Throw out the myths about Margaret Thatcher

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/11/throw-out-myths-margaret-thatcher
<snip>
It is a truism that history is written by the victors. As Margaret Thatcher's economic policies were continued after she left office, culminating in economic catastrophe in 2008, it is necessary to throw out the myths peddled about her. The first is that she was popular. The second is that she delivered economic success.

Unlike previous governments, Thatcher's never commanded anything close to a majority in a general election. The Tories' biggest share of the vote under her was less than 44% in 1979, after which her vote fell. The false assertions about her popularity are used to insist that Labour can only succeed by carrying out Tory policies. But this is untrue.

Nor did Thatcher deliver economic success, still less "save our country" in David Cameron's silly and overblown phrase-mongering. In much more difficult circumstances in 1945, the Labour government, despite war debt, set itself the task of economic regeneration, introduced social security and pensions, built hundreds of thousands of homes and created the NHS. In the 31 years before Thatcher came to office the economy grew by about 150%; in the 31 years since, it's grown by little more than 100%.

Thatcher believed that the creation of 3 million unemployed was a price worth paying for a free market in everything except labour. Thatcher's great friend Augusto Pinochet used machine guns to control labour, whereas Thatcher used the less drastic means of anti-union laws. But their goal was the same, to reduce the share of working class income in the economy. The economic results were the reason for Thatcher's falling popularity. As the authors of The Spirit Level point out, the inequality created led to huge social ills, increases in crime, addictions of all kinds and health epidemics including mental health issues.

[Boomerproud]

1. The same could be said about her boyfriend Ronnie.

He was nothing but a media creation, but created misery.

[avaistheone1]

2. The two of them were pretty much bookends.

They both hurt the economic soundness and the people of their countries very much.

[malaise]

4. LOL

I almost added his name to the Title

[byeya]

3. Thanks for the post. Many don't remember the UK has a thrid party that often polls

very well.

[malaise]

5. Indeed

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. "The Iron Lady is dead. May she rust in peace"

is something I read on Twitter...
pretty good, eh?

[malaise]

7. Excellent

Hahahahahahha

[Turborama]

8. Excellent article, thanks for sharing. This should not have nose dived and there's still time to rec

Love me some Ken!

[malaise]

9. Same here

He's one of the best

[malaise]

10. Another good read

Not for the first time, the departure of Thatcher has caused the greatest trouble for her own party.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/12/lovefest-margaret-thatcher-trouble-david-cameron
<snip>
At first glance, this should be the Conservatives' moment, the airwaves and front pages devoted to their most successful postwar leader, recalling the party's glory days, listing its great achievements. On this measure, the period from last Monday until the funeral next Wednesday will be a 10-day, rolling party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative party and its Thatcher-style "stay the course in tough times" message. With local elections not much more than three weeks away, this surely will be a boon – Margaret Thatcher's final act of service for the party that loved her.

Except, one suspects, it is not the wider electorate that's been preying on David Cameron's mind. His focus has seemed narrower and more defensive. Note his haste in tearing up a plan Downing Street had reviewed and agreed to more than once, including very recently, which said that if Thatcher died during a parliamentary recess, MPs would wait until their first day back to pay tribute. In the event, Cameron surprised the Speaker and, it is said, his own chief whip by insisting on a recall of parliament, a measure previously reserved for moments of national emergency.

Plenty in Westminster read that as an act not of confidence but of nervousness on Cameron's part, as if the prime minister feared the fury of the Mail, Telegraph and the Thatcher-worshipping Tory backbenches if he did not lay on every possible honour – and in double-quick time. Rather than give his tormentors any chance to criticise him for insufficient grief, he has chosen the maximal option at each turn. Recall parliament or wait as planned? Recall. Forty five minutes of Commons tributes, as granted to Churchill, or the full seven and a half hours? The latter, please. A civilian funeral, or one with all the military, quasi-regal bells and whistles? The biggest we can get away with.

But it may not do Cameron much good. For he has invited a comparison which is not necessarily flattering. All these tributes to Thatcher's strength and resolve include an unspoken contrast with him. And not always unspoken. Witness the less-than-loyal tribute from Conor Burns, a Tory backbencher who recalled a cab driver declaring: "We haven't had a good 'un in No 10 since Mrs T" – an assessment that Burns said was shared by Thatcher herself.

[BlueCheese]

11. I think we too often want to see things in black and white.

I think this author, a former mayor of London, makes some good points but tries to go too far. In doing so, he undermines his argument.

Blaming Thatcher for a financial crisis that happened 18 years after she left office is stretching it too far. After all, Labour was in power from 1997 to 2010-- longer than Thatcher was prime minister. People read stuff like that and they tend to dismiss the other points.