Re: Thatcher dies
 

With all the benefit cuts coming in this week - hand in hand with tax cuts for the mega rich, of course - sadly, her spirit is alive and well.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Maybe way back when they should have let Arthur Scargill and his ilk run the show. I wonder where that might have led ? ;)

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I am not debating her policies, simply what you said. After she did "What she did to the North East" her party secured a large majority in the House of Commons. Hardly proof that only those in the south east supported her.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

In Hindsight - people who voted for, now realise the damage her government did to this country.

I am talking now, not then. Historical her record is damaging ! Like Blair's will be ! But at least Thatcher had balls!

Also through political history the South east has always kept the tories strong !

Re: Thatcher dies
 

So now you know why Northerners have a dislike for the southern pansy shandy drinkers then :rofl: Oh and crap football teams.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Remarkable Lady, RIP Baroness.

"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. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Best tweet I have seen "Looking forward to hearing about who found all the horcruxes".

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Callous indifference, that sums her us well.

I feel sorry for St Peter.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

So is somebody going to say this is what happens when you let a woman out of the kitchen :eek:

Re: Thatcher dies
 

OK so here is the Twitter response to Harry from One Direction tweet about Thatchers' death. Made me laugh !

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Me neither.....WOW.....I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later though
Stef

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Like she cared the absolute misery she heaped on the Northern mining communities. I stood on many picket lines at Wapping in the 80's and had my rights removed one by one by that person. I dont celebrate her death cos ive long got over her.

I just heard though that she's already shut down 4 furnaces in Hell.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I too also stood on the picket lines in South Yorkshire but I wasnt throwing bricks, bottles and other assorted crap at the miners.
So looking back do you think the coal mines would have survived if she left them open and at what cost to the UK taxpayer?

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Its not about whether they would of stayed open it was her haste to shut them and not caring at all about entire towns going to the wall that makes her quite evil. What cost to the taxpaxer? God forbid we should try and look after our own. I used to earn 63 quid a week on Fleet St as a kid, (we werent all on big money) and gave would give a fiver to the miners out of that.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

In spades...dragged the UK back from the brink of been dictated to and virtually governed by the Trade Unions....:amen:

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An ex PC from Yorkshire told me he bought all new kitchen appliances on his overtime from the picket lines. I suppose the taxpayer didn't pay for them.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Yes the taxpayer did pay for them as part of his OT payments the same way I paid some of my bills off. Do you honestly believe that the police wanted to do this? They were forced to do this because of the potential for the violence due to the strike.
Looking back if she had sent the troops in to help curtail the violence do you think the miners would have given the Parachute Regiment or the Scottish Regiments as much grief on the picket lines.
There again she could have just let them go at each other with no police or army intervention I wonder what the results would have been;)

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Thatcher's use of the police force as a political enforcement agency was also amply demonstrated at the Battle of the Beanfield 1984 :(

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I'll ask this again.

What's better for a country paying someone to mine at a loss (create resources) or paying someone to sit at home doing nothing?

I know in the ideal scenario that we can sell our mines/manufacturing plants and the people can get jobs elsewhere.

The trouble is in reality there wasn't anywhere for a lot of the workers to go to, and therefore they couldn't get a job elsewhere. Maybe if she had developed a good strategy to close the areas overtime and perhaps introduce new privatised businesses into the local areas to help ease the transistion things would have been better but she didn't.

To me she is without a doubt the most notable PM Britain has ever had but I personally feel much like some others on here that it was her policies that crippled the countries future prospects. I unlike the others don't hate her though, she was in charge during one of the worst times in Britains recent history at the time, people often forget about this.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Potential for violence.... potential...

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Personally, I greatly admire Mrs Thatcher. She was, after all voted in 3 times! she broke the back of unionisation and she was ballsy enough to fight for the Falklands! I know it depends on which side of the fence you sit but she did her job well (apart from the poll tax!) RIP Mrs T xx

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Are you kidding FL?

They made a fortune! Their job included hours of sitting on their arses in big coaches doing nothing being paid OT.

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Why? we are only supposed to have 3 score years and 10!

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:thumbup: now that was a monster!

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Yup pretty much the same as the potential for violence at tonights Utd/City game or when Spurs play Arsenal or West Ham play Millwall.
How many coppers will be paid overtime at these games and yes the taxpayers are paying for it.
Oh look the EDL are having a march better get some coppers in on overtime just in case there is trouble.
A coopers life is not always a happy one and Im sure hundreds of them would prefer to swap places with you in these situations.

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A cooper's life is usually a barrel of laughs.

