Margaret Thatcher

[TheGoodGuy]

Apparently there are a lot of 'rumours' circulating on Twitter and by the Daily Mail that Margaret Thatcher is gravely ill, has lapsed into a coma, and is allegedly very close to death.
I don't use Twitter, so I've tried googling but can find nothing myself to substantiate these statements.
Anyone heard or read anything to confirm or deny this?

[bigcumba]

I've heard the same, but no more idea than you... maybe they're worried folk will be lining up to dance on her grave!

[Win2Win]

Will she get a State funeral as she left the country in a state

[bigcumba]

If she does it'll be a bigger security job than the royal wedding as a lot more folk despise her!

[Godspot]

You can keep updated here if you're really that concerned:

Margaret Thatcher … going … going …

the void — Fears grow over ‘frail’ Baroness Thatcher after no public appearance for nearly two months Could be any day now. Prepare the bunting! Party – Trafalgar Square, London – When Maggie Thatcher Dies
http://www.wikio.co.uk/news/Margaret+Thatcher

Apparently there is to be a state funeral, to be held in Barnsley....

[lowe1]

I heard it was just miner surgery

[piggy]

please,please,please don't give her a state funeral talk about opening old wounds

[tovarich]

Will she get a State funeral as she left the country in a state

I think, Keith, that when Baroness Thatcher took office in 1979, you would have been about 13 years old and maybe not too au fait with Party Politics, and when you say she left the country in a state, do you know the state of the country she inherired from the Wilson/Callaghan government in 1979? The debts she inherited from the Wilson/Callaghan fiasco were about the equivalent of the £4.8 trillion debts that David Cameron has to contend with and she had to make cuts then just like now. (Did y'all know that in 1976 Harold Wilson had to resign due to ill health, - Alzheimers. At least Baroness Thatcher had the good grace to wait till she left Downing St.) Not that it made any difference to the state of the country since he wasn't leading the country at the time.

People like Vic Feather Gen. Sec of the TUC, Len Murray, Gen. Sec. of the TUC, George Woodcock, Gen. Sec. of the TUC were all spending more time at No10 than Harold Wilson since they were running the country.

For those who only Know Baroness Thatcher as "Thatcher the Milk Snatcher" let me say that she decided that the money saved would be better spent building new schools which she did.

In 1944, as a six year old, I well remember queuing up with our ration books for :-
1 (one) tin of Dried Powdered Miilk
1(one) tin of Dried Powdered Egg
1(one ) small bottle of Concentrated Orange Juice
1(one)small bottle of Cod Liver Oil.

That was what the Wartime Government thought my sister and I needed to supplement the Vegetable Pies my mother made or the occasional rabbit stew (sometimes on a Sunday) As a schoolchild I also got one third of a pint of fresh milk every morning.

I know (or doubt) that anyone reading this is the least bit interested, so why am writing this? Leap forward some 33 years to 1977 when she was Education Secretary and think how many starving schoolchildren there were in this country and how many undernourished children there were. and how many relied on one third of a pint of fresh milk every day to supplement their burgers and crisps I'd say none, zero, zilch. I might suggest that the free milk given out in 1977 most likely ended up being poured down the neck of the kid in front So, next time you care to denigrate her name think about what I've said. May not make a lot of difference to you but there ye go, I've said my bit.
Got more to come though, once I've got it all sorted out, and I'm sure you'll like it - not a lot - but interesting and probably raise a few arguements.

[scoobydoo]

Saw this on a forum about 'Was Mrs Thatcher evil?'

"This begs two more questions: Firstly will she go to hell? And once there, will she close down half of the furnaces?"

[Win2Win]

I remember The Thatcher years very well, I was working in 1982 straight from school thanks to her policies

[tovarich]

I remember The Thatcher years very well, I was working in 1982 straight from school thanks to her policies

And didn't you do well, Keith.

[Win2Win]

And didn't you do well, Keith.

Yep.... starting off as an MP's rent boy got me where I am today

[piggy]

coal mining
ship building
boom bust economy
forced sale of social housing
record reposetions
using the the spg and army as her personal thugs
suppresion of the press
the poll tax

but as tov said "Got more to come though, once I've got it all sorted out, and I'm sure you'll like it - not a lot - but interesting and probably raise a few arguements. "

just a few more:
the GPO
privitisation - making millions for husband and banker friends
destroying the meaning of community
creating an underclass

[piggy]

oh what the hell:
misuse of police powers
illegal phone tapping
record interest rates
more small buisnesses went under than at any other time
tebbit

[TooTall]

boom bust economy yoe cant really use that can you

[bigcumba]

Also, record numbers of homeless people on the streets of our towns and cities. Creating a society where greed and selfishness was the norm, and we're reaping the benefits of that these days...

[Win2Win]

Thatcher was a bit of a looker when she was much younger ..... oh .... .... hang on .... I'm confusing her with the afterbirth

[scoobydoo]

well done piggy, I was going to reply yesterday but I couldnt be ...it would be like trying to convince Tory Central Office

[Godspot]

Made great satire though:

[scoobydoo]

Spitting Image should be brought back...we need it these days with this Tory government in. I like the 'war time hero' bit.

