Nettles;2469550 said:
***in Margaret Thatcher, thanks a lot for turning the UK into crap. sure Blair was an idiot, but Thatcher screwed it all up in the first place.
Hahahahaha this is the dumbest thing I've heard in a long long time. For a start, how exactly is the UK "crap" right now? How exactly is a transformation from basket case recession ridden economy into strong, robust powerhouse of Europe "screwing it up"? I find it interesting that you can refer to an Oxford graduate multi millionaire former Prime Minister of Britain as an "idiot" - you must be pretty hot if that's the kind of guy you look down on.
You just need to look at any economic or social statistic to see that Britain is in good shape right now, be it unemployment, inflation, growth etc. Compare the standard of living in Britain now with that in the 1970s, the general lack of social unrest and happiness of the population. Look at the political influence and weight which Britain now weilds within the European Union, and compare the change with that of say France or Germany. Now tell me honestly if you believe the UK has been "turned into crap?"
Tony Blair was an unpopular leader for reasons almost entirely detached from his performance of issues of actual national importance. He was brought down by a lack of public trust and respect following the Iraq war, and his general behaviour and attitude towards foreign policy and security issues. He got caught in a vicious circle of losing trust and confidence. It is an almost universal truth that staying in power becomes harder and harder the longer you have been in - you have more time to make mistakes and to let them mount up, an increasingly ineffective and declining pool of personnel from which to draw your ministers, increasing time for a serious opposition to get itself together and the fact that the public just have enough of you. Tony Blair's performance on issues that really matter is actually very hard to fault, but also hard to praise, because he did one thing and one thing only, but more successfully than perhaps any other PM - he tread water. He sat still and managed to get through ten years without doing anything to screw up or counterbalance the prosperity and benefits this country was enjoying as a result of Thatcher's reforms.
When Thatcher came to power Britain was in such a sorry state that it could well have disolved entirely. Only a leader forward looking enough and ballsy enough would have been able to smash this otherwise irreversible trend and set Britain up for an almost unbelievabe resurrgance. Thatcher didnt think for the short term, that would have been suicidal, she made the big descisions which so few others could have forseen. She broke the Union strangleholds on industry, and the outdated grip held by the professions, and added to Britain the kind of economic flexibility and lack of outdated and unnecessary socialistic principles which France and Germany must be praying for right now. She restored Britain's national pride, minimalised the long term damage of the recession, stopped Britain from falling permanently into the position of "sick man" of Europe and began the reforms which lead to better standards of living for all of us.
She, like Blair, eventually lost popularity over largely superficial issues, and mostly due to the fickleness and lack of vision of the British population. She left office at the right time, her work done to perfection. Infact, the only mistake the conservative government made was to win the 92 election. John Major will never be forgiven for that. Had Kinnock and Labour won that election, they would have suffered the tail end of the recession and would have been straight out in the next election, and a conservative government would have won in 97 and would still be in power today, reaping the benefit of Thatcher's incredible changes just like Tony Blair, and perhaps even builing on them and adding to them based on the same fundamental principles.
Question Thatcher's methods if you will, question whether what she did was morally correct or beneficial in the short term, but do not make such ridiculous blanket statements and obviously false points if you ever wish to be taken seriously.