You had to be there to grasp the scale of Margaret Thatcher's revolution

[DodgyAgent]

It is already state controlled - by external suppliers, thanks to UK not investing enough into its own gas exploration (I blame NL tax policies here) AND coal mines industry destroyed - add to this nuclear power stations will now be build by foreign powers.

Thatcher did a few right things but in the process she screwed up this country.

So the country would have been better off without her, or she didnt complete the job?

[DodgyAgent]

If Thatcher was so great how come she left the country in recession, mass protest and riots and an economy that no longer 'made' anything?

This middle class lefty has the champagne on ice for when the evil old bat dies.

A balancing view below.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=17741

So you would have preferred a country run by the trade unions then?

[AtW]

So the country would have been better off without her, or she didnt complete the job?

It's a tough question, marginally UK might still be better off with her, however I no longer buy into this myth of her being great - cracking down on unions was the right thing but destroying industry as means of eliminating power base of units contributed to this country's continue downfall.

Labour's negative contribution is certainly bigger than hers.

[Mich the Tester]

It is a bit like old Bono who runs around telling leaders of countries and large banks to wipe out the debt of third world countries, yet he himself has probably got enough wealth to wipe out the whole of Africas debt on his own.

He also uses Holland's multinational friendly tax system to keep his taxes down; U2 is incorporated as a Dutch company and any profits earned outside NL are untaxed; only the profits on record sales in the tiny Dutch market are taxed. I can't say I blame him as I'd do the same thing, but I'm not quite such a sanctimonious git as he is.

[DodgyAgent]

It's a tough question, marginally UK might still be better off with her, however I no longer buy into this myth of her being great - cracking down on unions was the right thing but destroying industry as means of eliminating power base of units contributed to this country's continue downfall.

Labour's negative contribution is certainly bigger than hers.

Are you saying that she should have poured money into the car industry to "keep it going" even though it was losing money?

[AtW]

Are you saying that she should have poured money into the car industry to "keep it going" even though it was losing money?

No, what you should not have done is feck up the Japanese company (Honda I believe) by making deals with the Germans (BMW I think), it was after that situation (still under Major I think?) that doomed Rover.

Either way it was crazy to close all mines - if Germans 60 years ago could make syntetic fuels under bombardments it should have been possible to have such thing here in UK, this would have reduced dependency on foreign fuels and stimulated R&D.

[Menelaus]

Am I correct in thinking you dont have an account with any of the above ?

Given society needs Banks to function - the Wall St led self-destruction of the Shadow Banking system led to the nationalisation of the Banking Sector in the US and the UK means the rebuttal of the free-market philosophy - in its place we now have , in effect , a socialist based banking system with a private sector albeit an increasingly regulated one

Regulation of the banking sector isn't the problem; indeed, the light touch regulation of the sector meant that I've happily spent my time modelling for the past several years given probabilistic outcomes in the banking world.

And as for the question above raised by Mr AJP - yes, actually, I bank with RBS.

[AtW]

Are you saying that she should have poured money into the car industry to "keep it going" even though it was losing money?

Compared to bank bailout car industry in the UK does not need that much, or should we say didn't because there is no UK owned car industry anymore, it's all foreign at best now.

[AtW]

And as for the question above raised by Mr AJP - yes, actually, I bank with RBS.

gamble

[DodgyAgent]

Compared to bank bailout car industry in the UK does not need that much, or should we say didn't because there is no UK owned car industry anymore, it's all foreign at best now.

You are not answering my question. Should she have continued pouring money into a loss making car industry at the time?