Family & Relationships13 mins ago
Was Margaret Thatcher Right?
I confess that during the 80's I was opposed to much of what she was doing, but I now think, with the luxury of hindsight, that I have to agree with Niall Ferguson, do you agree?
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" The Poll Tax was a bad idea because she took her eye off the ball and it slipped its way into the manifesto. "
Like the rest of this review of MT, that is total revisionist rubbish. MT far from taking her eye off the ball, she was the person who pushed the Poll Tax despite repeated warning that it was a difficult sell to the public. Even when it was obviously failing, she still wouldn't change policy, and her colleagues realise that the only way to avoid the iceberg of an election defeat, was to change the Captain.
The rest of the interview is in a similar vein, rewriting history.
Like the rest of this review of MT, that is total revisionist rubbish. MT far from taking her eye off the ball, she was the person who pushed the Poll Tax despite repeated warning that it was a difficult sell to the public. Even when it was obviously failing, she still wouldn't change policy, and her colleagues realise that the only way to avoid the iceberg of an election defeat, was to change the Captain.
The rest of the interview is in a similar vein, rewriting history.
TGL was bang on with almost everything, how we need someone like her today.
"12 million strike days in 1979" - enough said.
The community charge was correct, pity the great unwashed cannot show the same passion generally as they did when it became clear that, horror of horrors, they'd have to contribute local services instead of scrounging the whole time.
"12 million strike days in 1979" - enough said.
The community charge was correct, pity the great unwashed cannot show the same passion generally as they did when it became clear that, horror of horrors, they'd have to contribute local services instead of scrounging the whole time.
The poll tax was manifestly unfair with everyone supposed to pay a similar amount regardless of circumstances, but Heseltine oversaw the banded approach with nothing like a sufficient wide range of contribution (as it still is) in the community charge, so she sort of got her own way in the end anyway.
grommit; How is he re-writing history? examples please.
grommit; How is he re-writing history? examples please.
There are more holes in this argument than a cheese grater.
" ...she was fighting a losing battle with her own cabinet about membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism "
Totally untrue. She took us into the ERM at a very inopportune time, our inflation (contrary to an earler Fergusion comment) was 3 times that of Germany. The currency speculators could see that the ERM was not favourable to Sterling, and pounced. Thatcher ruled her Cabinet with an iron fist. She did not fight ERM, she took us into it.
" ...she was fighting a losing battle with her own cabinet about membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism "
Totally untrue. She took us into the ERM at a very inopportune time, our inflation (contrary to an earler Fergusion comment) was 3 times that of Germany. The currency speculators could see that the ERM was not favourable to Sterling, and pounced. Thatcher ruled her Cabinet with an iron fist. She did not fight ERM, she took us into it.
khandro: "The poll tax was manifestly unfair with everyone supposed to pay a similar amount regardless of circumstances," - 1 person worth of services for the charge is a lot fairer that charging due to the size of the house and also tenants do not pay directly, that was the purpose of the community charge and that is a lot better than council tax.
Has she died again?
I was a fan in the 80s, and I still take pleasure reminding anyone from the Left who moans about her that they created her really with that disastrous Labour government of the 70s. There is a warning for the Right there as well as a swing too far could create a similar whiplash which heralds Jeremy Corbyn type politics.
I thought that Poll Tax was fairer than Council Tax, but the party misjudged how the public would react to such a change.
I was a fan in the 80s, and I still take pleasure reminding anyone from the Left who moans about her that they created her really with that disastrous Labour government of the 70s. There is a warning for the Right there as well as a swing too far could create a similar whiplash which heralds Jeremy Corbyn type politics.
I thought that Poll Tax was fairer than Council Tax, but the party misjudged how the public would react to such a change.
'The biggest European question that faced her was over the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which was supposed to pave the way to a single currency. Nigel Lawson, her chancellor, and Sir Geoffrey Howe, then her foreign secretary, both supported entry, while the premier herself had grave doubts. Eventually, she succumbed to pressure from the two and agreed to the “Madrid conditions”, a promise of eventual ERM membership. Yet the dispute still led to Mr Lawson’s resignation in 1989, a serious political blow and one that brought John Major to the front rank.
The final push that led her into the ERM in October 1990 came from Mr Major.'
The final push that led her into the ERM in October 1990 came from Mr Major.'
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