[tovarich]

coal mining
ship building
boom bust economy
forced sale of social housing
record reposetions
using the the spg and army as her personal thugs
suppresion of the press
the poll tax

but as tov said "Got more to come though, once I've got it all sorted out, and I'm sure you'll like it - not a lot - but interesting and probably raise a few arguements. "

just a few more:
the GPO
privitisation - making millions for husband and banker friends
destroying the meaning of community
creating an underclass

You know Piggy, one big problem of being retired is that you never have enough hours in the day to do all that you'd like to do and since you've given us a whole list of no-no's I'll try and get through them all as soon as I can.

[SHIPBUILDING

For most of my life we have built the best ships in the world. Nobody could beat John Brown's on Clydebank or Short Bros. in Belfast so how come they suddenly stopped being the best? Did they just lose their ability or was there another reason? You seem to be blaming Maggie Thatcher. Let me tell you that during the 60's and 70's (before MT) shipyards always seemed to be on strike. Another pay rise, followed by demands for another pay rise, but the final nail in the shipbuilding coffin was DEMARCATION. The shipbuilding unions insisted that :-

One shipbuilder will carry a footrule and a piece of chalk and it would be his job to measure and mark where the hole for the bolt should be.

One shipbuilder would bore the hole for the bolt.

One shipbuilder would be on the ground heating the bolt to near white heat then throwing it up to another shipbuilder who would hammer the bolt home, helped by shipbuilder No 5 who was on the inside.

So there you go, Five men being paid to drive home ONE F*****G bolt. The Union Convenors probably thought they'd done a good job ensuring more jobs for their men but sadly the jobs didn't last for long for any of them before they ALL lost their jobs because the company's couldn't compete pricewise against the Koreans (mainly) Most of this happened during Harold Wilson's term in office and since he relied on the Unions for votes there wasn't much he could do.

I'll pass on apologies from all the bandwagon jumpers to Baroness Thatcher the next time I see her

AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY


You didn't mention this, Piggy so I thought I'd do it for you.
Much the same as the shipbuilding industry. Once upon a time we built the best aircraft in the world, both passenger (Comets, BAC 1-11's) and fighter (Hawker Hunter's, Lightning's,) until the Unions priced there members out of the market. Now France builds the airframes and wings, we get to build the tailplanes. And this damage was done before Prime Minister Thatcher took office.


BOOM OR BUST

Every government has good times and bad times during it's 5 year term (you can call it boom or bust if you want) but I think you were confused with the Wilson/Callaghan term of office. Do you remember when they were challenged about the dire state of the economy, "Sunny" Jim Callaghan said "CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS" as if nothing was wrong. Did anyone on this forum try getting a mortgage in the late sixties? I did, and was refused a few times. Trouble was nobody had money to save in the Building Society so the Building Society had no money to lend to me. More bust than boom, I know!


FORCED SALE OF SOCIAL HOUSING

By that you mean selling off Council Properties don't you. Well as a child I was brought up in council estate housing but for the last twenty seven years of my working life I was an Independent Financial Advisor and I'm happy to say I was able to help many council house tenants to become property owners for the first time in their life. Many of them didn't know what was available to them - forty five per cent discount plus one per cent for every two years in councill accomodation, Meaning some were getting a sixty five per cent discount to buy the house they had lived in and brought up their families in for as little as £10,000. So who are you to deny them the "THE RIGHT TO BUY" and become part of the property owning society?


RECORD NUMBER OF REPOSSESSIONS

You may be right Piggy, but what has that got to do with MT? The real reason for this was pure greed. I bought my current house in 1987 for £49,000 and within ten months I was offered £89,000 for it by an Estate Agent and if I'd been greedy I would have taken it and moved up to an even bigger house, which is what many people did. " Bloody hell, Mary, have you seen how much these houses are going for now, we've only been in this house two years and already it's nearly doubled in value. I'll pop into the Estate Agent tomorrow lunchtime and see about these new houses on the new estate they're building up by the gravel pits, maybe we could afford a new four bedroomed house" Which is how it happened, young couples were taking on more than they could afford without thinking what would happen if interest rates went up - which they did which meant in many cases REPOSSESSIONS. Not the fault of Baroness Thatcher, mate, just pure bloody greed.


POLL TAX - or COMMUNITY CHARGE


A very unpopular move for some but a good idea for others. When I moved into my present house there was just one wage coming in, mine, while Tom next door in exactly the same house had four wages coming in, his own plus three sons and I was paying the same amount of council tax as him so you can see that many people thought that the Poll tax was a good idea, while those who had not previously been paying council tax didn't want to start now (and there was more of them) and who can blame them. In trying to spread the costs around I'm beginning to think she may have been a communist at heart.

Got to stop now, I think I see ice forming on my cocoa!

[Godspot]

The rumours r back - all over twitter & FB - it all stems from this Brixton blogger: http://sw9red.wordpress.com/2012/01/...-uk-indymedia/

Indymedia have hidden it until confirmed:

"Thatcher was found unconcious at her London residence by a close aide.
Her son Sir Mark Thatcher and his wife Sarah were immediately alerted and arrived within the hour.

Her death was confirmed by her doctor at approximately 19:50 PM.

It has been widely reported in the recent past that Baroness Thatcher had been suffering from senile dementia as well as other health complications.

Baroness Thatcher had also been suffering from severe polymyalgia rheumatica and pneumonia – and even at this very early stage it has been speculated as having being the primary cause of her death.

Thatcher is survived by her son Mark and daughter Carol.

The opinion(s) of this author does not constitute or reflect the opinion(s) of any media/news organization.

Greg Harkin (Freelancer)"

[Godspot]