Margaret Thatcher, who from 1979 to 1990 served as Britain's first female prime minister died Monday. She was 87. In 2011, Meryl Streep won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for portraying Thatcher in the movie The Iron Lady.
As an Irish woman who grew up watching the news in the 80's I have to say she will not be missed in this land. I didn't agree with her politics or policies. However, an elderly woman who is a wife, mother and grandmother died today and that deserves some respect. I would never be able to say I admired her but I did appreciate the fact that she did a hard job and never faltered in her positions. She did some terrible things but she has passed now and it is time for thongs to move on.
Saying Thatcher was a good role model because she broke new ground for women is like (Godwin alert!) praising Hitler for breaking new ground for vegetarian dog lovers.
She sought and achieved power. She did much evil with it.
RIP Maggie Thatcher. I may not have always agreed with her politics, but she did something no American woman has yet to do and rose to the highest elected office in her country. That was inspiring back then. 3 decades plus and we still haven't had a female VP, Let alone President. May she rest easy.
And you must be highly intelligent to praise a woman who destroyed this country through privatisation, poll tax, destroyed lives, families and towns by closing mines, thought Mandela was a terrorist and as for being good for women she herself said feminism was poison
A mother to an arms dealer and a wack job. I have vivid memories of her deeds when i was a child. like no longer getting milk in primary school, my parents sending food parcels to the miners after she shut them down putting thousands of families into poverty. Privatisation, poll tax. Her admiration and friendship with General Pinochet.
I could go on and on. Those are the things I'll remember her for. I only wish they'd bury her in the Falklands. So yeah, ding dong the wicked witch is dead!
@Gloaming And never forget Hillsborough. Jft 96. I probably have other reasons that not all British people agree with, The hunger strikers and her refusal to enter talks for peace in N.I., but tomorrow and the coming weeks will be time for that. My cousins are from Liverpool and I remembered Toxteth riots. Things were bad in the 80's. We never forget but we try to learn and move on.
I have no personal opinion but most people I've heard have mixed feelings about her and her time in power but like Its just U said someone's mother and grandmother has died and they deserve our sympathy. RIP.
I don't really understand when public figures are called evil. I mean, if they are truly evil people who take glory or pleasure in other peoples' misery, sure. But I don't understand calling someone evil because you disagree with his or her politics or even the outcome of those politics. There are politicians whom I've disliked while disagreeing with almost all of their policies--but I still thought that they were doing what they thought was best.
Running a country is an insanely difficult task--sometimes poor decisions are made, but I (perhaps naively) believe that intentions were/are good most of the time.
Being from the States, I have no opinion on her, but I understand across the pond, she's VERY polarizing. You love or you hate her.
@Its Just U, considering your own situation, "however, an elderly woman who is a wife, mother and grandmother died today and that deserves some respect" is a wonderful way of looking at it.
@Alicia I felt every one of them. I love you all.x I have to say though, it was a very odd feeling today. Driving over there, my mind racing and the news of an 87 year old red head passing away came on the radio. I had a bit of a moment. I thank you all for your kind words.x
As I understand it Thatcher:UK::Reagan:US. I feel for her family but as a politician I believe she did more harm to her country than good (same with Reagan and the US).
As a woman who broke ground in politics she could have done so much more for other women....
On a humorous aside, the hashtag #nowthatchersdead on Twitter was incorrectly parsed as 'now that Cher's dead' by some... Cher is not in fact dead.
Rest in peace Margaret. I saw the movie and saw the ground breaking moves you made for women. You are to be greatly admired, and though some choices you made were tough...you made them, despite what the more liberal people say. You were a great woman.
Bunch of sad sack losers trying to call this good strong woman a "hitler" and "evil" but can't be bothered to explain why. Seems like the urge to whine is strong in some. Margaret Thatcher came from the lower class, in the UK, and worked her way all the way up. She inherited a mess, a government that was overspending and underperforming and she turned that shit around. She is a great role model for all people, women and men. The men who replaced her let her down and let down the UK. There was a lot of loud protest from the entitled people during her time as PM, people who felt entitled to the way things always had been at the expense of other people. It's very simple: Don't rely on government subsidizing your lifestyle and you won't be caught short when the government runs out of other peoples money.
She may have worked her way up from the lower classes but she clearly forgot where she came from. Many, many families in the north of England (as well as Scotland and Wales) suffered from her completely dismissive attitude towards unions and the workers they represented. Families from all over the UK suffered when she decided to engage in an unecessary war with Argentina. And because of Margaret Thatcher, families all over Chile are still wondering what happened to their loved ones. She actively helped Pinochet evade justice so he wouldn't have to answer to the civilians he brutalized. I'm not even going to begin with what she did to Northern Ireland. Before you act superior and act like you know about Margaret Thatcher, please, do some reading up on her actions.
The Poll Tax "Nelson Mandella is a terrorist" Bobby Sands supported the retention of capital punishment supported corporal punishment 3.3 million unemployed Selling off council houses, coal, gas, steel etc etc The Belgrano Orgreave Section 28 Hillsborough Pinochet
etc.
But, yeah, keep telling yourself that the hate for her all to do with entitlement.
Yeah as a fellow Irish person I agree that she was not a great person for the policies she held and the actions she undertook. If I didn't know who you were talking about and you mentioned 'a female leader who stood by her convictions, no matter what' then I would probably be full of admiration for her. But I just can't for Thatcher. She ruined too many communities and too many lives.
Apparently it's 32 years to the day that Bobby Sands was elected MP - the sense of timing of today's circumstance is not lost in West Belfast...
If one more of you Yanks praises her as a great role model, i'm going to scream. Do some research. The Hitler analogy isn't too far off. She would have adored the idea of ethnic cleansing of the industrial working class.
You're obviously trolling but I'm feeling chipper so...
1. Thatcher died TODAY, not 45 years ago.
2. Look upthread, UNKNOWN at 8:10AM.
3. Did you know that a bunch of racist a*holes go on Twitter and FB every year and complain that while there's a day off for MLK, there's no day off for President's Day, and that's just not right, and they start with the n* talk and ragging on Obama, etc.? Your little persona is the exact same thing, just switch the colors around. Really, try a bit more sophistication in your baiting.
Anyone else think of the Elvis Cosyello song about her? "And tramp the earth down..." Not informed enough to have my own opinion on this one, but that song has been in my head since I heard.
It's likely those who defend Thatcher do so because they bought into all the Saint Ronnie stuff.
Reagan apologists ignore the huge deficits, environmental deregulation, racism, anti-worker, anti-poor crap that occurred on his watch (much of which we're still dealing with decades later) simply because the guy was photogenic and could memorize a few lines.
Since Thatcher was joined at his tit, they afford her the same lack of critical oversight.
Thanks to our fellow readers from GB for the insights. I was a little kid but I remember a lot of the controversies (esp. the hunger strikers, I'm Irish American.) Special thanks to Its Just U and John for keeping it classy. Lately it seems some peeps post just to be nasty.
Actress Annette Funicello, longtime Disney and "Beach Party" star, died Monday at age 70 in Bakersfield, California, according to the Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases Inc. and the Official Disney Fan Club.
