The income to the exchequer from West Sole was insignificant, as was the amount of gas it produced. Oil and gas revenues from licensing and taxation only made any difference from 1980 onward.

As Conor Burns said: "They hate her because she won."

Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay;
The worst is death, and death will have his day -

Yesterday she lost and some people actually did dance in the street. I can't imagine republicans dancing in the street when the Queen dies.

History will be more objective on what it takes to be a great British leader than the Daily Mail. I think the point is it’s more about what she did when she won. She was more than anything else a very divisive leader. William the Conqueror is more popular Up North and he actually burned and slaughtered them.

And besides it’s not even anything is over yet.
Hitler won as well if you call time in 1941. And so did Apartied in South African if you call time 1990. Maggie's close mate Pinochet won if you call time in 1987.

If you call time in 1983 she won outright in a way but not if you consider that most voters didn't vote for her even then or what the welfare state was like when she left office years later.

1997? A landslide for Labour against the nasty party? I doubt she would see that as a win. Is Cameron in a coalition a victory for Thatcher? Is the Financial crisis a victory for Thatcher?

"They hate her because she won." The point I'm making is not entirely and not necessarily for that long.

I think how you perceive the Thatcher years largely depends on
what your personal circumstances were if you lived through them.

Many commentators on here and elsewhere are basing their opinion on what they have read or been told. Naturally that means your opinion will be coloured by both your political viewpoint and the source of your reading.

I lived in England as a young buck starting out in life in the pre Thatcher years and during her first term in government. The country was going to hell in a handbasket in the years prior to Maggie taking over. I struggled to survive in a place racked by strikes and a country that seemed to lack any purpose other than self
destruction. This is not from textbooks this is the life I lived.

Thatcher made a lot of tough decisions and I didn't agree with some of them. But if you were willing to embrace self reliance and look for new ways your life could be better. That's what I discovered.

When I moved to Japan in the mid 80's it gave me another perspective on where the UK had been -- working in an economy in which having a work ethic was a virtue. This was in stark contrast to the world that Scargill and his union cronies had imposed on pre Thatcher UK.

Yes there were losers during the Thatcher years but that was also true in the years before her Prime Ministership. However. when I returned to the UK from time to time over the 80's there was an improvement in the standard and quality of life. Something that perhaps it is easier to discern when you are not there.

You can have debates about things like selling council houses (my parents and my uncles bought theirs and it had a significant positive effect on their families) or the poll tax or other policies. You can carp about her style. But in the end I think more good than bad was done.

In the international arena without the pressure brought to bear on the USSR we would be living in a very different world.

She is one of the most significant World leaders in my lifetime. I salute her contribution.

Those who criticise her DECENCY as a human being are now out on the streets dancing on her grave. Pot, kettle, black comes to mind.

Edited by Farawayeagle (10 Apr 2013 1.07am)

I lived in Falmouth during the first years of the Thatch reign. My dad had used his redundancy money from the Evening news to open a shop down there. All was going well until the docks and shipyard closed, then there was just no money in the town. I can remember school-friends who would come round to ours for tea as their families couldn't afford to feed them. The same friends went without hot water or heating to save money. What support was there for them? None- just Tebbit telling their parents to get on their bikes. The West country didn't do well under Thatcher and we moved away after 4 or 5 years.

Edited by nickgusset (10 Apr 2013 1.28am)