Ding Dong! The Bitch is Dead!
Thousands of people around Britain are celebrating the death of the so-called “Baroness” Margaret Thatcher.
Shortly after her death was announced, a crowd of some three hundred revelers gathered in Glasgow’s George Square where many protests were held in response to Thatcher’s controversial poll tax.
Some wore party hats and launched streamers into the air while a bottle of champagne was opened with a toast to the demise of Baroness Thatcher.
Members of various organisations including the Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Working Party, the International Socialist Group, were joined by members of the public to mark the occasion.
Martin Chomsky, the lead singer of Chomsky Allstars, performed his song “So Long Margaret Thatcher” in George Square.
He said: “There are mixed emotions. I was never brought up to celebrate anyone’s death but the pain she brought to Latin America, Europe and around the world should be remembered.”
“I would rather that Thatcherism was dead because she is mostly to blame for what is going on today.”
“She is responsible, but not solely, for the massive gap between the rich and the poor.”
About 200 people gathered by St George’s Hall in Liverpool and a similar number met in Brixton, the scene of some of the worst rioting during Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister, to celebrate her demise.
Outside the Ritzy cinema, they played music and drank as a party atmosphere in the evening contrasted with the more respectful tone earlier in the day. They chanted: “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Dead, Dead, Dead”.
Saul Adamczewski, 24, from Camberwell, had a banner saying ‘the bitch is dead’. He said: “We are here for a celebration. I have never seen such a joyous atmosphere for someone’s death.
“She was so particularly evil and hated by everyone; there are 12-year-olds here. I wasn’t even alive to witness most of her reign but people are here because of the effects of it.
“It is the celebration of the end of a tyrant. And Brixton is the right place to do it.”
Jonny Middleton, 22, unemployed, from Essex, said: “No one is celebrating the death of a mother or a grandmother.
It is an opportunity to all get together and say ‘Maggie, you were an awful person’ and acknowledge that.”
theguttertrash.com 
History will reflect positively on Thatcher, and is already.
• Would Gorbachev have had the courage to reform without pressure from Thatcher (& Reagan)?
• With heavily subsidised coal mining, what would the UK economy look like now?
• With unions running the public instrumentalities, would the UK be more prosperous?
“History will reflect positively on Thatcher, and is already.”
Clearly you didn’t grow úp in the UK in the 1970’s Tom..
She was a fkn bitch. And will be remembered by many as such..
No wonder people are celebrating.
“She is responsible, but not solely, for the massive gap between the rich and the poor.”
Yes. Without her there would be no gap. Everyone would be poor.
Look at those misogynists out there with their “bitch” signs. Just waiting for an apoplectic explosion from the lefties. Might take a while.
I was in the UK few times in the 80s very regularly in her aftermath – during the 90s.
I couldn’t stand Thatcher in those days, though I may have been misguided by my union/ALP orientation.
I’m still not fond of her, I found her imperious manner very irritating, but if you reversed the range of economic reforms she introduced, the UK would be an even bigger basket case.
Yeah!!
I suppose there will be the strongest condemnation of those “witch’ signs by all those ethical types at CW.
“I found her imperious manner very irritating,”
Why do you have to drag Julia Gillard into every topic..!!
David Cameron: “I believe she’ll go down as the greatest British peacetime prime minister.”
How can you say something like that when she went to war over the Falklands?
“How can you say something like that when she went to war over the Falklands?”
Point taken. She was an excellent wartime leader as well!
My favourite is from Christopher Hitchens who gave Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell a great send-off when, at the time of his death, he said: “If you gave Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox.”
Beats me why people from what is called “The left” are so full of hate. I don’t know much about Thatcher but since she gets the usual suspects upset she must have done something right.
I’m still not fond of her, I found her imperious manner very irritating, but if you reversed the range of economic reforms she introduced, the UK would be an even bigger basket case.
Prove it …
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David Cameron: “I believe she’ll go down as the greatest British peacetime prime minister.”
The silver spoon must have got stuck somewhere …
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I don’t know much about Thatcher … but …
GMAFB!
So keep you sticky hands of the keyboard and play your PS3 … look up poll tax – watch a movie – Brassed Off is a good start or The Full Monty … comedies but telling the story of a heartless government run by, Thatcher …
Not that Thatchers cutthroats had planned to incite any strikes of course …
Break the unions, control the workers, control conditions and wages – make bigger and bigger profits at the expense of ordinary people – ROBBER BARONESS Thatcher …
Beware what you wish for …
Neil, at the time she came to power the UK had been stuffed by union power, welfarism and inefficient nationalised industries. It was known at the time as “The British Disease”. The UK looked like it was completely trashed economically, not quite like Greece today, but not far off it either. Even the Tories were very ‘wet’ economically. Many countries had similar problems, but the pommies looked truly fucked-up.
Thatcher presented as a proper Tory, was elected 3 times (so she can’t have been that widely hated) and either saved the country or destroyed the lives and livelihoods of many workers, depending on your point of view. To be fair, she probably did both. She had to be tough to smash the commie unions and that came at a great social cost. She was initially on board with global warming as an excuse to close the coal mines, bu eventually changed her mind on that.