She died from complications of multiple sclerosis, according to a statement from her research fund.
I'm 45 I can remember the endless power cuts and the strikes in the 70s. My parents had to save up 20% of the cost of their house before they could even get a mortgage.
The Unions had a strangle hold over the country. British Telecom workers (phones were a nationalised industry) used to take 6 weeks sick leave on full pay which they were contractually allowed as well as 4-5 weeks holiday leave. There was a catch phrase 'Everybody Out' which was the unions reaction as soon as they didn't get their way.
We lost our free milk at school but in the 70s most families could afford to have milk everyday at home.
Thatcher stood up to the Provisional IRA in the 70s and 80s but don't forget she'd inherited the 'Irish Problem' from the governments who partioned Ireland in the 20s and authorised the heavy handed military presence in the 60s which lead to the horrific bloodshed on Bloody Sunday and everything that followed. Rightly or wrongly most Governments around the World do not negotiate with terrorists. Thankfully John Major started negotiating in secret paving the way for peace. Too many innocent people died.
Yes she went after the unions but they were too powerful at the time they were bankrupting the country. What happened to the individual miners was absolutely awful and has left a lot of people understandably bitter as hell. You have to wonder though, how much worse the union leaders made it by their behaviour in the 10-15 years leading up to the pit closures. They didn't do their members any favours. They were forever walking out on strike and holding the government and general public to ransom.
In the 60s when I was born a lot of people did not own and could not afford to own their own home. Now we consider that a basic human right.
As a Brit, I can say she did some good and she did some bad. She inherited a mess we were nearly bankrupt. As a nation she left us with a healthier balance sheet but as individuals we were all thinking of our own personal balance sheets before the good of our fellow man/neighbour.
I don't have any hate for her but I certainly didn't love her or any politician. I despise Tony Blair & Gordon Brown for what they did to the country. Actually despise is putting it mildly but I'll save that for cdanot if anybody has the energy for further discussion.
Hey, John Molloy, you ignore my points, why should I address yours? The greater point remains: government does not solve problems, it subsidizes them. (That's a Reagan quote just for all you Ray Gun, harhar, haters.) After decades of people expecting the government to solve their problems of course there were troubles getting people back to being self-sufficient. Would have been greater troubles if she hadn't stepped in when she did. And now there will be greater troubles because Britain doesn't have any strong politicians anymore. Can't get elected.
She took UK from almost the third world to G7 http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/04/how-margaret-thatcher-turned-around-great-britain-in-one-chart/, helped half of Europe get rid of communism, didn't negociate with terrorist (rot in hell bobby undersands), obeyed the law (baltasar "corruption" garzón didn't obey the law when decided to judge Pinochet illegally and so many others unrelated to her)... I disagree with her with her vision of the Euro, but she was a great woman.
As a British person I can honestly say that Mrs. T. brought the country to it's knees and threw away a legacy of fairness and equality that had been hard fought for over many years. She was NOT some lower-class champion who made it big, she was an educated middle class woman ( chemist in a multinational then a lawyer) who married a multi millionaire. She sold off publicly-owned assets to line the pockets of her friends and showed absolute contempt for anyone who wasn't rich and/or connected.
I think Frankie Boyle sad it best: "for the £9million that her funeral will cost you could buy a shovel for every person in Scotland and they'd all dig a hole deep enough to hand her over to Satan personally."
I know that her family will mourn for her but there are many more people who have suffered greatly because of her.
Then rll, you and your European and Canadian friends keep your damn mouths shut about Bush and quit cheerleading Obama.
I for one say, RIP Iron Lady. She stood up for what she believed - agree or don't agree - and did what she said she would. Young girls could learn a lesson from someone like her rather than someone who stayed with a philandering husband because she had Presidential aspirations. Just saying.
@nightowl - feminism is merely the belief that woman are just as good as men and deserve to be treated as equals. There are clearly still vestiges of a culture which views womean as inferior, and if you need confirmation on that I suggest you look at the horrible things that were said about Hilary Clinton in 2008.
I'm not going to engage in a flame war here. But, I am reassured at the sense that more women than less admired Baroness Thatcher for her badassness and trailblazing, even if they didn't necessary agree with her politics.
Slate has a piece that really nailed it for me about what I admired about MT: "Muscular Feminism."
"Margaret Thatcher was a real feminist. Not for what she said but for what she did. She did not pursue justice for her gender; women’s rights per se was clearly a low priority for her. She was out for herself and for what she believed in. If we had more feminists like Thatcher, we’d have vastly more women in Parliament and the U.S. Senate, as well as more trees and fewer tedious television talk shows. More “feminists” like Thatcher, the first woman to lead a major Western democracy, and young women would be clamoring to be called one, too."
Not going to change the haters, but there are enough open-minded people here that can consider the argument without their heads (or keyboards) exploding.
I'm from Liverpool and one of my neighbours is letting off fireworks he has got especially to celebrate. Many of my family from the North East had their communities destroyed by this person. I'm a feminist and no I don't think this woman was a great role model. To give to the rich and destroy the rest is not something I'll be preaching to my daughter. Killing people sailing away, supporting apartheid, selling our country to the highest bidder, the list is endless. MT got to the top by being more ruthless and out "manning" the men. I can't say any more because just talking about her makes me angry.
Lots of irish here today how's it goin lads! An 80's child here. Much of herself's work was done by the time I could understand that our country was even occupied. It's mostly the hunger strikers that stick with me. And how she let them die. It's hard to see the good in a woman that showed no compassion. However as a nurse that is trained to show unconditional positive regard I hope she passed peacefully, my empathy and compassion lay with her family and their loss.
I also understand that many will feel justice was administered today, my thoughts are with those too. Our country suffered, it's understandable there's little sympathy here.
On a lighter note .. Fucking tv was interrupted all evening, I've seen shag all of my Monday programmes
Thanks to all our readers from across the pond and elsewhere for schooling me on old Maggie. I didn't know she was so polarizing. And I read on the Royalist today she verbally spit in QEII's face back in the day. Sorry but in my book that is just not done.
On another note does anyone think that Hilary will get the same treatment when she goes in 30 years?
Abit hard that @Discobitch - shes being cremated...
I know what you mean @Irishnurse - caught the tail end of a tribute on Sky before Game of Thrones came on. Enough already - leave it to the news channels!
I've been torn about this all day. It's not in me to rejoice in someone else's death but I can understand why so many are celebrating today. As a Scot who was born in the early 80's I have been left with the legacy she created, where communities are shattered beyond repair and the need of the individual outweighs the need of the people. People talk about how she made it possible for people to own their own homes but neglect to mention she triggered the worst cases of homelessness and started a housing crisis we are still dealing with today. In condemning the miners and their families to starve and long established, proud British trades to be privatised, she lined the pockets of the rich and told us it was all for our benefit. She spouted on about earning your way into the world off your own hard work while encouraging us to spend the country into more and more debt with credit we didn't have.
