Thatcher poll: worst or best

StevieJ

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Funny how time befuddles the brain.

When Maggie came to power inflation was 22% and Unions still operated closed shops. So you had to join a Union to get a job!

Labour closed more mines between 1974 and 1979 than Mrs T did.

Correct funny how time befuddles the brain, or is it Rosy coloured specs. Inflation doubled when the Tories took over in 1979.
UK inflation
1975 Aug = 27%
1978 Aug = 8%
1979 Aug = 16% (election May 79)

StevieJ

Thrugelmir wrote: »

As now Labour could offer no alternative. As the extreme left bore too more influence on the party. Blair has tried and failed to change the party. Current events show even now that the marxist traits of the Unions still linger on till this day.

Don't be ridiculous, the current Trade Unions are the equivalent of neutered lapdogs.

ian103

best but not by much, definitely better than blair (bush's lapdog) and that total to**er brown.

they are all in it for themselves and have no concept of the consequences of their decisions on the general public.

chewmylegoff

cepheus wrote: »

Here’s evidence to show Thatcher’s economic model didn’t work

The record on recessions ( percentage fall in output )





The record on productivity: ( growth in productivity per annum, UK, )

The trouble with quoting this as evidence that thatcher's policies didn't work is that you have nothing to compare it to. You need a set of data which shows what the alternative outcome would have been, which is impossible to know, so you cannot ever prove that her policies didn't work. It may be that if Labour had stayed in power we would have had a ten year recession and now all be as wealthy as Albanians. It is impossible for you to know what would have happened.

chewmylegoff

StevieJ wrote: »

Correct funny how time befuddles the brain, or is it Rosy coloured specs. Inflation doubled when the Tories took over in 1979.
UK inflation
1975 Aug = 27%
1978 Aug = 8%
1979 Aug = 16% (election May 79)

Inflation was actually 10% when the Tories came to power in 1979, it had started to increase in late 1978 and was on an upward trajectory. It then spiralled to 22% in May 1980 but given the lag between enacting monetary policy and the economy responding, the blame for that hardly lies with the Tory government. The outgoing Labour government had actually been cutting interest rates despite rising inflation which represents something of a hospital pass- the Tories reverse that pushing interest rates up from 12 to 14% then again to 17% in their first six months in power. Eventually inflation started to came under control and the remained relatively low. The previously administration had failed to control rampant inflation which was on te rise again as they left office.

ukcarper

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Inflation was actually 10% when the Tories came to power in 1979, it had started to increase in late 1978 and was on an upward trajectory. It then spiralled to 22% in May 1980 but given the lag between enacting monetary policy and the economy responding, the blame for that hardly lies with the Tory government. The outgoing Labour government had actually been cutting interest rates despite rising inflation which represents something of a hospital pass- the Tories reverse that pushing interest rates up from 12 to 14% then again to 17% in their first six months in power. Eventually inflation started to came under control and the remained relatively low. The previously administration had failed to control rampant inflation which was on te rise again as they left office.

Labour increased interest rates from 6% to 12.5% in 1978 and 14% in feb 1979 before dropping them to 12% in april.

StevieJ

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Inflation was actually 10% when the Tories came to power in 1979, it had started to increase in late 1978 and was on an upward trajectory. It then spiralled to 22% in May 1980 but given the lag between enacting monetary policy and the economy responding, the blame for that hardly lies with the Tory government. .

Nothing to do with that but everything to do with the doubling of the VAT rate. So inflation wasn't 22% as Thrug apparently remembered?

Funny how time befuddles the brain.

When Maggie came to power inflation was 22%

Murphy_Gooner

The_White_Horse wrote: »

The greatest PM this country ever had. We would be worse than Greece and Cyprus now if she hadn't come in. The Sick Man of Europe would by now be the Dying Man or Dead Man. Maggie saved us. Of course, some people didn't do as well as others, but a lot didn't really help themselves either. Crying about a pit closure 2 decades later is a bit much. Northerners need to stop t'supping pints down t'working mans t'club whilst watching t'peter kaye t'dvd's and start opening some businesses.

Typical up you're own !!!! comment.

Maybe if Thatcher had put more into manufacturing rather then these city types which have brought this country to where we currently are because of their greed. And who is it bailing them out? yes its the tax payer.

Germany seem to be thriving well with their manufacturing and exports.

cepheus

chewmylegoff wrote: »

The trouble with quoting this as evidence that thatcher's policies didn't work is that you have nothing to compare it to. You need a set of data which shows what the alternative outcome would have been, which is impossible to know, so you cannot ever prove that her policies didn't work. It may be that if Labour had stayed in power we would have had a ten year recession and now all be as wealthy as Albanians. It is impossible for you to know what would have happened.

Obviously a direct comparison is impossible, economics is never that simple! Since Blair and Major extended her policies, one could compare the country today to places with a less radical neo-liberal agenda such as Scandinavia who have performed very well according to a variety of indicators. See the graphs corresponding to these indicators for example.

There is also a perception that things were a lot worse before she became Prime-minister and then improved due to her policies. Well there is little evidence of that either.

BobQ

Sure Mrs T did address the extremism of some unions and changed society, but at what price? She annexed the Falklands (after failing to defend it) but at what price? She allowed a generation of youth to languish on the dole, at what price? She destroyed communities for ideological reasons, but at what price?

This was the woman who on her first day in office quoted St Francis "Where there is discord, may we bring harmony....."

I thought Glenda Jackson was broadly correct in her analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8