Was Mrs. T good for Britain?

[W.C.]

A pretty accurate list I'm assuming that No 31, BSE the blame lies with her as she was the original Mad Cow ?

But there is one thing you missed out on which is even more grotesque and showed her true colours quite early on.

When working as a research chemist she pioneered the technique of "Soft Scoop " Ice cream. Sounds like a cracking idea but, she noticed that Ice Cream was sold by volume rather than by weight and that blasting air through the Ice Cream as it froze lessened its density, ie weight, thus reducing the amount of product in the containers. Ergo, manufacturers made more money by using less product for the same money. so, 25% of a tub of soft scoop Ice Cream is now just air, thanks to her.

Wow. I always knew she was a nasty piece of work.

 

[Icy Gull]

1. She supported the retention of capital punishment
In Certain cases I would agree with her.
2. She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
Private companys are much more efficient it would have been stupid to keep pouring good money after bad.
3. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
And look where we are now almost every other family being a single parent family.
4. She abolished free milk for schoolchildren ("Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher")
Agreed,
5. She supported more freedom for business (and look how that turned out)
How did it turn out ?
6. She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
And look how that turned out.
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)
But didnt stop did it.
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
This country was a financial disaster when she came to power and like we are learning now there is no gain without pain.
9. She ignored intelligence about Argentinian preparations for the invasion of the Falkland Islands and scrapped the only Royal Navy presence in the islands
And you know this how?
10. The poll tax
Yep Agreed big mistake.
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
Coal was/is cheaper to import than produce ourselves. Having said that in hindsight we could do with it now.
12. She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War.
Really ?
13. She privatised state monopolies and created the corporate greed culture that we've been railing against for the last 5 years
She privatised state monopolies and made them profitable.
14. She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS.
You know I have a real problem with this. Every time a Conservative Government comes to power we are told that it will be privatised. Still free aint it ?
15. She introduced financial deregulation in a way that turned city institutions into avaricious money pits.
And turned us into the fourth richest country in the world. (Although of late and under a Labour goverment that has changed)
16. She pioneered the unfailing adoration and unquestioning support of the USA
Agreed.
17. She allowed the US to place nuclear missiles on UK soil, under US control
Agreed
18. Section 28
Different times...........we have moved on.
19. She opposed anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as "that grubby little terrorist"
Not her finest hour.
20. She support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and sent the SAS to train their soldiers
I can only assume she had her reasons.
21. She allowed the US to bomb Libya in 1986, against the wishes of more than 2/3 of the population
And you think had she not allowed it ...it would have made any difference.
22. She opposed the reunification of Germany
Surely to insure they did not become the power house of Europe again.
23. She invented Quangos
Hmm Invented really ?
24. She increased VAT from 8% to 17.5%
And labour increased every other tax.
25. She had the lowest approval rating of any post-war Prime Minister
Difficult decisions quite often or not will not make you popular
26. Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
Good for her.
27. The Al Yamamah contract
And renewed in 1993 when she was not prime minister.
28. She opposed the indictment of Chile's General Pinochet
Agreed
29. Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
Really ?
30. She presided over interest rates increasing to 15%
Not true...............That was under John Major
31. BSE
?
32. She presided over 2 million manufacturing job losses in the 79-81 recession
Once again hard times when we were almost bankrupt.
33. She opposed the inclusion of Eire in the Northern Ireland peace process
Agreed
34. She supported sanctions-busting arms deals with South Africa
Did she?
35. Cecil Parkinson, Alan Clark, David Mellor, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitkin
And ?
36. Crime rates doubled under Thatcher
Source ?
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
Not Her ........... Again John Major
38. Poverty doubled while she opposed a minimum wage
Really ?
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.
But the tax on the profits they make do.
40. She cut 75% of funding to museums, galleries and other sources of education.
Really ?
41. In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions
!!

Excellent, a balanced view rather than a very one sided one

 

[Forest Visitor]

The unions were too strong and they did hold the country to ransom, but her fix to the problem was to destroy the entire manufacturing base of the country. So yes it fixed the problem she wanted to fix, but not in a way that was good for the country. Its a bit like dealing with the pension crisis by murdering everyone over 65.

More like fixing the overcrowded prisons by administering lethal injection to murderers, rapists, and paedophiles but that would be terrible wouldn't it?

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Since all this is opinion, here is mine........Mrs T was :

A great "Statesman" and orator who could hold her own with and outdo the world leaders of her time.

Also the architect of policies at home that have decimated the social fabric of Britain.e.g. Privatisation, the sale of council houses, the breaking of trade unions.

