General Chat

May I just reiterate that this thread is intended to remember Margaret Thatcher's life and career and not to celebrate her death or pass judgment (or lament the price of eggs lol)

Gins, I don't think the death of any human is cause for celebration whether by individuals, groups or governments

The world may be a better place after someones death but that's no reason to celebrate,

More a reason to reflect

Roy

seemed to be plenty of people out celebrating in brum last night felt more like a saturday before xmas in a couple of pubs

i would go to the funeral but have you seen the price of eggs

Roy

Don’t tell me you believe that governments have not done similar!

Tony Blair on this evening’s news was denouncing the fact that some people were celebrating the death of Thatcher.

Did he do the same when Sadam Husain was overthrown and people celebrated and later, further celebrations at the announcement of his death?

Hypocrite

I'm sure Nelson Mandela saw himself as a freedom fighter but when you take up arms against the state and innocent people are killed as a direct result then in my book that make you a terrorist

specific to the militant/terrorist wing of the ANC was what was known as ''necklacing'' pinning people to into car tyres dowsing in petrol and setting it alight then leave them to die, Is that the actions of a freedom fighter ??

Roy

I never understood why they were allowed to get away with it - surely it was anti-social behaviour

A few mythbusters and random observations:-

The school milk we got in the late 50's wasn't 'proper' milk, it was watered down. Most of it got poured down the drain or the bottles got 'accidentally' smashed so we didn't have to drink it.

If children are fed pop and junk food instead of milk and fruit then that is the parents fault, nothing to do with the government.

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist, leading a bombing campaign against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, being sentenced to life imprisonment.

The top 10% of earners, already contribute almost one half half of all income tax collected. Altogether they number around 113,000 people - yes, that's all - one in every 250 workers, or less than 0.2% of the population.

The rent mob wouldn't have lasted a week under Margaret Thatcher. In many other countries they wouldn't have lasted two days, some countries less than a day.

pmsl Rose..mine wasn't particularly relevant either but it lightens the mood :-D

Muffy, totally irrelevant to the thread lol but in the 1970s my mum took round a collecting tin and had the door slammed in her face by one chap who thought she said she was collecting for the IRA ..... she was collecting for the RSPCA ;-)

I don't know much about S Africa so it's not a subject I'd be qualified to go into in any great detail... I do remember in the late 1980s having an Irish boyfriend who took me to a club in Cricklewood and tins labelled POW were passed around for collections. Watched as he and his friends shoved all their spare change in.

When I asked what it was all about he looked a bit sheepish (sorry Errol lol)...I nearly spat when his mate finally told me it stood for Prisoners Of War and it went to the IRA>

I left immediately..him and the club ** nothing to do with the Nelson Mandela really but just showed that one mans' freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.......

lol Gins you beat me to it!

Roy, surely there was no legal process that Mandela in his youth could have had faith in, because of apartheid...?

Polish uprising...terrorists or freedom fighters?

a freedom fighter for me!!!!

I still consider Martin McGuiness to be a terrorist.....

I definitely called him such in the 1980s.

I have thought long and hard about the lady in the library - and yes, she is an employee.
I'll perhaps pop in tomorrow because I do think her behaviour was unacceptable and disrespectful towards the pensioners having the conversation, let alone the deceased!

Yeah I hear where you're coming from Roy but...........any action taken by anything other than a government is considered 'terrorism'

When a government take action, it's a 'conflict' or a 'war'

.......so that's OK then!


Nelson Mandela, a 'terrorist' to some a 'freedom fighter' to others

Nelson Mandela, Yes he is a very inspirational man but don't conveniently forget that in his younger days he did lose faith in the legal processes and turned to terrorism, He was a co founder in the armed wing of the ANC "Spear of the Nation" Which is why people say he was a terrorist

Roy

one of the worst things to occur under her reign was the forming of NHS Trusts

Changes under the Thatcher governmentThe 1980s saw the introduction of modern management processes (General Management) in the NHS to replace the previous system of consensus management. This was outlined in the Griffiths Report of 1983.[46] This recommended the appointment of general managers in the NHS with whom responsibility should lie. The report also recommended that clinicians be better involved in management. Financial pressures continued to place strain on the NHS. In 1987, an additional £101 million was provided by the government to the NHS. In 1988 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced a review of the NHS. From this review in 1989 two white papers Working for Patients and Caring for People were produced. These outlined the introduction of what was termed the "internal market", which was to shape the structure and organisation of health services for most of the next decade.

In England, the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 defined this "internal market", whereby health authorities ceased to run hospitals but "purchased" care from their own or other authorities' hospitals. Certain GPs became "fund holders" and were able to purchase care for their patients. The "providers" became independent trusts, which encouraged competition but also increased local differences. Increasing competition may have been statistically associated with poor patient outcomes.[47]

I'm afraid I would've challenged her.........but then that's what gets me into doo-doo much of the time :-D

With regard to the ignorant lady in the library, I would be tempted to speak to her superiors. Whatever her personal feeling, if she was an employee (I know a lot are volunteers now), she is a public servant and, as such should show respect.

It was evening street parties, and even in the Mail it does say that many who joined in were there for the "revelry" rather than political motivation.

That does not excuse the events getting out of hand in some places of course, but it wasn't ALL setting out to "riot"...in many cases the street parties were rowdy, disrespectful, drunken...but not 'rioting' as such.

People feel very strongly about Mrs Thatcher, simply because there WAS a great deal of 'us and them' about many of her policies. It is inevitable that the most strident will have something to say...for or against but I personally would prefer the funeral to be dignified, on behalf of all concerned,as I think all funerals should be...then move on.