The Iron Lady

[ticklebug101]

Folks, I thought this deserved a thread of it's own so I made one. This is mostly for my fellow UK'ers but if anyone else wants to chime in, feel free. It was announced in the last half an hour or so, that the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Marget Thatcher has died. There were some mixed opinions aboout how she got things done but she remains the first female British Prime Minister and that in itself makes her a ledgend in my eyes. My prayers are with her family, especialy her daughter, Carol and her Son, Mark.

 

[Hootus1]

I just read about this on yahoo. Sad for your country. She was one tough lady! America could use a leader like her right now !

 

[ticklebug101]

Aww Thanks Hootus

 

[Senshi1]

Whatever she did in the past, it's always sad to hear of a death. Thoughts with her family.

 

[FireFoxSF]

American though I am, I have nothing but profound respect for Margaret Thatcher, and was very saddened to hear about her passing, and I empathize with the emotional repercussions this has had on you and your nation.

 

[CPSUI]

A friend told me about this, and I did not believe him. It is sad that she has passed on. I also agree with Hootus.:cry

 

[Paul Jones1]

The Lady is with God now. So we mourn for ourselves.

Bye, Maggie.

PAUL JONES

:Angel_anim:​

Attached are some pictures.​

 

[ticklebug101]

Thanks Paul those are lovely

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

Despite the fact that she ruined the lives of several people over the course of her political career, she was never the less respected by most of Britain (and also helped make Britain somewhat prosperous as well). I'm guessing she'll be missed by both her friends and her enemies.

 

[Hootus1]

Great pics, Paul!

 

[Tom Tickle]

I wasn't sad (I wasn't a particular fan of her policies, even if I was shieldied from many of them by living in the south) but I won't gloat. All I can add is that Christopher Hitchens once said that she 'stunk of sex'.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

Ah, you live in the UK naut hun? Is London is the southern parts of Britain?

Also, can you help remind me what this woman's problem with the mining industry was again?

I'm curious as to why she waged a political crusade against it (if crusade is the right term here).

 

[BigJim1]

Anyone who gets bestowed with a respectful nickname by the Russians had got to one tough mamma!

I agree with most of her conservative politics, although I think she went about it rather heartlessly, and didn't do enough in the aftermath, effectively polarising England and turning Scotland into a breeding ground for nationalists and separatists.

I admire the way she was a politician of conviction, rather than one of ambition and money/influence-hunger like Tony Blair.

I won't grieve for her death because hers was a long life packed with achievement and surrounded by loved ones.

Not the least of her high points was managing to keep Michael Hestletine out of Number 10 by virture of standing down after one ballot. Sadly, all we got to replace her was the Prince of Greyness, John Major. (And you Americans think Al Gore is boring? Major wins on that score! And any man who could actually want to shag Edwina Currie has got to have something wrong in his skull.)

 

[BigJim1]

Is London is the southern parts of Britain?

Also, can you help remind me what this woman's problem with the mining industry was again?

I'm curious as to why she waged a political crusade against it (if crusade is the right term here).

London is in the south east of Britain.

Mining, especially coal mining, was an industry that was doomed in this country. The coal reserves we had left were increasingly inaccessible and it was costing the country millions in subsidies to keep the industry going at a loss. MT outsourced our fuel needs, cut millions from the country's budget and the fuel was cheaper.

Unfortunately she did it very quickly and brutally and created nothing in it's place, which means that large parts of the north of England are today still economic wastelands because of it. Large parts of that region were dependent on mining for their economy and when it was guillotined they had nothing but social security to fall back on.

The miners and their families were not helped by the fact that their leader, Arthur Scargill was a complete dickhead. He called a strike of coal miners in the middle of a hot summer..... Nuff said.

Did mining have to be cut? Yes, sadly it did. It was uneconomical and utterly doomed in this country. Could annd should more have been done to revitalise the north's economy? Yes, in my opinion as a Tory, definitely.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

Whoa...she sounds like a woman who thought the ends justifies the means and didn't really care about the people who were negatively effected by her decisions. How is Britain's north right now? Is it still very much a financially destitute and impoverished part of the UK?

 

[Tom Tickle]

Not that bad. Many northern cities are coming back from economic ruin through service industries. Manchester has recently seen the relocation of the BBC from it's old home at Television Centre in London. Liverpool Leeds and Newcastle are undergoing gentrification at waterside locations. There are scummy towns in the south. I went to Southampton for university and it's a dump. Portsmouth has a high poverty level as well as low educational attainment.Even though it has the historic dockyards, it's not known being being that cultured or well-heeled.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

Not that bad. Many northern cities are coming back from economic ruin through service industries. Manchester has recently seen the relocation of the BBC from it's old home at Television Centre in London. Liverpool Leeds and Newcastle are undergoing gentrification at waterside locations. There are scummy towns in the south. I went to Southampton for university and it's a dump. Portsmouth has a high poverty level as well as low educational attainment.Even though it has the historic dockyards, it's not known being being that cultured or well-heeled.

Yeah, lots of poverty here in the state of New York too. Ithaca isn't bad at all but many other people are just getting fed up and leaving for the South (which I hear is becoming kinda crowded LOL). Broome County (near the county my girlfriend and I live in [aka Cayuga county] especially is doing piss-poor which is ironic as everything went to hell after IBM packed it's bags and left for the southern states and other nations (god damned free-trade agreements are RUINING this nation).