Interestingly, the same broad economic package of downsizing government, freeing up international trade and deregulating and privatising industries the government had no business being in was carried out by Regan in the US and by Labor parties in Australia (under Hawke and Keating) and in New Zealand (under David Lange and Roger Douglas). In essence the economic ideas drove the politics because they worked.
The thing with Thatcher is that she was (and arguably needed to be) tough minded. The impact on coal workers and their families was tragic. There were riots when she replaced council rates with a poll tax. But there were a lot of riots then as the commies and other lefties lost a lot of power.
Just as Labor here wants as many people on welfare as possible so that they will favour Labor, Thatcher tried to make as many people independent of government as possible. For example she sold a lot of public housing at low prices to the tenants.
She also went to war to prevent the Falkland Islanders (who wanted to be ruled by Britain) from being taken over by the murderous Argentinian military junta of the time. This was fairly popular although a lot of people thought the Falklanders weren’t worth the cost. Given the recent discovery of oil in the area, it seems like a good decision on Thatcher’s part.
Abbott was at Oxford at the time, and whereas Hawke distinguished himself with the Yard Glass, Abbott won a Blue for boxing and was seen leading pro-Thatcher marches.
The reason the UK is as prosperous today as it is has a lot to do with Thatcher’s reforms. I guess others will say that they could have been done more humanely and with less social cost.
So what TB? So Thatcher had a plan to win a dispute with the miners. Would it have been more sensible for not to have had a plan to continue to supply fuel?
The coal mines were uneconomic and luddites like Arthur Scargill refused to contemplate a phase down, so it resulted in a crisis.
All the hardship can be laid at the feet of Scargill, rather than Thatcher.
In Australia we were lucky. Hawke had been president of the ACTU and was quite sane in understanding what had to be done to fix the economy. He negotiated an accord with the union movement to keep wage rates under control and lower inflation and implemented other reforms without the social dislocation the UK experienced. A few commo unions tried to oppose him but they had little public support.
Unfortunately the Thatcher’s main union antagonist was the intellectually depraved moron and President of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, who thought that the “ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin” explain the “real world”. There was absolutely no prospect of any sane dealings with that vile idiot. He bears a lot more of the blame for the hardships inflicted on UK workers than does Thatcher.
This also says a lot about the right/left distinction. Although constantly labeled by ignorant fools as extreme right wing, Thatcher was close to the centre unlike the idiot commo Scargill, who was way out there on the looney left. In Australia today he would no doubt be a Green, like Lee Rhiannon, or maybe an ALP left faction senator like Doogie Cameron.
Should those coal mines still be open?
Arthur Scargill wouldn’t contemplate compromise or closure, he just demanded that the taxpayer keep kicking in funds to prop up coal mines that were a couple of decades past their use by dates
Remember him saying – “they’re not our jobs, they’re the jobs of our children” Scargill would still have had youth of Britain still working in Yorkshire coal mines! That’s the mentality of the unions that were opposed to Thatcher.
The nationalised coal mines relied on government subsidy for survival. Is subsidising an inefficient coal mine good use of government funds?
Just as Labor here wants as many people on welfare as possible so that they will favour Labor …
Bollocks … 1950’s thinking … as many of your rants are … the ALP is as “commercially” oriented as the Liberals …
He bears a lot more of the blame for the hardships inflicted on UK workers than does Thatcher. Equal …
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Should those coal mines still be open?
Nor, should Australia’s using the same criteria, (Thatcher, used cleaner, more reliable energy source (obviously nuclear waste wasn’t an issue – they planned to dump it in Australia at one stage) … wonder if Tony Abbott will shut ’em down … he’s a Thatcher fan …
The nationalised coal mines relied on government subsidy for survival. Is subsidising an inefficient coal mine good use of government funds?
I'd argue that too, some of the mines were profitable … but they were shut down as well … the aim was to build nuclear plants … and bust the unions of course …
Scargill was a wanker – no doubt … the (IR) pendulum just continues to swing backwards and forwards … its all about sharing or not sharing the profits, greed, control, power on bth sides … its never changed …
Thatcher's gone and Scargill won't be far behind … must be in his late 70's early 80's now (don't think he's dead – I stand to be corrected …)
Era is dead, in the UK and gone … 'tis now the 21st Century … time to move on …
“… the ALP is as “commercially” oriented as the Liberals … ”
What……. a monopoly NBN
Pink Batts in ceilings…………?
Record government expenditure “crowding out” the private investment
457 Visa overhaul despite Bowen claiming last year the system was working just dandy with the only instances of rorting by Australian entities now being 2 pizza cooks and a handful of security guards. But under the ALP all businesses now suffer so it can play the redneck card
Draft proposals to populate the North using mainly private investment slammed by the ALP
Rushing the original mining tax with NO consultation with the mining industry
“Commercially orientated” ?………………..
……………………….Rubbish
Who are you trying to kid ?
“Commercially orientated” ? …….
Of course it is – just ask Michael Williamson or John Maitland or Eddie Obeid (or his Left Testicle).
The idea of developing the north should become more attractive as time goes by, but I reckon the government has no vision and joolya is a total left brainer.
I’ll start again! Just lost my reply and wasn’t going to bother but the BS just pisses me off!
What……. a monopoly NBN
And still a monopoly by the LibNits but YOU will PAY to connect node to the door …
Pink Batts in ceilings…………?