However, when she came to power many things needed to be done but they went too far . My answer was "No" not good for Britain

 

[Bakero]

Margaret Thatcher was the most divisive and polarising politic leader of the last century. This is an incomplete list of why many of us fall on the side that does not regard her with anything other than odium…

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 ("Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher")
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

Most people recognise the massive changes that evolved during the 1980s. However, to ascribe the positive changes to one person, as though they never would have happened in her absence, is laughable.

43. Referring to Suharto as 'one of our best friends'.

She kept some despicable company. Her callous Realpolitik was even more damaging abroad than domestically.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

And now we have virtually no coal industry left and have used nearly all of our North Sea Gas and we have to buy gas from abroad at prices that fluctuate, usually upwards. We have to bribe foreign energy companies with grants and tax breaks to build wind farms and nuclear plants to provide the energy we need. Then, when built we will be paying our German/Dutch/French shareholders a nice guaranteed return for the next 40 years.

Welcome to franchise Britain.

You're conveniently forgetting that we have had years of Labour since MT left...and they've done what ? Having worked in jobs where a union card was required I have seen at first hand how unions try to slow a job down to keep them in contracts longer....especially Bettshanger miners.
Some say that because Maggie allowed the sale of council houses there is a shortage of houses now....so Tony Blair's open door immigration policy had nothing to do with it,taking up housing....we are a small island and there is a limit .

 

[vegster]

You're conveniently forgetting that we have had years of Labour since MT left...and they've done what ? Having worked in jobs where a union card was required I have seen at first hand how unions try to slow a job down to keep them in contracts longer....especially Bettshanger miners.
Some say that because Maggie allowed the sale of council houses there is a shortage of houses now....so Tony Blair's open door immigration policy had nothing to do with it,taking up housing....we are a small island and there is a limit .

It would have been nice if they could have immediately re-nationalised the the electricity,water, gas industries along with some of the other industries which were pawned. Would have been nice to have built some more council houses after they were all sold off too, but, where would the money come from ? I'm not conveniently forgetting, but , i'm afraid there are very few winners from the Thatcher years, well, maybe about 10%.

 

[South Stand Rebel]

Kind of convenient to ignore the fact that most of the welfare bill (apart from pensions) is taken up by housing benefit. People on low wages have to rent privately instead of being able to rent council housing. The shortfall being met by the state in benefits. But let's not blame her.

 

[JCL666]

Since all this is opinion, here is mine........Mrs T was :

A great "Statesman" and orator who could hold her own with and outdo the world leaders of her time.

Also the architect of policies at home that have decimated the social fabric of Britain.e.g. Privatisation, the sale of council houses, the breaking of trade unions.

However, when she came to power many things needed to be done but they went too far . My answer was "No" not good for Britain

I'd agree with this.

 

[South Stand Rebel]

You're conveniently forgetting that we have had years of Labour since MT left...and they've done what ? Having worked in jobs where a union card was required I have seen at first hand how unions try to slow a job down to keep them in contracts longer....especially Bettshanger miners.
Some say that because Maggie allowed the sale of council houses there is a shortage of houses now....so Tony Blair's open door immigration policy had nothing to do with it,taking up housing....we are a small island and there is a limit .

Oh behave, since when were new labour anything other than wannabe Tories. There is a shortage of social housing because Maggie sold off all the council houses she could.

 

[Pbseagull]

