Opponents and supporters of Margaret Thatcher will never agree about the value of her legacy, but as for her importance, her hypnotic hold on us, they are bound to find common ground. And then, perversely, would come the throwaway, sign-off remark to the effect of: "At least you know where you stand with Maggie she hates us and we hate her.". And for the people of Ireland, and especially the north, the Thatcher years were among some of the worst of the conflict. Margaret Thatcher's government defended structured political and religious discrimination and political vetting in the north, legislated for political censorship and institutionalised, to a greater extent than ever before, collusion between British state forces and unionist death squads. You can get the Turnitin report from the writer on request along with the final deliverable. After leaving office, MT widened and deepened her criticism of the European But perhaps her greatest legacy was New Labour. She was evicted from Downing Street with all the ruthlessness, treachery and warped humanity of what passes for high politics. "Being powerful is like being a lady. For the most part, there's no material there. The Messed Up Truth About Margaret Thatcher - Grunge.com That bonuses and top incomes continue to rise while the incomes of the rest of the population struggle to keep up with inflation tells us that what we needed was legislation to ensure employee representation on company boards and remuneration committees as many of our European partners have. March 7, 1991 - Receives the US Medal of Freedom from President George Bush. In November 1978, Hannaford and I organized a European fact-finding tour for Reagan, and the first stop was London. She was lucky, in her enemies and friends notably Reagan in the Falklands conflict. Nor, contrary to myth, did Thatcherism emerge fully formed in May 1979. Promises. I met her just once, as a reporter in the press pack that followed her tour around Greece and Yugoslavia in 1980. I have few recollections of Thatcher after the slowly chauffeured, weepy Downing Street cortege. Charles Powell was a senior foreign policy . Died: 24 February 2023, aged 90 Sir Bernard Ingham was Margaret Thatcher writ large. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. verbatim and in context. Being a woman is undoubtedly one of the features, possibly the most potent, that makes her ascent to power memorable, 25 years on, in a way that applied to no man. She was 87. The Man Whose Powerful Critique of Socialism Influenced Margaret Thatcher But these concrete achievements do not wholly explain why she still looms so large, large enough that not one but two current West End plays The Audience and Billy Elliot grant Thatcher a pivotal, if largely unsympathetic, role, whether seen or unseen. The woman dubbed as the Iron Lady during her premiership made her last tearful speech as the leader of the country from the doorstep of . They were puzzled by the Scots' antipathy, given the Falklands war and the strong militaristic history of the Highlands and elsewhere. And we won back three we lost at by-elections. Here, for instance, was what the Guardian reported upon the death last month of Hugo Chavez: "To the millions who detested him as a thug and charlatan, it will be occasion to bid, vocally or discreetly, good riddance.". It made her virtually unsackable as education secretary. The Crown Season 4 brings with it a whole lot of change for Queen Elizabeth II's family and, more importantly, the United Kingdom. The place was her office at the Department of Education, then in Curzon Street. It was part of her conspicuous virtue, her indifference to familiar political conventions. declared that she wanted our money back. Animals and Pets Anime Art Cars and Motor Vehicles Crafts and DIY Culture, Race, and Ethnicity Ethics and Philosophy Fashion Food and Drink History Hobbies Law Learning and Education Military Movies Music Place Podcasts and Streamers Politics Programming Reading, Writing, and Literature Religion and Spirituality Science Tabletop Games . There are pangs of nostalgia, yes, because for me she's all tied up with Hi-De-Hi and Speak and Spell and Blockbusters and "follow the bear". The eulogy is a good illustration of Thatcher's feelings for . Arguably, it was not the sale of council houses that was the problem, but the failure to replace the stock and maintain a sufficient supply of affordable homes. "Margaret Thatcher was not a natural communicator. Yet, as the heated benefits debate showed last week, Labour is trapped by history bereft of fresh ideas and, when tentatively offering proposals, strangled by the most stifling conservatism. The woman, however, changed. He'd been a bully, she said, whereas Mrs T was warm and understanding. But Labour is no less in thrall. This book shows how. Her onslaught on the trade unions left those movements pale imitations of their former selves, too weak to resist the drive to the "flexible labour market" which has seen Britain become the home of what one senior Labour figure calls "crappy jobs", with low pay and no protection. Reagan's decision to bomb Libya in April 1986 and spoke Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister at the time, gave a eulogy to the grieving American people in honor of the late Ronald Reagan on June 11th, 2004. one Its impact on the streets of the north is evident in the statistics of death. The welfare state set out to ensure that no one, in the UK at least, would starve or freeze to death, or suffer or die for lack of medical or other care. Today's Tories walk in Thatcher's footsteps, battling with their estranged cousins in Ukip over who is the rightful heir to her Eurosceptic legacy. It still does. Back when we called her Maggie, when it seemed she would have her wish and "go on and on" in ruling the country, her opponents would lament some new step towards social ruin with the withering, two-word verdict: "Thatcher's Britain.". three press interviews (15-17 November) when Howe's resignation speech What's more, it was moulded to the wall as one commentator recalled and you had no right to change it, not without becoming entangled