quote:

Originally posted by Ennis Del Beadle:
oh bollocks! I thought this was a death announcement! I was just about to crack out the champagne even though i hate the stuff!

Me too! Although I love champagne and am keeping some just for this occasion. Can't wait for the old buzzard to cark it

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:

quote:

Originally posted by faerykelstar:
Mark Thomas has an interesting approach to the Thatcher funeral policy. http://www.markthomasinfo.com/...updates/thatcher.asp

Excellent!!

I even signed the petition HERE

Signed!

Lol 'Throw coal at the coffin'

Scargill and his supporting miners had that coming really. The people elect the government and the government runs the country on our behalf. Scargill was fighting an outdated class war, along with the Militant Tendency, and destroying the country in the process. Thatcher was determined to take the country back and she did. Scargill and the Militant Tendency deserve a large chunk of the blame for the subsequent fallout. Bunch of numpty Marxists, the lot of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High Teas:

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:

quote:

Originally posted by faerykelstar:
Mark Thomas has an interesting approach to the Thatcher funeral policy. http://www.markthomasinfo.com/...updates/thatcher.asp

Excellent!!

I even signed the petition HERE

Signed!

Brilliant! I've just emailed the link to loads of people I know who hate Thatcher as much as I do!

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:
Scargill and his supporting miners had that coming really. The people elect the government and the government runs the country on our behalf. Scargill was fighting an outdated class war, along with the Militant Tendency, and destroying the country in the process. Thatcher was determined to take the country back and she did. Scargill and the Militant Tendency deserve a large chunk of the blame for the subsequent fallout. Bunch of numpty Marxists, the lot of them.

I have met with Arthur and I can assure you that he wouldn't recognise the great works of Karlo if they jumped up and bit him on his spotty behind.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:
Scargill and his supporting miners had that coming really. The people elect the government and the government runs the country on our behalf. Scargill was fighting an outdated class war, along with the Militant Tendency, and destroying the country in the process. Thatcher was determined to take the country back and she did. Scargill and the Militant Tendency deserve a large chunk of the blame for the subsequent fallout. Bunch of numpty Marxists, the lot of them.

I have met with Arthur and I can assure you that he wouldn't recognise the great works of Karlo if they jumped up and bit him on his spotty behind.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:
Scargill and his supporting miners had that coming really. The people elect the government and the government runs the country on our behalf. Scargill was fighting an outdated class war, along with the Militant Tendency, and destroying the country in the process. Thatcher was determined to take the country back and she did. Scargill and the Militant Tendency deserve a large chunk of the blame for the subsequent fallout. Bunch of numpty Marxists, the lot of them.

I have met with Arthur and I can assure you that he wouldn't recognise the great works of Karlo if they jumped up and bit him on his spotty behind.

I also take issue with the "people elect the government" bit. I can assure you the good voters of South Wales (one of her key targets) sure as hell didn't elect her or any of her cronies.

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High

Brilliant post. My memory isn't selective either. I lived in a working class area of the north and a middle class area of the south of England during her 'reign' and it was like living in two completely different worlds. I've seen miners families living in squalid run down areas who were surviving from food from soup kitchens whilst friends in the south had dinner parties in swanky homes seriously discussing how 'greedy' these people were. That's not a selective memory, that's an eye witness account.

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Thanks Queenie and yes I totally agree with you, it's a bit like I'm alright jack and bugger the others. I was lucky that my ex had a well paid job and stayed in it throughout those years, but my family and friends struggled. I watched my dad trudge the streets trying to find work after he was made redundant from the steel industry, my mother I paid while she child minded my children because I still was employed. My brother going to Germany to find work when he lost his job when the Steel industry closed. This town and all the surrounding towns suffered dreadfully and never recovered from that time, unemployment is still high and there are no industries here now to employ those people who are desperate for work. So my memories of the Thatcher goverment are not selective and can't be changed simply because we are reminded of them here daily.

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:

quote:

Originally posted by faerykelstar:
Mark Thomas has an interesting approach to the Thatcher funeral policy. http://www.markthomasinfo.com/...updates/thatcher.asp

Excellent!!

I even signed the petition HERE

I like the bit about singing 'Ding Dong' during the procession.

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
I also take issue with the "people elect the government" bit. I can assure you the good voters of South Wales (one of her key targets) sure as hell didn't elect her or any of her cronies.

