She gave the services a large pay rise so that explains the Maggie loving theme of this thread, i suppose it also explains her legacy of the im alright jack culture we have now, i gained by her Right To Buy policy but to claim she was good for this country would make me a liar.

She rescued me from the iron grip of Militant Tendency and the Closed Shop and if that was all she had ever done for Britain it would have been enough.

Upon de-mob I began work at Big Airways at Thiefrow and, as there was a closed shop in force, I was interviewed first by the EETPU Senior Steward to make sure I was eligible for employment. The first job I was given was to change a B747 landing lamp. Next thing I knew I was on the carpet in the Union Office being harangued by an AUEW Convenor because I, as a mere electrician and member of the EETPU had dared to remove the glass cover - which was an AUEW airframe job.

No wonder we lost our industrial heritage, yet there are those who even blame Maggie for that. :rolleyes:

I lived outside of the UK until her last year in Office, when I transferred to the RAF.

My first trip to the UK 10 years before as a 18 year old confirmed the impression that many in the Commonwealth had of 'Poverty Rock' - where Soviet-influenced unions held sway over archaic industrial relations (epitomising the 'Im alright Jack' attitude) of industry producing poor quality products (eg cars that were poorly designed, poorly built and ran rough...ever tried to set a smooth idle on a British built car engine from the 1970s?).

Housing for the vast majority of the population was grim, unimproved Victorian terraces (look at the risible percentage of houses with indoor plumbing in the 1970s) or equally grim High-rise dystopic monuments to upper-middle class-inspired social engineering.

Everyone in the UK, to my eyes in 1980, had poor teeth (think 'Austin Powers') and looked under-nourished and weary. Inflation was in the high double-digits and the value of Sterling had fallen through the floor.

London was dirty, the Tube was a smoke-filled hell, BR trains were unreliable and similarly filthy. Customer service, it seems, was some vaguely Armerican (and therefore thoroughly untrustworthy) concept. Hotels and B&Bs were dire beyond my comprehension - for example, ina B&B in Yorkshire there was a chamber pot under the bed! Nonetheless I loved London & the rest of the UK, I loved the castles and stately homes we visited and had my eye on joining the RAF, 'cos it had loads of aircraft and did great stuff!

Fast forward to 1990. London was cleaner, the Tube was smoke-free (as a result of the Kings Cross disaster, granted), there was a real vibrancy about the place I hadn't seen 10 years earlier. The UK, by then, had fewer days lost to industrial action than almost anywhere else. Home ownership (and with that social mobility) was on the rise. I agreed with the principal behind the Coommunity Charge - where is the logic (apart from a Socialist one) to determine your contribution to the consumption of local services based on the value of your property rather than your needs?

Inflation was being tamed and pay in the Services was competative. Grossly inefficient state-owned enterprises were being sold off, allowing lot of people, myself included , to become investors.

Just my observations of someone who had seen the start and finish of her tenure, but did not have to live through those turbulent times.

Spooky3
 

You are entitled to your opinion but no-one should use that kind of language about anybody, dead or alive.

I like many on this thread lived through years of decline before Mrs T came into office. To mention only a few examples of life in those days: the 3 day week under Mr Heath, Harold Wilson inviting union leaders into No 10 to determine national policy unburied dead and rubbish piled up in the streets under Mr Callaghan, strikes galore.

In 1979 the number of stoppages across the UK peaked at 4583 when more than 29 million working days were lost. Stoppages then fell steadily throughout the rest of Thatcher's premiership; in 1990 there were 630 and fewer than 2 million working days lost.

In 1979 US GDP per head was 40% greater than that of the UK, and the main continental countries were 10%-15% ahead. By 2007 the UK had surpassed France and Germany and closed much of the gap with America.

Dennis Healey, Chancellor in James Callaghan,s government introduced an incomes policy which was intended to restrict pay increases to all but, largely due to union muscle, it was applied only to the Services, Civil Service and police. As other economic factors caused vast rises in the cost of living real hardship was caused and many servicemen were forced to moonlight to make ends meet - there was a knock-on effect as, for example, aircraft serviceability suffered. So, yes we and the police did receive a pay rise, we deserved it having been subjected to falling income for a number of years, and we will forever be grateful that Mrs Thatcher (then) recognised the importance of defence and law and order.

