Maggie Thatcher dead - Mega merge thread

Trine

Anynama141 wrote: »

I think the point is that the people crowing here who weren't around at the time have no idea of the context that she was operating in..

Rubbish. You don't need to have lived through the reign of somebody like Maggy Thatcher to be able to appreciate the hatred she generated for herself, as is the case with many leaders through history that none of us were alive to witness first hand.

You also don't need to have been alive during her rule to have a valid opinion on her.

Sergeant

An absolute monumental and towering figure in late 20th century politics. A great believer in the power of the free market - she made London an economic powerhouse of the world economy. Tore apart many of the vested interests in the unions (but never touched the NHS).

Stood up to the usual shower of terrorists. Can't say I was a huge fan of all her foreign policy, but nothing is that black and white, especially when the Cold War was still ongoing. Pinochet gets bandied about as a name, but I suppose South American dictators are only the subject of criticism if they were right-wing.

ilovesleep

What we need is someone like Maggie Thatcher here in this country. She would introduce a lot of changes and no doubt many won't like the changes but one thing is that the changes would be fair. Or as fair as possible. The deficit would close dramatically with her in power.

What we see here in Ireland is a power and a politicial class, leeching off the rest of the country, keeping themselves safe and stable, while they dish out austerity for the rest of us, while they dish out patronising bullsh1t like 'well 82% of country can afford a sky package, so ye can clearly pay up more in taxes'.

RIP Maggie

sfwcork

Party in liverpool tonight

toomevara

mariaalice wrote: »

Its too soon to judge her legacy come back in a 100 years and she how history judges her.

Live in the North of England like I do and her poisonous 'legacy' is everywhere to be seen, every day. No loss.

Duggys Housemate

April O Neill wrote: »

She was working-class, or maybe lower-middle herself. She got into Oxbridge on a scholarship. If anything, she represents meritocracy and social mobility.

If you don't understand the chasm between the British working classes and the lower middle classes .....

starlings

Read this at school when she was still in office.

Death the Leveller, James Shirley, 1596-1666

THE glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon Death's purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.

Benny_Cake

I disagree with just about everything that she stood for and I'm not going to start praising her now. But it's a little sad,pathetic even, to see people celebrating the death of an elderly woman who hasn't held a position of power for nearly 23 years.

Anynama141

Trine wrote: »

Rubbish. You don't need to have lived through the reign of somebody like Maggy Thatcher to be able to appreciate the hatred she generated for herself, as is the case with many leaders through history that none of us were alive to witness first hand.

You also don't need to have been alive during her rule to have a valid opinion on her.

Good point - you don't need to understand something to property hate it.

Duggys Housemate

ilovesleep wrote: »

What we need is someone like Maggie Thatcher here in this country. She would introduce a lot of changes and no doubt many won't like the changes but one thing is that the changes would be fair. Or as fair as possible. The deficit would close dramatically with her in power.

What we see here in Ireland is a power and a politicial class, leeching off the rest of the country, keeping themselves safe and stable, while they dish out austerity for the rest of us, while they dish out patronising bullsh1t like 'well 82% of country can afford a sky package, so ye can clearly pay up more in taxes'.

RIP Maggie

Lol

She introduced a poll tax.

Frankie Lee

http://www.newstatesman.com/node/137397

Her support of Pol Pot was her worse crime, Pinochet and Jimmy Savile were peanuts in comparison.

Celly Smunt

Dotsey wrote: »

no chance of that in a city like Manchester or Liverpool, there would be as much hatred there as you would find in Belfast West

I was thinking more...

Thrill

Baroness Thatcher will receive a ceremonial funeral with military honours at St Paul's Cathedral

dark crystal

April O Neill wrote: »

She was working-class, or maybe lower-middle herself. She got into Oxbridge on a scholarship. If anything, she represents meritocracy and social mobility.

My parents moved to from Ireland to England when I was very young and always praised Thatcher for bringing in the legislation which allowed them to buy their council house. They worked hard and achieved the success in the UK they couldn't have achieved over here at the time.

TheLastMohican

guttenberg wrote: »

Sorry for her family, but I can't imagine history being too kind on her life. I can imagine all the miners lining up to dig her grave for free!

