warrington15 Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Should Thatcher get a state funeral that the Queen & Brown have endorsed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 yes but 30 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Yes, and the sooner the better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve the Original Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 No why should she? she?s an Ex Prime Minister not a serving one.. Â Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 It would have been preferable when she was PM. Â We might still have some industry, or a mine or two, if we had. Â I'd also prefer a cremation. I'm after CERTAINTY!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Some form of public display I guess. Perhaps the same as Oliver Cromwell got, dig her up then publically hang and quarter her, putting her head on a spike for all to view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrdy Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Yes , she certainly should,next to Winston,the finest prime minister ever.Pity she's not in charge now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 It would have been preferable when she was PM. We might still have some industry, or a mine or two, if we had.  I'd also prefer a cremation. I'm after CERTAINTY!!!  Given that she won 3 elections, it seems that not all of the population agreed with you....that being said, the alternative was so dire..........  Not sure about a State Funeral though.  I understand we currently have 7 deep & 35 open cast mines operational in the UK.  Regarding industry, manufacturing industry in the UK is still larger than the financial services sector...contrary to popular believe. I think as an island, the fact that our ship building industry is now so small/specialist, is of concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 She didn't kill off heavy industry in this country, they committed suicide!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 She believed that our industry and public services were "over-manned" and thus unprofitable, de-manning would require a battle with the Unions. The advent of North Sea Oil revenues gave her the ideal opportunity to do just this; it allowed the money to be paid to the un-employed, thus providing a stick to beat the unions with; and their membership and backbone has declined ever since. Under-manning can now be seen in our public services such as the NHS. They became embarrassed eventually by the high unemployment level, so converted the unemployed to incapacity claimants, and that's how it's been ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister was the longest since that of Lord Salisbury and was the longest continuous period in office since the tenure of Lord Liverpool who was Prime Minister in the early 19th century. She was the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK, and the first of only three women to have held any of the four great offices of state. Among other things, she defiantly opposed the Soviet Union, and her tough-talking rhetoric gained her the nickname the "Iron Lady". She currently has a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, which entitles her to sit in the House of Lords.  Thatcher took over three years after the James Callaghan Government had concluded that the Keynesian approach to demand-side management failed to do everything, realising that the economy is not self-righting and that new fiscal judgements had to be made to concentrate on inflation, a view accepted by the Thatcher Government.  Thatcher's political and economic philosophy emphasised reduced state intervention, free markets, and entrepreneurialism. After the 1983 election, the Government sold off most of the large utilities, starting with British Telecom, which had been a publicly owned monopoly since 1912  Thatcher had a preference for indirect taxation over taxes on income, and value added tax (VAT) was raised sharply to 15%, with a resultant actual short-term rise in inflation. These moves hit businesses ? especially the manufacturing sector ? and unemployment quickly passed two million, doubling the one million unemployed under the previous Labour government  Thatcher's new system to replace local government taxes, outlined in the Conservative manifesto for the 1987 election, was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales in 1990. The rates were replaced by the Community Charge or 'Poll Tax', which applied the same amount to every individual resident, with an 80% reduction for the unwaged. This was to be the most universally unpopular policy of her premiership. Individuals seeking to avoid paying their share of the costs of local government effectively disenfranchised themselves by removing themselves from the electoral register, and causing problems over uncollected revenue for several years, and a rise in indirect taxation.  At Bruges, Belgium, in 1988, Thatcher made a speech in which she outlined her opposition to proposals from the European Community for a federal structure and increasing centralisation of decision-making. Although she had supported British membership, Thatcher believed that the role of the EC should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that new EC regulations would reverse the changes she was making in the UK.  In December 2004, it was reported that Thatcher had told a private meeting of Conservative MPs that she was against the British Government's plan to introduce identity cards. She is said to have remarked that ID cards were a "Germanic concept and completely alien to this country".  Just a little information I dug up on her for you all to chew on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Well Mary, the last but one paragraph in your little biography makes her OK in my books. Â She could obviously see the Euro dangers ahead.