Celsius

Your kind of pinup, eh?



Celsius

fatbrit

She made the trains run on time!

Ray

She got rid of the psuedo commies like scargill and red robbo ....

gruffbrown

Damn...... I was ready to cheer

Elvira

not to mention the fact that she nearly brought the NHS down to its knees.

13 years after her downfall the country is still trying to put right the damage she caused!

Ray

well anything was better than in the labor gov of 1979
Remember the winter of discontent ...

gruffbrown

When she dies I may drink a toast with a bottle of free milk

kevntrace

She polarized the country. A lot of people loved her, and a lot loathed her.

She was in power during my school years, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to politics at that point (still don't pay that much attention now ).

I would say on balance she was probably responsible for the modernization of the UK. Privatising a bunch of government run industries was probably the right thing to do in hindsight - but it was a painful process.

Her modernization of the financial services industry has indirectly cost me. I was one of the mugs who went for an endowment policy (which could be used as collateral for a mortgage). However this too has taught me a valuable lesson - to look after my own investments and not blindly hand them over to some "expert" investment company.

I'm a great believer in a balance. I believe in an environment where entrepreneurs should have the freedom to set up and run businesses. I also believe in unions, which look out for the rights of workers from overzealous businesses. But if the balance swings too far in favour of either side, you're asking for trouble.

I also believe in a system of government that provides a safety net. The UK has done a remarkable job with this in terms of the welfare state and the NHS in my opinion. There are always going to be those in society that, through no fault of their own, cannot be regular contributors (I'm thinking mentally handicapped, physically handicapped etc) and we as a society have a duty to provide for them. However, there are always going to be those that abuse such systems, and they need to be stopped.

Of course now I live and work in the US, where there is hardly any safety net and I can be fired from my job with no notice ("at will" they call it) and there is no union to speak of in my profession.

I do find the US a bit of an oxymoron - they are much more geared toward the entrepreneurial spirit than the UK, but then you have something like the auto workers unions, which seem to wield an awful lot of control over that industry.

Pigtails

[QUOTE=kevntrace]

Of course now I live and work in the US, where there is hardly any safety net and I can be fired from my job with no notice ("at will" they call it) and there is no union to speak of in my profession.

QUOTE]

You can't be fired without notice in the UK?

anotherlimey

You'll have to remind me of that one ... old man.

kevntrace

I don't believe so, unless the company goes out of business (e.g. Rover Group)

[QUOTE=Pigtails]

Elvira

[QUOTE=Pigtails]
Not unless you do something that contravenes your contract. Even then it is not straightforward, but has to be preceded by verbal warnings, written warnings etc.

Workers can be made redundant, i.e. if their jobs are abolished (viz Rover), but this is not the same as being sacked, i.e. you would get a severance package/redundancy pay.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK this is similar in all EU countries.

snowbunny

She sold the trains for tuppence to her cronies.

anotherlimey

I think its even more strict in some European countries.

Most contracts that our company uses include a gross misconduct clause which allows them to fire you without warning if you do something really wrong; other than that I think its 2 verbal warnings, 1 written [final] warning and then you get fired.

fatbrit

Yep -- don't think she liked the railways much. But I believe it was actually threepence halpenny she got for it after clouting them with her handbag.