Hilda buys the farm.

[HoreTore]

Bloody tree-hugging hippie!!!

[Fragony]

Bloody tree-hugging hippie!!!

Some angry tongues claim it was her invention to promote nuclear energy

[HoreTore]

Some angry tongues claim it was her invention to promote nuclear energy

No, she was obviously a cultural marxist, hell bent to enslave the world for her NWO masters.

[Greyblades]

Come back the week after that for "The 1800's British middle class really sucks and why I wish I stayed with the modern world".

And the week afer that for "Oh crap! The 16th of April 2013 time machines dont send the machines with you, I'm stuck!"

[drone]

And the week afer that for "Oh crap! The 16th of April 2013 time machines dont send the machines with you, I'm stuck!"

The time machines go, the nuclear power source and distilled petroleum does not.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Wasn't Britain widely hated because of the Falklands War? Don't get me wrong I completely support her stance on that, but Britain was not particularly popular under her.

She coped well with some extremely difficult political issues. She protected the Falkland Islanders, and she stoped the Troubles in Northern Ireland from escalating into something more serious than it had the potential to do. People that say she was too harsh forget that there were two sides to appease in that conflict.

I think she meant well but a lot of what she did was counterintuitive. She took a conservative stance on social issues, and yet her economic reforms damaged the traditional family and led to more divorce, abortion etc. She hated the fact that the state helped subsidise a chunk of the population by supporting their industries, yet created a situation where those same people became entirely dependent on the state. She wanted to improve council estates by letting people buy their own homes, yet that simply meant that the slightly better-off ones were able to move, leaving the estates to the poorest sort and turning them almost into ghettos.

The fact she is a divisive figure should hardly be suprising when she created much of that social division herself.

Whether the alternative of continuining along the path of Old Labour would have been any better is another matter entirely.

I think this is a fair analysis.

Here's a good one from the Beeb regarding Liverpool: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-22073199

Key point: Thatcher didn't "hate" Northerners, some of her cabinet didn't care about them, but she didn't have any answers either.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Very few of the great leaders of that era remain. Thatcher has joined, John Paul Magnus, Reagan, Mitterand, Honeker, and Xiaoping among the majority. Kohl is a shell of a man, awaiting his turn. Only Gorbachev -- the "loser" of the Cold War -- is alive and well, sometimes speaking on the self-help circuit or on behalf of his wife's charity foundation.

I remember when these names encompassed all of our hopes and fears. What an era.

Of course, the '80s also gave us Duran-Duran, the Stray Cats, and Yuppies who managed to convince themselves that concaine was not addictive. So perhaps I am waxing eloquent about another era that was no more nor less than another era.

[a completely inoffensive name]

The 80s were the worst decade of the second half of the Twentieth Century.

[Lemur]

Of course, the '80s also gave us [...]

Parachute pants. And Maggie Thatcher. What else do you need to know?

[Fragony]

No, she was obviously a cultural marxist, hell bent to enslave the world for her NWO masters.

Oh shoo hornboy it wasn't me who did

[drone]

The 80s were the worst decade of the second half of the Twentieth Century.

You are obviously too young to remember the 70s.

[InsaneApache]

You are obviously too young to remember the 70s.

Got it in one. The '70s were bloody awful in every way. Except for Punk Rock.

[Fisherking]

Got it in one. The '70s were bloody awful in every way. Except for Punk Rock.

I didn’t care for punk rock all that much either. I was more into New Riders of the Purple Sage (Panama Red, etc.) ,the Eagles and Al Stewart. Tolerating the 70s had a lot to do with mood altering substances.

[HopAlongBunny]

Tolerating the 70s had a lot to do with mood altering substances.

So, it wasn't all bad...

[johnhughthom]

Wait a minute, are you oldies saying my generation didn't invent drugs?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Wait a minute, are you oldies saying my generation didn't invent drugs?

Correct. Nor was your generation the first to discover sex. Horrifying, I am sure.

[InsaneApache]

Correct. Nor was your generation the first to discover sex. Horrifying, I am sure.

Ah the nippers. They think they invented everything. As I did when I was a teen. A long long time ago, I can still remember all the things they used to say....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Ah the nippers. They think they invented everything. As I did when I was a teen. A long long time ago, I can still remember all the things they used to say....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U

1972. Nixon re-elected despite plumber problems at the Watergate. Muskie's melting snowflakes. Wallace shot. It was a year....

[InsaneApache]

Nowt really changes mate. Different faces same cretins.

[Furunculus]

a few facts:

http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/...hatcher-myths/

[Idaho]

She was a hypocrite and a tyrant. She claimed to roll back the state while increasing state spending massively. She claimed to be about personal freedom but created laws that gave the police sweeping powers of arrest and detention and targeted people who were not like her . She claimed to be free market but manipulated the economy to create the huge banking industry that has bankrupted us and made her husband and his clique fantastically wealthy.

[InsaneApache]

Perhaps. But if the alternative was Foot or Kinnock then no contest.

[Idaho]

You'll not find me defending any UK politicians.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

You'll not find me defending any UK politicians.

Or standing against them, which makes you morally bankrupt.

You want to rage, fine, but then go do something about it.

[Idaho]

Or standing against them, which makes you morally bankrupt.

You want to rage, fine, but then go do something about it.

You what? You are saying that it is morally bankrupt to hold politicians in contempt?

[InsaneApache]

You what? You are saying that it is morally bankrupt to hold politicians in contempt?

I must be the moral equivalent of Cyprus then.

[lars573]

You what? You are saying that it is morally bankrupt to hold politicians in contempt?

To me it sounds like he means holding politicians in contempt and not striving to change it makes you, part of the problem, compounding the problem, or just as bad. Take your pick.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Or standing against them, which makes you morally bankrupt.

You want to rage, fine, but then go do something about it.

PVC:

I am not sure if Idaho has been out at rallys or petitioned his MP to complain; nor do he and I view things eye-to-eye on most political issues.

Over the years on this forum, though, he has been pretty consistent in his disdain for virtually all of Britain's political leadership. I'll credit him with consistency.

[Papewaio]

You what? You are saying that it is morally bankrupt to hold politicians in contempt?

You can't win, because if you put politicians on a pedestal I will call you intellectually challenged or a Tory... Which is possibly redundant.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

You what? You are saying that it is morally bankrupt to hold politicians in contempt?

Tell you what - if you run for parliament in the next election I'll vote for you (for those who don't know, Idaho and I live in the same constituency).

My point is - you complain but you also absent yourself from the whole political process, which makes your opinion redundant.

We get the politicians we deserve - you don't like anyone who gets elected, but you don't even vote for the ones who don't get elected. So you're a part of the problem, if not actually emblematic of it.