Yankee here. First female Prime Minister. She was a foot note in the first Austin Powers movie.
A question for non British people
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I don't have enough information to make an informed judgment, but I do know that she was neccesary for helping Britain transit to a post-industrial age. If nothing else, its a dirty job that someone had to do.
That and she survived an IRA assassination attempt, which is pretty badass.
That and she survived an IRA assassination attempt, which is pretty badass.
American here, I have actually heard of her - but only because I find British politics interesting(I <3 Simon Darby and Griffin).
From what I understand, she crushed the manufacturing industry and as a result is directly responsible for the unacceptable levels of mass immigration into formerly great Britain today. Thus, I hate her almost as much as I hate Ted Kennedy, who is no doubt burning in hell as we speak for murdering that young girl(and his horrendous betrayal with the immigration act of 1964, I think it was).
From what I understand, she crushed the manufacturing industry and as a result is directly responsible for the unacceptable levels of mass immigration into formerly great Britain today. Thus, I hate her almost as much as I hate Ted Kennedy, who is no doubt burning in hell as we speak for murdering that young girl(and his horrendous betrayal with the immigration act of 1964, I think it was).
I have heard of her. Mind you, I'm a massive Brit-geek (is that even a thing?), have a thing for modern history, and my favorite stage show is Billy Eliot. I'm sort of built to know about Old Maggie.
I know nobody else calls her Old Maggie. Shut up.
It's my understanding that the Falklands War was under her power, as well as endless tragedy for the working class (especially miners). So, uh, yeah, I'd say she's not in my good books. Her decisions and politics caused more pain than good. I've never heard of a single positive thing she did for Britain.
I know nobody else calls her Old Maggie. Shut up.
It's my understanding that the Falklands War was under her power, as well as endless tragedy for the working class (especially miners). So, uh, yeah, I'd say she's not in my good books. Her decisions and politics caused more pain than good. I've never heard of a single positive thing she did for Britain.
This, but American. From what I read she wasn't the nicest lady, but I pretty much root for anyone who tries to keep socialism at controllable levels. Most of this thread's Thatcher bashing seems to be entirely BECAUSE she tried to reduce British socialism. Last time America tried it we had gas lines, and we're trying it again, forgive me if I'm afraid for my wallet.Dimitriov said:
Sorry for the political rant, I tend to ramble at midnight.
As an American high school student, I've seen a read a few sentences about her. My economics book said she tried to get rid of the NHS which (from an outside opinion) seems like a bad idea.
From what I've read, it seems like she tried to do a lot of unpopular things, some of which were good for the country and some of which weren't.
Captcha: Corner's yoness
The hell is a "yoness"?
From what I've read, it seems like she tried to do a lot of unpopular things, some of which were good for the country and some of which weren't.
Captcha: Corner's yoness
The hell is a "yoness"?
I think she was Reagan's favorite world ruler.
And I heard she killed the coal mines and wasn't being too productive towards industry, but she was prime minister 3 times, so I'm guessing she didn't do too badly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher
And I heard she killed the coal mines and wasn't being too productive towards industry, but she was prime minister 3 times, so I'm guessing she didn't do too badly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher
English: I highly respect her for getting into power in a sexist government and sticking to her policies. This does not mean I have to agree with or like her policies. And, yes, I come from a northern family.
I'm also amused at the amount of non-Brits saying they like her because she was anti-Socialist. But that's largely because I'm always amused at how Socialism is painted as the boogeyman of politics. (Not a Socialist, myself, I should point out...)
I'm also amused at the amount of non-Brits saying they like her because she was anti-Socialist. But that's largely because I'm always amused at how Socialism is painted as the boogeyman of politics. (Not a Socialist, myself, I should point out...)
I did it in Politics not too long ago, but if I'm honest I found it a bit dull so I'm blanking xD Better to ask someone else.arragonder said:
I don't think the coal mines were profitable at the time, but the way she went about it wasn't exactly the best way (non-profitable industry vs 1000s being made redundant and on benefits), and she went out of the way to make the unions her nemesis, and nearly destroyed them.
I'm from New Zealand, so I always kind of assumed everyone had heard of her, but aside from awful teeth I never really knew much about her. She was Prime Minister. She did a bunch of stuff a lot of people didn't like. But really I couldn't name any specifics here.
Resultantly I don't have much of an opinion on her, either.
Resultantly I don't have much of an opinion on her, either.
I liked her. I didn't like what she did, but given the situation is was a case of "lesser of two evils". I wish we had somebody like her now, with the balls to stand up and do the unpopular (but totally necessary) things! But that ain't gonna happen. Our current crop of politicians are a bunch of mewling popularists.
I am British and I happen to think your wrong, the falklands war could not have been avoided without surrendering the falklands which not only do I not support because of the whole its our tertitory stuff but the people there wanted to be British and asked us to come help, what else could we do?
Also as the to loss of our industrial might, we'd already lost it, we were to expensive and too poor quality to compete with other nations, Thatcher managed to lead us through a difficult situation into a stronger more productive economy.
Although she shouldn't have privatised stuff...
Also as the to loss of our industrial might, we'd already lost it, we were to expensive and too poor quality to compete with other nations, Thatcher managed to lead us through a difficult situation into a stronger more productive economy.
Although she shouldn't have privatised stuff...
Elections are really messy.C95J said:
I wondered the same thing about John Howard in Australia, but then I noticed that mathematically, it is possible to win an election with only 25% of people actually voting for you...
England uses 'first past the post' voting, which works out in a way that is very prone to political fiddling.
It's advantage is it makes for a majority government (usually. We had so many pissed off voters in the last election voting for a 3rd party that we now have a coalition for the first time in about 40 years.
No single party was large enough to win outright, but the Liberal Democrats suprised everyone by forming a coalition with the conservatives. If it weren't for that, labour actually got the most votes.)
Getting the prime minister out of office directly is very unlikely, since they usually hold what's considered a 'safe' seat (which is to say, they represent a region that votes for a particular party almost all the time)
Most elections depend entirely on marginal seats, and 'first past the post' voting is particularly good at throwing out people's votes.
The winner is simply whoever has the most votes.
If an area has 10 candidates, and one has 30% of the votes, it doesn't matter that 70% of everyone else voted against this person (eg; Most of the population voted for someone other than the person that won), as long as the remaining votes were spread between the other candidates in such a way that no one else got more votes.
To be honest, it is disturbingly easy to 'win' an election when, after actually looking at the votes of everyone involved, most of the voters were against you.
A 'majority' government isn't one supported by a 'majority' of people, just one with more direct, coherent support than it's rivals.
Democracy starts to look like a farce when you look closely at it.