Baroness Thatcher has died.

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Maggie

Margaret Hilda Thatcher was the bovril of politics. Love her or hate her, you couldn't ignore her. My meetings with her were Falklands orientated. She sent us to war, a just war. She seen us as 'her boys' and she attended Falklands veterans events regularly.

These events usually involved an informal get together when she was very frank about the events of the Falklands War and those around her. Once she sat down with a small whisky, always! she talked amongst us openly. I remember one occasion about 2002 when she was vitriloic about John Nott and Francis Pym, she called them 'gutless toffs'.

There was however another side to her. She was open about her dealings with the US when they were sitting on the fence between the UK and the Argentines and said that it was her words when Nicholas Henderson (UK Ambassador to the US) said on American TV; We waited for you from 1915 to 1917. we waited for you from 1939 to 1944. How long will we wait for you this time? A remark that was designed to hit home.

As for the reasons for the war itself; forget oil, forget minerals, it was simply about right and wrong. British people had been invaded by a facist dictatorship. and in her word... "who else could they turn to"? We went and we righted a wrong and in the process left 255 good lads in the mud. I know that Maggie sat and wrote to each and every family personally. These letters were not typed, they were hand written and I have personally, at close quarters, seen Maggie shed tears over the guys we left behind.

She wasn't perfect and she made mistakes. Theres no point talking about the miners strike or any of the other divisive issues because that discussion has been done to death. She made mistakes over the poll tax, her dealings with the EU, mind you she has been proved right over the Euro. Margaret Hilda Thatcher was my old boss, my hero, my mentor and I am hugely proud to have known her a little. I sit here holding a small whisky in her honour with a tear in my eye. She was a lion in defence of this country. She wasn't really a right wing capitalist, she was an old fashioned moralist. Right and wrong, good or bad.

RIP Baroness, the class of 82 will never forget you. Rest easy, duty done.
 
Gun9 said:
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was the bovril of politics. Love her or hate her, you couldn't ignore her. My meetings with her were Falklands orientated. She sent us to war, a just war. She seen us as 'her boys' and she attended Falklands veterans events regularly.

These events usually involved an informal get together when she was very frank about the events of the Falklands War and those around her. Once she sat down with a small whisky, always! she talked amongst us openly. I remember one occasion about 2002 when she was vitriloic about John Nott and Francis Pym, she called them 'gutless toffs'.

There was however another side to her. She was open about her dealings with the US when they were sitting on the fence between the UK and the Argentines and said that it was her words when Nicholas Henderson (UK Ambassador to the US) said on American TV; We waited for you from 1915 to 1917. we waited for you from 1939 to 1944. How long will we wait for you this time? A remark that was designed to hit home.

As for the reasons for the war itself; forget oil, forget minerals, it was simply about right and wrong. British people had been invaded by a facist dictatorship. and in her word... "who else could they turn to"? We went and we righted a wrong and in the process left 255 good lads in the mud. I know that Maggie sat and wrote to each and every family personally. These letters were not typed, they were hand writted and I have personally, at close quarters, seen Maggie shed tears over the guys we left behind.

She wasn't perfect and she made mistakes. Theres no point talking about the miners strike or any of the other divisive issues because that discussion has been done to death. She made mistakes over the poll tax, her dealings with the EU, mind you she has been proved right over the Euro. Margaret Hilda Thatcher was my old boss, my hero, my mentor and I am hugely proud to have known her a little. I sit here holding a small whisky in her honour with a tear in my eye. She was a lion in defence of this country. She wasn't really a right wing capitalist, she was an old fashioned moralist. Right and wrong, good or bad.

RIP Baroness, the class of 82 will never forget you. Rest easy, duty done.
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Thank-you for sharing your experience. It was an emotional and good read.
 
Gun9 said:
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was the bovril of politics. Love her or hate her, you couldn't ignore her. My meetings with her were Falklands orientated. She sent us to war, a just war. She seen us as 'her boys' and she attended Falklands veterans events regularly.

These events usually involved an informal get together when she was very frank about the events of the Falklands War and those around her. Once she sat down with a small whisky, always! she talked amongst us openly. I remember one occasion about 2002 when she was vitriloic about John Nott and Francis Pym, she called them 'gutless toffs'.

There was however another side to her. She was open about her dealings with the US when they were sitting on the fence between the UK and the Argentines and said that it was her words when Nicholas Henderson (UK Ambassador to the US) said on American TV; We waited for you from 1915 to 1917. we waited for you from 1939 to 1944. How long will we wait for you this time? A remark that was designed to hit home.

As for the reasons for the war itself; forget oil, forget minerals, it was simply about right and wrong. British people had been invaded by a facist dictatorship. and in her word... "who else could they turn to"? We went and we righted a wrong and in the process left 255 good lads in the mud. I know that Maggie sat and wrote to each and every family personally. These letters were not typed, they were hand written and I have personally, at close quarters, seen Maggie shed tears over the guys we left behind.

