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tramp the dirt down...
You had my hopes up then! I'll give her till Friday.
n 2005, the former PM was advised by doctors that she should not make public speeches in the wake of some minor strokes.
This makes me laugh. She is gaga. Thats why no speeches.
got the dubbin out and putting a shine on...........
I don't think it's nice to wish for the death of a Human Being....
One thing's for sure - it'll kick of one great big mofo of a fight on here when it does happen.
Stuart predicts confidently...
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Her son Mark ([i]In 1998 South African authorities investigated his firm for running loan shark operations. A company owned by Thatcher offered unofficial small loans to hundreds of police officers, military personnel and civil servants. When they defaulted on the loans they were pursued by debt collectors and charged 20% interest rates, according to the Star of Johannesburg.[7]
Other widely reported Thatcher embarrassments include allegations of U.S. tax evasion (a criminal case was eventually dropped) and a racketeering case in Texas which was settled out of court. According to The Daily Telegraph of 26 August 2004, "In 1998, he was at the centre of a scandal after he lent huge sums of money at exorbitant interest rates to more than 900 local police officers and civil servants in Cape Town. He admitted lending the cash but insisted that he had done nothing wrong. He is also thought to have profited from contracts to supply aviation fuel in various African countries."
On 24 November 2004, the Cape Town High Court upheld a subpoena from the South African Justice Ministry that required him to answer under oath questions from Equatorial Guinean authorities regarding the alleged coup attempt. He was due to face questioning on 25 November 2004, regarding offences under the South African Foreign Military Assistance Act; however, these proceedings were later postponed until 8 April 2005. Ultimately, following a process of plea bargaining, Thatcher pleaded guilty to negligence in investing in an aircraft "without taking proper investigations into what it would be used for". Thatcher admitted in court that he had paid the money, but said he was under the impression it was going to be invested in an air ambulance service to help the impoverished of Africa. This explanation was not believed by the judge and he was fined three million rand (approximately $500,000) and received a four-year suspended jail sentence.)[/i] who is loved as much by the British public as his mother,said she was "in good spirits" and her admission was "entirely precautionary".
Surprising how ****tishness is actually genetic...
Apparently theres a party planned in trafalgar square, 6pm, first Sat after she dies.
It might sound mean but if I can be there I will. She was a vile person who knowingly caused untold misery to others out of greed and spite. I fear this country may never recover from the harm she did.
Damn, and I try to stay out of the politics too.
I'll save it for Tony and the Blair Witch.
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It's gonna be a bun fight fo' sure.
The architect of today’s broken Britain, sold everything we owned for pennies and gave the key to Bank of England to "spivs and gamblers".
History will look back on the 80’s as a dark time in politics
PS energy security will be the cause of future wars and we have a 1000 years of coal buried under our feet...
PPS lets not forget the mess we are in right now
there's far too many grains left in that hourglass for my liking
I personally hold her in the same high esteem that I hold her political and personal friend Augusto Pinochet. And by high, I mean lower than whale s**t.
not nice to wish death but armando innuci [spell] said the only good thing about getting older was every day she was closer to death.
I am much more likely to party than morn
She was a vile person who knowingly caused untold misery to others out of greed and spite. I fear this country may never recover from the harm she did.Damn, and I try to stay out of the politics too.
I agree on both counts. She was vile person who knowingly caused untold misery ....etc, etc. And, celebrating her death has absolutely nothing to do with politics.
So I for one, won't be celebrating the death of a senile old woman. My issue was with her premiership - not the person. She stopped being an issue for me a very long time ago.
I find the whole 'let's all go out and celebrate when she dies' bollox, pathetic, childish, and a sign of political immaturity.
If you former revolutionaries, red wedgers and socialist youths haven't grown up enough, then you have more personal problems than are healthy. Regardless of your political views now or then, claiming to celebrate any death is just beneath contempt.
just grow up and got over yourselves you miserable bunch old school lefties
Sickos.
A social club near me has - for years - been collecting £1 per week from it's members to pay for a party
Elfinsafety - Member
I don't think it's nice to wish for the death of a Human Being....
POSTED 7 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
Pretty much sums it up for me.
It's not nice to wish for the death of another human.
