A question for non British people

[jigilojoe]

Recently, shooting began on a film about Margaret Thatcher starring Meryl Streep as the 'Iron Lady' (if you're interested, Iron Lady is the name of the film). Since Thatcher is now knocking on deaths door I'm guessing that the film is going to be more of a homage than a insult, but Thatcher was truly a woman without humanity or goodness, killing every ounce of community and industry in Britain and sending men out to a war which (in my opinion) could of been avoided.

So here's the question to all you non Brits, if you had heard of Thatcher before now, what was your opinion on her?

EDIT: If you are British express your anger for the ***** having a film made about her

Oh and a lot of people are talking about their reasoning for hating Thatcher, here's mine I was born 4 years after she left office, my family on my fathers side were both coal miners and industrial workers. When I go up North to see them it feels like something's been lost, it's just painful to see.

EDIT EDIT: This is getting a whole lot of views and comments, so as the Thatcher debate rages on, I'd like to ask the rest of the World (especially those of you writing from America) what's so bad about Socialism?

In Britain one of our main parties would be viewed as Socialist by most Americans, not forgetting the NHS which is an entirely Socialist idea. So why does everyone else hate, or why are you scared of Socialism?

 

[Sleekgiant]

Nope, never heard of her.

 

[Karma168]

Well i'm in Glasgow, she's really not popular here at all after the shipyard closures but i know a Chinese guy, loves her. When we compare governments he always says that we need someone like her again as she is a 'strong leader' because the ones we have atm are more interested in votes than keeping the country afloat.

so while she royally screwed us i think it would be interesting to have someone like her in charge nowadays, could probably fix the mess we're in in no time

 

[Daystar Clarion]

She sucked, but I don't really see how we could have avoided the Falklands war.

Those sneaky Argentinians...

 

[TheFPSisDead]

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?

 

[Antari]

She was viewed favorably in Canada. She was heartless no doubt when she stepped into the political arena. But thats what I liked about her. She knew the job and got it done. I only got to see her foreign policies in action so I don't know what sort of damage she did to Britain while in power.

 

[Arjen Swellengrebel]

I heard of her first from the movie "Billy Elliot". But no, I'm probably not old enough to know her well enough to have an opinion. Anyone who sends their people out to war though, is a horrible person by definition.

 

[motyr]

Canadian here, so I'm a part of the commonwealth...but yes, I've heard of ol' Maggie Thatcher countless times, she's a common punchline to jokes around here.

 

[loc978]

Politicians will be politicians...
but this is my favorite tribute to the iron lady:

 

[Colour Scientist]

I have but I'm Irish so you can predict my opinion of her. The Irish primary and secondary school system drills you with the opinion that Margaret Thatcher = Evil, dragon lady. I had become so used to that idea that the first time I heard someone praise her I was genuinely baffled.

 

[Ashcrexl]

thatcher, thatcher. that is very familiar sounding name. was she in a pink floyd song at any point? i dont even know.

 

[Sun Flash]

I know you said non brits, but I'm sticking my two cents in anyhoos.

Judging by the escapists rough demographic of people under 30, many of them will either have been young children or not even born when Thatcher was in power, and thanks to a lack of useful interents, probably wouldn't have known about her. I don't know much about US presidents of that time. As far as I'm aware it went Regan and then Bush Sr. Nixon might be in there somewhere...

As for me, I was born two years after she left office yet was still forced to grow up in her shadow. My dad was laid off three times in two years and my mum twice in three because of her policies. Neither of my parents could afford higher education and the repeated redundancies only made them even less unemployable. Up until I was ten my family went around the supermarket with a calculator making sure we never went over the budget. Sucked, man.


It probably won't surprise you to learn I'm Scottish and from a long line of farmers.

Also; That Fucking Poll Tax...

 

[Calcium]

She must have done something right to get re-elected twice (or was it thrice?). I get the impression the bad deisions were made towards the end. The war wasn't really that bad as far as wars go. In fact it was positively gentlemanly. Agreeing not to attack each other's countries and play it out across the sea and the Falklands.

Edit: Should say I'm British/Scottish so it's not like the question was aimed at me.

 

[clockwork_harlequin]

I seem to remember one of my professors mentioning Thatcher as the force that modernized/liberalized [in the economic sense] the UK's economy and severely reduced the role of the state in public welfare.

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?

So... broadly this.

 

[in a bit of a pickle]

Have heard of her (lived in England for a couple years a while ago) but I confess I do not have enough information to formulate an opinion.

To the googlemobile!

/brb

 

[El Poncho]

I hope this film shows how much of a prick she is -.-

When she dies I will be partying on the street with the rest of Scotland.

 

[Pink_Pirate]

Not a brit, but I've lived in Edinburgh for a while now. People really hate the ***** over here... I mean REALLY hate her.

 

[Popadoo]

Stupid b*tch, there's still tons of coal under England and we're just going to waste that?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Would you say that is an accurate statement?

Nope, miles off.

She's the one who destroyed the various Union's grip on power in the UK.
She also largely stopped the state propping up failing industry (coal, cars, ships, aircraft, you name it the British Government was paying to make crap products nobody bought).

Whether that was a good thing or not is (widely) debated, but it did stop the UK's economic free fall, as well as leaving many hundreds of thousands without jobs at a stroke.

She didn't end the welfare state (NHS, unemployment benefits, state pension etc), that's still mostly intact now, for better or worse.

PS, Scottish people hate her, they were big into mining, unions and ships, they didn't do well.