Does that make me twisted?
Of course I'm not pleased than an old lady passes away but at the same time I feel no sorrow - I am one of the generation that felt Thatcher's regime - I left school the year of the miner's strike. I remember having to visit a local food bank and I recall my mother crying in desperation. I also remember my father, a working man, desperate to return to work but unable to because of Thatcher's war on the working classes. I saw the working classes divided and I found myself, leaving school, and not being able to find work and having to take part in the first ever government scheme. I also remember the poll tax riots and seeing the police being turned on ordinary people. During the strike the police were a law unto themselves and this was down to Thatcher who mobilized the entire police force against the miners.
She did so much more than go against the miners, though - so much more but most of it was negative to all but the elite few at the top of the social ladder.
Many are saying she was the greatest PM the UK has ever seen - I think that's bollocks! The housing crisis, unemployment and wayward banks of today are all results of the Thatcher years. It was Thatcher who deregulated the banks, Thatcher who sold off Britain's interests - these days our utilities are foreign owned and we pay through the nose for them. The woman sold off Britain, destroyed entire communities and created the welfare culture.
So do I feel sorrow at her passing? Well how can I?
4 comments:
216 bchnotAshes to ashes, dust to dust --
The Iron Lady? She's now rust.
Really.
Blaming someone for the next 30 years of bad political decisions smacks of being just a bit delusional.
Sad thing is, we have the exact same thing going on with the Messiah here in the States. He is unable to face up to the fact that his policies have made things worse, not better, so he blames the previous president for the problems of today.
I don't think Gary is blaming Thatcher for "the next 30 years of bad political decisions". Surely his argument is that she laid the groundwork that made a lot of them possible. And otherwise, on the story told here, the young Gary had a rough time during the Thatcher years, as many did. I'm glad I was no longer in Britain to experience her rule, although it could be said her "free market" ideology had some influence around the globe that wasn't always desirable. Anyway, enough politics here, I hope.
During Thatcher I saw men beaten down on by police on horses, I knew three people who took their own lives during the miners strike and I saw a community torn apart. I also saw a future stolen from an entire generation, of which I was one - All that is wrong with the UK today comes from the ball that Thatcher started rolling and it is still rolling.
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