S
Super G Ted'inho
Guest
It's early. Forgive me![]()
We didn't know it was you who had asked
It's early. Forgive me![]()
Open Invitation
There is a party at the Cheese this Wednesday. There's a buffet and the pub is staying open all night. Anyone who'd like to come is welcome![]()

Bluff and myself will be coming, we will wear our Tweed jackets and Jodhpur leggings to ensure we fit in and don't embarrass you.![]()

Didn't mean to suggest I disagreed with anything you said! I was just saying it's impossible to get a 'right answer' in History because past events are subject to so much bias. No disrespect intended!
... also if we're working in the domain of integers modulo 7, then 4+4=1... I hate Maths.
I didn't mean to flaunt any qualifications if that's how it came across. I was just letting Dave know that I was at least partially knowledgeable on the subject despite my age. I'm not sure that an A-level in History is even something worth flaunting considering it's now compulsory to study up until the age of 18 anyway. Not sure why that wound you up so much in all honesty.
Crumpet, my last post was meant to be humerous - hence the laughing smiley at the end.
The point that I am still trying to make is that those who were too young or not yet born during the Thatcher years only have commentaries upon which to base their judgements. Those of us who were there have the sights, sounds and smells of what happened against which to evaluate those commentators claims.
When I was teaching MBA students Corporate Strategy I often used a Harvard Case Study on Honda's Penetration of the US motorcycle market. Splitting then into 2 groups they were asked to read the case study and prepare a short presentation of the contents, their findings and judgements. What each group did not know was that there was 2 case studies - Honda A based upon the recollections of Honda executives who were based in the US and led their asault, and Honda B which was a report by the Boston Consulting Group which reflected their thinking upon corporate direction. Both case studies concentrated upon the same events.
It soon became clear to the students that whilst both studies were accurate, they presented a very different picture of what happened and why. But if both accounts are accurate, where does the truth lie? This same dielma covers the Thatcher 'heritage'.
Billy, saint, RHC, Page and I grew up in a very different era and we lived through the Thatcher years - they impinged upon us immediately and directly. They challenged the pillars of what held us together as a society. They therefore directly influence our feelings and memories and hence our judgements of those times. For us what we shout about IS our truth. It IS our history - we lived it. However, it cannot be the ONLY truth. Problem is there is no point 'somewhere in the middle' that the real truth resides.
Can't disagree with you at all there but you (may) have underplayed the knock on effects of Thatcher's reign to the next (my) generation. Thatcherism never truly died and the job security in the public sector is at an all time low now the Tories are back. I will not be a home owner for years (if ever), I may have to wait months for a job having to compete with 500 or so other people. None of Thatcher's policies were sustainable and we are all feeling it now.
Part of the great sadness of the Thatcher years for many of us is that the consequences were almost immediately too difficult to reverse eg privatisation. For me an almost equal sadness lies with the inability of the Labour party to define a rational economic policy and embrace the recommendation of In Place of Strife. This was then further compounded by the internecine battles which ultimately led to the abortion of Socialist principles that called itself New Labour.
Unfortunately, we now have a society that has been brainwashed into believing that socialism is an evil and that the pursuit of profit and individualism are the only true goals.
That's because the Tories appealed to one of the worst sides of human nature, one that is near irresistible - greed.

