I think you need to do a bit more research Yorkie! Post War Tory Governments: Churchill 1951 - 1955 Eden 1955 - 1957 McMillan 1957 -1959 McMillan 1959 - 1963 Dougas-Hume 1963 - 1964 Heath 1970 - 1974 Thatcher 1979 - 1990 Major 1990 - 1997
Helped to pull the USSR out of communism in a massive way, took power away from trade unions who had way too much power and were making unrealistic demands, privatised inefficient industries. Certainly not the most unpopular leader of all time given the fact that she won 3 elections and never lost one, that title has to go toGordon Brown who never won one, and lost the only one he was involved in. Also brought the UK back to being a massive player in world politics and built good relationships with USA without being a dog to the president. Arguably has been proven right to be a euro and EU sceptic (although I feel that the EU has been positive overall). Clearly not without her faults, but no politician is, I certainly feel that privatisation could have been done slower but ultimately something had to give.
Post War Elections: Election - Govt - Ipswich MP 1945 Labour - Labour 1950 Labour - Labour 1951 Conservative - Labour 1955 Conservative - Labour 1959 Conservative - Labour 1964 Labour - Labour 1966 Labour - Labour 1970 Conservative - Conservative 1974 Labour - Labour 1979 Conservative - Labour 1983 Conservative - Labour 1987 Conservative - Convservative 1992 Conservative - Labour 1997 Labour - Labour 2001 Labour - Labour 2005 Labour - Labour 2010 Conservative - Conservative So, I think it's clear there is no correlation between the Ipswich MP and the government. The only thing you could say is that there has only been a Conservative MP when there has been a Conservative government, but you can't even say that a landslide Tory win or change to Tory government has coincided with a Tory MP in Ipswich. Post-war landslide election wins: The 1945 election: Labour Party overall majority of 146 (Labour MP) The 1959 election: Conservative overall majority of 100 (Labour MP) The 1983 election: Conservative overall majority of 144 (Labour MP) The 1987 election: Conservative overall majority of 102 (Conservative MP) The 1997 election: Labour overall majority of 179 (Labour MP) The 2001 election: Labour overall majority of 167 (Labour MP) I'll let you work out which of the following two statements is true (I'm assuming you meant bellwether): "Ipswich has always been a Bell Weather constituency as far back as I can remember. In other words if you win the Ipswich seat you will more than likely be able to form the next government!" "Ipswich itself has generally been Labour."
That's rubbish. The Russian way was always knock down a neighbour's wall and build it further into their land. Read any WW2 20th century history and you'll see the expansionist desires of Moscow.
These threads rarely go well. For those of us old enough to know what was going on in the late 70's, the UK was a seriously ****ed up place. The country needed someone to come in and restore some pride and sort out the mess and Maggie was that person. That sorting out resulted in a lot of collateral damage and I fully understand why those who were on the wrong end of those changes hated her. She was completely driven, sometimes to the point of blindness, but I think the country was a far better place at the end of her term(s), than it was at the beginning. Equally, she was so driven that she sometimes ignored the damage that she was doing and towards the end, she was bordering on the bonkers. Love her, or hate, she cared more for this country than the vast majority of the self serving clowns that followed her, even if she was a bit misguided.
I'm surprised at your comments, not only did she destroy communities, nurture a greedy mindset that culminated in the financial crisis and associate with Jimmy Savile and General Pinochet whilst calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist, culturally we're now a nation of zombies. Thatcher's cultural legacy is Cowell, the very epitome of a Thatcherite yuppie, and X Factor.
"Those who were on the wrong end of the changes" Look at that phrase. Thatcher's doctrine has become ingrained in your brain. In an alternative landscape where Thatcher hadn't existed, people care about others in trouble / suffering and don't just look after themselves and their own interests.
On the other hand, she called on the F.A to withdraw English clubs from Europe after Heysel before the UEFA ban, which denied the Budgies what would have been their first ever Euro competition, so she couldn't have been all bad!
Regarding some of the issues like the economy, that are happening in todays world, What do think Maggie would do if she was in charge?
That's a very good question. I don't think she would be as brutal as the present government and I don't think she would be letting Osborne grow the deficit while Gove makes a pig's ear of education and IDS screws up so spectacularly on benefits. As I have said before the present government builds on Maggie's doctrine but adds a whole new layer of incompetence so I actually think we'd be a lot better off. The only positive being is that there is not a chance that Cameron will get a second term even with Milliband opposite him.
Oh Yorkie you do sound pretty desperate! She associated with Jimmy Savile! So what? At that time no one knew what he was getting up to so that remark is just a stupid thing to say. She didn't acttually call Mandela a terrorist either! Just another left wing myth for you to peddle. Next you'll blame her for the fact that we haven't won anything since she left office! You go ahead and dance on her grave if that makes you feel happy but to me all that proves is that you are as nasty and vindictive as you claim her to have been!
Of course she called Mandela a terrorist. I am surprised you would dispute that as it's well documented, as were her recent racist comments about the white Australians somehow being the natives. Thatcher herself and her government handed Savile the keys to Stoke Maundeville. He even had access to policy making. This is also well documented. This excerpt from the Independent sums up the argument over 'respect' perfectly well. Tony Blair said: “Even if you disagree with someone very strongly, at the moment of their passing you should show some respect.” Presumably then, when Bin Laden was killed, Blair’s statement was: “Although I didn’t agree with Osama’s policies, he was a conviction terrorist, a colourful character whose short films were not only fun but educational as well. He will be sadly missed.”
JWM I'm not saying that Thatcher or even Ken Clarke knew what Savile was up to, but why a Radio One DJ should have so much influence leads to a lot of questions about who did know about or was involved in abuse and some of those people may have been in or working with her government. It's also apparent that to many of his associates how he behaved was common knowledge. At the very least associating so closely with Savile makes her a bad judge of character.
Lancs I did'nt particularly like the woman and there are many things you could argue against her but some of these things are a little ott. I think to rejoice in someones death is pretty low whoever they are. You may not respect someone or like someone but she served as our democratically elected leader, anyone who leads this country should be respected IMO, she wasn't a tyrant. Like I said I didn't overly like her she could on equal measure be seen as one of our greatest PMs yet at the same time one of the worst. I think it would be very interesting to see how she would have governed now, would she have been so brutal since the debate has now moved to the centre ground??
