Forums Forums National News Margaret Thatcher died Monday following a stroke

Arthur Scargill was a rat, a giant rat.
Van, do you remember the Green Goddesses?

Firefighters strike of 1977

quote: There was a less significant strike by firefighters in the Winter of Discontent (late 1978 and early 1979), where once again the Green Goddesses were drafted in to cover; it is largely forgotten by many as it occurred at a time when a significant percentage of public sector workers were on strike.
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That included the gravediggers of Liverpool. Nobody could bury their dead in that very cold winter of 1978/79 and at the same time, the Americans were offering to send food parcels over here.

Casper, I did not deny that Mrs Thatcher floated the utility companies on the stock exchange, I did say that she can hardly be blamed for the high cost of energy now. Had we not had such hugely inflated wages over the last decade,plus many, many other contributary factors, prices would have been much more 'user friendly'. I shall not go into economics on this thread.
Many wish to call her for every mortal thing that affects them now in life. As a matter of interest, do you have any suggestions as what should have been the alternative to Mrs. Thatcher being elected at the time? That I would like to know.
Anyway, love her or hate her she put the house in order at the time.
Won't be needing to buy anymore winter woollies thanks Casper.Childhood skills, like knitting, sewing and home cooking, can save a furtune. Would you like me to knit you a jumper? Maybe we could start a bartering system.

Thanks for the link, Granny. So, the lunatic Left is still with us. I see that they claim to be a Marxist/Leninist party; obviously haven't learned from recent history.
Judging by some of the contributions to this thread, I suspect they have some members here.

To knit and cook is very comendable granny thank you for your kind offer, I see you have a modicum of compassion something which Mrs T sadly lacked in,thank you take care.

Would Margaret Thatcher have been able to do what she did without having North Sea oil and selling off state assets( Where would the money for the Falklands war have came from?)
Will the history of Tory selling off assets carry on for short term gains
Royal MaIl,NHS, the publicly owned banks?

In her first four year term, North Sea revenues contributed £20.3bn to the exchequer – 8pc of the total £258bn of tax receipts over that period, official figures show. Today, as a proportion of the total tax take, that would translate into a £45bn annual windfall – a sum larger than the entire corporation tax bill. Instead, the oil and gas industry is forecast to contribute just £6.8bn this year, just 1.1pc of tax revenues. In the 1980s, the oil boom also supported 200,000 jobs and vastly improved the nation’s trade position.

North Sea oil provided Mrs Thatcher the cover to implement essential reforms to modernise Britain. Mr Osborne’s best hope came from the 4G spectrum auction and a sell-off of the state bank shares. 4G raised £1.2bn less than hoped, and the disposal of Northern Rock stock – the only financial sector exit to date – was priced at a loss. Making a profit from either Lloyds or RBS looks a very forlorn hope.

The Chancellor’s aims today are perhaps just as vital for long-term national prosperity as Mrs Thatcher’s were 30 years ago. Britain can not hope to return to its pre-2008 strategy of pinning economic hopes on rampant credit growth. Mr Osborne may have inherited a 21st century version of Mrs Thatcher’s problems. Now he needs a little of her luck.

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Well said Glenda!

What people don't seem to twig is that most of them are champagne socialists anyway, unless there's a vote to be had they wouldn't cross the street to talk to you. Glenda is just a raving feminist luvvie who thinks she's an intellectual just because she played QEI. She is more strident and bullying than Maggie ever was. Just look at the bile in the eyes. There's obviously a lot of left whingers on here but the rest of us are entitled to have a view. My view comes from 70 years of living and making my mind up which side of centre to sit on and I'm comfortable with that. Believe me, you won't know where you stand yourelves later, it depends what life throws at you and in my case what the Socialists/Communists take away.

I Have no problem about the cost of Margret Thatchers funeral,but I do think it should have been put out to private tender, is not what the Tories did with Waste disposal ..

Thanks for that vanmanone, I haven't sung that for a long time, but I'll sing it all day.

