Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher dies

[aris]

fiction ? I think not I remember interest rates peaking at 21.5* yes 21.5% in july 1981 , I remember her putting VAT up to 15% from 8,I remember unemployment going past 3 million and claimants being encouraged to go on benefit, I remember the sell off off good state industries ( I worked for the GEGB at the time) who bought them? yep they went to overseas owners who raped them taking money out of the country, I remember her "dole not coal" phrases, and her stooge Lamont saying if it aint hurting it aint working ( were have you heard that since seems it didn't work) no sunshine it aint fiction its fact, I suggest you get back to your Hansel and Grettle collection or beano album( that you must have)if you want fiction

 

KW

 

With 20/20 hindsight - would the UK not be alot more like Greece right now if things didn't change? I'm sure there was alot of hurt and pain along the way, but sometimes the ends justifies the means.

[Dead-Eyed Duck]

fiction ? I think not I remember interest rates peaking at 21.5* yes 21.5% in july 1981 , I remember her putting VAT up to 15% from 8,I remember unemployment going past 3 million and claimants being encouraged to go on benefit, I remember the sell off off good state industries ( I worked for the GEGB at the time) who bought them? yep they went to overseas owners who raped them taking money out of the country, I remember her "dole not coal" phrases, and her stooge Lamont saying if it aint hurting it aint working ( were have you heard that since seems it didn't work) no sunshine it aint fiction its fact, I suggest you get back to your Hansel and Grettle collection or beano album( that you must have)if you want fiction

 

KW

 

I also remember the dead not being buried due to strikes, and the motor industry being damn near destroyed due to the likes of Red Robbo and his socialist chums.

 

The UK was a basket case at the time due to more money being spent than earned (sounds familiar maybe?).

 

If anyone thinks that this could have been sorted without any drastic action being taken then they are reading from the latest plot in the Beano.

 

Oh, by the way, I was born in a two up two down, and it was obvious to me that something had to be done - no pain no gain springs to mind.

 

Maggie (who did make some mistakes) had the benefit of being involved in a corner shop, and learning the basics of economics - what you don't have you cannot spend. If you do then some poor sod has to take the pain sometime.

[AVB]

fiction ? I think not I remember interest rates peaking at 21.5* yes 21.5% in july 1981 , I remember her putting VAT up to 15% from 8,I remember unemployment going past 3 million and claimants being encouraged to go on benefit, I remember the sell off off good state industries ( I worked for the GEGB at the time) who bought them? yep they went to overseas owners who raped them taking money out of the country, I remember her "dole not coal" phrases, and her stooge Lamont saying if it aint hurting it aint working ( were have you heard that since seems it didn't work) no sunshine it aint fiction its fact, I suggest you get back to your Hansel and Grettle collection or beano album( that you must have)if you want fiction

 

KW

According to the Bank of England Historical Database, the BoE Bank Rate peaked at 17% between 15 November 1979 and 2 July 1980. in July 1981 it was 12%.

 

Your memory must be failing old chap.

[old rooster]

Every union representative I have ever met was bone idle on the bench.

 

Interesting comment. I know of a guy who supposedly represents the workers in his union capacity at one of the car manufacturing companies. He assisted management in negotiating the getting rid of a lot of staff and now has a cushy £80k a year job. Goes in on night shift, watches a bit of telly and then has a kip. All very nice for him but what it is all too easy to forget is that he and others of his ilk are an expense that has to be paid.

 

The unfortunate reality is that for the country to be financially sustainable somebody somewhere has to make a profit and pay tax into the system, the more we have to fund parasites like him the bigger the tax burden for everybody else. I suppose that he at least has to pay a wedge of tax back but the rest has to come from company profits.

[delburt0]

i must admit i didnt know anyone who registered for poll tax, im now wondering how bedroom tax will play out for this government

im sure if we turned around and said one bedroom was a prayer room we would get laughed into next week by our councils makes you wonder doesnt it

[Dead-Eyed Duck]

Interesting comment. I know of a guy who supposedly represents the workers in his union capacity at one of the car manufacturing companies. He assisted management in negotiating the getting rid of a lot of staff and now has a cushy £80k a year job. Goes in on night shift, watches a bit of telly and then has a kip. All very nice for him but what it is all too easy to forget is that he and others of his ilk are an expense that has to be paid.

 

The unfortunate reality is that for the country to be financially sustainable somebody somewhere has to make a profit and pay tax into the system, the more we have to fund parasites like him the bigger the tax burden for everybody else. I suppose that he at least has to pay a wedge of tax back but the rest has to come from company profits.

Interesting comment - I knew a shop steward who used to have a kip on nights.