Even today, I thought of those people of Wales, England, Ireland and here in Scotland; struggling, going hand to mouth, using coats as duvets and thrice brew tea bags, begging for a job that'll pay a pittance while she died after a full and comfortable life, not in her own multi million pound home, but in a hotel she'd been living in so she didn't have to give a nurse a job, using the staff as her carers. A hotel renowned worldwide, and at the expense of the owners. And now the tax payer will pay for her funeral, when karmic justice will see her funeral put out to tender for the highest bidder. The least the family could do is pay for it themselves. They're independently wealthy enough.
This lady is not for turning. I'm not taking any pleasure in her death but I refuse to sanctify her now she's gone.
Wow..I certainly didn't mean to set off a shit storm. I was aware that a lot of people were NOT happy with Thatcher. She completely kowtowed to men and had very few female friends if I recall correctly.
Margaret's family was not poor. Her father owned two groceries and she was offered a lot of extracurricular activities that poor people would never had been able to enjoy such as piano and swim lessons and field hockey.
She was one of the few people who supported an early bill to decriminalize male homosexuality (because you know there are no lesbians in the UK-snicker!) so she had that going for her. But otherwise, (as I gather from your input) I believe if you were wealthy she suited you but if you were poor you were shit on her shoe.
Wow. To hear some of you folks tell it, Maggie left GB rather like something out of a Dickens novel with a bit of The Road Warrior thrown in for good measure. And I've never seen so many shillelaghs, clay pipes and hokey brogues in one place here on CDAN in my life. Interesting how grim GB recent history has gotten, so fast, in just the last few hours. Why just last week, everything was simply wonderful. And the opening ceremony of the Olympics sure made things look peachy-keen and optimistic, with all those kiddies sleeping peacefully in their NHS nightgowns. Funny how people will try to spin events in the direction of the axe they're grinding. There's a name for that: it's called Historic Revisionism...
Nothing is simply wonderful. There was a period of time in the 90s where things were ok, but life in the uk if you're not a millionaire is pretty scary right now. We still have a lot to be thankful for, I know I'm luckier than most - but that doesn't take away the horrors that have occurred due to the corrupt nature of certain people in power.
Funny you should mention the NHS, its the one thing the UK has that I believe in, and still they are trying to take that away from us but selling it off in pieces. My partner works in the NHS and believe me, no one in his hospital wants these changes. I owe my life to the care I've received within the NHS and the wonderful, overworked and under praised staff who give their all for the people of Britain.
And FYI, that Olympic show was more about GOSH and its nurses - Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is one of the best children's hospitals in the world. Run by the NHS. I'll take that over dying on a gurney waiting for my insurance to clear.
The NHS is going to shit atm. I personally know a woman with a life threatening illness and was basically told there wasn't enough funding to cover a simple op that could save her life. Imagine how she felt reading about the stupid bint who was feeling low because she had small tits and got a fully funded nhs boob job?!?! Makes me fkn sick!!!
Also, pick up a book and read our history. Watch news reports on Hillsbrorough, the miners strikes, the IRA, the Poll Tax. Read about the decimation of skilled trades, of the lies about mines closed due to lack on coal, only to be opened decades later with the discovery of more than enough that would have kept those men employed and their families fed. Search the still incomplete statistics on suicides, alcoholism and drug addiction that corralates DIRECTLY to what happened due to her decisions.
Wow @anon, dripping with the xenophobic stereotypes there aren't we?
Whether you like it or not, Thatcher adversely affected many people across these islands and alot of the policies in effect today were inspired by her; it's no secret 'call-me-Dave' is a big fan of hers. So forgive us if the vast majority of us in the UK aren't exactly breaking out the Kleenex for her passing (not like we can afford it - someone has to pay for the millionaires tax-breaks as well as the bedroom tax)
Yep, the two Labor PMs before Maggie had a GREAT handle on things, didn't they? Remember the Winter of Discontent? The trash collector's strike? Piles of garbage 15 feet high in the streets? The gravedigger's strike? Which only came to an end when "burials at sea" were proposed as a solution? Even John Lydon (certainly no fan of Thatcher) conceded that things were horribly fucked up in mid to late 70s Britain: everyone on the dole, no hope, NO FUTURE and no end in sight. Then came Maggie. Teddibly soddy about your coal miners, old thing, but you've gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. Eh wot?
Hey, I didn't say things weren't bad before her either. Things were shit. She just happened to take the shit she was handed and make it worse, just as the ConDem government are doing today. That's why I said 'corrupt nature of certain people in power' and not just Thatcher.
This isn't about party politics, but innocent people suffering because of greedy and ill equipped people in power.
I'm glad you can minimise the horror people went through to make a joke. I won't be responding to you again.
It was actually Margaret Thatcher NAKED on a cold day.
I think that she was at the helm at one of the most difficult times in recent British history and did what she felt was best.
But there is no denying her racism. There is no denying how many lives she ruined. There is no denying she made mistakes that destroyed communities.
I don't think she really did anything much to promote women in politics. She just happened to be a woman who was a politician. Yes, just being there opened doors for women but the people elected her, she just campaigned.
The movie, while entertaining, is totally sanitised. At least read the Wikipedia article on her before deciding whether she was a great role model or not. Women in power are not automatically inspiring. At least, they should not be. They should be judged on the merits of their leadership.
UNTIL little white boys and little white girls will join hands with little black boys and litte blacks girls and sing that ole Negro spiritual "Free at l.... WHAT AM I ?? FUCKIN' CRAZY!!!!
That was a fucked up dream MLK had???? And look where it got him!!! That's what happen when you try to teach whitefolks what it means to civillized. Sad but true
If you want an inspiring female politician to look up to just read about Mo Mowlam - no she wasn't perfect but a damn sight better than this evil old cow!
@Discobitch Absolutely Mo Mowlam. Now that is how women in politics should be. She was amazing. Confident in her convictions yet understanding and considerate of her opposition. And of course my personal hero President Mary Robinson. If you want to see a woman who blazed a trail look to her.
Lucas said... @nightowl - feminism is merely the belief that woman are just as good as men and deserve to be treated as equals. There are clearly still vestiges of a culture which views womean as inferior, and if you need confirmation on that I suggest you look at the horrible things that were said about Hilary Clinton in 2008.
I don't need to study anything to understand what it is to be a woman in the world today - I am one. I have worked in the business world for the last 20 years. I have WORKED my way to the top. I didn't have a family connection (Chelsea Clinton, hedge fund manager?) or family money to get me there. I worked. I never used my gender as a crutch or an excuse for failure. I pushed as hard as the men I worked with and I succeeded because of that.
Feminism today is simply a crutch - oh poor me, they don't like my pantsuits. Fuck that. Who cares if some dumbass man thinks you are shrill. Do the job and let them call you names. Just means you've gotten under their skin. Hillary Clinton has parlayed her victim status to political success. A woman who was handed a Senate seat on a silver platter because everyone felt bad about the way her husband treated her. A real feminist would have walked away from him and stood up for herself. Nah, that wouldn't have given her all the sympathy she got for staying. Someone like her could care less what people say about her, but she certainly is happy to use it with saps like you all who run to her defense.
Oh, and I bet you didn't scream about the way Sarah Palin was treated in 2008 and since either. She's a woman too, right? You just don't happen to agree with her politics, so it is alright to call her all sorts of names, right? And Condoleeza Rice too, huh?