Really? Think there's [i]anyone[/i], other than the terminally deranged, who'll mourn the death of Mugabe?
As for Thatcher, she may well be an irrelevance now, but the damage she did to the North-East is something I lived through and can never forgive. Childish and immature as it may be, I'll be happy when I hear that she's gone.
Oddly I would suspect the types of people who are emotionally stunted and can or did mock the dying would be Augusto Pinochet, Thatcher or her son.
Evil woman, that period was totally devoid of any human kindness and ruined the lives and futures of so many
Think the best thing that could be done is totally ignore her passing, doesn't deserve anything from this country or its people
stuartie_c - Member
One thing's for sure - it'll kick of one great big mofo of a fight on here when it does happen.
Nothing compared to the one that's going to kick off when she gets where she's going.
If it wasn't for her more TJ-like people would rule your business world.
got the bunting ready, got the fireworks ready and got my day's sicknote ready for the hangover.
[url=
explains more adequately than I ever could how feel about her and why I WILL raise a glass when she eventually shuffles off this mortal coil - MR TURNER!!![/url]
She'll be going out happy after today. I hope a few of you economic experts get a nice boot in the financial balls before she goes.
who'll mourn the death of Mugabe?
Mourning a death is very different from wishing a death.
And for all her bad points, she was never a mass-murderer like Mugabe, Pinochet or Hitler - let's get her evil deeds in some kind of perspective shall we?
throw the body on the slag heap.
I hate all politicians but especially ones that effectively destroyed whole communities without a shadow of remorse.
The architect of today’s broken Britain, sold everything we owned for pennies and gave the key to Bank of England to "spivs and gamblers".
But Gordon Brown selling off 400 tons of gold at a quarter its current price was just fine.
And TB getting us sucked into a war in Iraq more or less on a whim was just one of those things.
And we'd all be perfectly happy if the country was run by the unions as it was back in the '70s. Coal strikes bringing down Ted Heath's government. Assembly workers at Cowley on near-permanent strike producing unusable cars. The English sickness derided across Europe.
Luked - Gordon Brown and the gold was simply not on the same scale as deliberately putting millions of people out of work to create a pool of unemployed to drive down the cost of labour.
If you think the country was run by the unions in the 70s you are sadly mistaken
The real debate is 'are you a dancer or a pisser?'
well said teej. and nutt.
And broke the backs of the unions. Good on her for that.
I used to detest the woman - still detest her memory and legacy... but as others have said, that was the Thatch of 10 Downing St., not the senile old woman of today.
Cant say I'd be bothered to "celebrate" her passing any more. A younger, less mature, darker, self always planned to get p!ssed to celebrate her descent to hell (and i'm an atheist 😉 ) - but today I wouldn't give her the credit.
I read an article on the BBC website the other day that neatly summed up Thatcher's premiership, although ironically, it was about USA today. But the American author's outsider's insight into our deeply polarised views on Thatch's Government was clearer than our own clouded worship / hate views...
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11564336 ]linky to BBC[/url]
When I returned in the mid-1980s for what has turned out to be forever, I saw that my old friends' attitudes had metastasized.Decline had been managed - badly. The culture wasn't so great and more than half the country seemed to be excluded from the government's concerns. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's loyalty question, "Is he one of us?" had been applied across the country.
Actually, Margaret Thatcher was a very pragmatic politician, but she cultivated that Iron Lady public persona - the one that said those who aren't with us, are agin' us.
Thatcher's approach foreshadowed the Bush Administration's approach to governance from 9/11 onwards. The effect in both the US and Britain was the same - a sense among almost half the population that the country was no longer theirs.
If you take away a person's sense of being part of the team they are bound to think of the time when they were part of it as being better. The team is no longer what it was. Without them it is in decline
why is it good that she broke the backs of the unions?
If you think the country was run by the unions in the 70s you are sadly mistaken
We should discuss that one over some beer and sandwiches.
EDIT: Sorry, this quote is from the Daily Mail, which I usually try to avoid, but it amused me anyway:
"Indeed, in January 1977 a Gallup opinion poll found that 54 per cent of people believed that Jones was the most powerful person in Britain, ahead of the Prime Minister James Callaghan."
All I remember from my childhood in the 70s was striking unions.
