To Her, many Thanks!
Friday, May 1, 2009 at 10:06AM 
Some Thirty years ago, Britain commenced the Great Revival. From being bankrupt in spirit as well as in practice, we were led down the road to recovery, to confidence and to prosperity. In the space of some ten years, we fought an internal war against over-mighty and wealthy union barons whose sheeplike supporters just could not see the damage their leaders accomplished, and we fought another war against a dictatorship some ten thousand miles away in the southern latitudes, with the Falklands Isles invaded by Argentina. We, as a nation, accomplished the renewal of Great Britain, aided and spurred by one person, and one person alone, Margaret Hilda Thatcher, now of course Baroness Thatcher.
This lady, once dubbed by no less a judge of character than Winston Churchill as 'The only Man in the Cabinet', planned the renewal of Britain after the doldrum and neglect years of Labour and previous lacklustre Tory administrations, the last of those being the Heath government which took us into the European Common Market. She saw the manner in which the Union Barons literally ruled the Labour Ministers, with their constant demands for more money, more benefits, more leverage for thie members and of course, for their unions, the vast majority of which of course were very left-wing by nature and composition! The Unions' attack on, and of course defeat of, the Industrial Relations Act and the freeing of the Pentonville Five must have helped her in her policies towards the Trade Union Movement that all were to be equal under the law, but the Law would have to be fit for purpose. She stood for Tory Leader, and despite everyone's disbelief, became Official Leader of the Opposition, with the sulking Ted Heath hovering in the background.
After a series of debilitating strikes in the 'Winter of Discontent', and the results of two 'Devolution' referendums pushing the Nationalist Parties to withdraw their support from Labour, a single vote decided that Labour was defeated in a Vote of Confidence, and Margaret Thatcher became our first female Prime Minister.
Her record, both in Domestic as well as in Foreign matters, is written in many places, and is both long and unique, in that in the many battles she undertook, she won the most vital ones. She reformed Trades Union Legislation, put the economy on a sound footing, and, in my view as well as that of many, only made one serious error in her years, which was to sign up to the Single European Act. She claimed afterwards that she had been mis-briefed, but I believe that she missed the simple truth that all European Legislation has enough built-in loopholes to allow any slippy bureacrat to run rings around any politician who doesn't deal with scum every day of the week.
Her triumphs in the South Atlantic, aided and abetted of course by her strong friendship with Ronald Reagan, when the British Fleet took the Royal Marines and the Army south to the cold South Atlantic, fought their way to the Falklands beaches and on to victory in Port Stanley, sent her name, and that of Great Britain, ringing around the world as a nation and a Lady, who would not be pushed around!
She survived an assassination attempt by PIRA/SinnFein. Her attitude towards the so-called 'hunger-strikers' and their demands for 'political prisoner' status was both robust and correct, she said "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political". Unfortunately, her Government was also in contact with the Republic of Ireland's leadership, contacts which evolved into the 'Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Council', a precursor to the betrayals of Blair and the Belfast Agreement.
Margaret Thatcher is today a frail lady in her 'eighties. She has been diagnosed as suffering from dementia, and has virtually no short-term memory at all. A sad truth and a sad ending in sight for one of the finest Political minds and Prime Ministers this country is ever likely to see.
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Reader Comments (50)
The striking miners were not `sheeplike supporters'. Scargill I admit was an egotistical bombastic idiot. But the striking miners could see that all the mines were going to be shut down under Thatcher. They knew what they were doing...they were just pissed-off of be treated like scum by you and your ilk Cunningham. They were pushed into a strike with ever poorer wages and deteriating conditions. And they decided enmass enough was enough. If Scargill had called a vote them even the Nottingham miners would have also come out.
So you consider `you' fought a war aganist us do you Cummingham. The old miners told me about your ilk in the general strike about how they stabbed the miners in the back by driving trams...etc. And how the hunting fraternity would ride through the striking miners screaming they `would make the miners eat grass'
and then police with their billyclubs would come along bashing man woman and child alike.
And has for the Falklands, where do you think the fighting men came from? Not from your lot thats for sure Cunningham!
"they were just pissed-off of be treated like scum by you and your ilk Cunningham. They were pushed into a strike with ever poorer wages and deteriating conditions"
Because furrowing like creatures underground is a real joy of a job to be encouraged is it? And they were never screwed by the corporations sending them down below? And ripping the backside out of the earth is always the future provided it gives selfish men and their sons and their soins sons the job for life and generations that they think they have a RIGHT to?