And where is the hatred for her that there is for righties who were against SSM? She didn't come out for it until last month - once it became clear that the majority of Americans support it? Typical Clinton bullshit. Lick your finger and stick it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. THAT was what I hated about the Clinton years. Not the screwing - most of them do that - but about the fact that he had no backbone to do what wasn't fully poll tested. Be a man, have some balls and do what is right, not what is popular.
@nightowl, very well put. Most true feminists -- woman who have made it on brains and hard work -- rarely describe themseleves with that moniker. I'd like to add that she died while "in residence" at the Ritz London. When my number is up, I hope to be in similar surroundings. :)
-ps- you've been one (of only one or two, ha ha) people here who agreed with me in the past, when I've posted under a different name, on matters that upset the general populace here: i thought you were a DUDE, ha ha. glad you've made it in the business world on your own terms. Party on, nightowl :)
Thanks @Anon. That you thought I was a DUDE is a compliment. Too many women are too afraid to be strong. God forbid anyone calls you a bitch because you are tough.
You are one of the few posters that I look forward to seeing post on these political posts. I may not always have the chance to post my agreement, but know someone out there (me!) is raising a fist in agreement.
Stunning ignorance and malice and greed greed endless whining greed (whar's mah free milk?) in the comments about Lady Thatcher. And, yeah, funny how suddenly everyone's Irish and oppressed and shouting about justice. Bullsh*t! Britain got itself in trouble with these entitled attitudes and Thatcher tried to slap everyone back to sanity. Didn't last. Lazy dole f*cks. Enjoy your decline. And BTW, for your edification:
The Poll Tax - flat tax levied on individuals equally, exemptions for people with disability and/or low incomes. OMG!!!! INjustice!
"Racism" - Thatcher disagreed with ANC policies. She also helped get Mandela out of a death sentence. The appropriate thing to say is "Thank you." And he did.
Bobby Sands-Bobby Sands starved himself to death protesting for special privileges accorded to IRA prisoners. He wanted prisoner of war privileges. Schmuck.
Supported the retention of capital punishment-You say that like it's a bad thing.
Supported corporal punishment-you say that like it's a bad thing.
3.3 million unemployed-As opposed to now?
Selling off council houses, coal, gas, steel etc etc-why should the government underwrite private business? Esp when the government is strapped paying for the entitlement state.
The Belgrano-Argentine cruiser headed to engage British in Falklands. Good. Bye. Also, BTW, like 99% of Falklanders want to remain British. So there's that.
Orgreave-confrontation between British police and picketing miners.
Section 28-government shall not promote homosexuality. Is that the government's function? Promoting a certain type sexuality? In the wake of recent Supreme Court arguments this comes as quite a surprise.
Hillsborough-soccer hooligans crushed each other, blamed police and Thatcher. As she was there and barring the doors her veryown self. Hey, let's blame Oblamer for Newtown. That follows.
Pinochet-you deal with the players on the world stage even when they are not ideal. Hey, let's blame Oblamer for all the sh*tbirds in the middle east and Africa and Putin and Kim Jong Ugh. Just. Because. They. Are. There.
I just thought this was interesting. From a year ago, a yahoo discussion (before Thatcher's passing and thus before everyone on the internet started using British or Irish accents/slang in order to lend credence to their arguments) of the 80s cold mine closings.
Rust in peace Iron Lady. Horrible, horrible woman.
ReplyDeleteHear hear - a total horror
DeleteWow, nineteen words for Baroness Thatcher, eighteen for Meryl Streep in your post about Mrs. Thatcher's death. Nice.
ReplyDeleteRIP to a great leader, role model and woman.
Tell that to the pit towns she destroyed along with the miners and their families
DeleteRIP <3
ReplyDeleteCosign with DewieTheBear - she was a wonderful role model.
ReplyDelete"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman." 1965 speech.
ReplyDeleteRIP.
I woke up this morning to read on my FB, "Ding-dong! The wicked witch is dead!" My English pals despise this woman. I have no opinion.
ReplyDeleteAs an English person I can say she was the worst thing to happen to this country
DeleteRest in peace, M Thatch.
ReplyDelete@ TheBear
ReplyDeleteWell Ent doesn´t really care, obviously. but now the blog makes money. so he cannot miss that "news".
Wish the old CDAN back, where it was about the industry and insides. Not Fails of the month, cats and dogs videos and "cute mainstream whatevers".
And the regular whining and begging for twitter followers...
She was a role model for me as a kid. I was too young to understand her politics but thought it was neat that she was the boss.
ReplyDeleteRIP.
She was a dreadful person. However, she did break new ground for women.
ReplyDeleterest in peace. she was a great woman
ReplyDeleteI JUST picked up THE IRON LADY from the library and haven't watched it yet. Guess I'll watch it tonight.
ReplyDeleteHer politics were a bit more conservative than mine, but I admire the ground she broke for women, so there's that.
Oh, Maggie what have you done?
ReplyDeleteAs an Irish woman who grew up watching the news in the 80's I have to say she will not be missed in this land. I didn't agree with her politics or policies.
ReplyDeleteHowever, an elderly woman who is a wife, mother and grandmother died today and that deserves some respect.
I would never be able to say I admired her but I did appreciate the fact that she did a hard job and never faltered in her positions.
She did some terrible things but she has passed now and it is time for thongs to move on.
@Its just U, had to chuckle at the "thongs" move on typo ;)
Delete@Eve I did too :-)
DeleteIt's just you, this just furthers the opinion that you are a good apple :)
DeleteRest In Peace to a great lady who moved women forward in the world.
ReplyDeleteSaying Thatcher was a good role model because she broke new ground for women is like (Godwin alert!) praising Hitler for breaking new ground for vegetarian dog lovers.
ReplyDeleteShe sought and achieved power. She did much evil with it.
Now she's dead.
*things*
ReplyDeleteRIP Maggie Thatcher.
ReplyDeleteI may not have always agreed with her politics, but she did something no American woman has yet to do and rose to the highest elected office in her country. That was inspiring back then. 3 decades plus and we still haven't had a female VP, Let alone President.
May she rest easy.
Evil, you are a moron. Most people who toss around Hitler comparisons in such a manner are, and you prove no exception.
ReplyDeleteAnd you must be highly intelligent to praise a woman who destroyed this country through privatisation, poll tax, destroyed lives, families and towns by closing mines, thought Mandela was a terrorist and as for being good for women she herself said feminism was poison
Deletelike her or not she was really something..
ReplyDelete@ U -
ReplyDeleteNicely said. Thank you.
As I have heard she was NOT loved by her people. Can any of our UK contributors explain why? I'm curious and would like to know. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRIP though..
A mother to an arms dealer and a wack job. I have vivid memories of her deeds when i was a child. like no longer getting milk in primary school, my parents sending food parcels to the miners after she shut them down putting thousands of families into poverty. Privatisation, poll tax. Her admiration and friendship with General Pinochet.
ReplyDeleteI could go on and on. Those are the things I'll remember her for. I only wish they'd bury her in the Falklands.