You think 'people' in this context means a unanimous vote or even a majority one? I didn't elect any of the current shower either but that's the way the system works. I'm all for proportional representation of one sort or another, myself. I'm also all for fining or punishing people for not voting.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

I have met with Arthur and I can assure you that he wouldn't recognise the great works of Karlo if they jumped up and bit him on his spotty behind.

He has a spotty bum? I knew it!

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:
[ I'm also all for fining or punishing people for not voting.

*click* Heil!

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High Teas:

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Sorry but that is just not true. I come from a very poor background and have worked and struggled most of my life (as have my family). So, just because I vote Conversative and am a Thatcher supporter, I have led a fortunate life?
There are people out there, working class folk at that, who vote Conversative and think she was a great PM. Not all of us are of the blue rinse brigade you know.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:
I'm also all for fining or punishing people for not voting.

*click* Heil!

Why not? It's a civic duty, like jury service. Even if the vote is none of the above or a message across the voting form. I've done the latter before now.

quote:

Originally posted by Dame_Ann_Average:

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High

Brilliant post. My memory isn't selective either. I lived in a working class area of the north and a middle class area of the south of England during her 'reign' and it was like living in two completely different worlds. I've seen miners families living in squalid run down areas who were surviving from food from soup kitchens whilst friends in the south had dinner parties in swanky homes seriously discussing how 'greedy' these people were. That's not a selective memory, that's an eye witness account.

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Thanks Queenie and yes I totally agree with you, it's a bit like I'm alright jack and bugger the others. I was lucky that my ex had a well paid job and stayed in it throughout those years, but my family and friends struggled. I watched my dad trudge the streets trying to find work after he was made redundant from the steel industry, my mother I paid while she child minded my children because I still was employed. My brother going to Germany to find work when he lost his job when the Steel industry closed. This town and all the surrounding towns suffered dreadfully and never recovered from that time, unemployment is still high and there are no industries here now to employ those people who are desperate for work. So my memories of the Thatcher goverment are not selective and can't be changed simply because we are reminded of them here daily.

Totally agree with all this. I come from a former mining community, and families would genuinely have starved without others running soup kitchens and collecting food boxes for them. No such thing as society, as Thatch said?

Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Not all of us are of the blue rinse brigade you know.

You've just blown a very exciting yet personal fantasy clean out of the water LL.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Not all of us are of the blue rinse brigade you know.

You've just blown a very exciting yet personal fantasy clean out of the water LL.

Haha sorry

I do, however, have a twinset

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
QUOTE]
Totally agree with all this. I come from a former mining community, and families would genuinely have starved without others running soup kitchens and collecting food boxes for them. No such thing as society, as Thatch said?

Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

It's something that most of can't forget or forgive Demantoid.

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

Indeed! I was doing a spot of selling at Durham County Hall the other day. They have stained glass windows with the names of a hundred or so closed down collieries. Not only did they go but the social fabric dissappeared overnight also.

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:

quote:

Originally posted by Dame_Ann_Average:

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High

Brilliant post. My memory isn't selective either. I lived in a working class area of the north and a middle class area of the south of England during her 'reign' and it was like living in two completely different worlds. I've seen miners families living in squalid run down areas who were surviving from food from soup kitchens whilst friends in the south had dinner parties in swanky homes seriously discussing how 'greedy' these people were. That's not a selective memory, that's an eye witness account.

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Thanks Queenie and yes I totally agree with you, it's a bit like I'm alright jack and bugger the others. I was lucky that my ex had a well paid job and stayed in it throughout those years, but my family and friends struggled. I watched my dad trudge the streets trying to find work after he was made redundant from the steel industry, my mother I paid while she child minded my children because I still was employed. My brother going to Germany to find work when he lost his job when the Steel industry closed. This town and all the surrounding towns suffered dreadfully and never recovered from that time, unemployment is still high and there are no industries here now to employ those people who are desperate for work. So my memories of the Thatcher goverment are not selective and can't be changed simply because we are reminded of them here daily.

Totally agree with all this. I come from a former mining community, and families would genuinely have starved without others running soup kitchens and collecting food boxes for them. No such thing as society, as Thatch said?

Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

The cops were put into riot vans and cooped up so that they were ready to jump out and attack picket lines.Thats not my lefty speculation either.That came straight from the mouth of a cop I knew who was part of the van squad at the time.They were cooped up bored and fed anti protester propaganda.
I was in the NHS at the time.but hitherto had lived in a mining community destroyed by unemployment and poverty.I dont think anyone who didnt live in an area like that can understand the devastation these communities suffered...how the life was sucked out of them and swathes of industrial Britain destroyed.Thatcher will be ever associated with this and as such will provoke strong reactions in many many people.
As for her having working class supporters,I have no doubt she does.But I dare say most of them had a job and prospects under her power.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

Indeed! I was doing a spot of selling at Durham County Hall the other day. They have stained glass windows with the names of a hundred or so closed down collieries. Not only did they go but the social fabric dissappeared overnight also.