And baths by candlelight.
And having my tea cooked on a Calor gas stove.
We should discuss that one over some beer and sandwiches.
Sandwiches? Can I come? I promise I'll keep my mouth shut. I likes sandwiches I do.
It's so "of the moment" to hate her - many do without knowing any/many facts about the good things that happened under her "rule."
Oh well - usual sheep mentality rules as usual.
fanylion................is it a good thing that the working class no longer have the right or power to fight for a better living?
matt, and please name these 'good things' that happened under her rule.
Don't worry. The news of severe cuts to public services and expectant enlarging of the gulf between the rich and the poor will keep her going until at least the end of the day. She may even try and stick it out the full 5 years....
usual sheep mentality rules as usual.
AFAICT the people who did well out of her reign love her, the ones who spent years on the dole don't. Its never objective with thatcher.
Yuppies: baaaa, yaaaah! Bolly she was great
Doleys: baaaaa, thatcher milk snatcher
She was 'good' with the miners, right?'good things'
is it a good thing that the working class no longer have the right or power to fight for a better living?
Equally, was it ever right that unions had so much power they could dictate to a nation what they wanted?
And baths by candlelight.And having my tea cooked on a Calor gas stove.
actually I quite liked that, heating the room with a SuperSur calor heater, ahhh them were the days 😀
I still find it surprising so many people I would normally think of as level-headed are able to wish death in such a manner.
.is it a good thing that the working class no longer have the right or power to fight for a better living?
But while the workers at Cowley and Longbridge were fighting long and hard for this pay rise or that working time concession from British Leyland, the Germans and the Japanese were quietly getting on with making great cars. And then crushing our car industry.
We thought the world owed us a living, because we had once had a great empire. But it turned out it didn't.
EDIT: not even sure what's meant by working/middle class anymore to be honest.
Ton, if you want powerful unions have a look at France. Strike this, strike that, strike another.
Will you all celebrate when WH, TB, GB or any other PM die? Do their job better, we'll all live in a perfect place. Not!
surf matt - what good?
actually I quite liked that, heating the room with a SuperSur calor heater, ahhh them were the days
Well yeah, as a kid it was great fun. I can't imagine many adults were too happy about it though.
Luked - at the Germans were also investing in new plant and management and unions co operate more.
Don't be fooled by the rhetoric. Manufacturing management were equally at fault
It's so "of the moment" to hate her - many do without knowing any/many facts about the good things that happened under her "rule."Oh well - usual sheep mentality rules as usual.
Are you old enough to remember?
I am, I was 20 & living in the NE when she came to power in 79
She was 'good' with the miners, right?
In 1974 the miners had it out with Ted Heath, and won.
Arthur Scargill thought he could repeat the same trick. And he deliberately avoided a ballot in order to ensure he got his fight. And he chose to start the fight at a time when coal stocks at power stations were at an all-time high.
He did as much to destroy the NUM as Thatcher. I think a lot of people refuse to believe that - they like to see him as some kind of folk hero I guess.
Mind you, that American guy was a bit of a sh*t.
Some people seem to be under the impression that she is actually a human being 😆
I reckon those disagreeing with the JOY also contributed to the "sailing boats" thread yesterday?
Probably those happy miners in the news recently tipped her over the edge eh.
Luked - at the Germans were also investing in new plant and management and unions co operate more
I was very young so I may not remember correctly, but wasn't any plans for new plant and more automation of our car industry met by unions refusing to accept them because they (rightly) feared union members losing jobs?
CBA.
Don't be fooled by the rhetoric. Manufacturing management were equally at fault
There's a lovely book by a guy who worked in the Ford factory at Dagenham. It just sounds totally awful on all sides, but at one point he recounts how a worker was killed by some big machine. Biggest concern of the management? How to get the line moving again.
Somewhere there will be worms purging themselves in anticipation.
mate, i dont want all powerful mighty unions.
but i do want a working man to be able to fight for a better job/wage if he has a problem.
my garandad and my dad were both miners, has were the vast majority of the blokes where i live.
these places were ruined by pit closures and still are.
as are the steel towns, and the engineering towns.
hand on heart, i will be a happy man when she dies.
