Monday 8 April 2013

Margaret Thatcher RIP

The death has been announced of Margaret Thatcher, who in my opinion was the last time that this country had a proper leader.  Unlike any of her successors she really did bat for Britain and actually put this country back on the map following the rise of a sordid socialist class of europhiles which were threatening to bring the country down.

They have of course succeeded since she left office because nobody in the Conservative party has come anywhere near to filling her shoes.  Most of them have followed the easy route to success by jumping on the EU bandwagon which pays them to be good little boys and girls.

It takes courage to be a conviction politician and defy the bullies. They eventually won and history will record the people who sold this country out to the European Union and treacherously removed her from office in a cowardly backstabbing. We all know who they are and how much they hate this country.

She is hated by the left because she kicked them all around the country.  Their hectoring rhetoric, their dogma and outmoded mantra lost every time she swung her handbag.  We are still waiting for her replacement and just perhaps he is on the sidelines waiting for the May elections.  This country is waking up to the dangers of the bankers, the Unions and the EU.

In 30 minutes I shall disappear to my local and quietly raise a glass to the last great Britain.  For a famous period in history she wiped the floor with the array of traitors that surrounded her.

RIP Maggie!


6 comments:

GrumpyRN said...

"Her political agenda was almost entirely divisive and destructive, including mass unemployment and urban decay. She emasculated local government and boosted police powers to the detriment of civil liberties. The striking miners and their families were ruthlessly crushed on her orders. She oversaw the use of police state methods. Baton-wielding police struck down peaceful miners. People travelling to support the strikers were pre-emptively arrested. Protesting miners at Orgreave were framed on false police evidence."

"Thatcher initiated policies that paved the way for the current economic crisis: the decimation of Britain’s manufacturing base, the get-rich-quick business mentality, the promotion of the free market and the poorly regulated banking sector. This led to imbalances in the economy. The financial sector gained undue influence, with few checks and balances. These distortions were exacerbated by Blair and Brown but Thatcher began the train of events that led to the present economic meltdown." Peter Tatchell.

Sorry Bryan, but I for one do not miss her and the Tories are still unelectable in Scotland because of her.

bryboy said...

GRN thank you for your response and continuing interest. As you know my origins are Clydeside and my grandfather and father were committed socialists. My grandfather was a conscientious objector in 1914 because he was a member of the Independent Labour Party. These are my credentials for hating the 'Miliband'party. They know nothing of poverty and working for a living.

I thank you for allowing a debate on this blog even if it is just between me and you. You see for many of us south of the border we saw the miners and the unions (at that time and even now) as being enemies of the public and of progress.

The current situation is not down to Margaret Thatcher it is down to the policies of her successors. They have had thirty bloody years to reverse her policies but poll tax is still with us.

Margaret Thatcher did not invent mass immigration. GRN the Labour governments had what, 13 years, to reverse her strategy but nothing changed.

The miners were crushed because they allowed themselves to be used as political tools. I feel (felt) sorry for their loss of community. That was a tragedy but when Scargill got hold of them it was inevitable I am afraid.

Police state methods have continued and 13 years of Labour have failed to stop it. In fact 30 years after Thatcher it has got worse...much, much, worse!

As usual you make a lot of points which we can debate. That I welcome but you do say that the Tories are unelectable in Scotland but what about UKIP. You see I still believe that the real Scots are actually disenfranchised. Labour is discredited because of their millionaire metropolitan front bench. The SNP are unrealistic because they want to belong to the EU which negates independence and you have nothing else!

I think that responsible debate in this country is long overdue. By the way GRN my first name is not Bryan but 'Bryson' which proves that my parents were Scots!! Keep well.

GrumpyRN said...

My apologies, I just assumed Bryan - sorry.

I remember the 70's and agree that the unions were out of control and something had to be done. I worked through the 3 day week and the winter of discontent. Never want to see that nonsense again. Once had a long term patient who on being admitted to our care stated that "he would change things here and organise everyone." This was a local union leader who knew nothing about us, his illness or what was required to keep him alive. A few years later his son stated at an enquiry about the loss of a factory that he preferred to close factories than to have the bosses running things.

"The miners were crushed because they allowed themselves to be used as political tools. I feel (felt) sorry for their loss of community. That was a tragedy but when Scargill got hold of them it was inevitable I am afraid."

I absolutely agree - see above.

"Police state methods have continued and 13 years of Labour have failed to stop it. In fact 30 years after Thatcher it has got worse...much, much, worse!"

I agree, see; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4291388.stm about Walter Wolfgang, and that was 8 years ago.


I feel, and I am sure I have stated here before, that the decline in the NHS started with Maggie Thatcher and her introduction of the internal market - this lead directly to dirty hospitals and poor services. Lowest bidder never works. As a friend of mine once said if you buy cheap, you buy twice. Subsequent governments have done nothing to reverse this with the problems that you now see in England today - The Health and Social Care act is privatisation in all but name.