As in a huge part of Nottinghamshire too.
They fared relativelt lucky as there were alternative jobs,but none the less the community was decimated

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
Totally agree with all this. I come from a former mining community, and families would genuinely have starved without others running soup kitchens and collecting food boxes for them. No such thing as society, as Thatch said?

That quote is an interesting one.

"I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand"I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or "I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!" "I am homeless, the Government must house me!" and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation and it is, I think, one of the tragedies in which many of the benefits we give, which were meant to reassure people that if they were sick or ill there was a safety net and there was help, that many of the benefits which were meant to help people who were unfortunate—" It is all right. We joined together and we have these insurance schemes to look after it" . That was the objective, but somehow there are some people who have been manipulating the system and so some of those help and benefits that were meant to say to people:"All right, if you cannot get a job, you shall have a basic standard of living!" but when people come and say:"But what is the point of working? I can get as much on the dole!" You say:"Look" It is not from the dole. It is your neighbour who is supplying it and if you can earn your own living then really you have a duty to do it and you will feel very much better!""

Anyone recognise Tony Blair in there? Also, that sentiment in context has been widely expressed on these sort of forums since I've been on them regarding the welfare state, a dependency culture, and 'welfare scroungers'.

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:
Scargill and his supporting miners had that coming really. The people elect the government and the government runs the country on our behalf. Scargill was fighting an outdated class war, along with the Militant Tendency, and destroying the country in the process. Thatcher was determined to take the country back and she did. Scargill and the Militant Tendency deserve a large chunk of the blame for the subsequent fallout. Bunch of numpty Marxists, the lot of them.

Oh that phrase takes me back, Militant Tendency.

quote:

Originally posted by Dame_Ann_Average:

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
QUOTE]
Totally agree with all this. I come from a former mining community, and families would genuinely have starved without others running soup kitchens and collecting food boxes for them. No such thing as society, as Thatch said?

Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

It's something that most of can't forget or forgive Demantoid.

I never will. And if that old cow gets a state funeral, I'll join any protest in the streets against it.

In a nutshell, the people who claim she was great are the ones who never felt the sharp end of her social engineering policies. the reason we now import our coal and steel from abroad, is because she killed our industries, simply because the people working in them wouldn't vote for her.

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High Teas:

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Sorry but that is just not true. I come from a very poor background and have worked and struggled most of my life (as have my family). So, just because I vote Conversative and am a Thatcher supporter, I have led a fortunate life?
There are people out there, working class folk at that, who vote Conversative and think she was a great PM. Not all of us are of the blue rinse brigade you know.

Good post Lassie!

quote:

Originally posted by Mazzystar:

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

Indeed! I was doing a spot of selling at Durham County Hall the other day. They have stained glass windows with the names of a hundred or so closed down collieries. Not only did they go but the social fabric dissappeared overnight also.

As in a huge part of Nottinghamshire too.
They fared relativelt lucky as there were alternative jobs,but none the less the community was decimated

And south Wales - she may as well have carpet-bombed it, the effect was the same

quote:

Originally posted by Mazzystar:

As for her having working class supporters,I have no doubt she does.But I dare say most of them had a job and prospects under her power.

Sorry Mazz, not quite true. My brother was out of work for quite a while when Maggie was in power. Yes, I had a job and prospects, but it wasn't well paid and I still had to struggle and go without. My family lived on hand-me-downs and there were times when we went hungry, when Labour were in power. We all voted Labour back then, but saw what a mess they were making of the country and decided to give the Conservatives a go. We wanted better for ourselves and our family. All these years later, I would never, ever vote Labour because my allegience is to the Conservative party.

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:

quote:

Originally posted by Dame_Ann_Average:

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High

Brilliant post. My memory isn't selective either. I lived in a working class area of the north and a middle class area of the south of England during her 'reign' and it was like living in two completely different worlds. I've seen miners families living in squalid run down areas who were surviving from food from soup kitchens whilst friends in the south had dinner parties in swanky homes seriously discussing how 'greedy' these people were. That's not a selective memory, that's an eye witness account.