Meaning?
Record government expenditure “crowding out” the private investment
Meaning what no excessive profits at the expense of ordinary folk? Or the government propping up banks during the initial stages of the GFC with guarantees that the people would need to honour … while the Big Four greedily “acquired’ the last vestiges of real competition from the smaller banks and lenders … hypocrisy … Robber baron mentality supported by the dumb ALP government … and perpetrated by LibNit supporters like you …
457 Visa overhaul despite Bowen claiming last year the system was working just dandy and it probably was LAST year until it was abused by companies … anyone with half a brain should know by now that Australia has some of the highest training and assessment standards in the world … despite LibNit attempts to water them down … third and second world countries are nowher near our standars … and at least one first world country … the USA!
Draft proposals to populate the North using mainly private investment slammed by the ALP
And I for one can’t understand WHAT the purpose is to draw Murdoch, Twiggy and Gina (sic) to the NT … what have they found that they can EXPLOIT!
Rushing the original mining tax with NO consultation with the mining industry
erm, that’s BS … it was BECAUSE of the CONSULTATION that and the Gillard coup that it was CHANGED to become a dud … and FYI … after paying taxes in this country for over 50 years NO-ONE EVER consulted me … nor was I consulted by the LIBERAL NATIONAL COALITION government in 1962 Menzies… when they first went to VN … 1970 Gorton Liberal when I was conscripted nor 1971 McMahon Liberal or 1972 Whitlam Labor when I was discharged …
Governments should be for the country … not the fkn Robber Barons and their wannabes …
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Of course it is – just ask Michael Williamson or John Maitland or Eddie Obeid (or his Left Testicle).
Or Noddy Newman or Joh BP … the list is endless and biparfknpartisan … you drongos!
And you lot just support the national pillage and rape … incredible!
Look over there.
Talcum’s on the 730 report talking up the copper network..
There’s gotta be votes in that… 🙄
Talcum’s mounting a very good argument as to why Labor’s fibre plan, rather than copper, is a better alternative…
Thanks for that Talcum.
Talcum’s on the 730 report talking up the copper network..
If he can sleep at night he must grind his teeth a lot … and mumble, “fkn Abbott … fkn Howard!
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I’ve been to Wapping … I couldn’t understand a word they said … 🙂
BTW, Wap, most posters here don’t get sarcasm, satire or cynicism … seems its “below” them … apparently after 45 years in the workforce I should still be working ’cause I pick up a bit of MY (taxed for) pension … and no compensation for being picked for cannon fodder neither … what fkn ignorant morons we have to live with …
Almost makes My Kitchen Rules palatable …
Turnbull vs Conroy
Who would win the IQ test?
I thought Turnbull did a reasonable job in explaining that the job of government is to provide infrastructure for the foreseeable future.
Mind you, I’m not too keen on a $30bn price tag.
Talcum’s mounting a very good argument as to why Labor’s fibre plan, rather than copper, is a better alternative…
And here’s me thinking only the ALP pollies had to toe the line … *sarc …
He must be spewin’ …
Wapping – how contentious!! An archaic printing plant closed, and a new one opened – under a union agreement with high wages!
A shocking outrage.
Who would win the IQ test?
Fair question … Conroy is a real twit … Turnbull really is PM material …
Mind you, I’m not too keen on a $30bn price tag.
Get over it … the project is 15-20 years! And if you’re going to do it, do it properly! FttH … not FttN … I’m trying to think of an analogy …
OK … so the node is at the end of your street … so it means that you have to pay to get the road built to your house … ’cause if you don’t you can’t get your car to your home … so you have to walk but if other people don’t pay your buggered … and it SLOWS you down …
I notice the wi-fi, 3G, 4G argument has disappeared too …
A shocking outrage.
But for whom?
BTW, sreb, I think you were a bit harsh with 7:30 last night … you don’t do that to splatterbum for his constant raging (and foul language) about COMMUNISTS, or, ToM for his constant ranting about UNIONS BOO!
Fair’s fair … 7:30 is one of the few who take on the right wing ranters here …
“Wapping” what even is that…?
Is it a “place?”
Who lives there…?
How long has this being going on?
Why wasn’t I told…??
“I think you were a bit harsh with 7:30 last night ”
Fair comment…
But you’ll forgive me if comments that simply consist of “teabag” “teabag” “teabag” repeated ad nauseum, become a bit tiresome after a while.
I was getting to the point where I was just scrolling past 730’s comments because they no longer made any lucid sense (and I have a limited attention span at the best of times*), so I imagine it was becoming tiresome for others too…
I have no issue with differing opinions, but if the best someone can do – on a painfully ongoing basis – is to just say “teabags” over and over again, then I’m (not) sorry that’s going to become a bit tiresome after a while..
*What was the question again?
God, help us, we were gonna get something new that was state of the art…ish and libs will give us something secondrate. That copper that’s in the ground must have paid for itself time and time again. Ripping it up doesnt acheive a great deal, leave it there, it might come in handy. The main downfall of fibre and wireless is unless a battery is running the show it fails with no power. Even if there is a battery it will go flat and someone will forget to get a new one. Copper is fine when the powers off. Those old socialist ways when the government owned the utillities had advantages, but we’re fucked now, governments can’t sell these things quick enough. My nana used to say, once they’ve sold of the utillities and the public assets the government will have nothing left to govern. If they do build the NBN as originally planned it will be worth shitloads, and worth selling. If they go cheap it’s not going to be worth much. Last years model car once driven out the showroom is worth less than half.