in a state-managed bureaucracy. She was the daughter of a prosperous civic leader who merely began life as a "grocer". But Margaret Thatcher did not hesitate, and the long, substantive lunch seemed to energize both future world leaders. News of Margaret Thatcher's death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her. When she returned from Paris many cabinet colleagues showed that Dignity and decorum ruled the day - except in the poisoned anonymity of the internet. What was different in Britain was that she assumed no responsibility to minimise social disruption or to create new jobs and industries. Thatcher's unwavering belief in the invisible hand of the market meant that she did not believe it was part of her job description to put anything in its place. But she exploited her luck. The main names associated with Fatcha-bashing Ben Elton and Alexei Sayle deny that they relied so heavily on her for material. She was a radical conservative, known for dismantling nationalized industries and social services, weakening union power.She was also the first incumbent prime minister in the UK removed on a vote of their own party. Well, everything really, even her name. When I was a kid, Thatcher was the headmistress of our country. But as weand others (including Alan Krueger, chair of Obama's council of economic advisers) have shown, wider income differences reduce social mobility and make it harder for people with poorer backgrounds to do so. for the disk. In 1980, I made several fast round trips to London, Paris and Bonn, and, on each occasion, had the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Thatcher. In the three years after the shipment they killed 224 and wounded scores more. Symbolically, the key moment was the defeat of the miners after the year-long pit strike in March 1985. Everything was justified as long as it made money andthis, too, isstill with us. at The Hague in May 1992. If a leader's record is to be measured by the willingness of the other side to decide itcannot turn back the clock, then Thatcher bulks big in history. Her refusal to stand against apartheid, her civil war against the unions, her aggression towards our neighbours in Ireland and a taxation system that was devised in the dark ages, the bombing of a retreating ship it's just not British. I am, it's safe to say, one of Thatcher's children. How could anyone who was so resolutely Margaret Thatcher be anything else? But at its crudest, the Thatcher ethos translated into the get-rich-quick, greed-is-good spirit of the 1980s, satirised by Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney creation. As she cut local housing budgets, she sent housing benefit soaring in compensation. I was just behind her at the civic museum in Dubrovnik when the local guide explained a model showing the elaborate system of ancient wells and tunnels that had provided the city with fresh water no matter how fierce the siege. For she changed the ethos of Britain as well as its landscape. Two especially forceful and committed leaders on the world stage at the same time: this was critical and key to ending the cold war, permitting the reunification of Germany, the consolidation of the EU and drawing our two nations together in a historic cooperation. April 8, 2013. (No wonder it sold 7m copies a week). Of all the things to criticise Thatcher for, calling her out for being a woman seems like something of a wasted bullet. After being carried through the streets of London in a flag-draped coffin aboard a gun carriage, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest this . Quotation being the warmest form of praise, Larkin was naturally touched. Many of the effects of inequality have long lag periods. Somesay she revolutionised British politics certainly never again could people say nobody would vote for a woman but it served a reactionary end. Much of any leader's record is unremarkable dross, and Thatcher was no exception. It was not interested in a resolution. Margaret Thatcher formally tendered her resignation to the Queen early this morning after leaving Downing Street for the last time. This legacy remains intact with a party that places a premium on radical thinking and, for all its flaws, sets the political agenda. Mrs Thatcher told the assembly: "It is mankind and his activities which are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways.". Lecturing me about the comprehensive schools, of which she created more than any minister before or since. It is not true that Thatcher didn't care about the media. I hope I'm not being reductive but it seems Thatcher's time in power was solely spent diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most. Oil helped Thatcher paper over the cracks, but Britain's age-old problem finding a way to pay its way in the world remains. They are aggressively exploiting the emotions generated by the person's death to create hagiography. Reagan's decision to bomb Libya, spoke That did the trick.). We still live in the land Margaret built. Texts for listed statements are available on the site in almost 70 per cent of cases. Critical Commentary: Margaret Thatcher outlined the British policy in relation to various world issues. 'The Crown' Season 4: Did Margaret Thatcher Really Sound - Decider . If the Falklands war was the making of Thatcher, then the poll tax was her achilles heel not least in Scotland. They're happy to share big windfall bonuses with their cronies, they'll stick up for deposed dictator chums when they're down on their luck, they'll find opportunities in business for people they care about. Capitalism flourishes on debt, but she insisted that economics were best understood as Mr Micawber's formula in which happiness and misery were separated by a shilling. Here is an excerpt from People [PMT]: "In politics," Margaret Thatcher once acidly observed, "if you want anything said, ask a man. series of famous statements that marked the end of her premiership, Maggie! delivered an outstanding defence of the Government in the Commons. Therein, 30 years ago, lay the great Thatcher asset and the electorally lethal Thatcher impact in Scotland. The first three speeches