Margaret Thatcher

[JBR]

He's a Scot. He won't have a good word for any British PM but I assume you are referring to his pit closures

When I was teaching, I used to take my class to the local coal mine as was, now a museum.  Soon after retiring, I volunteered to help out at the mine with other school visits and found that quite rewarding.  Since then, my situation changed and I had to retire from my voluntary work there.  Since then, Marge and I have been back there to visit and they have made quite some improvements.  They are doing well today and I'd recommend a visit.
Lancshire Mining Museum, Astley Green, M29 7JB.  Check for opening days online:
https://lancashireminingmuseum.org/

[crabbyob]

OK here goes... Thatcher was a strong leader just as Hitler was, she ruled by fear... her first decission was to give the police and the Army the biggest raise they ever had... generous????? lol... covering her back... 
Wilson closed more pits than Thatcher????? how many miners did he sack???? he closed every mine that employed less than 100 men....and transferred them to larger mines... my pit at its height employed 4,000 men, and by closing that single pit she passed anything Wilson did..
she was never a fool, when she got her first ministry she looked towards Europe, which country had the strongest ecconomy???Germany by a country mile so she investigated how they managed that....she was shocked to find that Germany subsidised all their heavy industries... mining and steel, she pointed out to the Germans that this was against the rules of the European Union... Germany was shocked and appologised to her, but continued with the subsidies.. but the Lady would have non of it, she ignored the germans and showed that real polititions followed ALL the rules, and refused any subsidies to all our industries, which closed all our heavy industries, but the lady was not for turning, she sacked all the miners and put them on the dole. so lets say they all got £50 a week dole money......the Germans refused to give their miners dole money, instead they paid the dole money to the mining industry as a subsidy!!!! idiots... that was the stupidest thing Thatcher ever heard of... so she closed our mines and bought german coal!!!!... she was evil and should have been burned, but crap wont burn!!!! this country will never recover the damage she did... she replaced the jobs in Doncaster... we have five prisons and dozens of call centres...so to all her fans, what exactly is she famous for apart from starving the miners out????? i will wait...... even her own cabinet stabbed her in the back to get rid of her.... actually she was famous for something outside politics.... she was part of the team that invented Mr Softee ice cream....

[Ashy]

Yes I won't forget the miner's strike or what she did to Liverpool.  Having said that and putting bias aside, she was a strong PM, something we've lacked for years and years.

I suppose there's always a chance that, if she had continued, she might have concluded that de-industrialising had gone too far, and privatising was failing in some areas. Then again she might have got drunk and gone back to bed.

[GrannyMac]

I don't think South Yorks ever recovered fully from the strike.  I always felt for the underground workers, but where I lived there were a couple of managers from the NCB. They were early retired, on good pensions, they hadn't suffered like the miners.  No wonder UK coal was expensive.  

The miners fought for a decent wage, and given their jobs, they deserved it.  It was a pity there wasn't a better solution, and I understand why most really disliked the Thatcher government.  One of my younger friends is a Barnsley miner's daughter.  

[klondike]

The miners beat Heath and she knew that so it was very much a bare knuckle fight (well except the police they used truncheons etc.)  The biggest stupidity from Scargill was starting the strike in March when the stockpiles at power stations were probably taller than the cooling towers.

Thatcher was on the way down in popularity and saved by her determination in the Falklands war.

What was done was done. We have to move on with what we have. They are pouring most of that down the drain now. As I said earlier managed decline. Badly managed too.