- Messages
- 1,063
- Location
- UK
RE: Lady Thatcher Passes Away.
Hi Rob
I was 6 when Thatch was elected, so have only a young child's recollection of the 70s. That said I come from a political family, and have discussed the era with family at length. I remember the 80s well, experienced 1st hand the effects of under-investment in education in that time, and was taking my 1st steps into the workplace in the last year or so of her premiership.
I agree with you that a bunch of problems that had been at the root of the decline of British industry in the post-war period came to a head in the 70s, unfortunately the reaction to that was Thatcher. The way her government "addressed" these issues was unnecessarily damaging to the prosperity and social cohesion of this country, remaining so to this day and doubtless well into the future, and openly vindictive. Other countries managed to modernise their industrial bases, building on their industrial heritage to underpin real future prosperity (as opposed to the asset bubble economics characteristic of our periods of "prosperity" since she was elected), without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Granted, many union leaders of the time played directly into her hands, she gave them enough rope and they took up the offer. Lions Led by donkeys sadly, especially the NuM. Lawson's Big Bang has led directly to one of her worst legacies...the bloated parasite of Big Finance and (much of what happens in) The City. Recipient of the biggest taxpayer bailout in history* and at the root of our stubbornly stagnant economy.
I don't ignore the complicity of subsequent governments in compounding the damage she did, but she undoubtedly set the course they have followed, New Labour most shamefully.
All the best to you.
*OK, the cumulative cost of farming subsidies might run it close over the decades, involving £millions of taxpayers' cash being funneled to some of the wealthiest in the country. Funny how Tory governments are always strangely silent on that.
Hi Rob
I was 6 when Thatch was elected, so have only a young child's recollection of the 70s. That said I come from a political family, and have discussed the era with family at length. I remember the 80s well, experienced 1st hand the effects of under-investment in education in that time, and was taking my 1st steps into the workplace in the last year or so of her premiership.
I agree with you that a bunch of problems that had been at the root of the decline of British industry in the post-war period came to a head in the 70s, unfortunately the reaction to that was Thatcher. The way her government "addressed" these issues was unnecessarily damaging to the prosperity and social cohesion of this country, remaining so to this day and doubtless well into the future, and openly vindictive. Other countries managed to modernise their industrial bases, building on their industrial heritage to underpin real future prosperity (as opposed to the asset bubble economics characteristic of our periods of "prosperity" since she was elected), without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Granted, many union leaders of the time played directly into her hands, she gave them enough rope and they took up the offer. Lions Led by donkeys sadly, especially the NuM. Lawson's Big Bang has led directly to one of her worst legacies...the bloated parasite of Big Finance and (much of what happens in) The City. Recipient of the biggest taxpayer bailout in history* and at the root of our stubbornly stagnant economy.
I don't ignore the complicity of subsequent governments in compounding the damage she did, but she undoubtedly set the course they have followed, New Labour most shamefully.
All the best to you.
*OK, the cumulative cost of farming subsidies might run it close over the decades, involving £millions of taxpayers' cash being funneled to some of the wealthiest in the country. Funny how Tory governments are always strangely silent on that.