Sorry.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

And whose fault is that? Not the Polices. Sure the OT was paid and I know some who made decent money but believe me when they surged forward at places like Cortonwood and started lobbing all sorts at the Police believe me it was not a nice scenario. Yes there were some pretty violent clashes with injuries on both sides. So who would you sooner have had separating the miners the Police the Army or nobody just let them go at each other then.
We saw what it did to families pitted brother against brother because some chose to work and refused to join the picket lines.
BTW if you were a copper would you have taken the OT;)

Re: Thatcher dies
 

The police aren't conscripts so trying to drum up sympathy for them doing a job they are paid well for isn't going to wash with me. The police were used as a political tool by Thatcher, that didn't bother you?

Thatcher reneged on a previous agreement to increase productivity in the mines by closing them down wholesale, whole communities were affected-disastrously.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I'm a little lost today. Where am I going to direct my ire now when I see injustice in the the world? :(

Re: Thatcher dies
 

So the question is.....How do you define a great leader? leaders, whoever they are a one in a party of people and as such do not have sole responsibility for decisions however good of ill founded. look at all the parties and their leaders....as far as I am concerned, they do a service, some good things, some not so good, but most of them are only in office to feather their own nests, and very well they seem to do so.

We have to remember that we are all human and could any of us...hand on heart......say that we could do a better job. To Err is human.

As for Maggie Thatcher, I for one am saddened by her passing in the same way as I would be to hear of anyone in public office or celebrity passing.

we all follow their story in the media and are intrigued by it, but we never know the person behind the facade. One has to be brave to put oneself out there for public Scruitiny, support, ridicule or condemnation.

The people who do that are called leaders and the rest followers.......whatever their calling.

These are my opinions, for what they are worth.
Stef

Re: Thatcher dies
 

No they are not conscripts and some would argue not paid well given the nature of their job.
Everybody knew there was going to be violence due to both the Govts and miners position. Neither were going to back down.
So in view of this what should have been done send in a bunch of teachers, nurses or bankers to separate them?
Where we used as a political tool then that can be argued the same as sending soldiers into Northern Ireland in 1969.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

The Policing of football games is not met entirely from the public purse, the clubs have to contribute to all security at matches.
Stef

Re: Thatcher dies
 

In 1979, Britain's future prospect was a rapid transition to third-world status, and she delayed that for a couple of decades. You know your country is in trouble when even Idi Amin is offering to send you aid.

I strongly suspect her election was largely down to the Boomers realising that if they continued down the path their parents had chosen, they'd soon be living in a colder, wetter Zimbabwe. By the time the British people decided to 'vote the bastards out' in 1997, the economy was in a better state than it had been for decades.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I think we should all agree that something had to be about the trade unions, but killing the industries at the same time I feel was the wrong approach, yet the unions were subdued, but with the entire industry killed in the process made the act rather pointless
For the others that many refer to costing the country a fortune, how then did mere privatisation suddenly make them profitable , other than possibly changing the financial rewards & motivation the bosses that had run them in the past (rich getter richer)
But I don’t think they will be her long time legacy, between Margaret and Ronald they lead the deregulation of the banking sector, something we’ve started too see as a big global mistake!
That I think will be one of the things that will put Thatcherism and Regonomics in histories list of big mistakes
And as many point out see was voted in for several terms, but don’t forget if it wasn’t for the Falkland’s she was nearly throw out of office by her own party in her first term, and also asked to leave by the party in the end too

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I know from experience, as an ex copper myself, some of my jobs were far from a barrel of laughs, dealing with murders, blood, assaults, stabbings, suicides, child abuse, car crashes.......if that would be deemed a barrel of laughs you would need to seek therapy
Stef

Re: Thatcher dies
 

It was a play on words. FL mis-typed "Cooper" rather than "Copper". Traditionally coopers made barrels.

I certainly wasn't suggesting that the police have it easy.

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Correct as the Police and Govt basically made them contribute. Now when the EDL, National Front or other groups hold marches who pays the OT?
When you have any major event be it a concert, March, Royal Wedding there is always going to be extra costs for Policing.
Standing between 2 sets of rival fans is no holiday and many coppers have been hurt WHY because those louts are just hell bent on causing trouble.
Most coppers have families as well you really think they enjoy all the aggro that goes along with their job regardless of how well or underpaid they are.
Sure someone has to do their job so be thankful there are those willing to do it.
And Im under no illusion that all coppers are saints either.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Okay....my hackles have gone down again
Stef

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I think its the cart and the horse argument here. Most plods need the therapy before they enter the force.

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I am sure that there have been times for both of us that we felt that no amount of money could compensate us for the horrors we have seen and had to deal with.

Most Police Officers do the job without a thought for their own safety believing that they are making a difference keeping the public safer.
stef