She laid the ground for the prosperity that we all enjoyed until 2008 and the incompetent regime of Gordon Brown, although even he does not deserve to be called names. Margaret Thatcher was a great Prime Minister and a remarkable women. Clearly, she made mistakes as we all do but her place in history is secure not only as our first women prime minister but also as one of our greatest.

Spooky 3.

You are confusing "military" with "militant". I think this is the site you are really looking for:

Socialist Workers Party - an anticapitalist, revolutionary party

Why do socialists and Marxists always need someone to blame for the failings in their own ideology?

Because pragmatism, learning from experience and willingness to face reality are not generally part of theoretically-based beliefs?

Not a lot of people know this but Margaret Thatcher was part of the team that invented Whippy Ice Cream.

The history of ice cream « Mr Whippy Ice Cream: Ice Cream Van hire for weddings, events and parties

The Dutch van Hire family has several scions around here, notably the very aristocratic

Bourne van Hire and

Deeping van Hire,

but young

Ice Cream of that ilk sounds rather common?

Spooky - anyone
 

I suggest Spooky, that it's people like you whom we must blame for the current coalition government. As you plainly write in your post "after the Blair/Brown" fiasco; I submit that there are a significant proportion (does the hat fit Spooky?) of the population who never vote on the issues of the day but instead are motivated by more base instincts - avarice and jealousy to name but two. To accuse others of burying their head in the sand is to illustrate all too clearly that you do not have a grasp of the facts of the case. They have been laid out here several times and are also available from the Office of National Statistics, so I won't labour the point (no pun intended). So, before you complain about the Bankers and the like running and ruining the Country I suggest you look back at the history of the UK in the 60s and 70s and see just how the ruining was done properly - by the Unions and successive Labour governments who were nothing other than the public face of........the Unions.:ugh:

And unions in receipt of monies from the Soviet Union or its vassals. This isn't a conspiracy theory; you just need to read Chris Andrew's rather fine 'Defence of the Realm' from page 547 onwards to see how deeply entrenched some of the unions (ie the most militant ones) were with their comrades in the Socialist Workers' Paradises.

Not insults old chap. Merely undeniable fact-based criticism based on your post. Again, something that appears to be anathema to those of a certain persuasion.

Note that the unions are now dictating to Williwand who should be in the shadow cabinet, ie he must sack the blairites. Democracy? They don't know the meaning of the word.

You don't have to stoop. You do it without stooping.

And so you should, and so should everyone else, that way, when it comes time to look back, then at least you comment with the knowledge that you took time to give it some thought, and did something. Many can't say the same.

You seem fixated on the current Conservative Government winning, and getting back into office. Who cares, we are where we are. This thread was to pay homage to one of, if not the, Greatest politician and Prime Minister this country has ever seen, the like of which we may never see again. What I cannot get with views such as yours, and others who showed their ignorance and disrespect, is that the venom is so entrenched, the thought process so stuck, that any reasoning, on anything, is impossible.

Were you actually around in the late seventies? Did you actually witness and live through what was going on? Sorry, this very special woman, saved all of our asses, a point that requires to be continually remembered and highlighted..

Instead of going off into irrelevant and incorrect statements, is there any chance you'd answer my questions to you in #377. It might make you appear a little less uninformed, or at least give you an excuse.

Sorry about my spelling, i know a doctor and an physics teacher with the same affliction, no i don't, blame the Baroness at all.

Capetonian

I am 49 years of age so i was around in the Thatcher era i think you will agree.

In 1972 unemployment was circa 1M and was on the increase when the Tories won the general election. Yes it went up to approx 3.5M but by 1989 (the year before Mrs T was ousted as PM) it was back down to 1.6M. Your point is?

If you are 49, you will remember the 3-day week. The dead being left unburied. The constant power cuts. Cars that were so badly built they would rust to bits before they could break down - and they would break down. The rubbish being piled on the streets uncollected. etc

The main reason unemployment figures were down to 1.6m by 1989 was the manipulation of figures ie the introduction of the Youth Training Scheme for school leavers loads of my friends were on it and classed as employed, there was just no work to be had.

Yes i do remember, where in any of my reply's have i said that i agreed with the unions?? of course they had to be tamed i thought that went without saying.