I can't recall getting highly inflated wages Granny, maybe it was just you?

my ex worked at vauxhalls & they were on strike same time as the miners over the corsa being built in Spain or werever they came in from.He went on picket duty at the docks on the east coast can't remember the name,the police were stopping cars full of men as it was the time of the flying pickets.I know he ended up getting arrested at some point while he was there.

Yes you are probably right with some of your comments,however to use your parlence communists, socialists, left whingers,if you like to stick labels,they did at least drop a few crumbs to the majority of people in this country eg; the minimum wage amongst other things, what have the tories done look after the wealthy and now wish to reduce the minimum wage from its already pathetic level,you imply you are of pensionable age well dont expect the tories to look after your interests should they retain power.
You speak of which side of centre to sit on perhaps you dont realise that we are dealing with a far right wing party,as to bile it comes from the stomach and is expelled through the mouth much like thatchers rantings toward the ordinary people of this country aka the enemy within

Will tell you what I mean by that Miss Bennie.

Two people sharing one job with 25 years experience between them, working every weekend and public holidays to receive a salary of approx £8,000 per annum.
One unemployed university graduate with a Student Loan to be paid off. Student Grants were replaced by Student Loans about 2001 (I think).

If the Student Loans can't be paid off, it affects the financial services. So the government brought in a few schemes, one of which was ...If a person who had been unemployed for 12 months or more was given employment, their employer would receive the percentage of salary,for the next one/sometimes two years.
For the students who took a gap year..they were quids in!

Now the original two employees were told their jobs were to be finished. The job was then advertised with a slighty different job description. A full time position for £23,000 per annum. Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

The lucky person to be chosen, had a degree (which certainly wouldn't be needed)was able to pay her student loan back, the company got it's rewards, and two people lost their jobs. Plus the job which was equivilent to £16,000 has now gone up to £23,000. Which could have employed another person at £8,000.(almost)

So job has now been re-designed for one person, when it could have been 3 for the same amount.

As for myself,Miss Bennie, I had three jobs to make ends meet, when bringing up three children. Didn't work nights, didn't spend in the pub, and didn't need baby sitters. Oh, and didn't claim benefits other than what used to be family allowance, which everyone got.

Her family can afford the funeral cost. her son is a millionaire But so was Mrs Thatcher.Everyone gets old and can reflect on their life good or bad.MRS T did not have her children with her when she died.They live abroad. Not for her Some mismanaged care home driven by profit hungry business people Mrs T was cared for by people who were paid a decent wage to look after her because she could afford it, at the Ritz.
Not for her the love and devotion of Mothers, Dads, sons, daughters, wives, husbands,other family or friends who look after their loved ones, because they really care and don't do it for financial gain.
I voted for Maggie the first time, because I believed back in the 70s unions were becoming too militant.I was a Labour supporter.I thought Maggie would be good for women workers who felt intimidated by their shop stewards in the workplace.I was wrong. I felt that by collective bargaining and respect between workers and bosses, things would improve they did not.We lost most of the factories on Wirral.They relocated to mainly Asian countries because it was cheaper to produce there.
Liverpool has risen up since Heseltine,but Birkenhead is rapidly declining.The whole country is backbiting each other.started by chinese whispers about people whether ill, disabled,or simply no jobs Every type of media,is fueling it.And all the while people are becoming isolated and desperate, and some fueled by cheap supermarket booze rant and rave and nothing gets sorted.Controlling the masses by big business again.Cuts to Customs and police allows many drugs getting back onto the streets.

I went back to Labour after the first term but no Maggie was re elected then John Major,Kinnock came as party leader Finally We got John Smith Who unfortunately died .He had excellent credentials,Tony Blair came along The youngster What a mistake that was, got us involved with the Americans.Human life again became cheap, Sacrificed in a war we should have not gone into. Internet happened, from that at least now we have some transparancy. .We all have opinions and so called freedom of speech but as one wiki member states Be careful Big Brother is watching. And I add to that.Playing with our lives.


Valli

Well said, valli. Excellent post.

Thank you for your reply granny, the case that you speak about I can't argue with, but, that's what capitalists do, they manipulate every situation for their own benefit i.e. to make money, but doesn't your own situation disprove your earlier post about highly inflated wages?.