talking of politics - margaret thatcher

I am surprised at the results of the poll.
being an old git, I remember britain before thatcher, under both tory and labour administrations. Both were abysmal - I especially remember the 3 day week in the 1970s and scraping a living - it was difficult to buy decent transport, let alone a house.

Thatcher changed all that. She was also absolutely honest about what she wanted to do - and i do like that in a politician

I'm no fan of Tony Blair and never have been.
I'm no fan of Howard or Kennedy either - so I'll just vote for my local MP, who works hard for his community. Not voting is not an option.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Plently of smart people are politicaly ignorant, so I'm not sure if that would help.

I'd love to see this, cos if they based in on most intelligence/IQ tests I'd have a field day!

I am ashamed to say I have and average (from a variety of test scores) IQ of 172. Apparently that means I'm a bona fide genius... personally I think it means IQ tests a joke.

I do like the idea of tying your status as an employed member of British society into your right to vote if you wish.

I would strong defy, protest and actively kick up a stink about being made to vote unless there was an option on the ballot paper for abstension.

Various people, to whom I am grateful, fought long and hard for me as a woman. Not to have the right to vote, but to have the right to be able to vote. My choice.

Originally Posted by Nick762

Indeed they did but... (very informed comments).

Um... wot ee sed! And very well said it was too.

With a German victory at the Battle of Britain it would have taken Hitler out of the similar situation that Napoleon was in. Taking on the vastness of Russia and the logistical problem's that entails, whilst still securing a second front of sorts at home. Though with Napoleon it was more of a domestic issue than expansion both east and west.

[Biker Biggles]

I remember the 1970s before Thatcher and those awful nationalised industries like British Leyland,Rail,Steel,Shipbuilders,Coal,Gas,Electric and many others.Those were the bad old days when people (especially in the North East Andrew)had real jobs in those industries.Thatcher presided over the wholesale destruction of most of that industrial base or the flogging of it on the cheap often to foreign interests.Its still going on(MG Rover)and our industry is now so emasculated that the French build ships for Cunard and are quite likely to have to build the Navys aircraft carriers.I think she should have been tried for Crimes against British Industry.

[timwilky]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

I remember the 1970s before Thatcher and those awful nationalised industries like British Leyland,Rail,Steel,Shipbuilders,Coal,Gas,Electric and many others.Those were the bad old days when people (especially in the North East Andrew)had real jobs in those industries.Thatcher presided over the wholesale destruction of most of that industrial base or the flogging of it on the cheap often to foreign interests.Its still going on(MG Rover)and our industry is now so emasculated that the French build ships for Cunard and are quite likely to have to build the Navys aircraft carriers.I think she should have been tried for Crimes against British Industry.

Hang on there, most of those industries committed suicide. I worked for one of the above in the 70/80s. One of our Scottish plants was being shut down. So the unions in the name of solidarity with their scottish cousins "blacked" any transferred work. I put some "blacked" work onto the shop floor. The guy who was a shop steward refused to do it, was supended. His union walked out. Mine went in sympathy and I was without a salary for 8 weeks. The guy never blamed me as he knew we had both been used. However, we achieved nothing and took a couple of years to recover the money that we had thrown away. The company after I left was taken over by a dutch manufacturer who when they got into trouble was bailed out by their goverment. but no money available to aid the UK company

I now work in a very large engineering firm that again you have referenced above. In 1984 when I started there we had overflowing order books and a "cash mountain" In the last 8 years our market has disappeared and the 5000+ that used to work in our Manchester plant are no more. Our businesses in Preston, Birmingham have all but disappeared. Not from Mrs T legacy, but from a total lack of UK orders, and an unwillingness of the current UK goverment to assist their industries. The French do. and as such then demand that when the company wins large value international orders that they are executed in France.

Originally Posted by Nick762

I'd love to see compulsory voting but only as long as there's an abstention box. You have the ludicrous situation where the turnout in the last election was something like 65% (or was it less?) which at a rough guess means that only about one third of the total electorate voted for the ruling party. The rest either didn't vote or voted for someone else ergo two thirds of the electorate are potentially not in favour of the government. What sort of a franchise is that?

Compulsory voting isn't the answer, it only seeks to mask the symptom and not the problem. The real problem is that vast sections of society regard today's politicians with contempt. There is a generation of people who feel detached from the political process and fail to see it's relevance to them. This is reflected in membership of political parties and voter turnout. It doesn't mean that people don't care or that they don't want their voice to be heard, witness the anti-war demonstrations across the country as evidence of that.

Personally I would favour all elected representatives salaries being linked to voter turnout. Perhaps not the entire solution, but a step in the right direction of encouraging engagement with the electorate.

Engaging the populace in the political process is what got us stuck with these slimey contemptable 'leaders' in the first place.

[Biker Biggles]

I think me and Timwilky probably agree with each other.I wouldnt defend the lack of support for industry since Thatcher,and I dont claim that all was well before 1979.I do say she was responsible for starting the policies that have got us where we are now.Short term action to balance the books has delivered an economy that looks good but is based on nothing real.The French and Germans have made sure their core industries have remained largely intact and are able to produce real goods and generate wealth.How will we do that when its all gone.At this moment MG Rover is about to go down that same plughole.That would never happen to VW,Renault,Nissan,General Motors or Aprillia,who have all been effectively bankrupt at some stage.Thatcher started the let em rot policies that we still follow.