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Thanks Queenie and yes I totally agree with you, it's a bit like I'm alright jack and bugger the others. I was lucky that my ex had a well paid job and stayed in it throughout those years, but my family and friends struggled. I watched my dad trudge the streets trying to find work after he was made redundant from the steel industry, my mother I paid while she child minded my children because I still was employed. My brother going to Germany to find work when he lost his job when the Steel industry closed. This town and all the surrounding towns suffered dreadfully and never recovered from that time, unemployment is still high and there are no industries here now to employ those people who are desperate for work. So my memories of the Thatcher goverment are not selective and can't be changed simply because we are reminded of them here daily.

Totally agree with all this. I come from a former mining community, and families would genuinely have starved without others running soup kitchens and collecting food boxes for them. No such thing as society, as Thatch said?

Thatcher wanted to break traditional socialist areas by closing down everything they had - and sending the Met boot boys in to crush anyone who objected.

If the unions and in particular the miners had behaved in a civilised manner instead of acting like hooligans, perhaps they would have had public sympathy on their side. As it was the boys in blue were deployed to allow those, who did not agree with the unions/miners point of view, to go about their law abiding business.
If people want to go to work then nobody should be allowed to stop them.
By all means protest and picket but if your arguement fails then you should accept it.
Further more after dealing with the unions Maggie was elected again so a large portion of the voting public agreed with the way she was running the country.

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:


In a nutshell, the people who claim she was great are the ones who never felt the sharp end of her social engineering policies. the reason we now import our coal and steel from abroad, is because she killed our industries, simply because the people working in them wouldn't vote for her.

Nail and head spring to mind

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:

quote:

Originally posted by Queen of the High Teas:

I know I won't change anyone's views on Thatcher anymore than they can change mine, but it does seem to me that most people who claim she was a good thing for the country have led very fortunate lives. I just wish that they could recognise that not everyone shared in that good fortune.

Sorry but that is just not true. I come from a very poor background and have worked and struggled most of my life (as have my family). So, just because I vote Conversative and am a Thatcher supporter, I have led a fortunate life?
There are people out there, working class folk at that, who vote Conversative and think she was a great PM. Not all of us are of the blue rinse brigade you know.

Well said Lassie.

Like you, I was not born into a privileged existence. What I now have, I jolly well had to work hard for - no-one handed me anything and I have never claimed benefits of any kind. It was a real hard slog at times.

My father died during the D-Day Landings during the War so our Mother was a single parent bringing up 2 young children in difficult circumstances. She was always a Labour supporter but, when Maggie Thatcher came into power, she really applauded her principles and strong values and switched her allegiance accordingly.

I have always been a Tory supporter even prior to Maggie Thatcher taking over the reins.

Maggie Thatcher was responsible in making the War Widows Pension exempt from income tax btw.

quote:

Originally posted by luxor:



If the unions and in particular the miners had behaved in a civilised manner instead of acting like hooligans, perhaps they would have had public sympathy on their side. As it was the boys in blue were deployed to allow those, who did not agree with the unions/miners point of view, to go about their law abiding business.
If people want to go to work then nobody should be allowed to stop them.
By all means protest and picket but if your arguement fails then you should accept it.
Further more after dealing with the unions Maggie was elected again so a large portion of the voting public agreed with the way she was running the country.

Luxor, I could reply in detail to your thread but I'm too annoyed. All I'll say is, if you'd actually been there (instead of believing everything you read in the Tory press at the time) you'd know that in fact, the Met were the hooligans - waving their overtime pay packets to taunt pickets and harassing people making street collections for miners was the least of it.

The miners were honest, hard-working men fighting for their industry and families' survival.

Now I'm leaving this thread, before someone else who has no sodding idea what they're talking about makes me say something I regret.

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:

quote:

Originally posted by Mazzystar:

As for her having working class supporters,I have no doubt she does.But I dare say most of them had a job and prospects under her power.

Sorry Mazz, not quite true. My brother was out of work for quite a while when Maggie was in power. Yes, I had a job and prospects, but it wasn't well paid and I still had to struggle and go without. My family lived on hand-me-downs and there were times when we went hungry, when Labour were in power. We all voted Labour back then, but saw what a mess they were making of the country and decided to give the Conservatives a go. We wanted better for ourselves and our family. All these years later, I would never, ever vote Labour because my allegience is to the Conservative party.

But..there are huge parts of Britain where unemployment wasn't simply a matter of being out of work and waiting for the next job to come along.There were NO job prospects(until many years later when overseas employers realised there was a large chunk of Welsh labour realtively cheap to employ).Unless you went to uni or were able to leave the area for any other reason you were consigned to a cycle of deprivation and depression.Its no exaggeration to say she removed hope from many many peoples lives.

quote:

Originally posted by HyacinthB:

Well said Lassie.