She wasn't perfect and she made mistakes. Theres no point talking about the miners strike or any of the other divisive issues because that discussion has been done to death. She made mistakes over the poll tax, her dealings with the EU, mind you she has been proved right over the Euro. Margaret Hilda Thatcher was my old boss, my hero, my mentor and I am hugely proud to have known her a little. I sit here holding a small whisky in her honour with a tear in my eye. She was a lion in defence of this country. She wasn't really a right wing capitalist, she was an old fashioned moralist. Right and wrong, good or bad.

RIP Baroness, the class of 82 will never forget you. Rest easy, duty done.
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Masterful.
 
[TW]Fox;24086320 said:
The poll tax you never had to pay because it was abolished when you and I were at primary school? The poll tax is something we can look back on and decide was a pretty poor idea but its hard to see why it makes you mad given you never experienced it, like most of us here. It's like getting mad about how much tax was on alcohol in 1960 or something.
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They still chase outstanding poll tax arrears btw. Although you would need to have been liable, not have paid and somehow still evaded enforcement.

There are still a few.
 
One of the miners unions biggest achievements was managing to put the blame of what happened to the poor miners they were supposed to be protecting entirely on the government.

Scargill was a power mad freak who couldn't see the wood for the trees.
 
MagicBoy said:
The Poll Tax was a populist name that stuck. I wasn't eligable, being a teenager at the time.

The idea was solid, and I still believe it is. I don't see why someone with a more valuable house should pay more for local services. It's a flawed assumption. Why should 2 adults living in a 4 bed house rather than a 2 bed terrace be charged more? Taking rubbish collection for example - they will broadly create the same amount of rubbish and have the same capacity dustbin. Both households benefit equally from the same streetlights installed in the locality. It's a fair system in principle.

Council Tax is more a halfway house between the community charge and the old rates system.
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The idea is only fair if everyone was equally capable of paying the tax.
It's also a clerical nightmare to implement.
 
Woden said:
The idea is only fair if everyone was equally capable of paying the tax.
It's also a clerical nightmare to implement.
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Agreed. The tricky part is dealing with that. Do you increase benefits to those on welfare in line with the community charge, exempt them or come up with a somewhere in-between solution?
 
Gun9 said:
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was the bovril of politics. Love her or hate her, you couldn't ignore her. My meetings with her were Falklands orientated. She sent us to war, a just war. She seen us as 'her boys' and she attended Falklands veterans events regularly.

These events usually involved an informal get together when she was very frank about the events of the Falklands War and those around her. Once she sat down with a small whisky, always! she talked amongst us openly. I remember one occasion about 2002 when she was vitriloic about John Nott and Francis Pym, she called them 'gutless toffs'.

There was however another side to her. She was open about her dealings with the US when they were sitting on the fence between the UK and the Argentines and said that it was her words when Nicholas Henderson (UK Ambassador to the US) said on American TV; We waited for you from 1915 to 1917. we waited for you from 1939 to 1944. How long will we wait for you this time? A remark that was designed to hit home.

As for the reasons for the war itself; forget oil, forget minerals, it was simply about right and wrong. British people had been invaded by a facist dictatorship. and in her word... "who else could they turn to"? We went and we righted a wrong and in the process left 255 good lads in the mud. I know that Maggie sat and wrote to each and every family personally. These letters were not typed, they were hand written and I have personally, at close quarters, seen Maggie shed tears over the guys we left behind.

She wasn't perfect and she made mistakes. Theres no point talking about the miners strike or any of the other divisive issues because that discussion has been done to death. She made mistakes over the poll tax, her dealings with the EU, mind you she has been proved right over the Euro. Margaret Hilda Thatcher was my old boss, my hero, my mentor and I am hugely proud to have known her a little. I sit here holding a small whisky in her honour with a tear in my eye. She was a lion in defence of this country. She wasn't really a right wing capitalist, she was an old fashioned moralist. Right and wrong, good or bad.

RIP Baroness, the class of 82 will never forget you. Rest easy, duty done.
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great post, thanks.
 
[TW]Fox;24090114 said:
I'd be amazed if they were not involved to the extent they detail in that link. Infact isn't that entirely the purpose of MI5? Find out whats going on - which they did. From that link it seems they didn't feel any actual action was required, as a result of the intelligence they gathered.
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Yes, which is why I went to the bother of posting the link for someone who clearly didn't believe it to be the case, or that 'obvious'.

I don't think we ever really get to know what MI5 get up to, particularly back then, don't you agree?
 
MagicBoy said:
Agreed. The tricky part is dealing with that. Do you increase benefits to those on welfare in line with the community charge, exempt them or come up with a somewhere in-between solution?
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Not just that, students were to pay 20% of the poll tax, at least they got a discount but where were they? At home, in halls of residence, a flat share?
 
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