 

The management found a 'bed' in a store room and set up a camera, and he was caught. He claimed descrimination, as a sign had not been set up to say that there was a camera there.

 

He was 'let go' with full pension rights etc....

[kdubya]

 

Ats base ratesAccording to the Bank of England Historical Database, the BoE Bank Rate peaked at 17% between 15 November 1979 and 2 July 1980. in July 1981 it was 12%.

 

Your memory must be failing old chap.

Thats base rate mortgage rates peaked at 21

My memory is fine thanks I lived through it rather than googling it

[old rooster]

im sure if we turned around and said one bedroom was a prayer room we would get laughed into next week by our councils makes you wonder doesnt it

 

Reminds me of the wierdo and his family who moved in to one of the terraced houses just along from my late Mothers place. He registered his house as a church and never paid a penny in rates. This wasn't in the middle of a big multicultural town but a small village.

[AVB]

Thats base rate mortgage rates peaked at 21

My memory is fine thanks I lived through it rather than googling it

 

I lived through it too. I don't recall Standard Variable Rate (which is what I assume you are getting at) hitting 21% though. Can't see why Mortatge rates would have peaked at 21% when Base Rate was 12%.

 

Perhaps you probably paid a premium for living up North. Maggie did that sort of thing. See hated all of you.

[kdubya]

I lived through it too. I don't recall Standard Variable Rate (which is what I assume you are getting at) hitting 21% though. Can't see why Mortatge rates would have peaked at 21% when Base Rate was 12%.

 

Perhaps you probably paid a premium for living up North. Maggie did that sort of thing. See hated all of you.

I was living in peterhead at the time no sod could afford to buy a house so my company had to use SSHA properties to rent,I lived in one FACT

 

KW

Edited April 9, 2013 by kdubya

[Dekers]

This thread was always going to end up this way!

[AlistairB]

Regardless of your politics, i think Boris Johnson has it right:

 

"Her memory will live long after the world has forgotten the grey suits of today's politics."

 

AB

[Thunderbird]

Regardless of your politics, i think Boris Johnson has it right:

 

"Her memory will live long after the world has forgotten the grey suits of today's politics."

 

AB

 

True that

 

This is quite interesting.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Thunderbird

[overandunder2012]

one thing i will say about politics in thatchers era at least you knew who people where and what they stood for in all the partys, dont think that can be said today

Edited April 9, 2013 by overandunder2012

[kdubya]

one thing i will say about politics in thatchers era at least you knew who people where and what they stood for in all the partys, dont think that can be said today

I thought it was even more obvious today IE they are all the same.

 

KW

[delburt0]

Reminds me of the wierdo and his family who moved in to one of the terraced houses just along from my late Mothers place. He registered his house as a church and never paid a penny in rates. This wasn't in the middle of a big multicultural town but a small village.

anyone got a spire alter pew and a couple of old stained glass windows laying about pm me

[overandunder2012]

anyone got a spire alter pew and a couple of old stained glass windows laying about pm me

get a bit of mdf a hammer some nails jobs a good un

[old rooster]

anyone got a spire alter pew and a couple of old stained glass windows laying about pm me

 

Why go to that trouble, just have a few daytime parties and put in the claim as it will then be a gathering place.

 

Get your mates to wrap a tea towel round their heads and bring a mat along and you would probably be up for a government grant!

[fuzzypigeon]

Heard on the radio today that Barnsley council won't fly the flag at half mast unless they are specifically told to by their superiors, this to me seems wrong. At the end of the day she did what she thought was right it had a negative impact on people's lives at the time but I think it did have a positive impact on the country in the long run. Anyway shame on Barnsley council for having no moral compass to show respect to someone who deserves it. She may not have been to everyone's liking but that doesn't change the fact she was a leader, who made the tough decisions when needed.

Edited April 9, 2013 by fuzzypigeon

[AlistairB]

 

Couldnt agree more, at the end of the day, she is still a person, and everyone deserves a degree of respect in life as in death.

 

AB

[Archie-fox]

 

Couldnt agree more, at the end of the day, she is still a person, and everyone deserves a degree of respect in life as in death.

 

AB

Well said.

[FalconFN]

Would you fly the flags at half mast if it was Tony Blair who had died?

[Willxx]

I'm not a guardian reader by any shape or form but this was posted elsewhere and it makes a reasonable point: http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette

[overandunder2012]

Would you fly the flags at half mast if it was Tony Blair who had died?

i wait for the answer to this one with baited breath lol

[Vince Green]

You have to look back on that era with some considerable admiration when you consider the calibre of the people she had around her. Tebbitt, Howe, Lawson, Parkinson, Hesseltine etc. it was a class act.