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 She believed that our industry and public services were "over-manned" and thus unprofitable, de-manning would require a battle with the Unions. The advent of North Sea Oil revenues gave her the ideal opportunity to do just this; it allowed the money to be paid to the un-employed, thus providing a stick to beat the unions with; and their membership and backbone has declined ever since. Under-manning can now be seen in our public services such as the NHS. They became embarrassed eventually by the high unemployment level, so converted the unemployed to incapacity claimants, and that's how it's been ever since. Â With regards to manning levels in the NHS, and indeed in other public services, the problem is the paperwork that they have to do, manning levels are fine it is just their time is wrongly utilised in conforming to the bureaucratic proceses....the Police Service is a classic example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahl Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 I wish she was in charge now then we would not have to listen to the eu and its ubbish directives aimed at destroying the British way of life . this country would be a country not a decaying society with incompetent government that do not care a damn about the people. The miners leader scargill was an idiot as he called his strike during the summer, not the winter. He was the main cause of the strife. he could have got a great deal for the miners if he had been sensible. The poll tax idea is correct, but was badly implemented. Why should householders have to pay for everyone in the area, regardless of how many people use the local facilities. Great idea to make everyone pay for the services in their area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Definately not, we should wait till she dies first !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Whilst Thatcher gave the impression of being Euro-sceptic, she didn't bring us out of the EU. The much famed rebate she got us from the EU, was at a price - we gave up OUR sole rights to huge fishing areas in the N/Sea in exchange - but that's not included in the myth. As for those dastardly miners trying to keep their jobs and keep an industry alive (that is now becoming worth it's weight in gold): the Tories never forgave the miners for their victory over Heath and the three day week: the 1984 scenario was pay back for that, and it cost an arm and a leg. Scargill predicted correctly, that they intended to decimate the mining industry, and we have witnessed the closure of over 90% of pits and the conversion of whole communities from workers to shirkers. As for the NHS, this was the time of de-manning, generic working, competition, choice - when "Trusts" (Quangos) were invented, with no public accountability, the loss of basic clinical hygene workers, and the wholesale contracting out of such services - now being proven to be a failiure, and a public danger. The wholesale closure of our productive industries, making us dependent on third world production and the promotion of service industries that produce nothing. And the cult of the individual, "beggar you Jack, I'm all right society"; which has permeated two generations leaving us with the disfunctional mess we have today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Seems to me Ronald Reagan got some kind of state funeral. It's an effort by the right wing to create icon mythology and make people forget the disastrous results of unintelligent choices made by robber barons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The casket bearing the remains of former President Ronald Reagan lies in state in the United States Capitol Rotunda The casket bearing the remains of former President Ronald Reagan lies in state in the United States Capitol Rotunda  The 40th President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan, died on June 5, 2004, after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for nearly a decade. A six day state funeral followed, spanning from June 5th to 11th.  After Reagan's death his casket was taken from his Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California home to the Gates, Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California. On June 7, it was transported by hearse and displayed at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, then flown to Washington, D.C. on June 9 for a service, public viewing and tributes at the U.S. Capitol Building. After lying in state for thirty-four hours in the Capitol Rotunda, a state funeral service was conducted at the Washington National Cathedral on June 11, the day that President George W. Bush declared a national day of mourning. Later that day, after the service, Reagan's casket was transported back to California for interment at the Reagan Presidential Library.  The state funeral was executed by the Military District of Washington (MDW) and was the first since that of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, as the last president to die, Richard Nixon, who presided over that funeral, did not have a state funeral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Thank you Mary for giving the true story of the Thatcher years. We would be better off today if her philosophy had been carried on. As for unemployment, well there are more people unemployed today than when Maggie was in number 10. The only difference is that most of these unemployed are called incapacitated instead. A euphemism by any other name is still a euphenism. Unfortunately we've now had 16 wasted years under Major, Bliar and now Jonah while the EUSSR has quietly taken over the effective running of the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 As I've tried to explain, Thatcher created "unemployment" as an instrument for social engineering; with the highest levels in recent history. In order to disguise the figure, millions were allowed to convert to incapacity benefit; and the current benefit dependency culture was born; it's now been passed on to a new generation, who've known nothing different - that's the Thatcher legacy, and subsequent PMs have never reversed it. As for the myth of her Euro-scepticism; she never reversed the slide into a Euro-super-state; thus proving that even she was all style and little substance. What she and her successors have proved, is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer; and she would no doubt be proud of the fact that her legacy has been sustained in the fact that we now have the biggest wealth gap in recent history - destined to get even greater under the looming economic recession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Jerry - every President gets a State Funeral?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 And Ronald got a whacking great battleship or aircraft carrier named after him too..... maybe we could call one of our two new super carriers "HMS Maggie"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrington15 Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 And Ronald got a whacking great battleship or aircraft carrier named after him too..... maybe we could call one of our two new super carriers "HMS Maggie"! Â Â or HMS Maggie the women that brought the country down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 ....and won 3 elections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Thus proving that "winning elections" is rather pointless if no positive results and progress arise from it. The only Government that stands as having a positive and sustainable legacy, only won "one" election in 1945. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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