- 1. She supported the retention of capital punishment
2. She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
3. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
4. She abolished free milk for schoolchildren
5. She supported more freedom for business (and look how that turned out)
6. She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
7. She gerrymandered local authorities by forcing through council house sales, at the same time preventing councils from spending the money they got for selling houses on building new houses (spending on social housing dropped by 67% in her premiership)
8. She was responsible for 3.6 million unemployed - the highest figure and the highest proportion of the workforce in history and three times the previous government. Massaging of the figures means that the figure was closer to 5 million
9. She ignored intelligence about Argentinian preparations for the invasion of the Falkland Islands and scrapped the only Royal Navy presence in the islands
10. The poll tax
11. She presided over the closure of 150 coal mines; we are now crippled by the cost of energy, having to import expensive coal from abroad
12. She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War
13. She privatised state monopolies and created the corporate greed culture that we've been railing against for the last 5 years
14. She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS
15. She introduced financial deregulation in a way that turned city institutions into avaricious money pits
16. She pioneered the unfailing adoration and unquestioning support of the USA
17. She allowed the US to place nuclear missiles on UK soil, under US control
18. Section 28
19. She opposed anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as "that grubby little terrorist"
20. She support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and sent the SAS to train their soldiers
21. She allowed the US to bomb Libya in 1986, against the wishes of more than 2/3 of the population
22. She opposed the reunification of Germany
23. She invented Quangos
24. She increased VAT from 8% to 17.5%
25. She had the lowest approval rating of any post-war Prime Minister
26. Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
27. The Al Yamamah contract
28. She opposed the indictment of Chile's General Pinochet
29. Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
30. She presided over interest rates increasing to 15%
31. BSE
32. She presided over 2 million manufacturing job losses in the 79-81 recession
33. She opposed the inclusion of Eire in the Northern Ireland peace process
34. She supported sanctions-busting arms deals with South Africa
35. Cecil Parkinson, Alan Clark, David Mellor, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitkin
36. Crime rates doubled under Thatcher
37. Black Wednesday – Britain withdraws from the ERM and the pound is devalued. Cost to Britain - £3.5 billion; profit for George Soros - £1 billion
38. Poverty doubled while she opposed a minimum wage
39. She privatised public services, claiming at the time it would increase public ownership. Most are now owned either by foreign governments (EDF) or major investment houses. The profits don’t now accrue to the taxpayer, but to foreign or institutional shareholders.
40. She cut 75% of funding to museums, galleries and other sources of education
41. In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions
42. 21.9% inflation
1.
She supported the retention of capital punishment
And Blair signed up to the human rights act to keep his wife in work as a human rights barrister and allow legal aid funded terrorists to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to prevent there expulsion from the UK as well as giving them benefits
2.
She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
The unions did a better job of killing it with strike and restrictive practices. Having said that the Japs still reckoned we could build cars in the UK and opened a number of factories here
6.
She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
And Blair and Brown just opened the gates and allowed the country to be swamped and started the great benefits giveaway
8.
She was responsible for 3.6 million unemployed - the highest figure and the highest proportion of the workforce in history and three times the previous government. Massaging of the figures means that the figure was closer to 5 million
Are you telling me that no labour government hasn't massaged the figures
11.
She presided over the closure of 150 coal mines; we are now crippled by the cost of energy, having to import expensive coal from abroad
Have you not heard it ain't green to burn coal anymore having had Two Jags Prescott sign up to some emissions reduction plan were closing coal fired power stations
12.
She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War
General Scargill wanted to bring down a government and he declared war, he watched his members starve fighting his war while he took his salary and bought a new Jag, mmm may be some might see some Thatcherite tendencies there Scargill the enemy within
14.
She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS
Blair and Brown carried out more privatisation of the NHS than Thatcher, their new hospitals programme mortgaged healthcare for the next 30 years and saddled it with huge debts that are set to bankrupt a few hospital trusts
26.
Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
Let's not go into Blair's post PM jobs and his tax avoidance
29.
Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
The armies oops sorry unions thought they still held the balance power
A loss of short term memory can be symptomatic of the onset of other problems you may unknowingly be suffering
Blair tried to find something to be remembered for and blindly followed the US to Iraq and Afghanistan in the hope of a quick turn round kick --- war so it wasn't only Thatcher that buddied up to the US
We all have our views good or bad and looking at the bigger picture a lot of politicians Blair included have tried and failed the emulate her
In the mines, steel and a few other industries there was a culture that there would be a job for life and a lot of the bitterness seems to stem from the fact that during Thatchers term in office these jobs and industries died because of the unions apparent no compromise position and competition from the Far East
The 80's was the start of a radical change in industry I remember the early 80's when Pilkington built a new glass plant, due to the introduction of new control technology 350 workers could produce the same amount of glass that previously needed 1200, Rupert Murdoch changed the way newspapers were printed using new technology and moved away from Fleet Street to Wapping was all this new technology Thatchers fault as well in the space of a few years we had gone from a basic calculators to computing efficiency had become the name of the game and the dinosaurs that didn't adapt were cast aside and left wanting
No doubt we all have our opinions and highlighting one politicians failings only highlights the failings of others of all political persuasions Thatcher may have had faults but what would have been the ALTERNATIVE the country continuing on it's a$$ and into the abyss
I haven't read it myself yet.