So yeah, ding dong the wicked witch is dead!
Don't forget the hillsborough coverup. Think of them when you think of poor mothers not that old hag! Rot in pieces!!! #jft96
Delete@Gloaming And never forget Hillsborough. Jft 96.
DeleteI probably have other reasons that not all British people agree with, The hunger strikers and her refusal to enter talks for peace in N.I., but tomorrow and the coming weeks will be time for that.
My cousins are from Liverpool and I remembered Toxteth riots. Things were bad in the 80's.
We never forget but we try to learn and move on.
@Discobitch Well said!
DeleteWell said
Delete@Its just U: My feelings exactly. She was evil when she was in power, but she hasn't been relevant for years. It's time to move on.
ReplyDeletePower corrupts all. I thought her history was not well represented in the film.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Iron Lady. I wish Barry Obama had half the backbone
ReplyDeleteI have no personal opinion but most people I've heard have mixed feelings about her and her time in power but like Its just U said someone's mother and grandmother has died and they deserve our sympathy. RIP.
ReplyDeleteRest in peace, Iron Lady.
ReplyDeleteIt's beyond time for a female president.
It's sad when anybody dies...
ReplyDeletebut as an Irishman I'm certainly less saddened by this death than most others.
She had and forever will have blood on her hands.
@JohnMolloy I completely agree. There will be time for all the hate tomorrow.
DeleteAs a fellow Irish person I fully agree with both sentiments above.
DeleteI don't really understand when public figures are called evil. I mean, if they are truly evil people who take glory or pleasure in other peoples' misery, sure. But I don't understand calling someone evil because you disagree with his or her politics or even the outcome of those politics. There are politicians whom I've disliked while disagreeing with almost all of their policies--but I still thought that they were doing what they thought was best.
ReplyDeleteRunning a country is an insanely difficult task--sometimes poor decisions are made, but I (perhaps naively) believe that intentions were/are good most of the time.
Apparently Margaret Thatcher wasn't in favour of cremation, so the lady's not for burning
ReplyDeleteI'll do it free of charge!! Tis bonfire weather :D
DeleteOh sorry I forgot - shite doesn't burn hehe
DeleteKaren, I think that the corruption of power results in truly evil actions . Sadly.
ReplyDeleteBeing from the States, I have no opinion on her, but I understand across the pond, she's VERY polarizing. You love or you hate her.
ReplyDelete@Its Just U, considering your own situation, "however, an elderly woman who is a wife, mother and grandmother died today and that deserves some respect" is a wonderful way of looking at it.
(And the thongs misspelling was funny!)
@Izzie You understand me. X
DeleteWell put Izzie!
DeleteI was thinking the same IJU :) and lots of hugs were sent last night from the west coast your direction!
@Alicia I felt every one of them. I love you all.x
DeleteI have to say though, it was a very odd feeling today. Driving over there, my mind racing and the news of an 87 year old red head passing away came on the radio.
I had a bit of a moment.
I thank you all for your kind words.x
As I understand it Thatcher:UK::Reagan:US. I feel for her family but as a politician I believe she did more harm to her country than good (same with Reagan and the US).
ReplyDeleteAs a woman who broke ground in politics she could have done so much more for other women....
On a humorous aside, the hashtag #nowthatchersdead on Twitter was incorrectly parsed as 'now that Cher's dead' by some... Cher is not in fact dead.
Rest in peace Margaret. I saw the movie and saw the ground breaking moves you made for women. You are to be greatly admired, and though some choices you made were tough...you made them, despite what the more liberal people say. You were a great woman.
ReplyDeleteBunch of sad sack losers trying to call this good strong woman a "hitler" and "evil" but can't be bothered to explain why. Seems like the urge to whine is strong in some. Margaret Thatcher came from the lower class, in the UK, and worked her way all the way up. She inherited a mess, a government that was overspending and underperforming and she turned that shit around. She is a great role model for all people, women and men. The men who replaced her let her down and let down the UK. There was a lot of loud protest from the entitled people during her time as PM, people who felt entitled to the way things always had been at the expense of other people. It's very simple: Don't rely on government subsidizing your lifestyle and you won't be caught short when the government runs out of other peoples money.
ReplyDeleteShe may have worked her way up from the lower classes but she clearly forgot where she came from. Many, many families in the north of England (as well as Scotland and Wales) suffered from her completely dismissive attitude towards unions and the workers they represented. Families from all over the UK suffered when she decided to engage in an unecessary war with Argentina. And because of Margaret Thatcher, families all over Chile are still wondering what happened to their loved ones. She actively helped Pinochet evade justice so he wouldn't have to answer to the civilians he brutalized.
DeleteI'm not even going to begin with what she did to Northern Ireland.
Before you act superior and act like you know about Margaret Thatcher, please, do some reading up on her actions.
@Amartel
ReplyDeleteThe Poll Tax
"Nelson Mandella is a terrorist"
Bobby Sands
supported the retention of capital punishment
supported corporal punishment
3.3 million unemployed
Selling off council houses, coal, gas, steel etc etc
The Belgrano
Orgreave
Section 28
Hillsborough
Pinochet
etc.
But, yeah, keep telling yourself that the hate for her all to do with entitlement.
You're my favourite person today. I'm sending you an Internet hug. :-)
DeleteWell said
DeleteShe kept rich for rich and poor for poor and even now in 2013 it looks like its going back that way!
DeleteAll I can say is roll on the independence vote for Scotland x
And bitch stole Ma milk too!! xD
DeleteYeah as a fellow Irish person I agree that she was not a great person for the policies she held and the actions she undertook. If I didn't know who you were talking about and you mentioned 'a female leader who stood by her convictions, no matter what' then I would probably be full of admiration for her. But I just can't for Thatcher. She ruined too many communities and too many lives.
ReplyDeleteApparently it's 32 years to the day that Bobby Sands was elected MP - the sense of timing of today's circumstance is not lost in West Belfast...
@Weee S that is very interesting timing alright.
DeleteIf one more of you Yanks praises her as a great role model, i'm going to scream. Do some research. The Hitler analogy isn't too far off. She would have adored the idea of ethnic cleansing of the industrial working class.
ReplyDeleteRemembering Thatcher but not MLK?????
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a gossip blog.
You're obviously trolling but I'm feeling chipper so...
Delete1. Thatcher died TODAY, not 45 years ago.
2. Look upthread, UNKNOWN at 8:10AM.
3. Did you know that a bunch of racist a*holes go on Twitter and FB every year and complain that while there's a day off for MLK, there's no day off for President's Day, and that's just not right, and they start with the n* talk and ragging on Obama, etc.? Your little persona is the exact same thing, just switch the colors around. Really, try a bit more sophistication in your baiting.
Izzie @ 9.56 was for JC @ 9.44.
DeleteCobain's death was 19 years ago this past Saturday,whitefolks remembered that.
DeleteYou can't justify it so stop trying.
And watching a Hollywood sanitized version of that witch's life is NOT research
ReplyDeleteWell said, It's just U.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else think of the Elvis Cosyello song about her? "And tramp the earth down..." Not informed enough to have my own opinion on this one, but that song has been in my head since I heard.
