A question for non British people

[revolutionaification]

Okay, so I don't qualify to answer this by your criteria being 1) Scottish and 2) Far too young to have experienced her reign of terror, but I've done enough independant research to know that I'll be celebrating when she finally pops her clogs. The family even has some whiskey saved for the occasion, reckon it's coming up on twelve years old now.

Everyone's already stated just what she did to enrage me so much so I won't bother repeating them but in my opinion, there should be a bloody national holiday when she's gone.

To quote a wise man whose name escapes me:
"Plans have begun for Margaret Thatcher's state funeral. It'll be the first time ever the 21 gun salute is fired into the coffin."

 

[HotFezz8]

sending men out to a war which (in my opinion) could of been avoided.

your aware that the falklands war re-invigorated the british the same way the coronotion did, and that had we allowed some second world south american goverment to just take part of our country we would have continued to slide faster to second world mediocrity. its the reason we were taken seriously in europe and the us, its the reason we aren't some back water, and it has a lot to do with your currant (aextremely high) standard of living.

 

[Woodsey]

As a political Science and Economics student we basically refer to Thatcher as the person who ended the British Welfare state. Would you say that is an accurate statement?

Not really, we still are a welfare state. Thatcher's big thing was privatisation, but stuff like the NHS was left alone.

 

[Sticky Squid]

I feel this sums it up perfectly.

 

[Kayevcee]

Scotland's feelings regarding Mrs Thatcher can best be summed up by Mr Francis Boyle:

EDIT: Whoop! Ninja'd while learning to embed videos.

I was only 8 when she was deposed, and what little I know of her is that her cabinet used Scotland as a guinea pig for a new and unfair tax hike (that was later replaced by something even more unfair, but that's a discussion for another time) and left my home city with an unemployment level of over 25%. I cannot believe that destroying over a million jobs with no thought of their replacement was the best way out of the mess the country was in at the time. Sadly, this appears to be exactly what the new tory government is implementing right now.

-Nick

 

[Dimitriov]

I'm Canadian and have indeed heard of Thatcher. I like her because as I far as I know she was against the socialism of Britain at the time and did a great deal to end it.

Also she stomped on Argentina which was awesome.

 

[Kayevcee]

My hometown of Glasgow was seen as a breeding ground for communism, which is why the British conservatives have spent much of the past 70 years actively trying to destroy it. Their tactic in Thatcher's era was to give all those dirty commies something other than politics to worry about by making them all unemployed, which is a dick move of monumental proportions in my opinion.

-Nick

 

[Berserker119]

First time I heard of her was about an hour ago when my American friend was talking about the exact same thing on Facebook. He didn't like her either.

 

[jigilojoe]

sending men out to a war which (in my opinion) could of been avoided.

your aware that the falklands war re-invigorated the british the same way the coronotion did, and that had we allowed some second world south american goverment to just take part of our country we would have continued to slide faster to second world mediocrity. its the reason we were taken seriously in europe and the us, its the reason we aren't some back water, and it has a lot to do with your currant (aextremely high) standard of living.

No, I wasn't aware of that mainly because it's not strictly true, since this wasn't the debate I intended to have I'm not going to go in depth about it. I wasn't aware that it re-invigorated us, though I know that a lot of men died. I know it was more for oil than it was for pride.

You're taking what I'm saying out of context, though, I said it could of been avoided, not that it should of, it was my opinion. After that wall of text you gave I'm really intrigued as to your view on Thatcher in general.

 

[FamoFunk]

I hate her and I hate any Tories, fools.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I don't think she was good at all. I think she has ruined the chances of a future woman Prime minister as people will always have this image of Thatcher and her policies when they ever come up to try stand for it. Also I am Irish.

 

[bultuit84]

sending men out to a war which (in my opinion) could of been avoided.

your aware that the falklands war re-invigorated the british the same way the coronotion did, and that had we allowed some second world south american goverment to just take part of our country we would have continued to slide faster to second world mediocrity. its the reason we were taken seriously in europe and the us, its the reason we aren't some back water, and it has a lot to do with your currant (aextremely high) standard of living.

i agree with this geez, and the point (not fact) that we could really do with another strong, decisive leader of her quality (for want of a better word) right now.
I like this topic, i'm learning a lot, please continue

 

[Valksy]

Brit. I was 16 when she left office. Bollocks to her.

 

[nunqual]

I had heard of her, but I have absolutely no opinion on her. She was before my time, and she's not an important figure in my country, so those are my excuses.

 

[Verlander]

I got assaulted by an American once, claiming he hated Brits because we elected the Iron Lady. An American. Seriously. I mean what, was she too left wing for ya??

 

[BENZOOKA]

I've known her name and about her political position ever since I was a small kid, but not much else. I definitely did not know she was particularly good or bad.

It was not until a year or some months ago, when I first heard about her being more of the bad kind. And it must've been Peep Show or QI, where I got that information.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

As an American I know little about her besides that she was like a British Ronald Reagan. Since I dislike Ronald Reagan, I suppose that is my judgement of Thatcher too. Unless she was "Iron Lady," as in a female Iron Man. Then she was probably pretty awesome.

 

[Bobbovski]

I know who she is. I know that most people see her as a cold hearted bi**h.

 

[Varitel]

I've heard of her. She is probably one of the more well known UK Prime Ministers. However, I have to admit I am unfamiliar with her politics.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Her final departure: November 1990


And here's how it really looked


This is REALLY boring.

To her supporters, she was a revolutionary figure who transformed Britain's stagnant economy, tamed the unions and re-established the country as a world power.

Together with US presidents Reagan and Bush, she helped bring about the end of the Cold War.

But her 11-year premiership was also marked by social unrest, industrial strife and high unemployment.

Her critics claim British society is still feeling the effect of her divisive economic policies and the culture of greed and selfishness they allegedly promoted.

One of the things that Thatcher transformed? BP. Oil's well that ends well, so they say.