Up until recently both Mark and Carol seldom visited her. And she became an embarrassment to the Tory grandees. Spewing self righteous bilge.

ilovesleep

Trine wrote: »

Rubbish. You don't need to have lived through the reign of somebody like Maggy Thatcher to be able to appreciate the hatred she generated for herself, as is the case with many leaders through history that none of us were alive to witness first hand.

You also don't need to have been alive during her rule to have a valid opinion on her.

The uk was in the pits financially in the 70s and they needed help from the imf and Maggie came in and introduced measures to help out.

Fratton Fred

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

A proper non class war reaction would be to modernise them. Britain still has huge reserves of coal.

Reforming the coal industry had been tried many times, it had been brought down a labour government.

The NUM resisted any and all attempts at modernisation and the only way to take them on was head to head.

You could argue the cuts went too far, but no one is rushing to reopen the pits that closed,

April O Neill

Anynama141 wrote: »

She did pull the UK out of what looked like a death spiral - which is not to say that her policies were easy or popular. I don't think people realise what a disaster that place had become by the 70s. The IMF had to bail them out in '76.

Exactly.

Lollipops23

Don't forget she also refused to waive the VAT on Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Xmas" until she was shamed into it.

P_1

Will be interesting to see what if any media coverage will be given to the celebrations that are more than likely to break out in the North of England over the next few days

Anynama141

TheLastMohican wrote: »

Up until recently both Mark and Carol seldom visited her. And she became an embarrassment to the Tory grandees. Spewing self righteous bilge.

She had Alzheimer's disease. It's not associated with clear thinking.

TheLastMohican

dark crystal wrote: »

My parents moved to from Ireland to England when I was very young and always praised Thatcher for bringing in the legislation which allowed them to buy their council house. They worked hard and achieved the success in the UK they couldn't have achieved over here at the time.

By doing this, she bought the votes of these former Council House tenants. She bought the votes with tax payers money.

kingtiger

ilovesleep wrote: »

What we need is someone like Maggie Thatcher here in this country. She would introduce a lot of changes and no doubt many won't like the changes but one thing is that the changes would be fair. Or as fair as possible. The deficit would close dramatically with her in power.

What we see here in Ireland is a power and a politicial class, leeching off the rest of the country, keeping themselves safe and stable, while they dish out austerity for the rest of us, while they dish out patronising bullsh1t like 'well 82% of country can afford a sky package, so ye can clearly pay up more in taxes'.

RIP Maggie

lol

do you know anything about Thatcher?

she basically bloody sold the country to her rich and powerful mates, her policy's led to the housing bubble crash of the late 80ies in the UK leading to a depression, sound familiar?

GRMA

32 years exactly today since Bobby Sands got elected.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children"

We're having a good laugh now

April O Neill

I feel a bit sad strangely. It's the end of an era.

My name is URL

Benny_Cake wrote: »

I disagree with just about everything that she stood for and I'm not going to start praising her now. But it's a little sad,pathetic even, to see people celebrating the death of an elderly woman who hasn't held a position of power for nearly 23 years.

It's not really surprising though... I can hardly think of another politician who generated such polarised views.

I agree with you about the celebration of her (or any) death though.. it just seems childish and ill-considered.

Pudders

Anynama141 wrote: »

She had Alzheimer's disease. It's not associated with clear thinking.

Neither is supporting dictators.

Anynama141

GRMA wrote: »

32 years exactly today since Bobby Sands got elected.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children"

We're having a good laugh now

Northern Ireland is still part of the UK. Laugh on.

artanevilla

Champagne! Champagne for everyone!

rainbowdash

I think people are being a bit harsh on her, her greatest achievement was her contribution to inventing whipped ice cream, which is what I will remember her for.


One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of soft ice cream (like Mr Whippy uses!). A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member) discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream, which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, thereby reducing costs. This ice cream was also very popular amongst consumers who preferred the lighter texture, and most major ice cream brands now use this manufacturing process. It also made possible the soft ice cream machine in which a cone is filled beneath a spigot on order.

Sergeant

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Don't forget she also refused to waive the VAT on Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Xmas" until she was shamed into it.

And she shouldn't have. The whole thing was an exercise in self-righteousness by washed-up 80's rock stars. It made about 1% of fúck all difference to Africa, but ensured we've had to deal with Bob Geldof speaking out his nose for the next 30 years.

I Heart Internet

Some disgusting comments about another human being to be found on this thread.

