979. I wonder what that could have been?... it also doesn't seem to suggest that "most of western europe stood still" now does it?

I await a blizzard of shitty graphs to explain how I'm a numpty and that the UK is a million times better off as a result of the Conservatives... and not a one of them will make the slightest bit of difference to my opinion of what a great 'success' Thatcher's governments were for the UK.