1. She supported the retention of capital punishment
In Certain cases I would agree with her.
2. She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
Private companys are much more efficient it would have been stupid to keep pouring good money after bad.
3. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
And look where we are now almost every other family being a single parent family.
4. She abolished free milk for schoolchildren ("Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher")
Agreed,
5. She supported more freedom for business (and look how that turned out)
How did it turn out ?
6. She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
And look how that turned out.
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)
But didnt stop did it.
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
This country was a financial disaster when she came to power and like we are learning now there is no gain without pain.
9. She ignored intelligence about Argentinian preparations for the invasion of the Falkland Islands and scrapped the only Royal Navy presence in the islands
And you know this how?
10. The poll tax
Yep Agreed big mistake.
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
Coal was/is cheaper to import than produce ourselves. Having said that in hindsight we could do with it now.
12. She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War.
Really ?
13. She privatised state monopolies and created the corporate greed culture that we've been railing against for the last 5 years
She privatised state monopolies and made them profitable.
14. She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS.
You know I have a real problem with this. Every time a Conservative Government comes to power we are told that it will be privatised. Still free aint it ?
15. She introduced financial deregulation in a way that turned city institutions into avaricious money pits.
And turned us into the fourth richest country in the world. (Although of late and under a Labour goverment that has changed)
16. She pioneered the unfailing adoration and unquestioning support of the USA
Agreed.
17. She allowed the US to place nuclear missiles on UK soil, under US control
Agreed
18. Section 28
Different times...........we have moved on.
19. She opposed anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as "that grubby little terrorist"
Not her finest hour.
20. She support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and sent the SAS to train their soldiers
I can only assume she had her reasons.
21. She allowed the US to bomb Libya in 1986, against the wishes of more than 2/3 of the population
And you think had she not allowed it ...it would have made any difference.
22. She opposed the reunification of Germany
Surely to insure they did not become the power house of Europe again.
23. She invented Quangos
Hmm Invented really ?
24. She increased VAT from 8% to 17.5%
And labour increased every other tax.
25. She had the lowest approval rating of any post-war Prime Minister
Difficult decisions quite often or not will not make you popular
26. Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
Good for her.
27. The Al Yamamah contract
And renewed in 1993 when she was not prime minister.
28. She opposed the indictment of Chile's General Pinochet
Agreed
29. Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
Really ?
30. She presided over interest rates increasing to 15%
Not true...............That was under John Major
31. BSE
?
32. She presided over 2 million manufacturing job losses in the 79-81 recession
Once again hard times when we were almost bankrupt.
33. She opposed the inclusion of Eire in the Northern Ireland peace process
Agreed
34. She supported sanctions-busting arms deals with South Africa
Did she?
35. Cecil Parkinson, Alan Clark, David Mellor, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitkin
And ?
36. Crime rates doubled under Thatcher
Source ?
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
Not Her ........... Again John Major
38. Poverty doubled while she opposed a minimum wage
Really ?
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.
But the tax on the profits they make do.
40. She cut 75% of funding to museums, galleries and other sources of education.
Really ?
41. In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions
Ok Let me tell you a story:
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100...
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this...

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay £1.
The sixth would pay £3.
The seventh would pay £7..
The eighth would pay £12.
The ninth would pay £18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59.

So, that's what they decided to do..

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20". Drinks for the ten men would now cost just £80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So the first four men were unaffected.

They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men?
The paying customers?

How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realised that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).

The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% saving).

The seventh now paid £5 instead of £7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% saving).

The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% saving).

The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a pound out of the £20 saving," declared the sixth man.

He pointed to the tenth man,"but he got £10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a pound too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 back, when I got only £2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works.

The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.



42. 21.9% inflation
Tell me about it !!

Well answered, I'm old enough to remember the 1970's when we were the "the sick man of Europe", this Country was on its knees and being run in the main by the Unions and not the Labour Government who were either too weak or just not bothered to even try and stand up to them, Maggie IMO was exactly what we needed. I'm pretty sure that our manufacturing Industry had already been destroyed by the unions before Maggie became PM.

 

[Triggaaar]

Yet she created greed

 

[kc1]

1. She supported the retention of capital punishment
In Certain cases I would agree with her.
2. She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
Private companys are much more efficient it would have been stupid to keep pouring good money after bad.
3. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
And look where we are now almost every other family being a single parent family.
4. She abolished free milk for schoolchildren ("Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher")
Agreed,
5. She supported more freedom for business (and look how that turned out)
How did it turn out ?
6. She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
And look how that turned out.
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)
But didnt stop did it.
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
This country was a financial disaster when she came to power and like we are learning now there is no gain without pain.
9. She ignored intelligence about Argentinian preparations for the invasion of the Falkland Islands and scrapped the only Royal Navy presence in the islands
And you know this how?
10. The poll tax
Yep Agreed big mistake.
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
Coal was/is cheaper to import than produce ourselves. Having said that in hindsight we could do with it now.
12. She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War.
Really ?
13. She privatised state monopolies and created the corporate greed culture that we've been railing against for the last 5 years
She privatised state monopolies and made them profitable.
14. She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS.
You know I have a real problem with this. Every time a Conservative Government comes to power we are told that it will be privatised. Still free aint it ?
15. She introduced financial deregulation in a way that turned city institutions into avaricious money pits.
And turned us into the fourth richest country in the world. (Although of late and under a Labour goverment that has changed)
16. She pioneered the unfailing adoration and unquestioning support of the USA
Agreed.
17. She allowed the US to place nuclear missiles on UK soil, under US control
Agreed
18. Section 28
Different times...........we have moved on.
19. She opposed anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as "that grubby little terrorist"
Not her finest hour.
20. She support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and sent the SAS to train their soldiers
I can only assume she had her reasons.
21. She allowed the US to bomb Libya in 1986, against the wishes of more than 2/3 of the population
And you think had she not allowed it ...it would have made any difference.
22. She opposed the reunification of Germany
Surely to insure they did not become the power house of Europe again.
23. She invented Quangos
Hmm Invented really ?
24. She increased VAT from 8% to 17.5%
And labour increased every other tax.
25. She had the lowest approval rating of any post-war Prime Minister
Difficult decisions quite often or not will not make you popular
26. Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
Good for her.
27. The Al Yamamah contract
And renewed in 1993 when she was not prime minister.
28. She opposed the indictment of Chile's General Pinochet
Agreed
29. Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
Really ?
30. She presided over interest rates increasing to 15%
Not true...............That was under John Major
31. BSE
?
32. She presided over 2 million manufacturing job losses in the 79-81 recession
Once again hard times when we were almost bankrupt.
33. She opposed the inclusion of Eire in the Northern Ireland peace process
Agreed
34. She supported sanctions-busting arms deals with South Africa
Did she?
35. Cecil Parkinson, Alan Clark, David Mellor, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitkin
And ?
36. Crime rates doubled under Thatcher
Source ?
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
Not Her ........... Again John Major
38. Poverty doubled while she opposed a minimum wage
Really ?
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.
But the tax on the profits they make do.
40. She cut 75% of funding to museums, galleries and other sources of education.
Really ?
41. In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions
Ok Let me tell you a story:
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100...
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this...

