Get your dancing on grave boots ready

If you think the country was run by the unions in the 70s you are sadly mistaken

We should discuss that one over some beer and sandwiches.

EDIT: Sorry, this quote is from the Daily Mail, which I usually try to avoid, but it amused me anyway:

“Indeed, in January 1977 a Gallup opinion poll found that 54 per cent of people believed that Jones was the most powerful person in Britain, ahead of the Prime Minister James Callaghan.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1172472/Jack-Jones-union-chief-shared-beer-sandwiches-PM-No10-dies-96.html

All I remember from my childhood in the 70s was striking unions.

And baths by candlelight.

And having my tea cooked on a Calor gas stove.

We should discuss that one over some beer and sandwiches.

Sandwiches? Can I come? I promise I’ll keep my mouth shut. I likes sandwiches I do.

It’s so “of the moment” to hate her – many do without knowing any/many facts about the good things that happened under her “rule.”

Oh well – usual sheep mentality rules as usual.

fanylion…………….is it a good thing that the working class no longer have the right or power to fight for a better living?

matt, and please name these ‘good things’ that happened under her rule.

Don’t worry. The news of severe cuts to public services and expectant enlarging of the gulf between the rich and the poor will keep her going until at least the end of the day. She may even try and stick it out the full 5 years….

usual sheep mentality rules as usual.

AFAICT the people who did well out of her reign love her, the ones who spent years on the dole don’t. Its never objective with thatcher.

Yuppies: baaaa, yaaaah! Bolly she was great
Doleys: baaaaa, thatcher milk snatcher

‘good things’

She was ‘good’ with the miners, right?

is it a good thing that the working class no longer have the right or power to fight for a better living?

Equally, was it ever right that unions had so much power they could dictate to a nation what they wanted?

And baths by candlelight.

And having my tea cooked on a Calor gas stove.

actually I quite liked that, heating the room with a SuperSur calor heater, ahhh them were the days 😀

I still find it surprising so many people I would normally think of as level-headed are able to wish death in such a manner.

.is it a good thing that the working class no longer have the right or power to fight for a better living?

But while the workers at Cowley and Longbridge were fighting long and hard for this pay rise or that working time concession from British Leyland, the Germans and the Japanese were quietly getting on with making great cars. And then crushing our car industry.

We thought the world owed us a living, because we had once had a great empire. But it turned out it didn’t.

EDIT: not even sure what’s meant by working/middle class anymore to be honest.

Ton, if you want powerful unions have a look at France. Strike this, strike that, strike another.
Will you all celebrate when WH, TB, GB or any other PM die? Do their job better, we’ll all live in a perfect place. Not!

surf matt – what good?

actually I quite liked that, heating the room with a SuperSur calor heater, ahhh them were the days

Well yeah, as a kid it was great fun. I can’t imagine many adults were too happy about it though.

Luked – at the Germans were also investing in new plant and management and unions co operate more.

Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric. Manufacturing management were equally at fault

It’s so “of the moment” to hate her – many do without knowing any/many facts about the good things that happened under her “rule.”

Oh well – usual sheep mentality rules as usual.

Are you old enough to remember?

I am, I was 20 & living in the NE when she came to power in 79

She was ‘good’ with the miners, right?

In 1974 the miners had it out with Ted Heath, and won.

Arthur Scargill thought he could repeat the same trick. And he deliberately avoided a ballot in order to ensure he got his fight. And he chose to start the fight at a time when coal stocks at power stations were at an all-time high.

He did as much to destroy the NUM as Thatcher. I think a lot of people refuse to believe that – they like to see him as some kind of folk hero I guess.

Mind you, that American guy was a bit of a sh*t.

Some people seem to be under the impression that she is actually a human being 😆

I reckon those disagreeing with the JOY also contributed to the “sailing boats” thread yesterday?

Probably those happy miners in the news recently tipped her over the edge eh.

Luked – at the Germans were also investing in new plant and management and unions co operate more

I was very young so I may not remember correctly, but wasn’t any plans for new plant and more automation of our car industry met by unions refusing to accept them because they (rightly) feared union members losing jobs?

CBA.

Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric. Manufacturing management were equally at fault

There’s a lovely book by a guy who worked in the Ford factory at Dagenham. It just sounds totally awful on all sides, but at one point he recounts how a worker was killed by some big machine. Biggest concern of the management? How to get the line moving again.

