Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Lady Thatcher; a tribute.


                       
                                       MAC.jpg

"If only she could've donated some of her guts and determination to today's politicians". Mac.


I don't want to praise Lady Thatcher unconditionally, because there are certain things she did that I didn't agree with, but the low-life scum who have been celebrating her death are a disgusting bunch, and they need to be answered. They are the committed communists, the ignorant gullible, and the just-plain-stupid, and one really wonders if they know anything at all of her time as Prime Minister.

There is nothing the extreme left hate more than success from the right; and Mrs Thatcher was undoubtedly the most successful, and admired, Prime Minister of the 20th Century.

People conveniently forget that when she took power in 1979, the country was suffering from high unemployment and ongoing recession due to the irresponsible 'Tax and Spend' policies of the previous Labour government; the country was on its knees. Britain had become known as 'The Sick Man of Europe', and to counteract this her priorities were deregulation, a more flexible labour market, and a reduction of the power of the hard-left trade unions. All her policies were successful, and Britain returned to stability and growth by 1982. 'Wealth' suddenly became an option, and the results were famously parodied by the 'loads-a-money' character played by comedian Harry Enfield. Anyone who wished to succeed in life, was given every opportunity. However, if I agree with any of the rants against Lady Thatcher, it's that she probably created TOO MUCH wealth, and not enough subsequent regulation.

Perhaps the most dramatic event of her leadership was Arthur Scargill's miner's strike; a strike from which certain communities have still not recovered.

On the 6th March 1984, the UK's 'National Coal Board' announced to the government that it wished to close 20 uneconomic coal mines. An enquiry was held, and the go-ahead was given for the closure of 13. As a result, the Communist leader of the National Miners Union, Arthur Scargill, called his men out on strike and it soon developed into a violent national disaster that not only saw the deaths of 6 men, but also heralded the demise of the Coal Industry.

In 1983 (prior to the strike) there had been 174 working coal mines in the UK (Harold Wilson had already closed 200); the majority of which were viable. Today there are JUST 6. But not only did the strike destroy Britain's coal industry, it also had a devastating effect on engineering, the railways, electricity production, and steel production, all of which were inextricably linked to the coal industry. Traditional 'metal bashing' in The Midlands has now all but disappeared, and those industries that did survive were obliged to change their power source from coal to electricity. The strike achieved nothing but unemployment, the coalfields were devastated, and those ever-eager Communist Union leaders are now all living on fat pensions.

The miners themselves, from those dozen pits that were destined for closure, obviously had genuine concerns, but they could never have foreseen the disastrous results of their union's politically led strike action. But good did come of the conflict, in that 'Flying Pickets' and the intimidation of workers, are both now illegal, and pre-strike ballots are compulsory. It is a strange twist of fate that had these laws been put in place by the previous Conservative government, under the weak Ted Heath, the miners could have saved much of their own industry.

During the time of the miner's strike, I occasionally worked with John Biffin. John was Leader of the House of Commons 82-87, Lord Privy Seal 83-87, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury (amongst other things). I remember over lunch, one day, he said that Lady Thatcher's greatest disappointment was the hypnotic power that Scargill had over his gullible men, and the disastrous results of the strike on the country's once great coalfields. The 'enemy within' had been defeated, but it had left terrible destruction in its wake. Scargill had almost won his political gamble; but far too many of his union members had lost everything!

Lady Thatcher's other 'moment of glory' was of course The Falklands War. This really rather pointless war, instigated by the highly unpopular General Galtieri, saw the deaths of 907 Argentinians, and 255 British. Britain re-took control of the islands on 14 June 1982 when after two months of fighting, Brig Gen Mario Menendez surrendered. It was said at the time that the Argentinians should have invaded under a socialist government (who would probably have done nothing) rather than mess with the Iron Lady. Galtieri was later tried for human rights violations and was sentenced to 12 year imprisonment.

In 2000 a poll was taken amongst all the worlds political leaders (both left and right) as to who was the most important and influential world leader of the 20th Century. The result was obvious; they voted for Lady Thatcher.

The foul-mouthed partying detractors of Lady Thatcher (Glenda Jackson, Galloway, Bragg, Mad-Morrissey, etc) will fade into obscurity (where they belong); Lady Thatcher's name will, without question, survive even the worst of their verbal diarrhoea. She was not everyone's cup of tea, but will always be highly regarded by the law-abiding, hard working, and decent people of Britain, and the rest of the world.

I salute her!


34 comments:

  1. It is reassuring to see that political leaders from all parties now agree that whoever had been elected in 1979 would have had to have done exactly as Mrs T did. People conveniently forget that under Callahan (Labour), the streets were piled high with uncollected rubbish, and that even the dead were not being buried. As Joseph Goebbels so rightly said 'If a lie is told often enough, it is believed'. I'm pleased that so many are now putting matters straight.

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  2. I rarely react publicly to anything political, but I'll make an exception here. I, too, salute Mrs T.

    ...and now I'll return to my quiet shell.

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    1. I think we all would have done the same had it not been for all the 'death parties' etc.

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  3. I don't comment often about politics in other countries but I'm glad you wrote this post. Without getting into a debate without any real background knowledge I have always understood that Lady Thatcher had the courage to do what had to be done - not an easy task. She was ,after all, re-elected three times wasn't she?
    Well done Cro.

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  4. You forgot to mention the steel industry, which she also decimated with assistance from her American hit-man Ian McGregor.

    I was unfortunate enough to live in an area dominated by steel and coal, both industries which took the brunt of her leadership. Unempolyment hit 35% at worst, and our area has never fully recovered.

    So you can probably realise that I wasn't a card-carrying member of her fan club.

    I do, however, give credit where it's due, and I think she's the only PM I can remember who actually had a backbone.