Yes, but thank god the bitch is dead…!
*What was the question again?
LOL!
Its just that others here become tiresome with constant BS rants that go on for ever and each sentence has to be challenged because of the BS … that;s fkn tiresome … the alternative is to let it go and junior twits like Kneel … go on to fkn QUOTE the BS!
Yes, but thank god the bitch is dead…!
Hear! Hear! Us Northern lads know whot ‘tothers only play with – unfortunately – can you imagine the furore in Oz … if the LibNits – when they gain power – suddenly decide that its not in the “national interest” to mine coal or iron ore, no more?
The place would erupt! Unless you’ve been there you really don’t know … I remember the despair in my family as the woollen mills started closing …
If they do build the NBN as originally planned it will be worth shitloads, and worth selling.
Yer right OL, but lets hope they don’t !
I wonder if all the right wihingers here play Monopoly? …
Those Brixton riots over the poll tax were a complete beat up. My freinds in Brixton that were their said there was more trouble at chucking out time at the pub. That story that did the rounds about a bobbies head put on a stick was an urban myth. The current situation looks much the same, however the vat went ahead and now it’s 20%. Guess that’s where we’re headed after Sept 14.
“Those Brixton riots over the poll tax were a complete beat up”
This is true.
In much the same way as these ones were all media beat-ups too…
“My freinds(sic) in Brixton”
Is that like, “outlander’s mates…?”
If ever there was a manifestation of Orwell’s prediction that there would be a boot stamping on a human face “forever” it was embodied in “Thatcherism”. Thank god she’s dead. Good riddance.
Reb I’ve spent a bit of time in Brixton in the 90’s, my freinds have since move on. It’s quite trendy these days. Tried to score some pot one day on Railton rd. (where the so called riots were)and that turned out to be lawn clippings…Yeh, that was good grass….tea total now.
They were dead beats on Railton rd, they would have rioted if the pubs were shut.
Gillard the fucking low life grub compared herself “as a woman leader ” to Thatcher today.
What a fucking scum covered grub and a disgrace our PM is , that is the true comparison.
Every time I see that filth of a PM we have I feel like projectile vomiting until my stomach turns inside out.
TB as usual just throws up Robber barons into every post he makes.
Tea bags come to mind
That seems to be the only argument he has.
The NBN was created by Labor. Don’t try and blame it on the LNP
What 457 problems are you aware of then. You seem to be prepared to dismiss it. Why.
Oh and how did people like me somehow facilitate the takeover of Bankwest and St George.
Where did that brainfart accusation of yours come from.
Swan approved it you nutcase.
Did Dan Murphy have WT on special today ?
That’s amusing
I’m in moderation whilst others celebrate the death of another.
How quaint of the Left
There was never a riot invovling the poll tax in Brixton.
There was a demonstration in Brixton.
It was a beat up. It’s not on wiki’s list of riots. It never happened.
There was a poll tax riot in Central London that turned ugly.
There have been a couple of riots over race and poverty in Brixton.
Everyone associtates Brixton=Riot.
200 people turn up in Brixton to celibrate Thatchers death, out of a population of 8 million, must be a riot.
Those 3 in the picture look like the inteligencia you share a common bond of hatred with. I get it you hate the lady.
Yeh, I know my spelling sucks, you don’t have to rub it in and make me feel (sic).
Thankfully I have never lived in the United Kingdom, so I have not had to experience Thatcherism directly, but I do sympathize with those that had to. For Australians, I suspect Thatcher and Reagan have really shown the path for the Palin Types that have dragged the conservative side of politics into lunacy, which leaves the central or ‘soft’ conservatives, of the Fraser style, with nobody to vote for or represent them.
If there is one thing “the left” can be relied on to do, it’s put a favourable gloss on Gillard’s racism and redneck appeal, while condemning Abbott for the same thing.
Miglo, Min etc are hilarious – in condemning Abbott on asylum seekers, while remaining silent on Gillard. The contortions of logic are great entertainment.
“can you imagine the furore in Oz … if the LibNits – when they gain power – suddenly decide that its not in the “national interest” to mine coal or iron ore, no more?”
That is virtually Greens policy ….. and Gillard would go along with it if it bought her another term …. and you would either applaud it or say “look over there” …. and Paul Howes would say OK but not one job can go … and sure enough he would not be able to see any job losses at all when the mines closed.
Fraser wasn’t central or soft. He was just self-seeking and dishonest. His attempts to rebuild his image since leaving office have me putting my fingers down my throat.
” self-seeking and dishonest ”
yomm, self-serving and dishonest describes most members of the duopoly, and politicians generally through the ages, but more of the voters would prefer a `Fraser-era` choice over the current-era looney choice, which is moving very close to fascism.