Somewhere there will be worms purging themselves in anticipation.

mate, i dont want all powerful mighty unions.
but i do want a working man to be able to fight for a better job/wage if he has a problem.

my garandad and my dad were both miners, has were the vast majority of the blokes where i live.
these places were ruined by pit closures and still are.
as are the steel towns, and the engineering towns.

hand on heart, i will be a happy man when she dies.

No politician is perfect, but as Tony Benn said you knew where you stood with her. On the point of unemployment, industries like coal were no longer viable, she didn’t waste money trying to subsidise them and although bitter at the time, countries that did try to keep loss making industries going like France & Germany are now paying for it with huge unemployment now.

She stood firm against the IRA and reacted with an incredibly cool head in the Brighton bombings.

She took on Argentina and won.

She revolutionised higher education.

Her government turned around an uncompetitive, union-dominated economy into a powerhouse that set a lot of precedents for the world to follow.

She inspired (some of) a generation to believe that hard work pays off.

She was a genuinely well respected leader the World over.

Do people not understand that the coal industry was NO LONGER VIABLE? Why prop it up?

Two words that sum up that evil cow – Poll Tax. While I wont be dancing on her grave, I’ll certainly not be mourning.

matt, if you knew anything about the coal industry, you would know that the pits are being opened again and will be producing british mined coal again within the next 10yrs.

she inspired greed and selfishness

I wouldn’t object to Tony Blair being buried alive with her remains ether. Hell I’d pay hard earned cash to watch that!

Do people not understand that the coal industry was NO LONGER VIABLE? Why prop it up?

Quick Matt, here’s your coat, I’ve already hailed a taxi 🙄

Surf-Mat – Member

No politician is perfect, but as Tony Benn said you knew where you stood with her. On the point of unemployment, industries like coal were no longer viable, she didn’t waste money trying to subsidise them and although bitter at the time, countries that did try to keep loss making industries going like France & Germany are now paying for it with huge unemployment now.

Coal was perfectly viable. It cost the country far more to stop coal mining here is you include the dole costs of the minors and the increased polution from poorer quality coal

She stood firm against the IRA and reacted with an incredibly cool head in the Brighton bombings.

Stood firm against the IRA? You mean perpetuated a civil war that could only be ended by negotiations and was successfully ended by negotiations once someone with some understanding and flexibility was PM

She took on Argentina and won.

Military adventurism, war crimes and it was her policy failures that led to the occupation of the islands. Some would say deliberate.

She revolutionised higher education.

In what way?

Her government turned around an uncompetitive, union-dominated economy into a powerhouse that set a lot of precedents for the world to follow.

Ha ha ha ha

That one really takes the biscuit. The Thatcher economy depended on spending the north sea oil money on paying benefits. Other countries with this money spent it on investment but thatcher wasted it on paying benefits. She also sold off huge amounts of publicly owned stuff for peanuts and then spent the money on revenue. Selling the family silver to pay the milkman.

During her time as PM we had huge prolonged and deep recessions and huge boom and bust periods. Unemplymet that was huge and a huge level of debt and huge tax and spending bill

She inspired (some of) a generation to believe that hard work pays off.

What a con that was. You actually mean she gave money away to the spivs and gamblers. She showed public servants that no matter how hard you work your service will be staved of funds and get worse.

She was a genuinely well respected leader the World over.

Rubbish.

On the point of unemployment, industries like coal were no longer viable, she didn’t waste money trying to subsidise them

She closed plenty of viable mines purely to punish & hurt the working classes & unions

pits are being opened again and will be producing british mined coal again within the next 10yrs.

I assume they will be run in a profitable manner and not ruled by an almighty union this time though, so are free to get on with the aim of the business – to spend less extracting the coal than they can make by selling it. It wasn’t the case back then.

TJ you really are a cock.

Only telling the truth backhander. You may not like it but everything I say there is true.

Awkward and inconvenient thing the truth.

No it’s not it’s opinion and supposition at best.
Just because it’s what you believe it doesn’t mean it’s fact. Perhaps you should be less arrogant?

TJ – no it’s “TJ’s” OPINION.

A VERY different thing to “the truth”

backhander – for balance of argument why don’t you also take Surf-Mat’s points and give your opinion in the same way as TJ?

IMO her greatest crime was giving birth to Sir Mark Thatcher

I only hope we learn from history those harsh times are never repeated.

Maybe they can bury her in a coal mine. There are plenty of them going unused.

I don’t wish her dead, I won’t, however, mourn her passing. She did, in my opinion, destroy the country and a general attitude within the country. She removed the rights of the working man and developed a general attitude of selfishness. The selfishness is something we can still see today, I’m alright Jack and f*ck the rest.