Baroness Thatcher - Dead / RIP

[lawros left foot]

John Major sold off the utilities.

i think you will find it was Thatchers government who sold off Britsh Gas, the Electricity, Rolls Royce, British Leyland, British Airways,and The Water Board among others. There wasnt much left by rthe time Major got in.

 

[Lower West Stander]

Baroness Thatcher - RIP

Quite. Hopefully this might be used as an opportunity for people to remember life pre-Thatcher and a time when greed-driven, survival-of-the-fittest, ideology was not considered to be somehow a good thing.

We're you around in the 70s? Do you remember 3 day weeks? Power cuts? Winter of discontent? Healey going cap in hand to the IMF? Unions holding the country to ransom? Joe Gormley? Hugh Scanlon? Red Robbo stopping Leyland production over tea breaks?

Jeez - even if you didn't like her, making out out the 70s was some kind of socialist nirvana really takes the biscuit.

 

[soistes]

This country was on it's knees under Labour in the 70's. Electric on for an hour a day, three day week, unemployment hitting three million

Complete tosh. Unemployment got no higher than 1.4m under Labour in 1979 (considerably lower than it is today, by the way). It then shot up from 1979 onwards, under Thatcher, peaking at 3.2m in 1984 (more than twice as high as under Labour). It was Thatcher who got it up to over 3m. She then gradually reduced it, but only at the cost of pushing hundreds of thousands of people off the unemployment count onto disability benefits.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Only to be expected from the Mirror.

If you read the Guardian tomorrow it will be a watered down thinly veiled version of it. Lack of class

Yawn yawn. Is a lack of class accusation the best you can respond with?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

John Major sold off the utilities.

So BT and British Gas didn't get privatised until post 1990 ?

 

[Lower West Stander]

Baroness Thatcher - RIP

Complete tosh. Unemployment got no higher than 1.4m under Labour in 1979 (considerably lower than it is today, by the way). It then shot up from 1979 onwards, under Thatcher, peaking at 3.2m in 1984 (more than twice as high as under Labour). It was Thatcher who got it up to over 3m. She then gradually reduced it, but only at the cost of pushing hundreds of thousands of people off the unemployment count onto disability benefits.

Complete tosh the country was on its knees in the 70s?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

i think you will find it was Thatchers government who sold off Britsh Gas, the Electricity, Rolls Royce, British Leyland, British Airways,and The Water Board among others. There wasnt much left by rthe time Major got in.

This. The Gordon Brown gold argument is peanuts compared to this lot.

 

[geodavies]

Do ex-priministers qualify for state funerals?

Learn some basic English mate

Priminister !!

 

[Questions]

I'm going to keep my trap shut for the next day or so; I feel I could myself into trouble otherwise.

Get yourself banned you coward, she was a

 

[Thunder Bolt]

So BT and British Gas didn't get privatised until post 1990 ?

The article said all utilities. Inaccurate reporting.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

So. What will folk be doing tonight to mark this historical day? I'm off to a football match so little opportunity for me to do anything. Anyone actually cracked open a bottle of champagne yet? Or a quiet pint to mark the passing of a former leader?

 

[Silk]

Complete tosh the country was on its knees in the 70s?

If that is "complete tosh", what do YOU think the unemployment figures were over that period?

 

[soistes]

Complete tosh the country was on its knees in the 70s?

"on its knees" is debatable. I remember it well as not a bad time in lots of ways (in many respects better than the current situation, both socially and economically).
My point though was to challenge the cavalier use of statistics -- that it was Labour who gave us 3m unemployment as kevtherev stated. That's just an oft-repeated falsehood -- Thatcher gave us 3m unemployment for the first and only time since the depression of the 1930s, and she deserved to be condemned for that.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Get yourself banned you coward, she was a cu. nt.

I did have a change of heart and post the lovely Pete Wylie "The Day That Thatcher Dies" party anthem a few posts later.

 

[Questions]

I presume there will be a minutes applause at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

If I go I,m going to applaud for the full 90 minutes.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

This. The Gordon Brown gold argument is peanuts compared to this lot.

It was Mrs Thatcher that privatised the utilities, however, I wouldn't say the Gordon Brown gold argument is peanuts!

Initially the privatisation worked if you remember, people made profits if they invested..... It just went too far.

 

[Lower West Stander]

Baroness Thatcher - RIP

If that is "complete tosh", what do YOU think the unemployment figures were over that period?

Sorry - are you saying the country was not on its knees in the 70s because unemployment was lower?

Agree it was but the country was still in massive shit

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

i think you will find it was Thatchers government who sold off Britsh Gas, the Electricity, Rolls Royce, British Leyland, British Airways,and The Water Board among others. There wasnt much left by rthe time Major got in.

Some of the notable privatisations we saw during 18 years of Tory rule.
Under Thatcher : British Aerospace , Government share of Cable & Wireless , Jaguar , BT , British Gas , Britoil , British Steel , BP , Rolls Royce , British Airways , All the regional water and electricity companies.
Under Major : British Coal , Powergen , National Power , British Rail.

 

[Steve Foster]

Complete tosh the country was on its knees in the 70s?

You clearly were not around in the late 70s, or clearly too young or hidden away.

I remember the rubbish piling up on the streets & our dead not being buried. It really was that bad.

Thank goodness Thatcher came along & pulled Britain up by its knees, with strong leadership.

Our best EVER leader & will be remembered for all the good reasons in the history books in decades to come.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

"on its knees" is debatable. I remember it well as not a bad time in lots of ways (in many respects better than the current situation, both socially and economically).
My point though was to challenge the cavalier use of statistics -- that it was Labour who gave us 3m unemployment as kevtherev stated. That's just an oft-repeated falsehood -- Thatcher gave us 3m unemployment for the first and only time since the depression of the 1930s, and she deserved to be condemned for that.

Its not debatable at all, the country was a mess when she took over. However, it should be remembered that Ted Heath and Harold Wilson also played a role in its demise as well as James Callaghan.