R.I.P. Margaret Thatcher

[Florestan]

The last venerable icon of Conservatism (in Europe aka Classical Liberalism), the Rt Hon., the Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS has died aged 87.

Lovers of personal liberty worldwide, especially Eastern Europe (and especially Romania), will always remember and honor her as one of their own. May God have mercy on her soul!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-political-phenomenon-dies

[knight66]

At last.

Mike

[Todd]

Off to The Guardian to read comments.  Should be an entertaining day.

[knight66]

No, better the Miners Weekly, probably has a small circulation now, but they will be all signed up to micturate on her grave once it has been dug.

They would be wiser to stick her in an unmarked plot.

Mike

[ibanezmonster]

It sounds like she was a giant asshole.

[Fafner]

Although I admittedly perceived her through my Eastern European bias, I'd take a dozen Thatchers over the politically hypercorrect, spineless leftist dungyard, which is the current Europen Union.

[Wakefield]

The last venerable icon of Conservatism (in Europe aka Classical Liberalism), the Rt Hon., the Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS has died aged 87.

Lovers of personal liberty worldwide, especially Eastern Europe (and especially Romania), will always remember and honor her as one of their own. May God have mercy on her soul!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-political-phenomenon-dies

Full agreement on my part, Andrei.

Rest in peace, Mrs. Thatcher. 

[Octave]

Good riddance. 

Thank god for petty tyrants and opportunist hijackers and abusers of workers' trust on the left---not leftists but betrayers of the left---because without them she would have been just another monster of greed and runaway privilege and contempt for the less fortunate and put-upon of the world.  As history played out, she had an opportunity to...."be something".

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Interesting (though not surprising) to read such polarized responses. Perhaps because she was not as radical as either her supporters or detractors thought. When she came into office, gov't spending was 43% of British GDP. When she left, it was 42%. So much for "rolling back socialism."

[springrite]

She did not make too many friends by equating Nelson Mandela with the worst of terrorists and, incredibly, at least until last year, Nelson Mandela was still on the list of people banned from British soil for terrorism. I do not know if that has changed.

But I do have huge respect for her, while disagreeing with much of what she stood for.

[Dax]

I wonder how many of this board's Thatcher admirers are British?

Suspicious Brits are already contemplating the "bad" news which will get "buried" over the next week or two.

[Geo Dude]

Off to The Guardian to read comments.  Should be an entertaining day.

Not a bad idea...

[springrite]

Not a bad idea...

I think she's a polarizing person in Britain. She's probably more loved in the US and parts of Eastern Europe and, interestingly, East Asia (including China).

[Octave]

She's probably more loved in[....]East Asia (including China).

I'd be interested in reading more about this; I can do some homework on my own, but if you have some sources ready-to-hand, please share.

[Parsifal]

I'd be interested in reading more about this; I can do some homework on my own, but if you have some sources ready-to-hand, please share.

The washington post has an article with some graphs of economic data before and during her tenure as prime minister.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/08/a-look-back-at-margaret-thatchers-economic-record/?hpid=z2

[mc ukrneal]

The washington post has an article with some graphs of economic data before and during her tenure as prime minister.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/08/a-look-back-at-margaret-thatchers-economic-record/?hpid=z2

My favorite line "Critics argue it [Privatization] enriched political allies of Thatcher and led to unnecessary layoffs as firms tried to become more efficient"

[Geo Dude]

I think she's a polarizing person in Britain. She's probably more loved in the US and parts of Eastern Europe and, interestingly, East Asia (including China).

Hence the amusement it would offer.  She was 'before my time' so I have no strong opinion on her, but many Brits I've met do seem to have a near pathological hatred of her.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

many Brits I've met do seem to have a near pathological hatred of her.

I've had the same experience; yet she somehow managed to be elected to the PM-ship 3 times.

[knight66]

Hence the amusement it would offer.  She was 'before my time' so I have no strong opinion on her, but many Brits I've met do seem to have a near pathological hatred of her.

Include me there. The real justice she received was to be comprehensively stabbed in the back and pulled out of power by her own party. Best I don't get started. She did good things, but often went about it in a bad way and she did plenty of outright bad things.

Mike

[Karl Henning]

Should I be thinking of The Crimson Permanent Assurance just now? Because I cannot help it . . . .