An interesting article on life under Thatcher…
“Pensioners were the worst hit. The proportion living below the poverty line rose from 13% to 43%. Child poverty more than doubled. The former Tory minister, Sir Ian Gilmour, succinctly summed up the Thatcher/Major years: “The sacrifice imposed on the poor produced nothing miraculous except for the rich.” The rich saw their tax rates fall from 83% to 40%”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-policies-poor-society?CMP=twt_gu
l`ve read a similar story on Reagan ages ago reb. Big tax breaks for the rich, rights and benefits removed from the workers. The yanks didn`t have much in the of welfare, but there was a steady increase in crimes. This is pretty much the LNP template.
TB as usual just throws up Robber barons into every post he makes.
Because The Robber Barons and wannabes are real and still making profit out of greed and corruption … some people want to help them along … me … I want the bastards in jail … make a profit but not at the expense of other people …
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An interesting article on life under Thatcher…
And they’re doing so well now in the UK … well done, Maggie … and David of course … 🙄
“This is pretty much the LNP template.”
If only.
The UK was and remains a country where politics is largely driven by perceived ‘class’
There is no similar sentiment in Australia, other than that currently pushed by Gillard and Swan, for their own political interests.
There is no similar sentiment in Australia …
Don’t you believe it … according to quite a few here, the UNIONS BOO! are running the country – what right do thay have to do that? Should be down’t mines or drivin’t trucks where they belong! Leave politics to we private school Christian LADS
Plenty people still have their heads up their arses in Oz, ToM, donchu worry ’bout that 😉
No TB, unlike the UK there is very little tradition of ‘class’. The elite suburbs are mainly populated with real estate developers, retailers made good, legal or accounting partners. The social pages here are full of soapie stars and footballers.
This is the Australian elite, and it has little to do with any traditional class structure.
Any developing class structure is being encouraged by the ALP through-
*The class war nonsense identified by Ferguson, Crean etc,
*The shocking bipartisan commitment to the wealth favouring HECS
*The creation of an underclass of asylum seekers for political expediency.
” very little tradition of ‘class’. The elite”
Total bullshit as usual yomm. There is very few countries in the world that does not have an in-built class system within the tax system. Look at all the corporate welfare too. So many financial loop-holes, breaks, benefits and havens that only the wealthy can access, not the worker or poor. When wars are declared by the wealthy against another nation, it is the poor and workforce `drafted` to go do the dying and bleeding. The Bush-era USA senators only had ONE child in Iraq/Afghan out of the lot of them.
Just imagine for a moment what would have happened to those celebrating and writing about how wonderful the death of Thatcher is if
Nicola Roxon’s legislation banning “hurtful ” comments was in force in the UK.
Everyone has the right to be an arsehole at times . Whether they are an arsehole depends on your pov.
Gotta love it:
These days no one is seriously suggesting-
*Reopening of Yorkshire coal mines
*Returning to employment of typesetters, and printing presses
*Handing citizens to another country against their will
Coal miners, Wapping and the Falklands are the main reasons the left hate Thatcher, but they wouldn’t now reverse any of those policies (with the possible exception of the Falklands)
People hate Thatcher for her manner, her disdain for alternatives. She didn’t seek to align interests, she sought to divide them.
They’re also the reasons people can’t stand Gillard.
“……….the left hate Thatcher, but they wouldn’t now reverse any of those policies (with the possible exception of the Falklands)”
Not sure about that ToM………
http://rt.com/op-edge/falkland-islands-oil-argentina-101/
By the way, those who prattle on about a class system here have obviously never ventured far beyond their suburb.
Australia has a social hierarchy based on income/wealth, all of which are accessible to just about anyone who obtains the wealth/income.
Social pages aren’t full of the granddaughters of a deceased duke, they’re full of photos of My Kitchen Rules contestants, footballers and cafe owners.
…and I mean real cafes, ones where people drink coffee, not cloistered/sequestered ones that pretend they’re in a cellar, or something.
A nice piece on the modern British Disease. It has some local resonance:
Friedman on Thatcher …
‘France was suffering from the same ills when Mitterrand was elected president as Britain when Mrs. Thatcher became prime minister and the United States when Ronald Reagan became president—high and rising inflation, high unemployment and slow economic growth. Mitterrand’s attack on those ills was precisely the reverse of Mrs. Thatcher’s. On coming into office, Thatcher reduced taxes; Mitterrand increased them. Thatcher reduced controls over prices and wages; Mitterrand expanded them. Thatcher eliminated foreign-exchange controls; Mitterrand made them tighter. Thatcher moved to denationalize enterprises and reduce regulation, Mitterrand nationalized private banks and other enterprises and increased government intervention into the remaining private enterprise. Thatcher tried to hold down government spending, albeit with little success; Mitterrand went on a spending binge.
‘Had the Mitterrand policies succeeded, even if for only a year or so, Thatcher’s opposition in Britain would have been enormously strengthened. The Labor Party would have had a real alternative to offer—one that was consistent with its ideological propensities and that had worked on the other side of the Channel. The cry that Thatcher’s “monetarism” was a tragic failure could not have been dismissed as mere campaign rhetoric.
‘Instead, the Mitterrand policy was a clear failure. Inflation remained high. Unemployment went up. The government’s budget deficit soared. So did the deficit in the balance of payments. The franc had to be devalued three times in the past two years, despite massive government borrowing in a vain attempt to prop the franc up. Worst of all for Thatcher’s opposition, Mitterrand was forced to reverse course. The U-turn occurred across the Channel as the French government was driven to adopt the much-derided Thatcher policies.’
http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/144256
Yes, that was during my youth. Booing Thatcher in the UK, cheering Mitterrand in France. PASOK won the election in Greece.