were by Winston Churchill. The most important thing Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did for British politics was to understand the significance of Thatcherism and to decide not to reverse it, indeed to carry it forward. In a twitter of panic, Labour shadow ministers sent out pleas yesterday: "Hoping all Labour supporters will respond with dignity and respect to news of Baroness Thatcher's death." Nelson travelled to South Africa where he helped negotiate a deal that saw the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance acquire AK-47 automatic rifles, pistols, grenades, and RPG rocket launchers in late 1987 or early 1988. I was a professional writer. As far as her supporters are concerned, this radical transformation worked. Making sure the verdict wasn't purloined by others. That one should not speak ill of the dead is arguably appropriate when a private person dies, but it is wildly inappropriate for the death of a controversial public figure, particularly one who wielded significant influence and political power. Every quality had its obverse, but she had a myth-making charisma to capture the world's imagination. Who was 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher? | Live Science she warned that she was not In 1990, Margaret Thatcher emerged as one of the first world leaders to champion climate science, issuing a call to action to fight manmade global warming at the Second World Climate Conference hosted at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The core ideas that underpinned her government endured through 13 years of Labour and are being extended by the coalition. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: "I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today." Philip Larkin visited Downing Street where the prime minister quoted approvingly one of his lines to him "Your mind lay open like a drawer of knives." The passing of Chvez is mourned by the many millions who loved him in Latin America and everywhere. So it suggests the anachronistic and unaffordable return to a contributory welfare system, while opposing the further opening up of education and health provision; some even float the renationalisation of railways. Thatcher became a supremely self-confident leader. This is one small sign of how the left seems paralysed by a lack of intellectual curiosity and confidence. I don't see that. I made this argument at length last year when Christopher Hitchens died and a speak-no-ill rule about him was instantly imposed (a rule he, more than anyone, viciously violated), and I won't repeat that argument today; those interested can read my reasoning here. She failed to replace those jobs with well-paid equivalents. It came very hard, getting the words and paragraphs in the right order, a task for which, she eventually admitted, she had hired some help. Born: 21 June 1932 in Halifax. Shoot-to-kill actions by British forces also significantly increased. Perhaps my early apathy and indifference are a result of what Thatcher deliberately engendered, the idea that "there is no such thing as society", that we are alone on our journey through life, solitary atoms of consciousness. History will judge her, but not a country in Europe was untouched by Thatcher's example. A Tory party desperate for women helped Thatcher through the political foothills to early success as an MP. Queen Elizabeth is widely assumed . This is not the Highland way. Original, independent voices such as BBC director general Alasdair Milne were brutally silenced. A massive programme of social housing would be a good place to start, stimulating the economy. When all the public amenities were flogged, the adverts made it seem to my childish eyes fun and positive, jaunty slogans and affable British stereotypes jostling about in villages, selling people companies that they'd already paid for through tax. She certainly was divisive, bisecting the country politically and geographically: hard-hit regions in the north of England, Wales and Scotland may be notably less civil in their farewells. Debate continues on whether Margaret Thatcher saved or destroyed British industry, but there is one industry that she practically created. The Thatcher government was across all the details of this shipment. National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher (Recorded The Crown's Version of Margaret Thatcher's 1990 Downfall Takes a Lot of Liberties with . Between 1945-90 every statement made by Margaret Thatcher is listed, as far as can be known. Margaret Thatcher's most popular book is The Downing Street Years. Government policy during the 1980s was little more than a war policy, aimed at defeating or isolating republicanism. That's because, 23 years after she was ejected from Downing Street by her own party in a move whose psychic wounds linger on, the country we live in remains Thatcher's Britain. When she took over in 1979, the bottom of that device would have carried the legend, "Property of the GPO." There's still the rage, still the unfairness, so where is the comedy? Margaret Thatcher: Foreign Policy of Great Britain | Speech-Guru As the coalition sets about shrinking the welfare state, it's still embarked on Thatcher's project of rolling back the frontiers of the state, dismantling the settlement that held from 1945 until it unravelled in the 1970s. Interviewing him, I was struck by a Victorian sort of kindness; as an Oxford student in the 1930s he'd worked in his vacation helping families of the unemployed in the Yorkshire coalfield one of them had even named their baby Keith in his honour. Now she would more likely have been beaten to the Tory leadership by one of the Etonians in cabinet. One turns with gratitude to Alan Clark's diaries for a fine description of being summoned to No 10 and being subjected to just such an examination. She may have got it slightly wrong. Texts for listed statements are available on the site in almost 70 per Neither shift of ownership and power would have happened without a leader prepared to take risks with her life. In fact, Margaret Thatcher was known for her lack of a sense of humour. Even the nasty politics