Oooh, ooh, I reckon could answer that one THM, I’m holding my hand up and everything

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Thatcher/Blair/etc seem to …..

It seems that some …..

So ‘presentation’ is the problem then, and not necessarily the policies ? You could be right.

I really can’t think of any other logical reason why Cameron and Clegg should be considered any better than Thatcher, or if you prefer, why Thatcher should be considered worse than Cameron and Clegg.

And I think you are being far too generous to Cameron and Clegg if you are suggesting that unlike Thatcher and Blair they stop and think “Actually, I made a mistake doing that and I’ll stop trying to justify it”.

The countless U-turns which they have been forced to preform probably reflects more the fact that neither command the sort of electoral support which both Thatcher and Blair enjoyed. And also the fact that Thatcher and Blair where generally better judges of public opinion.

I really can’t imagine Thatcher coming up with something as dumb as wanting to privatise the countryside (without at the very least trying to soften up public opinion first) and then being forced into a humiliating U-turn because of mounting opposition by a gobsmacked public. It remains to be seen how successful Cameron and Clegg are in privatising Britain’s road.

Thatcher chose her policies carefully (or at least her advisers did). Selling Labour supporters their council homes to them at ridiculous give-away prices was a stroke of genius which brought huge electoral benefit for her. Obviously it did absolutely nothing to alleviate Britain’s permanent chronic shortage of affordable housing, and in fact it made the problem far worse with less available housing and rising prices which a few years later resulted in the collapse of the market and unprecedented levels of repossessions. But Thatcher never got blamed for any of that, and she only benefited from a highly popular policy.

Yes, Thatcher did eventually very seriously misjudge public opinion. As soon as that happened she was forced to pack her bags and was kicked out of Downing Street, but up until that point she had an excellent record of giving the public what they wanted, eg, selling ten pound notes for a fiver – or privatising the utilities as it’s sometimes called.

They’re not the sort of people you want runnign the country, tbh.

Well maybe you don’t, but Thatcher and Blair were precisely the sort of people which the British electorate wanted to run the country. Reflected in the very comfortable majorities which they both enjoyed.

Fact is better that conjecture and BS however inconvenient TJ!!

Yes – and it is a fact that no thatcher government had a majority of the poular vote.

Not conjecture and bullshit but simple clear fact.

Why do yo have this pathological need to leap into the attack on things I post – often – as in this instance and another on this thread yesterday totally wrong?

Feel free to attack when I am wrong or for things I say – but to attack when I quote a simple fact and as you did yesterday by making up things you then claim i say shows a very odd psyche indeed

Yes – and it is a fact that no thatcher government had a majority of the poular vote.

Name the last government that did TJ

totalshell – Member

been old enough to remember the wilson and callaghan years i think its a more than fair argument that they did more to harm the country than fatch and her pals.

It’s very hard to challenge such a watertight argument as that.

Except perhaps by claiming that you’re also old enough to remember and completely disagree.

Will that do ?

Name the last government that did TJ

I can’t see why he should – he’s made no claim that any recent government has had a majority of the popular vote.

He is simply pointing out that never at any time did the majority of British people support Thatcher and her policies. A fair point to make and one which is too often very conveniently forgotten/ignored.

TandemJeremy – Member

Why do yo have this pathological need to leap into the attack on things I post – often – as in this instance and another on this thread yesterday totally wrong?

Ah TJ, clearly I owe you an apology. I missed the fact that you posted random facts without reference to the context of the previous debate. I am sorry – I had given you too much credit. I had imagined a rhetorical rapier rather than……. For a brief moment, I was thinking that you were using a subtle trick to question the legitimacy of previous’ posters’ points – to cast a shadow over the (alleged) legitimacy of Thatcher’s mandate. But obviously not – just a straight and accurate fact. So to have doubted your intentions was an obvious error on my part.

I had also misread another post on the nuclear thread:

and couldn’t resist another poke at Zokes

Could have sworn that was you, but obviously not!!

TJ – Thatcher never had a popular majority
THM – Which government did ?
TJ – Thats irrelivent!

Seriously…..

Mcboo – Ernie is, in contrast, making valid points about the relative legitimacy of Blair/Brown/Cameron (Clegg) based on facts:

Blair: 40.7% of vote, 59% turnout
Blair/Brown: 35.2% vote, 61% turnout
Cameron: 36.1% vote, 65% turnout

Wilson (74): 37.2%, 79% turnout
Wilson/Callaghan (74): 39.3%, 73% turnout

Thatcher (79): 43.9%, 76% turnout
Thatcher (83): 42.4%. 73% turnout
Thatcher/Major (87): 42.2%, 75% turnout

Of course, not making any reference to previous posts but, it interesting to see who had the biggest, albeit not majority, share of votes and on relatively high turnouts in relation to recent events.

I’m not politically genned up enough to get deeply into this, so I’m going to respond to the thread title…

Yes I would think so – she was Prime Minister. Not a bad result for a career-minded lady 🙂

Interesting(ish) follow up.

I listened to the paper review on Sunday morning and there was an article mentioned about someones diaries being published. In them the author had said that Thatcher told him, with Dennis present, that she wished she’d never gone into politics because of the adverse effect it had had on her family.

Unfortunately, I didn’t hear which paper this was in or whos diaries were being talked about either.

So, after 7 pages of pontificating and in-fighting;

I wonder if she thinks it was a life well lived.

The answer is ‘No’

I’m not surprised really. The British public are a selfish and ungrateful bunch.

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