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"Manufacturing costs and wage demands were exceding what we could afford but they could not see that."

The coal miners were trying to defend their jobs. What do you expect them to do? Want to close down our pit? Oh yes please.

"They did not live in the real world, it was just give me more money regardless of the cost."

Are you talking about the labour movement, miners or indeed, the investment banking industry?

Where did you get the figure of 52 from? I was brought up in a coal mining area and I didn't know anyone who's Dad died at 52 or below.

Yup in a world where we have sold off our utilities largely to foreign owned companies and North Sea oil and gas is running out, we could do with revisiting our options including coal.

As for all this stuff about Maggie Thatcher standing up against the unions. At least the unions represented the ordinary working men and women who paid their taxes. You can't really say that for the Confederation of British Industry and its fellow travellers who shove corporate profits offshore and then bleat for reductions in corporation tax.

As for manufacturing being inefficient and their products too expensive prior to Thatcher coming along, my guess is that the entire total of government funding in the 20th century for the UK nationalised industries is dwarfed by the billions used to bail out the UK investment industry and then subsequently shovelled into banks as part of the quantitative easing process.

Will we have a Tory leader to stand up to the Banking Industry? Err, I don't think so, given financial companies are the main funders of the Tory party and to all intents and purposes own the Tory government.

Bloody hell I didn't realise her son Mark was knighted ! If ever there was an example of why the 'honours' system is flawed and a waste of time surely he is it ?

It may be worse than you thought.

He ( Mark) is actually: The Honourable Sir Mark Thatcher 2nd Baronet, a title he inherited on the death of his father in 2003 and which will in due course be passed to his own son.

Quite different from your bog standard Knighthood or Life Peerage even.

Interesting to read on his Wiki page that he appears to have been early into the "wonga.com" idea, of "interesting" interest charges! who knows it may even BE him who owns Wonga behind some front company.

Ah the guardian of the left strikes again. We are talking the 80's not the 2000's and there was the banking problems we have now. Coal miners thought they were different to the rest of us and should not have pay constraints. They chose that life so dont moan about the conditions and pay. If they did not like it they could have left.
If the economy had been left to some of the old labour spend spend spend and lets cow tow to the unions I hate to think what state we would have ben in

Firefly, i'll bet you're sympathetic to armed services personnel aren't you ? Doesn't your observation that :

"They chose that life so dont moan about the conditions and pay. If they did not like it they could have left"

apply to armed services personnel ? I'll bet you have a blind spot there though.

Firefly to the point

This is what was wrong in the 70's the mess we had with the unions and they way that they fucked around with industry....

Look at the coal mining - as I said it was cheaper to bring coal from china than what it was to dig it up here - laws of economics. Back then they thought it was a right to get a job in the mine and work until they retired. Not now. If a mine wasnt cost effective then why not close it or mothball it until it was profitable again. The workers dictating to the company - the company paid them, and they thoughtt hat they had the rights to dictate to the bosses. Aye fucking right man. If Im paying you I call the shots, If you think that you were going to get away with hiding behind the unions for as long as you did then that was blown out the water. Thatcher took em to task, and about time she did - if they had not screwed the unions then there would be nothing left here now. We still have an industry and we still do have jobs but its skilled jobs and what is wrong with that, as I said some good answers would be to come in heavy handed and get those lazy fuckers back to work - generate work and have them do it. So you bleat about working on benefits - either you do or you dont get anything. why do you think that you should get paid from the government ? yeah you worked down the pit or you built cars now you dont - times move and businesses change. maybe you need to move to an area that has work, maybe you need a boot up the arse ! but what you dont need is to be given handfuls of money for doing jackshit.

My opinion. She was piss poor at everything except presentation and making an impact. Her policies were ill conceived and usually had disasterous results. She destroyed whole communities and became the unwitting creator of a chav nation of drugs crime and poverty which all go hand in hand.

Her hair was silly. Her coats were very old fashioned (ooooh hark at me Gok Wan eh luvs?)

Her voice was very annoying and patronising "No! No! No!" She would say

Oh and as a side note. if she was still in power there would have been no R18 or relaxation of the OPA prosecutions that plagued the porn industry until 1992. She would be mortified at the idea of Ben and chums bumming an 18 year old czech girl or Terry Stephens encouraging sexual activity on railway stations.

Nah she can fuck right off! Oh, she did already, cheers maggie. Erm bye then.

Sadly despite Thatcher and her kids being millionairres we will still pay for it. Aint this just a fine place to live? They should pay for it like any other family does when a loved one dies. She is not a head of state. why should I pay for her funeral?