Hindsight proves that frugal/ market economics pays dividends in the longer term.
Hindsight proves that frugal/ market economics pays dividends in the longer term
I’d agree with that – if it were actually practised by business and government …
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-09-25/commentary/34056601_1_dow-skyrockets-stock-market-djia
… have you been on Earth for the last six years?
Black on Thatcher …
‘When Margaret Thatcher was narrowly elected prime minister in 1979 over James Callaghan, the United Kingdom was on daily audit from the International Monetary Fund, currency controls prevented the removal of more than a few hundred pounds from the country, top corporate and personal income-tax rates were 80 and 98 percent, and those who had the temerity and persistence to enjoy a capital gain (which was hard to come by in Britain in that economic climate) were apt to enjoy the exaltation of soul generated by an effective tax rate of over 100 percent. The entire economy was in the hands of an intellectually corrupt, Luddite trade-union confederation, which chose most of the delegates to any conference of the governing Labour party, and whose shop stewards and craft-unit heads could shut down an entire industry in mid-contract for any reason, from an individual work grievance to the sour grapes generated by a poor round of darts in their local pub (on working hours).
‘In the year preceding the 1979 election, in what became known as “the winter of discontent,” almost every industry in the country had been shut down by capricious strikes, including the airports, trains, electric power, coal mines, garbage collection, and undertaking. The captains of industry and finance in the City, the style-setters in Mayfair and the West End, the doyennes of Bloomsbury and Knightsbridge, and the denizens of the chancelleries and ministries of Belgravia and Westminster huddled in the cold and dark, dead or alive. Government-owned operations, from the steel industry to the airports, were a cesspool of inefficiency and, in the private sector, large numbers of fictitious jobs were salaried and the proceeds went as sinecures to union favorites or into a pot to be divided at the pleasure of the union bosses. It fell to Margaret Thatcher to redeem Britain from the slough of despond and lassitude in which it had been totally immersed by overindulgence of the workers’ leaders in guilt over the inequalities of British life.’
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/345054/margaret-thatcher-1925-2013-conrad-black?pg=1
Clever grafitti
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/11/iron-lady-dead-thatcherism-lives
very funny! 🙂
“Clever grafitti”
Yes but not very original.
That saying is a takeoff of what was said of the Irish born Duke of Wellington when he died. He was largely seen as a traitor to the “Irish cause” as he had obviously enlisted in the not so popular English Army.
clever grafitti
Yes, very Good. The article gets pretty good too, here is the excellent end,
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“”Ideologically, the left has adequately countered the rationale for Thatcherism. (any_tbagism) But organisationally and strategically it has failed to establish the wherewithal to respond adequately to it and, electorally, it has failed to convince enough people of its alternatives.””
” The trouble isn’t just that some people can’t get over her agenda; it’s that many are still going through it and have yet to find a way to get round it.”
**
and this is what is stuffing it up for 40% or more of us
(great find TB, thanks)
I forgot to mention the Duke of Wellington was known as the “Iron Duke”
I forgot to mention the Duke of Wellington was known as the “Iron Duke”
… and a hero of mine in my younger days … I’m also a big fan of the Sharpe series, starring Sean Bean – coincidentally a Yorkshireman too … a welder by trade, I believe …
But did you notice you were the only grumpy, old miserable, post here – again, Wally …?
And the share markets are doing so well …
“But did you notice you were the only grumpy, old miserable, post here – again, Wally …?”
A hint of jealousy obviously
Steyn on Thatcher …
‘Old British friends say to me, well, say what you like about the 1970s – nothing worked; if you wanted to buy a new car, it was as if post-war rationing was still in effect – but all the same life in the village seemed a lot more pleasant back then. There’s something to this: the benign side of oppressive statism is often a kind of public restraint. And more than a few folks seem to feel, with the benefit of hindsight, that it’s better to have unionised thugs nutting scabs on the picket line than freelance yobs in hideous leisurewear infesting ersatz-American high streets catering to their every frightful whim from one end to the other. For the modern liberal, this is a new dilemma: an underclass that’s too rich.’
http://www.steynonline.com/42/the-nightmare-years
Was that graffiti written by a New Zealander?
Benign Stalinism seems like a nice lifestyle. What’s the red like?
“Ideologically, the left has adequately countered the rationale for Thatcherism. “
The left was the reason for Thatcherism. They had completely fucked the country. Britain had a terminal case of the British Disease and the people voted for a Thatcher government three times even while experiencing the hardships occasioned by her cure.
If the left hadn’t been so stupid and so rotten, if they had some sense of responsibility to the rest of society, or some basic understanding that you have to generate wealth in order to be able to spend it then there would have been no need to elect someone so polarising as Thatcher. But the winter of discontent that preceded Thatcher’s election, and the helplessness of the Labour government in the face of greedy parasitical unions, made it clear that strong leadership was required. The people had had enough. They did not want the economy reduced to a 3 day work week and live in garbage-ridden streets and they wanted to be able to bury their dead. They didn’t like seeing their country as a destitute basket case.