ReplyDeleteI think there will be a queue at her grave to do exactly that!
DeleteWee S, great observation.
ReplyDeleteSadly all that comes to mind on this topic is Austin Powers trying to resist the Fembots saying over and over " Margaret Thatcher on a cold day "
ReplyDelete@ Alicia - bahaha. I have the same problem
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's likely those who defend Thatcher do so because they bought into all the Saint Ronnie stuff.
ReplyDeleteReagan apologists ignore the huge deficits, environmental deregulation, racism, anti-worker, anti-poor crap that occurred on his watch (much of which we're still dealing with decades later) simply because the guy was photogenic and could memorize a few lines.
Since Thatcher was joined at his tit, they afford her the same lack of critical oversight.
You're an idiot. Someone had to say it.
DeleteYou're an idiot. Someone had to say it.
DeleteI used to mix up "Iron Lady" and called her "Iron Maiden",that and "The Dragon Lady."
ReplyDeleteI had no idea she was so disliked!!
ReplyDeleteI thought she was already dead.
ReplyDeleteThanks to our fellow readers from GB for the insights. I was a little kid but I remember a lot of the controversies (esp. the hunger strikers, I'm Irish American.) Special thanks to Its Just U and John for keeping it classy. Lately it seems some peeps post just to be nasty.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, from CNN
ReplyDeleteActress Annette Funicello, longtime Disney and "Beach Party" star, died Monday at age 70 in Bakersfield, California, according to the Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases Inc. and the Official Disney Fan Club.
She died from complications of multiple sclerosis, according to a statement from her research fund.
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ReplyDeletePatty, Enty "heard" you and started a separate post. RIP.
Delete
ReplyDeleteI'm 45 I can remember the endless power cuts and the strikes in the 70s. My parents had to save up 20% of the cost of their house before they could even get a mortgage.
The Unions had a strangle hold over the country. British Telecom workers (phones were a nationalised industry) used to take 6 weeks sick leave on full pay which they were contractually allowed as well as 4-5 weeks holiday leave. There was a catch phrase 'Everybody Out' which was the unions reaction as soon as they didn't get their way.
We lost our free milk at school but in the 70s most families could afford to have milk everyday at home.
Thatcher stood up to the Provisional IRA in the 70s and 80s but don't forget she'd inherited the 'Irish Problem' from the governments who partioned Ireland in the 20s and authorised the heavy handed military presence in the 60s which lead to the horrific bloodshed on Bloody Sunday and everything that followed. Rightly or wrongly most Governments around the World do not negotiate with terrorists. Thankfully John Major started negotiating in secret paving the way for peace. Too many innocent people died.
Yes she went after the unions but they were too powerful at the time they were bankrupting the country. What happened to the individual miners was absolutely awful and has left a lot of people understandably bitter as hell. You have to wonder though, how much worse the union leaders made it by their behaviour in the 10-15 years leading up to the pit closures. They didn't do their members any favours. They were forever walking out on strike and holding the government and general public to ransom.
In the 60s when I was born a lot of people did not own and could not afford to own their own home. Now we consider that a basic human right.
As a Brit, I can say she did some good and she did some bad. She inherited a mess we were nearly bankrupt. As a nation she left us with a healthier balance sheet but as individuals we were all thinking of our own personal balance sheets before the good of our fellow man/neighbour.
I don't have any hate for her but I certainly didn't love her or any politician. I despise Tony Blair & Gordon Brown for what they did to the country. Actually despise is putting it mildly but I'll save that for cdanot if anybody has the energy for further discussion.
Hey, John Molloy, you ignore my points, why should I address yours? The greater point remains: government does not solve problems, it subsidizes them. (That's a Reagan quote just for all you Ray Gun, harhar, haters.) After decades of people expecting the government to solve their problems of course there were troubles getting people back to being self-sufficient. Would have been greater troubles if she hadn't stepped in when she did. And now there will be greater troubles because Britain doesn't have any strong politicians anymore. Can't get elected.
ReplyDelete^^ prime example
ReplyDeleteI slept in on my day off only to find that two almost polar opposite icons had died. What a day. :(
ReplyDeleteA prime example of making an argument and not an insult. Hairy, you do not have standing to preach about "keeping it classy."
ReplyDelete@ Izzie - re your 9:56 post, I knew it was only a matter of time, minutes really, before the JC would arrive
ReplyDelete@Mango - funnily enough, my cat was vigorously cleaning his nethers about the same time, right next to my desk.
DeleteShe took UK from almost the third world to G7 http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/04/how-margaret-thatcher-turned-around-great-britain-in-one-chart/, helped half of Europe get rid of communism, didn't negociate with terrorist (rot in hell bobby undersands), obeyed the law (baltasar "corruption" garzón didn't obey the law when decided to judge Pinochet illegally and so many others unrelated to her)...
ReplyDeleteI disagree with her with her vision of the Euro, but she was a great woman.
RIP Lady Thatcher.
As a British person I can honestly say that Mrs. T. brought the country to it's knees and threw away a legacy of fairness and equality that had been hard fought for over many years. She was NOT some lower-class champion who made it big, she was an educated middle class woman ( chemist in a multinational then a lawyer) who married a multi millionaire. She sold off publicly-owned assets to line the pockets of her friends and showed absolute contempt for anyone who wasn't rich and/or connected.
ReplyDeleteI think Frankie Boyle sad it best: "for the £9million that her funeral will cost you could buy a shovel for every person in Scotland and they'd all dig a hole deep enough to hand her over to Satan personally."
I know that her family will mourn for her but there are many more people who have suffered greatly because of her.
Then rll, you and your European and Canadian friends keep your damn mouths shut about Bush and quit cheerleading Obama.
ReplyDeleteI for one say, RIP Iron Lady. She stood up for what she believed - agree or don't agree - and did what she said she would. Young girls could learn a lesson from someone like her rather than someone who stayed with a philandering husband because she had Presidential aspirations. Just saying.
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DeleteOh, and feminism IS poison. Suck it up and work hard - don't play the woman card.
ReplyDelete@nightowl - feminism is merely the belief that woman are just as good as men and deserve to be treated as equals. There are clearly still vestiges of a culture which views womean as inferior, and if you need confirmation on that I suggest you look at the horrible things that were said about Hilary Clinton in 2008.
DeleteI'm not going to engage in a flame war here. But, I am reassured at the sense that more women than less admired Baroness Thatcher for her badassness and trailblazing, even if they didn't necessary agree with her politics.
ReplyDeleteSlate has a piece that really nailed it for me about what I admired about MT: "Muscular Feminism."
"Margaret Thatcher was a real feminist. Not for what she said but for what she did. She did not pursue justice for her gender; women’s rights per se was clearly a low priority for her. She was out for herself and for what she believed in. If we had more feminists like Thatcher, we’d have vastly more women in Parliament and the U.S. Senate, as well as more trees and fewer tedious television talk shows. More “feminists” like Thatcher, the first woman to lead a major Western democracy, and young women would be clamoring to be called one, too."
Not going to change the haters, but there are enough open-minded people here that can consider the argument without their heads (or keyboards) exploding.