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  5. As someone who you probably consider to be a "committed communist" - "ignorant, gullible and just plain stupid" may I say that your view of history under Thatcher seems to have been culled directly from "The Daily Mail". It wasn't the miners' strike that killed coal in Britain it was Thatcher and her upper class henchmen. They were determined to suffocate the legitimate and hard won rights of ordinary people. Thatcher martialled all the forces at her disposal to cause this sea change on behalf of the landed gentry, the bankers and the idle rich. Unlike you I was there - I saw it all and I know many people whose lives were blighted by Thatcher. To see her as the most successful and most admired prime minister of the 20th century is to look at the world through spectacles that are so rose-tinted they are completely opaque. Why not calm down and paint another masterpiece as you sip a nice glass of red wine in your French hideaway?

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    1. Joseph Goebbels really was RIGHT. I love the way that you 'conspiracy theorists' never mention Scargill; or maybe he was a hero in your eyes. He closed almost as many pits as Wilson!

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    2. YP, my father lost his job because of the unions. His car was repossessed. My mother had to go to work at Smith's. I took a night shift at the biscuit factory and later a brick factory so we could keep our house and still managed to get eight 'O' Levels. We only kept our heads above water because our German grandfather was rich and helped us out, much to the everlasting shame of my father who, unlike most of the plebs cavorting on the streets, was a proud man having served 23 years in the Army fighting for the democracy that allows you to be, quite frankly, unnecessarily cruel to Cro.

      I do like your blog, YP. It is helping me with my English (don't forget, it is not my first language and I still misplace commas and haven't a clue what the subjunctive means or even what a past participle is), it is a beautiful read and illustrated with wonderful photographs but I never imagined you could be guilty of intemperance.

      Margaret Thatcher's policies may have adversely affected a portion of our society but they benefited a majority. That's why for an unprecedented three times she was given a mandate at elections.

      The silent majority use the ballot box, not riotous assembly.

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  6. Thank you for writing this post. It needed to be said.

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  7. I loved her in Sophie's Choice....and her singing in Mamma Mia surprised me

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    1. And she played a mean piano in Casablanca!

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  8. What a load of horse manure you managed to copy from The Dilly Mail.
    You a man who has lived in France for 40 years - keep taking the pills Cro

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    1. Don't watch the funeral Monsieur Heron; you might be influenced by the truth!

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    2. I had far better things to do with my time than watch a bunch of maudlin hypocrites !

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    3. Go on, admit it. You had a little look, and shed a few tears!

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    5. @ A Heron's View

      Since Cro's post was lucid, grammatically and factually correct, was free of spelling mistakes and didn't mention the Kardashians or Tamara Ecclestone, how could it have been copied from the Daily Mail?

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    6. Any statistics I used, actually came from The Sunday Times.

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  9. Well said. It echoes my views which I have expressed on my blog and my FB page. Not culled from the Daily Hate. In fact I had changed from a life-long Conservative to a Labour voter by the time she reached her third term. Her critics now conveniently forget that she won three elections. Where were they and their votes back then? Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

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  10. You should have added an audio clip of Elgar for us to read this post to, Cro!

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  11. I don't usually comment on international politics, either. Someone who's willing to stand for what she believes in will always make enemies, but i much prefer that to those who have no spine.

    And may i say, i'm ashamed that the US President is not attending the funeral. Politically he and Mrs T are/were worlds apart, but i should think he ought to understand just how thick the glass ceiling was through which she broke. I am appalled by what i consider his great lack of manners.

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    1. The funeral was littered with old 'enemies', who all admired her.

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  12. Friends, Englishmen, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Thathcher, not to praise her. The evil that men/women do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Thatcher.

    I do not know that much about her to judge (saw the movie though, and boy, she had a lot of hair), but I do know that she and Reagan were very close. I did not like Reagan.

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  13. Having watched the funeral and noted that 'protesters' managed no more than the damp squib of chanting, 'what a waste of money' (ignoring the billions of pounds and thousands of lives Blair wasted on unjustifiable war) yet thousands lined the streets to pay their respects to the Great Lady, I would say her detractors are on a sticky wicket.

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    1. Her detractors are mostly brainwashed and blinkered. You could rub their noses in the truth, but they'd still believe otherwise. It's a shame really, because they're missing out on the life of a great politician; and they don't come round that often.

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    2. I would say that is true for admirers of any politician Cro;isn't that the point of politics and religion?

      I shan't put her musical detractors into obscurity; they produced some fine music in the eighties!

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  14. During her tenure many people in Britain were hurt and their livelihoods destroyed. The working class people of that time are no more, I would venture to say. Some parts of the North of England are like wastelands. You are so right about Arthur Scargill -- talk about an immovable force! I do believe that he was far more destructive than ever Mrs. Thatcher was. A lot of people up here are very bitter about that time and a lot of that bitterness is justified, though not wisely focused. As I have written elsewhere, by the time she left, most of us in the nation were exhausted by divisiveness -- and the events of the days since her death have shown that a lot of that divisiveness remains to be healed.

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    1. Of the 20 pits that The Coal Board wanted to close, she agreed to 13. Harold Wilson closed 200, but his name is never mentioned as an enemy of the Coal industry. It's the wrongly focused hatred that annoys me. We can be pro or anti, but let's get the facts right. She has been unfairly tarred with many brushes.

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  15. You are a braver man than I Sir Cro ;o)

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    1. No I'm not; I'm just putting my quivering neck on the block!

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  16. Thank you for outlining the facts Cro. I dislike revisionist history...we need to understand the times, issues and truth and never, never judge those who had the courage to take a stand.

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  17. May I thank everyone for their comments. There's no doubting that she was a woman who roused emotions!

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