There is a bit of disenfranchisement, but mainly due to the piss poor opposition. SNP is a populist party, they are seen to stand up to the 'bloody English', but how long can they trade on this? Alex Salmond is perhaps one the best and brightest politicians in this country - David Cameron knows that in any debate he will be wiped away. In any other party he would be prime minister material and unlike many of today's politicians he has actually worked for a living. In fairness, he does get a fairly easy ride through First Ministers Questions as the opposition have no one who can compete with him. EU? He hasn't asked us if we want to be in the EU yet - one thing at a time. Actually, I see this as a tactic by the no vote trying to sow a bit of discord and confusion. The same with currency.
All these ideas are being thrown out into the public purview far too early. It all assumes that if we vote for independence on the 18th September and the results are declared on the 19th September then we will be an independent country on the 20th. There will be far too much needing discussed before anything can happen - always providing the UK government let it happen, nothing in law says they have to let us go.


As I comment on other blogs and have used GrumpyRN for several years I am afraid I must keep to it now. It would become a sacking offence if some of the stuff I have written was traced back to me. One or two of my colleagues know who I am but I do not wish my management to find out - I am too close to retiral to be trying to find another job.

bewick said...


Part 1rvv
I cannot agree with Grumpy on all counts. I come from a Derbyshire coalfield community. The miners were the RICH people in that community apart from a few entrepreneurs. I totally agree that Scargill was the cause of the ruination of the coal industry except …. ( see below)
I too lived through the miners’ strike and the 3 day week. As I remember the strikers were, in 1972, seeking increased pay. At the time I believe that I, then a Local Government Officer, was subject to a total pay freeze.

bewick said...

Pt 2
In 1974 the miners, under Scargill, were objecting to the cheaper imports of coal from emerging eastern European markets. They were, in effect, seeking to become nationalised and protected and ignoring world economic realities.

The UK, through successive big pay demands, on threat of strike. priced itself out of the world markets. There is possibly an economic argument that a “nationalisation” would have been cheaper but who knows? It certainly wouldn’t have been a long term advantage but then we still have the coal if not the miners.

The same could apply to the car industry. “Red Robbo”, together with uncompetitive pricing, poor management, and much else, including lowered standards , killed that industry. I think that the current crop of cars from far east companies and the few remaining European manufacturers are FAR better than our last “mass produced” – apart from iconic classics

Ronnie Campbell, MP for Blyth Northumberland has on radio and TV this week lambasted Maggie for destroying not only the UK coal industry but also shipbuilding. I disagree on both. I have reminded him that I moved to the North East in 1970. Within a year the workers at Swan Hunter went on strike for more pay. I was appalled. At the time the SH order book was a little lacking in orders but they DID have a new, but unsigned, order. The buyer moved the construction to Poland and actually saved money. The rest is history and SH no longer exists in any meaningful way. Maggie Thatcher wasn’t even in power at the time!

Competitive tendering? Well I welcomed that at the time although it came back to bite me later. As I told Mr Campbell I once reviewed the housing repairs department of a major local authority . All economically sensible proposals for change were resisted by the unions. Competitive tendering was about to hit. I presented an analogy. The same quality potatoes are on sale at 2 shops 50 yards apart. One sells at 12p per lb. and the other at 10p per lb. Where do you buy? Well, of course, they all plumped for shop B. The message though failed to percolate and rather a few lost their jobs when CT chose a different and more sustainable model. Because they steadfastly resisted the changes ,which may have saved their jobs, and with union support.

A foreman in that workforce told me that he had worked at Swan Hunter as a chippie. He very proudly told me that, on the nightshift, he undid all the work done by the dayshift. It prolonged the contract and increased everyone’s bonus. They managed to do that for weeks. In truth he did something similar at housing repairs.
OK bad supervision and bad management allowed that. CT was a GOOD move but has been, and quickly, corrupted by poor management. As for the NHS? Well same comments and humans, even doctors, will and do find ways to cheat the system. Maggie cannot be blamed for events which have transpired many years later. The parliamentary civil servants who draft the legislation can. A feature of the massive devaluation of education since the 1950s and 1960s? Maggie, it must be noted, didn’t reverse the demise of the grammar schools.

Maggie though unilaterally changed my contract of employment and I hated her for that. She disengaged my pension from wage increases and Cameron has disengaged even further. For almost 30 years I accepted a lower salary in return for a promise of a “job for life” and a very good pension. Neither contractual promise was honoured. Once I moved into the private sector I discovered that I had been paid no more than 2/3 of what I might have earned sometimes much much less. Funny thing is I must have been very good because I was in demand and earned seriously well. To be honest I wouldn’t even have employed most of the staff of the client companies. They were lazy and incompetent.

Bottom line? Well I shall miss Margaret Thatcher. Had Blair had the cojones of his heroine then he may have been a good PM. He was though, still is, just a failed actor. Amazes me how he rakes in so much money. Tells much.

bryboy said...

Tks for your contributions guys. I have always learned a lot from the people who take the trouble to pop up here. GRN I just wonder if Scotland is ready for UKIP? By the by I can really understand your need for anonymity.

Bewick I always welcome your experience because you have worked through the troubled years. Your anecdotes are important because you were involved. People like you should write books but I am pleased that you choose to air your views here.

We are all influenced by our experiences and that is why I loathe the Trade Union bullying which besmirches their members. My father would turn in his grave if he saw what the consequences of his beliefs.

We must combat the Socialist movement at every opportunity. They have nothing to offer their members and only offer further disruption to us the people.

The Miliband family illustrate that ambition within the Socialist cause will always trump decency. Good old Ralph would of course be proud of his sons for their duplicity!