What and/or where is CDAN OT?
ReplyDeleteWOW... i had NO idea
ReplyDeleteCDAN is educational
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ReplyDeleteI'm from Liverpool and one of my neighbours is letting off fireworks he has got especially to celebrate. Many of my family from the North East had their communities destroyed by this person.
ReplyDeleteI'm a feminist and no I don't think this woman was a great role model. To give to the rich and destroy the rest is not something I'll be preaching to my daughter. Killing people sailing away, supporting apartheid, selling our country to the highest bidder, the list is endless. MT got to the top by being more ruthless and out "manning" the men. I can't say any more because just talking about her makes me angry.
Lots of irish here today how's it goin lads! An 80's child here. Much of herself's work was done by the time I could understand that our country was even occupied.
ReplyDeleteIt's mostly the hunger strikers that stick with me. And how she let them die. It's hard to see the good in a woman that showed no compassion. However as a nurse that is trained to show unconditional positive regard I hope she passed peacefully, my empathy and compassion lay with her family and their loss.
I also understand that many will feel justice was administered today, my thoughts are with those too. Our country suffered, it's understandable there's little sympathy here.
On a lighter note .. Fucking tv was interrupted all evening, I've seen shag all of my Monday programmes
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ReplyDeleteThanks to all our readers from across the pond and elsewhere for schooling me on old Maggie. I didn't know she was so polarizing. And I read on the Royalist today she verbally spit in QEII's face back in the day. Sorry but in my book that is just not done.
ReplyDeleteOn another note does anyone think that Hilary will get the same treatment when she goes in 30 years?
Abit hard that @Discobitch - shes being cremated...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean @Irishnurse - caught the tail end of a tribute on Sky before Game of Thrones came on. Enough already - leave it to the news channels!
I was just a little girl, but I still thought it was the greatest thing that a woman was Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteI've been torn about this all day. It's not in me to rejoice in someone else's death but I can understand why so many are celebrating today. As a Scot who was born in the early 80's I have been left with the legacy she created, where communities are shattered beyond repair and the need of the individual outweighs the need of the people. People talk about how she made it possible for people to own their own homes but neglect to mention she triggered the worst cases of homelessness and started a housing crisis we are still dealing with today. In condemning the miners and their families to starve and long established, proud British trades to be privatised, she lined the pockets of the rich and told us it was all for our benefit. She spouted on about earning your way into the world off your own hard work while encouraging us to spend the country into more and more debt with credit we didn't have.
ReplyDeleteEven today, I thought of those people of Wales, England, Ireland and here in Scotland; struggling, going hand to mouth, using coats as duvets and thrice brew tea bags, begging for a job that'll pay a pittance while she died after a full and comfortable life, not in her own multi million pound home, but in a hotel she'd been living in so she didn't have to give a nurse a job, using the staff as her carers. A hotel renowned worldwide, and at the expense of the owners. And now the tax payer will pay for her funeral, when karmic justice will see her funeral put out to tender for the highest bidder. The least the family could do is pay for it themselves. They're independently wealthy enough.
This lady is not for turning. I'm not taking any pleasure in her death but I refuse to sanctify her now she's gone.
Wow..I certainly didn't mean to set off a shit storm. I was aware that a lot of people were NOT happy with Thatcher. She completely kowtowed to men and had very few female friends if I recall correctly.
ReplyDeleteMargaret's family was not poor. Her father owned two groceries and she was offered a lot of extracurricular activities that poor people would never had been able to enjoy such as piano and swim lessons and field hockey.
She was one of the few people who supported an early bill to decriminalize male homosexuality (because you know there are no lesbians in the UK-snicker!) so she had that going for her. But otherwise, (as I gather from your input) I believe if you were wealthy she suited you but if you were poor you were shit on her shoe.
And THANK YOU LUCAS! 'Nuff said.
Wow. To hear some of you folks tell it, Maggie left GB rather like something out of a Dickens novel with a bit of The Road Warrior thrown in for good measure. And I've never seen so many shillelaghs, clay pipes and hokey brogues in one place here on CDAN in my life. Interesting how grim GB recent history has gotten, so fast, in just the last few hours. Why just last week, everything was simply wonderful. And the opening ceremony of the Olympics sure made things look peachy-keen and optimistic, with all those kiddies sleeping peacefully in their NHS nightgowns. Funny how people will try to spin events in the direction of the axe they're grinding. There's a name for that: it's called Historic Revisionism...
ReplyDelete@anon 5.14pm
ReplyDeleteNothing is simply wonderful. There was a period of time in the 90s where things were ok, but life in the uk if you're not a millionaire is pretty scary right now. We still have a lot to be thankful for, I know I'm luckier than most - but that doesn't take away the horrors that have occurred due to the corrupt nature of certain people in power.
Funny you should mention the NHS, its the one thing the UK has that I believe in, and still they are trying to take that away from us but selling it off in pieces. My partner works in the NHS and believe me, no one in his hospital wants these changes. I owe my life to the care I've received within the NHS and the wonderful, overworked and under praised staff who give their all for the people of Britain.
And FYI, that Olympic show was more about GOSH and its nurses - Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is one of the best children's hospitals in the world. Run by the NHS. I'll take that over dying on a gurney waiting for my insurance to clear.
The NHS is going to shit atm. I personally know a woman with a life threatening illness and was basically told there wasn't enough funding to cover a simple op that could save her life. Imagine how she felt reading about the stupid bint who was feeling low because she had small tits and got a fully funded nhs boob job?!?! Makes me fkn sick!!!
DeleteAlso, pick up a book and read our history. Watch news reports on Hillsbrorough, the miners strikes, the IRA, the Poll Tax. Read about the decimation of skilled trades, of the lies about mines closed due to lack on coal, only to be opened decades later with the discovery of more than enough that would have kept those men employed and their families fed. Search the still incomplete statistics on suicides, alcoholism and drug addiction that corralates DIRECTLY to what happened due to her decisions.
ReplyDeleteWow @anon, dripping with the xenophobic stereotypes there aren't we?
ReplyDeleteWhether you like it or not, Thatcher adversely affected many people across these islands and alot of the policies in effect today were inspired by her; it's no secret 'call-me-Dave' is a big fan of hers. So forgive us if the vast majority of us in the UK aren't exactly breaking out the Kleenex for her passing (not like we can afford it - someone has to pay for the millionaires tax-breaks as well as the bedroom tax)
Yep, the two Labor PMs before Maggie had a GREAT handle on things, didn't they? Remember the Winter of Discontent? The trash collector's strike? Piles of garbage 15 feet high in the streets? The gravedigger's strike? Which only came to an end when "burials at sea" were proposed as a solution? Even John Lydon (certainly no fan of Thatcher) conceded that things were horribly fucked up in mid to late 70s Britain: everyone on the dole, no hope, NO FUTURE and no end in sight. Then came Maggie. Teddibly soddy about your coal miners, old thing, but you've gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. Eh wot?
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a right tory troll.
DeleteHey, I didn't say things weren't bad before her either. Things were shit. She just happened to take the shit she was handed and make it worse, just as the ConDem government are doing today. That's why I said 'corrupt nature of certain people in power' and not just Thatcher.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't about party politics, but innocent people suffering because of greedy and ill equipped people in power.
