^^ This coming from a Housewife!

Pro USA & Israel

Gorn a bit quiet. Is Kerm being a stay at home mom Thatcher's lasting legacy?

Edited by nickgusset (07 May 2013 6.35pm)

You forgot bed-wetter.

Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial

BUMP

And a purely self-satisfying bump at that.

I posted a thread about a week ago about Katie Hopkins, the modern-day Thatcherite who does such things like 'tells it like it is', whatever the f*ck 'it' is, and 'isn't afraid to tackle the big questions', even if the views which she comes out with are patronising, bigoted, stereotypical and mainly fact-less.

Well one of the things she said at least I felt held some sway. She said that people such as me - people too young to have experienced first hand Thatcher - were in no position to comment on her, and the changes she made. At first it seemed sensible. I was too young to live through her era, therefore who am I to have such strong opinions on her, if she ostensibly didn't affect me?

I thought about this for a while, and then realised that this, like most of her views, was complete nonsense. Because the person 'Thatcher' means nothing to me, but the concept of 'Thatcherism' is still f*cking gnawing away at the society I live in and affecting me personally. She was always to me just some demented old woman that occasionally popped up on the tele in a big coat and a veil, but her politics have driven this country for the last 30 odd years, thus I feel I am able to comment on them at least.

The majority of pro-Thatcher posts seem to me to be mainly rhetorical. Phrases are churned out like 'She made Britain great again', 'this country was going to the dogs', 'she took on the unions when no one else would'. Maybe these things are true, but for me, looking at FACTS, which I feel should be the basis of any reasoned argument (although I understand that many on here see them as a mere barrier to the witty sniping and bitching that should be at the core of any HOL debate) they seem to paint a different picture.

Here are some facts.
1st fact: In 1970, the average Chief Executive of a company earned 30% more than their workers. Today they earn 500% more.
2nd fact: The top 1% of our society has doubled their share of the national income since 1982
3rd Fact: Unemployment more than doubled during her tenure, and even the economic growth towards the end didn't result in her cutting the unemployment level from when she took office
4th fact: Inequality rose dramatically between the highest and lowest in society, the Gini coefficient (which measures these things) went from 0.25 to 0.34
5th fact: poverty rose year on year under Thatcher and reached a high when she left office which hasn't been reached since.

Now based on those, and other facts, I fail to see how anyone can come to the conclusion that 'Thatcher made this country great again'. Certainly if you were wealthy, Thatcher was f*cking brilliant. But for the majority of us who aren't in the top 1%, and especially for those at the bottom, life was, and is, just sh*t.

And yet Thatcherism continues. Blair implemented many of the philosophies the Tories brought in, or to be more precise, didn't overturn too many of her policies, this current austerity government has reduced the rate of income tax to 45%, ensuring that the wealthy's earnings are as high as they've ever been, while horrendously victimising those at the bottom by slashing benefits and introducing things such as the bedroom tax. But to say that longevity is a sign of success is completely incorrect. It sadly shows that media spin and the degradation of the working classes, which begun under Thatcher, have been so effective that people will believe things that even very simple facts completely counteract. For example, 'benefit scrounging' represents less than 1% of total welfare spending, and is an even more insignificant fraction in contrast to, say, tax avoidance. Or the fact that there are in many cases dozens of applicants for one job position, suggests that the 'lazy' unemployed that Norman Tebbit, and now Jeremy Hunt et al speak of is simply not true.

So, for a 'youngster' to comprehend Thatcher, and Thatcherism. What do I learn about our country and its people? That we are gullible in our blind following of media rhetoric. That we are disingenuous, rather believing that the poor are 'lazy' and 'greedy' than just really damn unlucky. That we are worryingly conservative; there seems to be a widely-held belief that it's just the way of the world now and we have no other plausible option than this sort of neo-capitalism that on the face of it is so clearly benefitting the wealthy and detrimental to the majority.

So to echo Cucking, I will be pleased if I see the death of Thatcherism in my lifetime if it is replaced by something more in the interests of the majority, and anyone who isn't is an ignorant, bigotted, selfish and conservative arsehole.

Edited by serial thriller (07 Oct 2013 12.15pm)

If punk ever happened I'd be preaching the law, instead of listenin to Lydon lecture BBC4

I suppose it's a case of if people believe Governments shape and determine people's lives or people themselves.

I believe the latter. If it isn't it should be.

And if people strongly think the former - then there is no society as the lady once said....

Paua oouaarancì Irà chiyeah Ishé galé ma ba oo ah

I detest those well worn clichés like she made Britain great again/ took on the unions etc, one you missed out was "I'm alright jack I bought my council house!"

Portillo's teeth removed to boost pound

Boy roasts himself in sacrifice to Chris Kelly