"Iron Lady"Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

[The Shadow]

Looks like I'm the fist to post this.

Whether you admired her or loathed her (I'm in the latter camp), there can be no doubt that her reign as PM in the UK changed the face of politics - and women in politics - forever.

[HYHYBT]

I keep thinking there has to be some kind of humorous connection between her death and Annette Funicello's, but can't come up with one.

[SongsOfDragons]

There are people - friends of friends -junking up my FB wall likening her to Hitler. They're also organising parties for the day of the funeral... Real classy, guys. Hope someone treats your eventual death in that way too. >.<

Me, all I have is sads. I was born when she was in power but I don't remember her being so - the first memory I have of politics is John Major. I admired her for the sheer balls she showed at times, but I'm staying out of the debate about her politics that's raging everywhere because the camp who liked her and the camp who hated her seem to be somewhat at odds with each other and any neutrals/genuine well-wishers are getting shat on for not being in either camp (so I escaped to Fratching where people are nicer ).

Iirc it wasn't her first stroke so it was probably a blessing. She's back with Denis now.

[lordlundar]

I keep thinking there has to be some kind of humorous connection between her death and Annette Funicello's, but can't come up with one.

You compare ages and say "The good die young".

[Bardmaiden]

I was two when she came to power and well I grew up in the North of England when Thatcher was in power, yeah she wasn't top of my favourite people list.

I'm not happy she's dead because well I've lost enough people to know how it sucks for the family but not over whelmed with grief either.

I'm still not sure if she helped or hindered women in politics here, as you do see more women MPs but I can't help noticing that the leadership of the parties tends to be in the majority male.

[HYHYBT]

There are people - friends of friends -junking up my FB wall likening her to Hitler. They're also organising parties for the day of the funeral... Real classy, guys. Hope someone treats your eventual death in that way too. >.<

Well, they *do* have certain similarities. For example, they both were in charge of a European (more or less) nation for more than ten years of the Twentieth Century.

What they did during their times was vastly different, but they have at least that much in common

[SongsOfDragons]

Well, they *do* have certain similarities. For example, they both were in charge of a European (more or less) nation for more than ten years of the Twentieth Century.

What they did during their times was vastly different, but they have at least that much in common

Much needed giggle. Thanks.

[fireheart17]

There are people - friends of friends -junking up my FB wall likening her to Hitler. They're also organising parties for the day of the funeral... Real classy, guys. Hope someone treats your eventual death in that way too. >.<

I heard about that. Right up to street parties.



I know that people may not have liked her, but to seriously throw a PARTY is nuts. What's next? Are people going to start singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" too?

[Ree]

What's next? Are people going to start singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" too?

I actually did see a news clip where they had that on a sign.
They were popping champagne and cheering.

I find that disgusting.

I realize many people are still angry over actions she made as Prime Minister, and many areas never recovered from some of the economic policies she introduced, but to party over her death?
That's just wrong, in my opinion.

It's not as if she rounded people up on trains and sent them to be exterminated because of their race.

Things were a mess when she came to power.
She hasn't been in power for 23 years now, and there have been other Prime Ministers after her.

Did she make such a mess of things, and have it carved in stone so that none who came after could even attempt to fix it?

I have never liked the idea at all, of dancing on anyone's grave.

[Gibbo]

What's next? Are people going to start singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" too?

It's been downloaded so many times that it is now in the top 10 of the UK music charts.

[crashhelmet]

I grew up with her in power of our friends across the ocean, but honestly don't remember anything horrible that she did or was responsible for. Maybe it's because i wasn't as attuned to world politics then or because I grew up all over the world. I dunno. Regardless, may she rest in peace.

[s_stabeler]

It's complicated. a) Thatcher privatised many formerly-nationalised industries
b) Thatcher broke the trade union's power. ( banning general strikes, requiring a vote of the union membership before a strike could be called, banning closed shops.)
c) Thatcher was seen as being pro-business.

[draco664]

It's complicated. a) Thatcher privatised many formerly-nationalised industries

Why is this a bad thing? When Telecom/Telstra was a gov monopoly, it sometimes took weeks to get a phone connected. Now, it's days if not hours. Prices haven't gone through the roof (indeed, my own gut feel is that calls are cheaper - international calls certainly are)

There are some things that *should* remain in gov hands, things that shouldn't make a profit (roads and so forth), but utilities being privately owned (and non-monopolies, that's an important clause...) are good for the general public.

b) Thatcher broke the trade union's power. ( banning general strikes, requiring a vote of the union membership before a strike could be called, banning closed shops.)

Again, why is this a bad thing? Too much power in the hands of a few with little oversight is a bad situation just begging for corruption to become endemic. The general strikes in Thatcher's day weren't damaging to the union officials who called them - no, it was the workers who had to take a pay hit who got burned. By making the unions have to vote on a strike it gave power back to the members of the union. They had the power to strike if it was something that affected them, while they could ignore something that affected the union bosses.

Anecdotal case in point - my godfather belonged to one of the unions in the UK who were called on to strike over a proposed pay deal. Original deal was something like 3% for the workers, 2% for the union officials. Officials called a strike. Revised pay deal was 3% across the board. Union officials accepted it.

So, the officials made the workers take a pay hit so the officials could get a better deal...

I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but militant unions can be their own worst enemy. My godfather has been anti-union ever since.

c) Thatcher was seen as being pro-business.

Not exactly. Anyone with any sense is pro-business. Encouraging businesses to grow makes more jobs. It's when the encouragement comes at the expense of the workers that the problems start. She was seen as being anti-worker.

[draco664]

Here's another item that shows the absolute bat-shit-craziness of people when it comes to Thatcher.

This is the University of Melbourne Student Union's president's report. In it, it says that the student council made a motion

That Students’ Council recognise the horrific legacy of Margaret Thatcher and her neoliberal policies that destroyed the lives of millions, her violent crushing of the miners’ strike, her oppression of the Irish and murder of Bobby Sands and other hunger strikes, her unconditioned support for right-wing dictators like Pinochet and Suharto and her support for apartheid in South Africa, among many other things and celebrates her death unreservedly. Students’ Council also commits to organising a screening of the Ken Loach film ‘Which side are you on?’ to further celebrate this event.

Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Amin - none of them got such an honour as to have the UMSU student council tabling a motion to celebrate their deaths.

However, that 'unreservedly' bit? Turns out that the students who voted in favour of the motion suddenly have some reservations about actually having their names recorded. Seems they're quite happy to be classless thugs in celebrating the death of an old woman, but not if their behaviour is public.

[SongsOfDragons]

I'm getting sick and tired of the whole situation. XP.

The woman is dead. Love her or hate her, she is no longer among the living.

Time travel hasn't been invented yet so you can't go back in time and stop her from do whatever it is that has your goat. You can't kill her, you can't make her resign, you can't tell her what you thought of her, you can't make her care about you any more.

All this dwelling on the past is just making more and more people angrier. The BBC and the news haven't stopped talking endlessly about her in every topic under the sun. The man who caused me to exist - Sir Robert Edwards - died last week, and nobody cared because OMG THATCHER.

Jeez UK!! Can we focus on the present yet? If you hated her then instead of bitching get off your arse and start helping to solve the problems she left behind!! If you loved her then after Tuesday shut up and return to normal!! And both of you hurry up and get on with your lives.

Anyone here feeling the same? They've gone on waaaaaaaaaayyy too long about it. *grunt*