This is an argument for moderation. It shows what happens when the balance swings too far in one direction. If anyone is to blame for Thatcher’s rise to power it is the leftists who fucked up the country in the first place. In particular, the miners have no one but themselves to blame. They elected a Stalin-worshiping communist as their leader and followed him to their bitter defeat.
Was that graffiti written by a New Zealander?
Nup. It would have been had it said “piss”.
Isn’t it funny the way constituents keep electing Governments that the Left label as cruel and racist.
Williamson on Thatcher …
‘And she seemed to be having so much fun. That, I think, is what they never forgave her for. Thatcher laughed at them, mocked them, outwitted and out-debated them. That infuriated the Left: Conservatives aren’t supposed to mock, they are supposed to be mocked. They might be allowed to win a few elections, but they could never be allowed to win the argument, much less to scoff at liberals’ public pieties.’
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344979/thatcher-was-right-left-was-wrong-kevin-d-williamson
A hint of jealousy obviously
LOL! Something I don’t experience these days, I can definitely assure you!
I see the
packsgangs all here with repetition ad nausem al la 1930 …You lot must move on … into the 21st Century … LG!
Thatcher forced the British Labour Party to reform itself. It is now a more broadly based organisation than our version.
How do they determine No 1’s these days … it used to be on single record sales and then surveys as people purchased CD’s … must be on downloads now?
Sounds like they’re going to be trouble at Thatcher’s funeral..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9987976/Margaret-Thatcher-funeral-protesters-plan-to-line-streets-and-turn-their-backs-on-casket.html
Can you blame them … ? She would have got a state funeral with a Labour government too … the people DO have to make a fkn stand eventually …
“Can you blame them “
Not at all. In fact I’d be joining them.
Never could stand her. David Cameron is out of the same mould..
” Protesters plan to line the streets by St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday so they can “turn their backs” on Baroness Thatcher’s casket, it can be revealed.”
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The protesters wish to “get their money’s worth” from the funeral, which will be paid for in part by the state.
.
But should this openness to public criticism be extended to her mourners?
“Yes, if they chose to make her funeral a public hagiographic affair, exempt of all criticism, funded from the public purse.”
.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9987976/Margaret-Thatcher-funeral-protesters-plan-to-line-streets-and-turn-their-backs-on-casket.html
.
great link reb, the Tories haven`t buried a mistake this big since Reagan bit the dust
Maggie was magnificent.
And so it goes, the poor say how hard things are.
The working class fighting for better pay and conditions.
The middle class capitalising on their good fortune.
and TB’s robber barrons planing how to make more money with less effort.
On Sept 14 who are the winners will it be A…B…C…or D.
The pendulum swings, A,B,C and D shuffle around a bit.
Instead of one lot ranting and raving it will the next lot ranting and raving and so on.
And us lot dissolutioned with this bitch think ahhh lets give the other clown a shot. Stop me if it gets too complicated.
Reb…you’ve changed earlier in the week you hated her with bells on and now is just you can’t stand her.
It’s nothing, compared to the vigh velocity champagne corks in my house the day that Howard is biologically prohibited from stealing oxygen.
A great read on Thatcher….
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/mark-steel-you-cant-just-shut-us-up-now-that-margaret-thatchers-dead-8568785.html
MORRISSEY.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/morrissey-margaret-thatcher-was-barbaric-20130408#ixzz2QO1iQpDT
“she destroyed the British manufacturing industry,”
I think the same thing happened here under Hawke/Keating. They got rid of the tariffs and that was the end of most of our manufacturing.
I think most Western countries lost manufacturing to China during this time.
“The sorrow of the IRA Brighton bombing is that Thatcher escaped unscathed.”
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/morrisseys-15-most-outrageous-quotes-20130306#ixzz2QOBA8P5R
And you know all this because, Kneel?
Am I wrong?? I thought it was well known that our manufacturing disappeared under Hawke/Keating. I guess we could not compete with lower wage countries. And the reduction of the tariff barrier helped reduce our manufacturing base??
I remember when we used to make everything in Australia. Washing machines, fridges, TV’s toaster, ovens.
And you seem to have trouble spelling my name.
Nils is right,we have short memories.
The tariff walls came down and our market was opened up, this has been good for the economy. We have to let car manufacturing stand on its own feet, without government assistance.
Nils is right,we have short memories.
Kneel, might have a short memory …
I was in the auto industry when John Button introduced his Plan … quite frankly many of us argued that other countries were not going to play the “level playing field” game … and they didn’t … but it did improve the quality of Australian vehicles … and some manufacturers left the league … including Nissan … the marque I was employed under …
John Howard signed an FTA with the USA, a la President Bush … try buying articles from Amazon … particularly technology … Sierra Trading … many items are “only sipped to USA” … and the list goes on .. ’tis still a farce …
I tried to buy a camera 5 years ago from a US mob … no trade with Oz … I emailed them … we have an FTA … happy when we support you in your wars but not in trade? My reply was an apology … checked a few months ago (looking at a new camera) same BS … no to Oz …
All Australian governments get shafted … well, our society gets shafted by the incompetents
runningpiddling around with ourcountrylives …You still don’t get it … none of the Fuckwits™ you elect will be able to run the country the way you expect … whatever the politics … they are NOT qualified … NOT ONE!
