What Did Thatcher Ever Do For Us?

Generali

redbuzzard wrote: »

Quite. Good point. There really was no credible alternative being offered.

The response of the Tories to the 1970s was to say, "we got that wrong, let's try something else".

The response of Labour to the 1970s was to say, "We didn't go far enough, let's have even more of the same".

The British electorate were terrified of a return to the 1970s. That's why 'Labour's Tax Bombshell' was so effective.

Moby

PaulF81 wrote: »

I personally have no issue whatsoever with maggies friendship with commie hating dictators.

That figures!

Jennifer_Jane

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

I'm no fan but most recessions are unavoidable as they are mainly worldwide events.

Exactly - I lived abroad during her time, and interest rates were staggeringly high, and inflation was off the wall, as was unemployment. Hurting, of course, the poorest most. If you want a fairer society, then inflation has to be controlled.

Moby wrote: »

Some truth in this but she destroyed the manufacturing base of this country in the process and turned us into a financial services and service industry based economy. Germany did it the right way and has gone from strength to strength.

Moby: wasn't it more the quality of the goods being sold? I refer back to the car post I made before - and certainly take note of the reasons, nevertheless, the reputation of British cars vs German, was off-putting; the same with white goods. Which would you buy, if you had a choice: unreliable British goods or German? Frankly I still like to buy German white goods(although I favour Japanese-designed cars)!

Jennifer_Jane

Interesting link, Generali, to the 1983 Labour party manifesto ("The longest suicide note in history"); so then I went to the Conservative one. I think I would have voted Conservative too.

http://www.conservative-party.net/manifestos/1983/1983-conservative-manifesto.shtml

It certainly is better-considered, rounder, and encompasses more thought than the Labour one (did Labour really not give the £10 Christmas bonus to pensioners in 1975 and 1976? The £10 is still being paid, and worth so very little, but then it would have been a very valuable addition, especially with no Winter Fuel Allowance, for pensioners who mostly relied on the Basic State Pension, as most people did not pay into Company pensions then).

Interesting concern for animal welfare etc. Nothing like that in the Labour one.

ukcarper

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

Exactly - I lived abroad during her time, and interest rates were staggeringly high, and inflation was off the wall, as was unemployment. Hurting, of course, the poorest most. If you want a fairer society, then inflation has to be controlled.



Moby: wasn't it more the quality of the goods being sold? I refer back to the car post I made before - and certainly take note of the reasons, nevertheless, the reputation of British cars vs German, was off-putting; the same with white goods. Which would you buy, if you had a choice: unreliable British goods or German? Frankly I still like to buy German white goods(although I favour Japanese-designed cars)!

What about French and Italian car companys

The problems with the car was not entirely due to work force and unions lack of investment and poor management was also a major factor . It has been shown since that with good management we can build good cars in this country

grizzly1911

ukcarper wrote: »

What about French and Italian car companys

The problems with the car was not entirely due to work force and unions lack of investment and poor management was also a major factor . It has been shown since that with good management we can build good cars in this country

The Japanes cars that came over at the time were a little more reliable but their build quality and rust resistance was little better IME. Of course they improved as the Europeans did.

ash28

ukcarper wrote: »

What about French and Italian car companys

The problems with the car was not entirely due to work force and unions lack of investment and poor management was also a major factor . It has been shown since that with good management we can build good cars in this country

Alfa Romeo and Fiat were dire.....I liked Alfas but not the 3 Rs associated with them....Rust, Reliability and Residual Values.....

Jennifer_Jane

ukcarper wrote: »

What about French and Italian car companys

The problems with the car was not entirely due to work force and unions lack of investment and poor management was also a major factor . It has been shown since that with good management we can build good cars in this country

It's just irrelevant if you are abroad and buying a car about WHY a car is unreliable. Who cares? You just buy a different car. My post was about an argument comparing UK and German manufacturing. Germany's reputation for reliability ensured that it remained a manufacturing Country.

We weren't discussing France's manufacturing base, or Italian at the time, but where I was (and it could have been anywhere) the cars you aspired to were German. Jaguar had a terrible reputation overseas at one time. Rover too.

Jennifer_Jane

This has just come through on YouGov:

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/04/10/final_verdict_thatcher/

Very quick graphic to see, so worth opening.

ukcarper

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

It's just irrelevant if you are abroad and buying a car about WHY a car is unreliable. Who cares? You just buy a different car. My post was about an argument comparing UK and German manufacturing. Germany's reputation for reliability ensured that it remained a manufacturing Country.

We weren't discussing France's manufacturing base, or Italian at the time, but where I was (and it could have been anywhere) the cars you aspired to were German. Jaguar had a terrible reputation overseas at one time. Rover too.

My point is that French and Italian cars were just as unreliable if not even worse yet their car companys are still going.