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay £1.
The sixth would pay £3.
The seventh would pay £7..
The eighth would pay £12.
The ninth would pay £18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59.

So, that's what they decided to do..

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20". Drinks for the ten men would now cost just £80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So the first four men were unaffected.

They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men?
The paying customers?

How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realised that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).

The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% saving).

The seventh now paid £5 instead of £7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% saving).

The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% saving).

The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a pound out of the £20 saving," declared the sixth man.

He pointed to the tenth man,"but he got £10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a pound too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 back, when I got only £2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works.

The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.



42. 21.9% inflation
Tell me about it !!

Thank you Locky, your comments were needed for that rather one sided comment.

 

[pork pie]

Chris there are some ****ing idiots on here! Do most people not even remember three days weeks and power cuts (for everyone! not just a few poxy miners who were living on state hand-outs via The Coal Board) before she got a grip of the unions that had brought our country to its knees? Most on here will be too young to ven know what it was like before she came to power, and are simply voting based upon the crap spouted by their teachers years afterwards.

 

[East Preston Gull]

And now we have virtually no coal industry left and have used nearly all of our North Sea Gas and we have to buy gas from abroad at prices that fluctuate, usually upwards. We have to bribe foreign energy companies with grants and tax breaks to build wind farms and nuclear plants to provide the energy we need. Then, when built we will be paying our German/Dutch/French shareholders a nice guaranteed return for the next 40 years.

Welcome to franchise Britain.

The socialist utopia that is the European union would, and has done more damage to the coal industry.

 

[somerset]

Chris there are some ****ing idiots on here! Do most people not even remember three days weeks and power cuts (for everyone! not just a few poxy miners who were living on state hand-outs via The Coal Board) before she got a grip of the unions that had brought our country to its knees? Most on here will be too young to ven know what it was like before she came to power, and are simply voting based upon the crap spouted by their teachers years afterwards.

Most of them are too young to remember, and simply parrot what they read and hear from the radical journos/lecturers and publications favoured by the left.

Those that are old enough, are fooling themselves by pretending that the years leading up to 1979, and the 13 years after 1997 just didn't happen.....its all about Thatcher.

 

[blue2]

in my view it's not the result its more about how it was done could we have had the same result but in a less harsh way

 

[pork pie]

in my view it's not the result its more about how it was done could we have had the same result but in a less harsh way

How old are you?

The unions needed to be smashed. They had become controlled by communists, had become very powerfull, and had destroyed the social structure of our country. There was no reasoning with them. Anyone who was stupid enough to fall under their influence deserved all they got.

 

[abc]

If you lived through the years before she came to office with the country crippled by the power of the unions and long drawn out strikes that they initiated virtually every week somewhere, you might see her in a different light. She was exactly what this country needed imo. Her voice, condescending manner, her stubborness and her inability to compromise didn't help her cause in the eyes of many though.

This. The Country had been brought to its knees by the unions (under both Labour and the Tories) and she took them on, destroyed them and gave Britian the platform to rebuild. She didnt destroy manufacturing, the mining industry, jobs etc - the unions had already done that. But she was hardly a loveable figure; though given the mess we were in and given her opponents were people like Scargill, it was probably just as well!

 

[abc]

Chris there are some ****ing idiots on here! Do most people not even remember three days weeks and power cuts (for everyone! not just a few poxy miners who were living on state hand-outs via The Coal Board) before she got a grip of the unions that had brought our country to its knees? Most on here will be too young to ven know what it was like before she came to power, and are simply voting based upon the crap spouted by their teachers years afterwards.

100% This