And they don’t give a flying fuck about you trying to support them (GAFF) they will only make decisions that will bring them, their families or immediate friends gratification, power, money and long term survival … not necessarily in that order!
NONE OF THEM CARE ABOUT THE COUNTRY!
Its like businesses that only care about $$$$$$$$$$$$$ not service … they do not deserve your support!
I am sure both sides agreed to the dropping of the tariff wall protecting our local industry but it was the Hawke/Keating govt who did it.
I think the logic was we could build a television in Australia for $5,000 or import it for $500. So we import the TV and do something else with our labor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawke-Keating_Government
“Economic reform included the floating of the Australian dollar, deregulation of the financial system, dismantling of the tariff system, privatised state sector industries, ended subsidisation of loss-making industries, and the sale of the state-owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia.“
The hypocrisy just reeks from the tories in this story … remember – power, control, $$$$$ … ROBBER BARONS at work …
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/police-allow-protests-and-say-they-are-not-there-to-uphold-respect-for-margaret-thatcher/story-fndir2ev-1226620154074
Full marks to the police commander …
“Full marks to the police commander …”
AGREED!
I think there’s going to be trouble…
“The hypocrisy just reeks from the tories in this story ”
Really?? Ding dong the witch is dead.
I wonder what you lot would be saying if Conservatives said the same thing about Gillard??
Sorry Kneel, give it a bit more time. _ lt will happen for Howard.
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the rest of you lot might like
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/russell-brand-margaret-thatcher
Get Gillard out!!
Sovereign is rather cryptic …
I think he is channeling Crean and Rudd.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-steve-bell-cartoon
That’s funny.
So, will we all be tuning in to the live telecast of the old dragon’s funeral…..?
Only if you can guarantee me that I’ll get to see Howard tip over & shuffle off in High Def.
I double bunger? Toilette! 🙂
He’ll cark it one day.
Then he will rot.
A fitting end to a stunted, mendacious little flagwanking arsehole.
His legacy will be that footage of him trying to bowl in East Timor.
They should do a montage of that & him falling over & stuff for his State Funeral.
I’ll be home pissing on an effigy.
So, toilette, what do you think of John Howard’s reign … and secondly, his protégé taking over … if Howard carks it won’t Abbott flounder even more?
I’m going to tell, Abbott, what I think of him, and Howard’s reign, when he pedals/peddles through town at the end of this month. 😉
The Brits should be thanking Thatcher tonight. It’s because of her they aren’t tied to the (mis)fortunes of the Euro.
“if Howard carks it won’t Abbott flounder even more?”
Nah it’ll just elevate the lying rodent to Messiah status.
Although the wailing from the Libs will probably surpass the mourning of King Jong Il..
Although the wailing from the Libs will probably surpass the mourning of King Jong Il..
Gold! Gold! Gold!
About to enjoy a home grown Cornish pastie … to drool over!
How was Oblivion TB…?
Ah! Glad you asked, sreb …
In keeping with our in depth film revues …
The Minister gave it ★★★★
I’m agnostic so I gave it ★★★
Story a mix of Mad Max, Star Wars and Star Trek … a couple of nice twists and easily understood if you get sci-fi (I’ve been a fan for over 50 {FMD!} years) … but it seemed that bit were too short and characters weren’t developed enough … everyone succumbed to the hero … great graphics … loved the “destroyed moon” …
Non sci-fi listeners may struggle with the concepts …
Personally a noice lunch with my lady love … cuvee with Pekin’ Duck Pancakes and the Fries Trilogy … lovely … and then a massive storm on the way home … just had another one … did you know the climate is changing!
And contrary to rumour God does not do a cameo …
Thatcher was influenced by “The Road to Serfdom”, according to the archbishop.
Hehe. Howie’s the only one in the room wearing a ribboned medal round his neck. Embarrassing. Meanwhile the sheik behind him is staring at the ceiling while hymns are sung.
The sheik was admiring the architecture.
“In [Thatcher’s] 1980 budget, fiscal fine tuning was replaced by a medium-term financial strategy: a world first. Tax cuts, privatisation, financial deregulation and industrial relations reform followed. Each step was savaged by Keynesian economists, but received the accolade of widespread international imitation, most often by relatively young finance ministers (such as Paul Keating) in left-leaning governments.”
Maggie showed Keating the way
Baroness Thatcher’s funeral was very moving. The music, the architecture, the ceremony – the Brits do this stuff well.
There didn`t seem to be the trouble we suspected. Liz turning up probably helped l guess. There does seem to be some empire fetish remaining.
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What l find amusing with our Torie-kids is Reaganism and Thatcherism were created by people whose mental capacity depleted during their life, one while still in office, but our Torie-kids don`t even pause to reflect on this, or the ideas imposed.
‘The doomsters’ favourite subject today is climate change. This has a number of attractions for them. First, the science is extremely obscure so they cannot easily be proved wrong. Second, we all have ideas about the weather: traditionally, the English on first acquaintance talk about little else. Third, since no plan to alter climate could be considered on anything but a global scale, it provides a marvellous excuse for worldwide, supra-national socialism.’
Margaret Thatcher