Like you, I was not born into a privileged existence. What I now have, I jolly well had to work hard for - no-one handed me anything and I have never claimed benefits of any kind. It was a real hard slog at times.

My father died during the D-Day Landings during the War so our Mother was a single parent bringing up 2 young children in difficult circumstances. She was always a Labour supporter but, when Maggie Thatcher came into power, she really applauded her principles and strong values and switched her allegiance accordingly.

I have always been a Tory supporter even prior to Maggie Thatcher taking over the reins.

Maggie Thatcher was responsible in making the War Widows Pension exempt from income tax btw.

Thanks Hyacinth

Me too. Even now, it is a real hard slog. Of course though, us Conservative supporters are all supposed to be well off and living the life of riley

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
In a nutshell, the people who claim she was great are the ones who never felt the sharp end of her social engineering policies. the reason we now import our coal and steel from abroad, is because she killed our industries, simply because the people working in them wouldn't vote for her.

I think that she had a laissez faire market economy obsession. "You can't buck the market!" That was her catchphrase.
She didn't think it out though. In my last year of work the imported gas prices soared. Which of course meant more money for the Russians.
Previously my industry dug it's fuel out of Co. Durham. The prices would have been the same but at least the money would have gone back into Durham rather than Novosibursk.

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
Luxor, I could reply in detail to your thread but I'm too annoyed. All I'll say is, if you'd actually been there (instead of believing everything you read in the Tory press at the time) you'd know that in fact, the Met were the hooligans - waving their overtime pay packets to taunt pickets and harassing people making street collections for miners was the least of it.

The miners were honest, hard-working men fighting for their industry and families' survival.

Now I'm leaving this thread, before someone else who has no sodding idea what they're talking about makes me say something I regret.

Exactly right Demantoid.And I have cops who testified that at the time.They were deliberately cooped in vans and fed bullshine about the miners

quote:

Originally posted by Mazzystar:

But..there are huge parts of Britain where unemployment wasn't simply a matter of being out of work and waiting for the next job to come along.There were NO job prospects(until many years later when overseas employers realised there was a large chunk of Welsh labour realtively cheap to employ).Unless you went to uni or were able to leave the area for any other reason you were consigned to a cycle of deprivation and depression.Its no exaggeration to say she removed hope from many many peoples lives.

By the same token, she also gave hope to alot of people, people who were fed up to the back teeth with the disgraceful way that Labour were running the country. The people wanted a change, a change for the better and we voted her in twice

quote:

Originally posted by Dame_Ann_Average:

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
In a nutshell, the people who claim she was great are the ones who never felt the sharp end of her social engineering policies. the reason we now import our coal and steel from abroad, is because she killed our industries, simply because the people working in them wouldn't vote for her.

Nail and head spring to mind

Simply because? No, I don't think so. Think back to the 70s: the Winter of Discontent, the IMF crisis, rampant wage inflation, and so on. The unions, in particular the large, militant ones, were holding the country to ransom. If I recall correctly, UK productivity was dire, relatively speaking. Think of some of the reasons for calling strikes too! Flying pickets. The industrial relations between the labour force and company management. Nah, she wanted monetarism and a radical shakeup and the major unions were standing in her way. They'd already seen off at least two other governments if I recall correctly.

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel J*:

quote:

Originally posted by Dame_Ann_Average:

quote:

Originally posted by Demantoid:
In a nutshell, the people who claim she was great are the ones who never felt the sharp end of her social engineering policies. the reason we now import our coal and steel from abroad, is because she killed our industries, simply because the people working in them wouldn't vote for her.

Nail and head spring to mind

Simply because? No, I don't think so. Think back to the 70s: the Winter of Discontent, the IMF crisis, rampant wage inflation, and so on. The unions, in particular the large, militant ones, were holding the country to ransom. If I recall correctly, UK productivity was dire, relatively speaking. Think of some of the reasons for calling strikes too! Flying pickets. The industrial relations between the labour force and company management. Nah, she wanted monetarism and a radical shakeup and the major unions were standing in her way. They'd already seen off at least two other governments if I recall correctly.

You seem to forget, we were the Unions.
UK productivity dire? Relatively??
I hope that you aren't talking about now.
1. No industry.
2. Having to rely on other countries for food and fuel.
3. Having to rely on a bunch of champagne guzzling cocaine sniffers in the service industries.

etc.
... and breathe.