of "welfare reform" is driven by the high cost of subsidising low pay through in-work benefits, and indifference to the plight of jobless communities who have never recovered from de-industrialisation. It'd be disingenuous to omit that there were a fair number of ding-dong-style celebratory messages amidst the pensive reflections on the end of an era. Privatisation was the single most massive attack on democracy we have seen. As I see it, and as one who had the pleasure of knowing both, they would recognize the huge opportunity created by the presence of each in the respective national and international policy-making role. Are there, even, things we look back on with regret for their passing? There was always an element of the erotic in the national obsession with her. When she walked into Downing Street promising harmony instead of discord, only one in seven children was poor and Britain was more equal than at any time in modern history. I will know that we have finally broken from the kind of capitalism that she championed and which died in 2008 when we see workers elected on to company boards. to his resignation letter on 1 November, defended herself against rough One leading Tory thinker said current academic concepts such as evolutionary psychology and behavioural economics were fundamentally rightwing; another said disruptive digital technology liberated individuals against powerful behemoths which may be true, but some of the most striking online advances harness the collective spirit. This has been a terrible labour, she said. Britain ceased to be the sick man of Europe and entered the 1990s with its reputation enhanced. series of famous statements that marked the end of her premiership, replied She was a prime minister who happened to be a woman. That speech was a rare instance of a politician saying something tangible. Defending The Venezuelan Embassy, Organizing Peace for Ukraine with Seeing as women aren't a minor Brit-flick grateful for even a bad review, that truism doesn't quite hold true here. of her best Parliamentary speeches in a debate on the strikes, prayed on the Thatcher did not believe in "picking winners"; instead she preferred to rely on market forces to ensure the survival of the fittest. This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure's death is not just misguided but dangerous. The pomp and circumstance that will crown her funeral was proffered by Brown, to some shudders from his own side. Without the Falklands/Malvinas war, which exploited nationalism (as Argentinian dictator Galtieri did) and which Labour would not oppose, she would never have been re-elected in 1983. Margaret Thatcher Curriculum Vitae. She was the first prime minister to be more accountable to the international market than to the British economy. The first time I met Margaret Thatcher, I swear she was wearing gloves. She was lucky in surviving the IRA's bomb. (Interestingly, Currie also recalled that when she approached Thatcher in 1988 to get approval for the world's first national breast-screening programme, she tried to appeal to the PM initially "as a woman" but that swiftly proved unsuccessful. Absurd or not, it does indeed seem alien not least to those born in the 1980s, the generation we shall always call Thatcher's children. She would appear in public to drape a hankie over a model BA plane tailfin because she disliked the unpatriotic logo with which they'd replaced the union flag (maybe don't privatise BA then), or to shuffle about some country pile arm in arm with a doddery Pinochet and tell us all what a fine fellow he was. Margaret Thatcher - UN General Assembly Climate Change Speech (1989) Council house sales and advertising campaigns that encouraged the public to buy shares in privatised companies were meant to broaden the appeal of capitalism. In the pantheon of this comedian's attacks on Thatcher, it was a retort that probably won't be treasured longer than the best lines from The Young Ones. The price we all continue to pay for Thatcherite policies is to live in a less cohesive and more antisocial society, in which community life is weaker, people feel less able to trust each other and fewer of those in government have the experience and compassion to represent or understand the vast majority. The items stored in this section of the site are texts, but many of the most important statements are also available in audio or video form in the separate Multimedia section. The author Nassim Taleb traded equations on a whiteboard with Gus O'Donnell, then head of the civil service, as they debated econometrics; at another, I watched entranced as Lord Heseltine argued urban policies with Harvard's Ed Glaeser. But really, such statements were anything but, first because sweeping statements about genders are the opposite of gender equality and second because they revealed her real attitude towards women, which lay behind her notable lack of female-friendly policies, her utter lack of interest in childcare provision or positive action. It's interesting, though, that even when comedians try to be political, they can never really land a punch on David Cameron, Nick Clegg or George Osborne. Norman and Margaret hold, and will always hold, a unique place in our esteem and affection. Visit a station and notice the plethora of competing train companies, replacing the single British Rail that operated in the pre-Thatcher days the fruit of a rail privatisation that was not hers, but was made possible only by the serial privatisations she had pioneered and made normal. Sue Gray used to be my boss. Much has been written about the special significance and warmth of the British-American alliance during the two terms of Ronald Reagan. Scotsman Obituaries: Bernard Ingham, press secretary who ensured Thatcher is remembered for her achievements, but more for a presence, which was wrapped up with being a woman. It's true that whenever there's a major news story, millions of people immediately begin strip-mining it for puns and bon mots, making it harder for professional comics to develop focused, funny material that nobody's heard before.
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