No politician is perfect, but as Tony Benn said you knew where you stood with her. On the point of unemployment, industries like coal were no longer viable, she didn't waste money trying to subsidise them and although bitter at the time, countries that did try to keep loss making industries going like France & Germany are now paying for it with huge unemployment now.
She stood firm against the IRA and reacted with an incredibly cool head in the Brighton bombings.
She took on Argentina and won.
She revolutionised higher education.
Her government turned around an uncompetitive, union-dominated economy into a powerhouse that set a lot of precedents for the world to follow.
She inspired (some of) a generation to believe that hard work pays off.
She was a genuinely well respected leader the World over.
Do people not understand that the coal industry was NO LONGER VIABLE? Why prop it up?
Two words that sum up that evil cow - Poll Tax. While I wont be dancing on her grave, I'll certainly not be mourning.
matt, if you knew anything about the coal industry, you would know that the pits are being opened again and will be producing british mined coal again within the next 10yrs.
she inspired greed and selfishness
I wouldn't object to Tony Blair being buried alive with her remains ether. Hell I'd pay hard earned cash to watch that!
Do people not understand that the coal industry was NO LONGER VIABLE? Why prop it up?
Quick Matt, here's your coat, I've already hailed a taxi 🙄
Surf-Mat - MemberNo politician is perfect, but as Tony Benn said you knew where you stood with her. On the point of unemployment, industries like coal were no longer viable, she didn't waste money trying to subsidise them and although bitter at the time, countries that did try to keep loss making industries going like France & Germany are now paying for it with huge unemployment now.
Coal was perfectly viable. It cost the country far more to stop coal mining here is you include the dole costs of the minors and the increased polution from poorer quality coal
She stood firm against the IRA and reacted with an incredibly cool head in the Brighton bombings.
Stood firm against the IRA? You mean perpetuated a civil war that could only be ended by negotiations and was successfully ended by negotiations once someone with some understanding and flexibility was PM
She took on Argentina and won.
Military adventurism, war crimes and it was her policy failures that led to the occupation of the islands. Some would say deliberate.
She revolutionised higher education.
In what way?
Her government turned around an uncompetitive, union-dominated economy into a powerhouse that set a lot of precedents for the world to follow.
Ha ha ha ha
That one really takes the biscuit. The Thatcher economy depended on spending the north sea oil money on paying benefits. Other countries with this money spent it on investment but thatcher wasted it on paying benefits. She also sold off huge amounts of publicly owned stuff for peanuts and then spent the money on revenue. Selling the family silver to pay the milkman.
During her time as PM we had huge prolonged and deep recessions and huge boom and bust periods. Unemplymet that was huge and a huge level of debt and huge tax and spending bill
She inspired (some of) a generation to believe that hard work pays off.
What a con that was. You actually mean she gave money away to the spivs and gamblers. She showed public servants that no matter how hard you work your service will be staved of funds and get worse.
She was a genuinely well respected leader the World over.
Rubbish.
On the point of unemployment, industries like coal were no longer viable, she didn't waste money trying to subsidise them
She closed plenty of viable mines purely to punish & hurt the working classes & unions
pits are being opened again and will be producing british mined coal again within the next 10yrs.
I assume they will be run in a profitable manner and not ruled by an almighty union this time though, so are free to get on with the aim of the business - to spend less extracting the coal than they can make by selling it. It wasn't the case back then.
TJ you really are a cock.
Only telling the truth backhander. You may not like it but everything I say there is true.
Awkward and inconvenient thing the truth.
No it's not it's opinion and supposition at best.
Just because it's what you believe it doesn't mean it's fact. Perhaps you should be less arrogant?
TJ - no it's "TJ's" OPINION.
A VERY different thing to "the truth"
backhander - for balance of argument why don't you also take Surf-Mat's points and give your opinion in the same way as TJ?
IMO her greatest crime was giving birth to Sir Mark Thatcher
I only hope we learn from history those harsh times are never repeated.
Maybe they can bury her in a coal mine. There are plenty of them going unused.
I don't wish her dead, I won't, however, mourn her passing. She did, in my opinion, destroy the country and a general attitude within the country. She removed the rights of the working man and developed a general attitude of selfishness. The selfishness is something we can still see today, I'm alright Jack and f*ck the rest.