Come off it. Utter bullshit.
"Her record, both in Domestic as well as in Foreign matters, is written in many places"
Yeah, I think that dictatorial mass murderer Agosto Pinochet also owed her a debt of gratitude.
"Crime is crime is crime; it is not political".
See post number three.
From the men who served via the Indy:
"I didn't meet Mrs Thatcher until after the war, but even before then it was obvious that she had had a direct bearing on my life. It was she who made the decision to send us south to eject the Argentines from their illegal occupation, and, when she did so, I realised that she was a strong leader who had ability to listen to what she was being told and carry it out effectively.
While I did not take orders directly from her I sensed, like my men, that she was the sort of person who would not give in. I had served for a few years and experienced British prime ministers who had been less than resolute. This was different. With her, there was a sense of 'let's get on and do it'. I felt there was no going back.
After the Falklands were over, we were invited to a lunch in the Guildhall in London. When Thatcher stood up to speak, there was spontaneous applause from the entire hall - this was the marines, the soldiers, the sailors. I was sitting opposite two politicians whose jaws dropped to the floor. I know she had faults, but at that moment we could just look up to her and admire her."
"From being bankrupt in spirit as well as in practice"
Cecil Parkinson, Jeffery Archer, John Major / Edwina Currie etc...
Glad to see that her government also restored bankrupt morals.
Really great appraisal Mike.
And the one in the Indy is actually astonishing!
I think demensia set in a long time ago.
Point taken!
The mere fact she encourages such divided passions is a testament to the woman and precisely what is lacking in today's politics. Tony Blair came close but that was over one single issue.
Mike Cunningham -
Good stuff, an enjoyable read of the fox hunting toff take on Lady Thatcher.
coaldust -
More mines closed under Blair than Lady Thatcher.
Hi Aief, the miners were not selfish men. Not one of them wanted his son to go down the pit. I saw many a augment between father and son over that issue. So you write a right load of bollocks by claiming that. And has for a job: There was nothing else but the army.
but narrow minded people only see things in there own blinked way.
"It got to the stage in Coventry, when the Brighton hotel was bombed in 1984, lots of people said, 'it's a shame they didn't get her'
A very common opinion in Belfast at the time also.
Isn't using the stereo type for Mike (scum like you and your ilk) which you did in and of itself narrow minded? What makes him scum and you not?
The point about wanting to go down the pit was that it was ludicrous for any sane country to be sending men down the pits to tunnel away like animals. Do you think the environmentalists would be singing miners praises today? Do you think they would be behind you? It was never going to last forever.
The miners were selfish.
Millions of people lose their jobs, corporations go bust, companies fold, businesses change, with far less fanfare that that given the miners who think the world OWES them a living.
I had great sympathy for the miners, whose entire way of life was slipping away. These older men may have had theoretical alternatives, but not workable ones for the most part.
Thatcher made the right call, but that does not mean that we need to look down on these working men from our air conditioned offices in London or New York or wherever.
"The point about wanting to go down the pit was that it was ludicrous for any sane country to be sending men down the pits to tunnel away like animals"
I know that CD can speak for himself Aief but, insofar as I understand it, I don't think that he actually said that they did and I think that the miners were more concerned about their income and employment rather that going down't pit.
Fossil fuels were quite popular in the 70's / 80's if we had no miners where would the coal come from?
As the man said, it was a dirty job but someone had to do it.
Fair point, mine was a little miscontrued - but equally mining also eventually had to end.
Phantom and Paul - The world doesn't then owe miners a special favour because that is all they know how to do and generations of one family go down the pits.
As I said before businesses fold, die or are forced to change and adapt or call it a day. A lot of them operate in the private sector.
Noone spends decades romantically championing their lost causes.
And the fossil fuel issue Aief ?
I said that she made the right call, which was probably a tough one.
But I'm not going to look down my nose and call these hard working men "selfish:" for defending their interests and way of life when there were no good alternatives.
We can say that a 55 year old miner should have just gone into computer programming, but that is not realistic.
They weren't any more selfish than European/American farmers, autoworkers, bus drivers were and are for trying to protect what they have
And unlike a lot of us, they did hard work to produce something of value, in an industry that served their country well for a very long period of time.
