Re: Thatcher dies
 

Was the other part about Mark being an illegal arms trader?

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Or this taken from public record
Thatcher pleaded guilty in January 2005 to breaking anti-mercenary legislation in South Africa by investing in an aircraft "without taking proper investigations into what it would be used for", admitting in court that he had paid the money, but said he was under the impression it was to be invested in an air ambulance service to help impoverished Africans. The judge rejected this explanation and Thatcher was fined R3,000,000 rand and received a four-year suspended jail sentence.[12]

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Yeah it was. So which part was libellous?

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Has this been posted yet?

http://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/

Re: Thatcher dies
 

But the first six months you were waiting for them to be invented.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Do we get a day off for her funeral?

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Id prefer it to be a Stat Holiday and Im working that day;)

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I agree with your middle para, however, it is 23 years since she was PM.

The railways were privatised after she was PM. The vast majority of the mines were shut after she was PM. The miners union had previously caused the collapse of a government - Mrs T was always transparent in her intent that wouldn't happen again. Far more people voted for her party over 3 elections than voted for the last two labour governments. Even more voted for John Major.

There has been plenty of opportunity to reverse the decisions she took if the will had been there...........

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I'll go on strike if we don't get a national holiday for this. I think she would have approved.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

The disappointing thing is that ATOS has just said she is fit to return to work.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

I think you'll find most were shut before she was PM. Coal had been in decline for decades, but no-one complains about earlier post-WWII governments closing mines and laying off hundreds of thousands of miners. It's all Thatcher's fault.

Besides, coal causes Global Warming, so closing the mines was clearly an example of her forward thinking on the environment.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Except her friends in the media - knighthood for the editor of The Sun FFS - were always frightening people about the red menace, the enemy within etc to the extent that many people seriously believed that the alternative involved handing power over to The Kremlin.

I remember reports about a Scargill speech receiving "soviet style" applause from the clapping audience. :blink:

Rubbish like this, pictures of Tony Benn looking mad, talk of bogeymen "seizing power" (by winning a vote, just like Thatcher) was so common that enough people to make a difference took it all on board.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

But no new regulations were put in place, no changes to senior management, just a share issue and non profitable funded by the government, none existent profits supposedly returned to the government organisztion/industry, became profitable and dividends were paid to both the new share holders, whilst the top management now got share options..
The same people were running the show.. before and after.. no change at the working level
It was only when they could rake off some profit for themselves that these industries made a profit

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Yet another reason to mourn her passing with a national holiday.

What people forget about Maggie is that not only was she a great politician but a great character actress too. I'll never forget her portrayal of Zelda in Terrahawks.

Re: Thatcher dies
 

Certainly coal mining had been declining for decades before the strike. The proposed closures that prompted the strike were actually fairly modest - the bulk of the closures occured 10 years or so later. The strategy had been leaked some years previously........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Plan