I'm glad you can minimise the horror people went through to make a joke. I won't be responding to you again.
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ReplyDeleteMuthafuckers wrote novels today. Could've at least added pictures to break up the monotony.
ReplyDelete@Alicia
ReplyDeleteIt was actually Margaret Thatcher NAKED on a cold day.
I think that she was at the helm at one of the most difficult times in recent British history and did what she felt was best.
But there is no denying her racism. There is no denying how many lives she ruined. There is no denying she made mistakes that destroyed communities.
I don't think she really did anything much to promote women in politics. She just happened to be a woman who was a politician. Yes, just being there opened doors for women but the people elected her, she just campaigned.
The movie, while entertaining, is totally sanitised. At least read the Wikipedia article on her before deciding whether she was a great role model or not. Women in power are not automatically inspiring. At least, they should not be. They should be judged on the merits of their leadership.
See what I mean.
DeleteThis has been quiet educational.
ReplyDelete@just curious-
ReplyDeleteHe's already got the third Monday in January. How many days does the man need?
UNTIL little white boys and little white girls will join hands with little black boys and litte blacks girls and sing that ole Negro spiritual "Free at l.... WHAT AM I ?? FUCKIN' CRAZY!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat was a fucked up dream MLK had???? And look where it got him!!!
That's what happen when you try to teach whitefolks what it means to civillized.
Sad but true
Troll much?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I think "fuckin' crazy" WOULD be the operative words here...
More like paTROLLING....someone's gotta call whitefolks on their bullshit,crack the whip,Vick the dog,Penn a bitch.
DeleteMight as well be me.
Expect to see more threads on political figures from Enty/Entity. He 's definitely hit a gold mine on this one.
ReplyDeleteIf you want an inspiring female politician to look up to just read about Mo Mowlam - no she wasn't perfect but a damn sight better than this evil old cow!
ReplyDelete@Discobitch Absolutely Mo Mowlam. Now that is how women in politics should be. She was amazing. Confident in her convictions yet understanding and considerate of her opposition.
DeleteAnd of course my personal hero President Mary Robinson. If you want to see a woman who blazed a trail look to her.
Lucas said...
ReplyDelete@nightowl - feminism is merely the belief that woman are just as good as men and deserve to be treated as equals. There are clearly still vestiges of a culture which views womean as inferior, and if you need confirmation on that I suggest you look at the horrible things that were said about Hilary Clinton in 2008.
I don't need to study anything to understand what it is to be a woman in the world today - I am one. I have worked in the business world for the last 20 years. I have WORKED my way to the top. I didn't have a family connection (Chelsea Clinton, hedge fund manager?) or family money to get me there. I worked. I never used my gender as a crutch or an excuse for failure. I pushed as hard as the men I worked with and I succeeded because of that.
Feminism today is simply a crutch - oh poor me, they don't like my pantsuits. Fuck that. Who cares if some dumbass man thinks you are shrill. Do the job and let them call you names. Just means you've gotten under their skin. Hillary Clinton has parlayed her victim status to political success. A woman who was handed a Senate seat on a silver platter because everyone felt bad about the way her husband treated her. A real feminist would have walked away from him and stood up for herself. Nah, that wouldn't have given her all the sympathy she got for staying. Someone like her could care less what people say about her, but she certainly is happy to use it with saps like you all who run to her defense.
Oh, and I bet you didn't scream about the way Sarah Palin was treated in 2008 and since either. She's a woman too, right? You just don't happen to agree with her politics, so it is alright to call her all sorts of names, right? And Condoleeza Rice too, huh?
And where is the hatred for her that there is for righties who were against SSM? She didn't come out for it until last month - once it became clear that the majority of Americans support it? Typical Clinton bullshit. Lick your finger and stick it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. THAT was what I hated about the Clinton years. Not the screwing - most of them do that - but about the fact that he had no backbone to do what wasn't fully poll tested. Be a man, have some balls and do what is right, not what is popular.
@nightowl, very well put. Most true feminists -- woman who have made it on brains and hard work -- rarely describe themseleves with that moniker. I'd like to add that she died while "in residence" at the Ritz London. When my number is up, I hope to be in similar surroundings. :)
Deletenightowl, you ROCK :)
ReplyDelete-ps- you've been one (of only one or two, ha ha) people here who agreed with me in the past, when I've posted under a different name, on matters that upset the general populace here: i thought you were a DUDE, ha ha. glad you've made it in the business world on your own terms. Party on, nightowl :)
Thanks @Anon. That you thought I was a DUDE is a compliment. Too many women are too afraid to be strong. God forbid anyone calls you a bitch because you are tough.
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the few posters that I look forward to seeing post on these political posts. I may not always have the chance to post my agreement, but know someone out there (me!) is raising a fist in agreement.
Stunning ignorance and malice and greed greed endless whining greed (whar's mah free milk?) in the comments about Lady Thatcher. And, yeah, funny how suddenly everyone's Irish and oppressed and shouting about justice. Bullsh*t! Britain got itself in trouble with these entitled attitudes and Thatcher tried to slap everyone back to sanity. Didn't last. Lazy dole f*cks. Enjoy your decline. And BTW, for your edification:
ReplyDeleteThe Poll Tax - flat tax levied on individuals equally, exemptions for people with disability and/or low incomes. OMG!!!! INjustice!
"Racism" - Thatcher disagreed with ANC policies. She also helped get Mandela out of a death sentence. The appropriate thing to say is "Thank you." And he did.
Bobby Sands-Bobby Sands starved himself to death protesting for special privileges accorded to IRA prisoners. He wanted prisoner of war privileges. Schmuck.
Supported the retention of capital punishment-You say that like it's a bad thing.
Supported corporal punishment-you say that like it's a bad thing.
3.3 million unemployed-As opposed to now?
Selling off council houses, coal, gas, steel etc etc-why should the government underwrite private business? Esp when the government is strapped paying for the entitlement state.
The Belgrano-Argentine cruiser headed to engage British in Falklands. Good. Bye. Also, BTW, like 99% of Falklanders want to remain British. So there's that.
Orgreave-confrontation between British police and picketing miners.
Section 28-government shall not promote homosexuality. Is that the government's function? Promoting a certain type sexuality? In the wake of recent Supreme Court arguments this comes as quite a surprise.
Hillsborough-soccer hooligans crushed each other, blamed police and Thatcher. As she was there and barring the doors her veryown self. Hey, let's blame Oblamer for Newtown. That follows.
Pinochet-you deal with the players on the world stage even when they are not ideal. Hey, let's blame Oblamer for all the sh*tbirds in the middle east and Africa and Putin and Kim Jong Ugh. Just. Because. They. Are. There.
@Amartel-
ReplyDeleteHahaha GREAT post :)
You and I may disagree on Leno, but I think our politics are definitely in sync :)
I just thought this was interesting. From a year ago, a yahoo discussion (before Thatcher's passing and thus before everyone on the internet started using British or Irish accents/slang in order to lend credence to their arguments) of the 80s cold mine closings.
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