I don't question what PM Thatcher did. It needed to be done. But I respect the miners and won't criticize them for trying to keep the only trade they knew
Aief, men did not WANT to go down the pit. It was first and formost just a job. There was NOTHING else. Nor do they: or ever did think the world owes them a living. THATS WHAT YOU AND YOUR KIND think. You just want to put them down. Because you are programed too.
Some miners got asked to say silly things when pushed in front of a camera in the 1984 strike. And people like you just laped it up...
And in every pit every miner KNEW how long his pit had life in it. So every miner KNEW he had only x number of years to work.
And has for being selfish I bet you are in a non-job and milk the tax payer by being in it..your atitude in your writing shows it.
Their destructive reaction, typical of "them and their ilk", to coin Coaldusts terminoligy when referring to Mike (whom he doesn't know) - and their decades of whining - HAS become selfish, Phantom.
All of the people you listed are equally selfish. Same "world owes me a living" stuff holding the world to ransom. That was my point! No Miners aren't unique.
Maybe the little guy in the private sector should enact the same union styled insistence. The country would soon fall apart. They don't because they're not selfish and don't assume the world owes them a living.
What about fossil fuels Paul. So you would prefer them to be out of work now instead of then? What's the difference?
Imagine being in a position where you'd actually protest in order to keep a job involving hard labor in cramped conditions, breathing in bad air 40 hours a week , for a low pay packet. Those guys had no options. I salute them.
Rubbish. And if it was "just a job" then get over it?, what's with the crying into your state bought cornflakes for then?
So you think a secretary with no other skills who loses her job and cannot get another one, when the market is competitive, is somehow DIFFERENT to you??
That's what you and "your kind" think. It's you that is "programmed".
"So every miner KNEW he had only x number of years to work."
YOU get decades and decades of welfare and council housing while you ponder your ailing fortunes - the private sector loser just pays for it while pondering HIS.
I salute every single out of work person in the private sector , and there are many right now. They generally keep the country afloat, they keep Coladust's "ilk" in welfare and they are largely ignored. None spends decades pondering the demise of their various industries either.
Maybe they should dust up and riot to garner any concern at all. They'd protest - no doubt about it - but they are too busy trying to find new ways to earn a living and simply GET ON.
My point about fossil fuels Aief was that energy was heavilly dependent on fossil fuels in the 70's / 80's and if we hadn;t got mines where would the coal come from?
Phantom -
Yep, good points. Conservatives and other nancy boy southern poofters who've never been near a mine - Mike Cunningham and his ilk - ought to at least recognise also the damage done to communities which often existed only because of mining and which fell apart when the social glue of mining went away.
It was the toughest of work and often the only work about, but the apprehension wasn't only because their living was coming to an end. Associated with the pits were social and sporting clubs and associations. It was more than just the passing of a job.
Lest anyone think I've lost my marbles, Britain was a socialist basket case by 1979. The NUM had brought down the Conservative government in 1974, industry was a joke, we had the three day week, regular power cuts and by 1979 the country was bankrupt and the dead went unburied.
Margaret Thatcher was as close to a magic bullet as this country could have hoped. No, she wasn't perfect. She never grasped the deep cultural infiltration of British institutions by neo-Marxists and her signing of the Single European Act was a catastrophic ceding of British sovereignty.
What Leftists never seem to realise is that she wasn't a conservative. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was absolutely a revolutionary. Her economic reforms saw more working class Britons take advantage of the freedom to better themselves than ever before, and this I suspect lies at the heart of their hostility. She didn't treat anyone as downtrodden or a victim, she swept 40 years of post-war socialist concensus aside and we took advantage and left behind a Labour Party that was stuck in the 1970s.
The problem with the miners is that through their union they had engaged in blackmailing elected governments for decades from the 1920s through to the 1980s.
They had used their power to prevent the industry losing a few jobs at a time over the course of several decades, by bringing down governments (or trying to) that made an effort to cut any jobs. That would have been a far better option for the mining communities which would have had half a century to adjust to a post coal era, but they made it impossible.
"No, she wasn't perfect"
Somewhat of an understatement there Pete.
"The problem with the miners is that through their union they had engaged in blackmailing elected governments for decades from the 1920s through to the 1980s"
The same argument could be made of the Orange Order, The Ulster Unionist Party, [and by extension their Tory allies in CUNF], & the state of NI Ross.