(as well as some very fair criticism of her)

Anynama141

Pudders wrote: »

Neither is supporting dictators.

Do you think Bill Clinton didn't support any dictators?

Do you think people will be speaking like this about him when he dies?

awec

GRMA wrote: »

32 years exactly today since Bobby Sands got elected.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children"

We're having a good laugh now

Hypocrite.

Burky126

Thought this might be relevant folks....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056881733

thecommietommy

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I dont lol at opinions, only that comments like the witch is dead are just juvenile band wagon jumping statements.

The typical after hours poster is very quick to jump on the trade unions when they hold the country to ransom, yet here we have the death of a woman who took on the trade unions (who were ten times more militant than in Ireland today) and brought them back in to the realms of reasonableness.

I remember the hardship her policies brought on people and her stance over issues like south Africa etc and will never look on her with fondness, but I also remember having a stock of candles for when the power stations ran out of coal.

She did a lot of very difficult things at a time when they needed to be done. That will always be her legacy.

Ah yes the great Thatcher who fearlessly sent out the Royal Marines to retake the little craggy islands in the south Atlantic and let's ignore her murdering 323 people on the Belgrano in the process, what a hero. No sending out the Royal Marines to take on the US Marines a year later when America invaded Grenada though

GRMA

awec wrote: »

Hypocrite.

Go book your flights to the funeral and order some tissues, the likes of you will be weeping no doubt

enda1

A fantastic leader for the UK and brought the country kicking and screaming into the 20th century.
Ironically had more balls than any of her peers of the time too.

Madam_X

Sergeant wrote: »

Pinochet gets bandied about as a name, but I suppose South American dictators are only the subject of criticism if they were right-wing.

He was responsible for horrific atrocities. Whether there is more of a focus on right-wing South American dictators than left-wing, doesn't change that.

Sergeant

thecommietommy wrote: »

Ah yes the great Thatcher who fearlessly sent out the Royal Marines to retake the little craggy islands in the south Atlantic and let's ignore her murdering 323 people on the Belgrano in the process, what a hero. No sending out the Royal Marines to take on the US Marines a year later when America invaded Grenada though

Maggie Thatcher murdered 323 people? Here was me thinking the Belgrano was sunk during an act of War when the Argies invaded a British overseas territory.

:eek:

awec

GRMA wrote: »

Go book your flights to the funeral and order some tissues, the likes of you will be weeping no doubt

I ain't weeping, I didn't know the woman.

I have a shred of decency about me though.

gallag

GRMA wrote: »

32 years exactly today since Bobby Sands got elected.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children"

We're having a good laugh now

No laughter from the dead children, thankfully Thatcher stood up to the ira terrorists.

balls deep

RIP Iron Man

ch750536

The bitch aint dead till you drive a wooden stake through her heart and shoot her with a silver bullet.

Sergeant

Madam_X wrote: »

He was responsible for horrific atrocities. Whether there is more of a focus on right-wing South American dictators than left-wing, doesn't change that.

You completely missed my point.

thecommietommy

Anynama141 wrote: »

Northern Ireland is still part of the UK. Laugh on.

SF/IRA are running the statelet and Gerry is in the Dail !!!! One of those invovled in the Brighton operation Martina Anderson from Derry is now a Euro MEP !!!!

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

jam_mac_jam

gallag wrote: »

No laughter from the dead children, thankfully Thatcher stood up to the ira terrorists.

What dead children, what are you even talking about?

Fratton Fred

thecommietommy wrote: »

Ah yes the great Thatcher who fearlessly sent out the Royal Marines to retake the little craggy islands in the south Atlantic and let's ignore her murdering 323 people on the Belgrano in the process, what a hero. No sending out the Royal Marines to take on the US Marines a year later when America invaded Grenada though

Lol, troll fail.

Simon Gruber Says

How long before the IRA claims responsibility for this

thecommietommy

thecommietommy wrote: »

Ah yes the great Thatcher who fearlessly sent out the Royal Marines to retake the little craggy islands in the south Atlantic and let's ignore her murdering 323 people on the Belgrano in the process, what a hero. No sending out the Royal Marines to take on the US Marines a year later when America invaded Grenada though

The difference being that the Falklands are British soveriegn territory who's duty it was hers' to defend, and Grenada is an associate state.