Was Mrs. T good for Britain?

[piersa]

If you were going into war, who would you rather have running it, Thatcher or Cameron?

Cameron is a wet lettuce.

 

[Gullster]

If you were going into war, who would you rather have running it, Thatcher or Cameron?

Point well made.

 

[Lethargic]

Funny I keep hearing that she did well for Britain abroad but I was living in Germany for the early 80s and pretty much every German, Dutchman, Belgie, etc thought she was terrible for Britain they all viewed her as a puppet of the USA and anti European on all fronts.

I understand that someone had to stand up to the unions and get Britain back working but I disagree with the fact that she went about this with total disregard for the manufacturing industry and workers of this country . She and Scargill got embroiled in a personal battle with no concern for the lives they ruined along the way. She was willing to squash anyone or anything that got in the way of HER view and sold off everything state owned to fund her objectives a bit like running up the credit card to fund and expensive holiday whilst not able to pay off the bill. On a personal note I thing she did well for the South and the more affluent at the expense of the poor and North.

 

[Mackenzie]

Didn't do anything but harm where I live.

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

If you were going into war, who would you rather have running it, Thatcher or Cameron?

You do rather set your stall out as a mentalist if the yardstick by which you judge a political leader is how they'd fare if we were going to war.

 

[jemwillett]

Nobody did more to end the cold war.

Apart from Gorbachev, Lech Welesa, Vaclav Havel and many other East Europeans. Lets not get carried away.

 

[cirC]

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.

Correct and the blame lies where?

Scargill who thought he could do a Heath job as per Gormley on Thatcher

 

[Promotion]

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.

 

[ferring seagull]

those who remember the pre MT days will remember a country in terminal decline, MP's that were either idiots, weaklings or bordering on lunatics and a country that was bordering on third world - 30+ years and people who didn't live through it simply cannot picture what it was like.....That the country was held to complete ransom by lunatics like Scargill, Hatton and the Trade Union barons says it all - a lot of her ideas and solutions went way too far (and I certainly don't agree with all she did) but equally if she hadn't done what she did, and it couldn't be done without complete resolve and a commitment to stand her ground, we would still be third world - The North being industrialised was always going to get it worse so within reason those regions were always going to hate change - people can change history how they like but it is no co-incidence new labour, especially Blair who was definitely a follower of MT rather than previous Labour MP's, actually thought well of her and simply took her model and softened it to make it more acceptable. People should just let her rest in peace, I am sure the silent majority feel she did more good than bad when the scales are weighed up time.

Good post !

I remember whilst working for a bank dealing with customers at the counter taking their cash and recording their account details, pen and ink, in CANDLELIGHT, that in a large branch in the centre of one of our largest cities. The power cuts were scheduled at regular intervals and it was near impossible to find candles to buy.

 

[glasfryn]

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.

succinctly put

 

[Danny-Boy]

After hearing her famous " Where there is discord let us bring harmony etc. " speech again, I had forgotten how quickly SHE forgot the essence of that quote when in power. There was only her way or the highway despite how much anger and resentment people had at her divisive policies. When the going got tough she would wrap herself up in the Union flag and say " I'm battling for Britain " When her tenure seemed it might be over, she flogged off every state interest she could for a tax cut bribe in order to stay in power.

Even her own party eventually realised the harm she had done to the nation and dumped her, she famously said "They’ve got the usual Socialist disease — they’ve run out of other people’s money." However, her "money" was the infrastructure of everyone in the nation, the famous " free market economy " has been lapped up by the foreign shareholders who now run for profit and own a large chunk of our once great nation.



She died in luxury in The Ritz, while many of us live in poverty. Food Banks are are multiplying and the disabled have their benefits cut or withdrawn. We have hardly any manufacturing industry left, we just make coffee's in franchises as minimum wage slaves. The average wage in the UK is supposed to be £26,600, I know no-one who earns that. That is her legacy.

THIS. Who accused her of "selling off the family silver" with privatisation. Errrmmm..

Harold McMillan, who had actually fought (and nearly died) in World War 1 and also gone through WW2. THERE was someone who knew about human suffering.

 

[cirC]

Good post !

I remember whilst working for a bank dealing with customers at the counter taking their cash and recording their account details, pen and ink, in CANDLELIGHT, that in a large branch in the centre of one of our largest cities. The power cuts were scheduled at regular intervals and it was near impossible to find candles to buy.

I worked in Manchester during the late 70s,the good old days of strike after strike,the dog days of the Wilson,Callaghan government.
I worked in a large sub-post office and was asked to go to the main sorting office (Spring Gardens) in Manchester to collect a very large amount of cash so that pensions and benefits could be paid to the recipients concerned.
What a joy that was,driving through picket lines and having my car hit by placards,spat upon and the insults from caring union members.In charge of the pickets was a certain Alan Johnson,remember him,Home Secretary in the last labour administration.
Do not pontificate about how caring socialists are......SCUM in my opinion.

 

[ALBION28]

'The challenge ahead is the same as it was yesterday: to tear down the whole edifice of Thatcherism, heal Britain of the damage done, and build a country run in the interests of working people. It’s a fight we must all fight. The champagne is on ice until we win it.' Owen Jones
Britain is massively worse off because of that woman. We have the consequences of a dangerously imbalanced economy, an education system incapable of providing the skills required so we ship in better educated migrants. In balance in housing , her much lauded 'property owning democracy' in deep decline as more and more goes to fewer and fewer. Despite this and more we actually have part of our population so brainwashed as to think doing away with consensus was the way to go and like seals at feeding time applaud the scraps they are given. I fear it will take a very longtime to recover from Thatcherism and its consequences.

 

[vegster]

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.

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.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

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.

 

[pork pie]

It still is!!!

Indeed. Another mess created by a Labour Government. When will these stupid plebs learn?

This Government is too soft when actions are needed to get things moving outside the City of London, but better than any previous Labour Government has been. The one thing Labour have learned at least is to keep at arms length from the commies in the unions.

 

[Albumen]

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.

Inspirational.

 

[Dalos]

After hearing her famous " Where there is discord let us bring harmony etc. " speech again, I had forgotten how quickly SHE forgot the essence of that quote when in power. There was only her way or the highway despite how much anger and resentment people had at her divisive policies. When the going got tough she would wrap herself up in the Union flag and say " I'm battling for Britain " When her tenure seemed it might be over, she flogged off every state interest she could for a tax cut bribe in order to stay in power.

Even her own party eventually realised the harm she had done to the nation and dumped her, she famously said "They’ve got the usual Socialist disease — they’ve run out of other people’s money." However, her "money" was the infrastructure of everyone in the nation, the famous " free market economy " has been lapped up by the foreign shareholders who now run for profit and own a large chunk of our once great nation.



She died in luxury in The Ritz, while many of us live in poverty. Food Banks are are multiplying and the disabled have their benefits cut or withdrawn. We have hardly any manufacturing industry left, we just make coffee's in franchises as minimum wage slaves. The average wage in the UK is supposed to be £26,600, I know no-one who earns that. That is her legacy.

You know no one that earns £26 k ? are you having a laugh. Thats £500 quid a week. Many tradesmen charge around or more than £100 a day, youve not got to be an investment banker to pull that in

 

[vegster]

You know no one that earns £26 k ? are you having a laugh. Thats £500 quid a week. Many tradesmen charge around or more than £100 a day, youve not got to be an investment banker to pull that in

Er, had a little think and no, virtually all my friends and family are on less than that, I'm self employed and I was earning nearly £22 k a few years ago but I'll be lucky to make more than £14K this year.

 

[Locky]

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.



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