I completly agree with Pete Moore. But aief see's everything through blinked bigoted eyes. And Yes aief `we' all did move on and get other jobs. but some communites fared worst than others.
So whats your goverment non-job aief????Are you a parasite then...
I feel sorry for "southern nancy boy poofters" - by which Pete Moore means presumably - people in low skilled private sector jobs who like my parents weren't university educated and skilled in one industry but who got made redundant, many times over - and worked all the hours God sent. But for fault of not working in manual labour and getting their hands dirty the romance around their story is clearly null and void.
Because "communities" existed around an industry doesn't mean a damn thing and is used a sob story to beat the drum of hard done poor poor pitiful us. Literally.
Not once do these types of "nancy boy southerners" claim welfare benefits. And yet entire communities in the sobbing north of the country exist soley through that. And the hard working south, redundancies and all, has been rolling its sleeves up and paying for that for decades.
More people in the offices of London being made redundant today. In floods of tears... The sweet receptionist who at 50+ won't be able to find more work but in these days needs a job like anyone else. No union to bleat and wail for her. No community to kick up a massive fuss. Just like tens of thousands of others down here - with limited skill bases, on temp contracts - all now requiring a "new direction" which means re-train. Learn a new skill. Find something for which you will be useful. Will they? And all of that was going on the 80s with mass unemployment. I can remember my mum struggling to find work in factories down south just to make sure she and dad could raise a family. All the while the miners on the TV shoving their self pity down everyone's throats.
Ugh. Disgusting snobbery on show from Pete Moore.
Just one slight point about us ex-miners. Lots of us hated the marxists and the rabble rousers and just like now, the labour councillors who claimed lots of expenses. And because of this; lots of us did vote CONSERVATIVE... And yes aief, strange to say lots of us could also think for our selfs and some of us even had been to a grammer school.
coaldust
I didn't realize that you yourself were an ex miner. Are you now retired? What work did you do after mining came to an end?
Hi Coaldust - I like you - it's nice to see you comment here again - and yes I read a lot voted conservative. I'd post more about that but I am utterly fixated at the snobbery on display in this post to people down south or presumably anyone who worked hard but wasn't a miner? I mean even you are attacking Aief along those lines. It's unbelievable. How can anyone justifiably defend the actions of the miners as a special case when they got made redundant - NO different to anyone else in this country. NOT all of those people had a community behind them or were in many ways too different to the people being discussed?? Seriously. It's snobbery directed at the south and the private sector like that that makes me want to to stop my taxes and quit paying any welfare. Why are miners so special? There is NO reason. You are no different to the tens of thousands who have been made redundant and had NO collective voice behind them and as few or as many skills to re-train. It's not just heavy industry workers who get some special sympathy. I agree with the point above - you are not ENTITLED to a job.
And fyi Coaldust/Pete Moore - Mike Cunningham is a NORTHERNER!
lol
Mike C
She did indeed turn the country around from the poor man of Europe to a nation able to offer people opportunity there for the taking - if they wanted it.
Just proves to me yet again, in this present eunuchverse more so than ever, that only women have the right set to run this country.
The idea that - to someone's point in the Indy - she did nothing for women in this country re feminism - what a stupid thing to say.
I wish I'd pursued politics more so than I have - and I owe that passion in the topic both to her (and my mum).
The woman was fiercely intelligent and an awesome PM. Sarah Palin looks like a wet week in Bournemouth in comparison.
They were 'so special' Alison because when they went on strike, it was a major issue. It entitled them to violence and sympathy and massive pay increases. They and all the other strikers of the 70's brought the country to it's knees. We also lost our car industry to strikers and their 'negotiations'! Mrs Thatcher brought some sense, including a sense of pride, into our country. Like all Labour governments before them Labour has now reduced the country to an economic mess. Unfortunately the electorate have poor memories so life will continue to be a series of ups and downs. Unfortunately now the people at the top of the chain, bankers etc., have wreaked havoc with their greed. God bless her...Mrs T I mean when are we going to have another 'saviour' I ask myself because I cannot work up a lot of enthusiasm for Mr Cameron et all.
Sarah Palin looks like a wet week in Bournemouth in comparison.
Ouch!
Yeah Labour delivered her a run in beaten down shithole and she fashioned from that a goddamn goldmine of opportunity.
Lower and middle classes don't go on strike or protest Maggie. Why? Because they are too busy trying to be self sufficient *by any means possible*. Don't tell me people in this country don't have all the means at their disposal for that. This ain't America.
As i've said before my claim to fame is I met and talked to Lady T here at a Dallas book signing. First in line at 6 am for 10 am event. But she scolded me! In my gushing admiration for her, I tried to say I had been first in line that morning (out of admiration). She took it as a complaint that a few in wheel-chairs had been brought to the front of the line. "Well, we must let the less fortunate ahead, mustn't we?"
First I was appalled that I muffed my line, second I now knew what the russians felt, and third I may be the only person alive to hear those words!
But I do love and admire the Lady!
Hi Alison, I do not have a north V south mentality. Most of my friends here in Rotterdam are southerners. I have read a lot of your comments over the last few years or so and I have liked everyone you have written. You write with a warm honest conviction, which gets through to people. I also knew what it is like to have your mother and brothers' work to get by....I had no father. The pit gave my mother 50 pound to bury him when he was killed.
Mike Cunningham called it a war Thatcher waged aganist the miners which implied many things. It implied miners were the enemy in their own country. And by calling them sheep they were stupd ignorant
mindless idiots who could not think for themselfs...
And aief will not see both sides. He his just a bombastic bigot. Miners are like all workers they are just people and to single them out for insults just pisses me off.
I agreed with Pete moore exept for his southern comments which I should have made clear.
you do not write enough Alison and long enough...
Alison -
Wor Mike is indeed a northerner. I fear my send up of coaldust's caricature of Mike Cunningham "and his ilk" and toffs vowing to make miners eat grass might have missed the mark with you.
Nice to see you Maggie btw :)
Thanks Coaldust.
They singled themselves out, the miners. That's why they come in for the attention (and criticism) they do.
Thing is. Lots of people suffer when they are made redundant. I feel just as sorry for private sector workers. I think people associate some romance to manual labour because they strike and call public attention - but to my mind people who work long hours in any job and any sector with little spotlight when they lose their livelihhods *are just as worthy*.
But the thing is - and where I agree with the comments above. There is NO right to a job. No right to a livelihood. No entitlement. And we are all the same in that respect. It's just some get more attention than others and that's not fair.
Sorry people and families lost jobs and livelihoods - but that happens every day to lots of other people too.
I have to go now. Have a nice evening Phantom, Maggie, Coaldust, Pete (grrrrr) and all.
I'm off to enjoy a drink, surrounded as I inevitably will be, by crummy shiraz socialists in various bars - with their STUPID CND flags and their blinkered belief that voting Labour makes them GOOD. Meanwhile they swan off back to Hampstead safe in the knowledge that the effects of their vote for multicutlural crap will never actually affect THEM.
All those same types will tell you they supported the miners. Go figure.
No way. Seriously? It was a good send up then Pete. You got me
Oh and Pete I apologise for being disgusted. I guess I thought you were being serious as you don't often joke. I took you at blogvalue on that one. Bit of a waste of a damn fine comment too ;).
"She has been diagnosed as suffering from dementia, and has virtually no short-term memory at all."
Then again, as she's a tory, it's hard to tell.
Alison -
No worries. Have a good evening.
"No she wasn't perfect"
Maybe not, but have you met anyone who was? What she was was a strong leader, a determined, intelligent, self-made woman who turned this country around. She stuck to her principles and was a woman of courage. Would anyone else have stood firm against the IRA hunger strikers? I think not. Faults she may have had but in the context of history she will stand out as a beacon of light. The nasty remark about her dementia was cruel and unnecessary.
To Her, many Thanks!
Yeah, we can thank her for centralising a national economy in 'The City'. A move that has brought us to where we are today. Rekyavik on the Thames.
Maybe Daytripper has forgotten who has been in charge of the country's finances for the last 10 years?
I have a nice bottle of 18 year old Single malt that i have been keeping for a special occasion . I plan to open it the minute that oul Hag draws her last breath and toast her on her way to Hell.
Maybe Daytripper has forgotten who has been in charge of the country's finances for the last 10 years?
The Bank of England controls the Kingdoms finances. The first thing Labour did upon getting into office was completely privatise the Central Bank. My guess is that was the price of victory.