Hi Oi.
Are you old enough to remember the 70's? I remember them well as a teenager. A Labour government.
Doing my homework by the light of a victorian paraffin lamp, that warmed the dinning room up too!. Because no electric, no gas central heating. My mum in the kitchen warming up soup and making brews on a single ring calor thing. Why? The 3 day week, where light and heating went out for 2-3 hours every night, and all because the Labour government damned near made this country bankrupt. Hence my cigarette paper analogy in my post above.
As to war. I was at University. It started on South Georgia.
Lieutenant Keith Mills DSC is the British Royal Marines officer who commanded the defence of South Georgia against the 1982 Argentine invasion.
Early on 3 April 1982, Mills received a radio message from HMS Endurance relaying instructions from London that he should make only a token resistance to any Argentine violation of British territory. He allegedly replied "sod that, I'll make their eyes water", a remark that became famous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Mills_(Royal_Marines_officer)
He risked a court martial for this....but Keith was always one for doing what he felt was right and for the safety and protection of his men on the ground, regardless of what the 'brass' in this case, or any other authority would tell him what to do. There was an incident when he was head boy and he stood up for the pupils, and won.
He was interviewed on TV...I remember saying to my flatmate at the time "I always said Keith would start WWIII"....he's 2 years older than me and was head boy at our school. Yes, the Falklands brought up many mixed emotions.
Then we have the first Iraq war...I was pregnant with my first child, and remembered thinking "What the hell am I doing bringing a child into this sick, fucked up world?"
Then the second Iraqi war......well, we're all pretty much old enough to remember that one and all the subsequent 'invasions'.
The coalmines....here is a quote from another forum for you about the closure of the South Wales coal mines as an example
My great great grandfather came to Durham in the late 1800's from Wales he was a miner
and came looking for work because there was no work in Wales at the time. That was long before Thatchers time!...
and this
As for the coal mining industry, the threatened closures were to a few, unprofitable pits, but it was Arthur Scargill (and his open hatred for Thatcher...) that really closed the pits down, creating horrible divisions in communities and even in families by calling for all out strikes across the whole UK and threatening anyone who refused to support the strike with being ostracised from their communities...Scabs was the name given to anyone who to go to work and provide for their families..meanwhile Scargill sat in his ivory tower with an enormous salary, he didn't care about the miners, only his personal vendetta.
I cannot disagree with either comments. In the words of Max Boyce...."Because I was there"
As to the privatisation of state services....if you were there AT THE TIME...it was the only option, and it worked well for a time.
The problem I see with all this 'dancing on the grave' is like I said, unless you were there, she was the right person for the job. Yes, I would say she got to 'regal' for her own boots. But one thing is for sure....she changed the face of British Politics, people got engaged and woke up to the continuing claptrap all politicians of all political parties keep spewing. Unfortunately, since 'civilization' came about,
(a few thousand years ago) where the majority became the producers for the few......nothing will ever ever change.
Politics and religion sing from the same hymn sheet at the end of the day.....protect the few and to hell with the majority.
Jane
I was at school when she wanted to take our milk.
My uncle was a soldier during the Falklands.
My dad was a miner during the miner's strike.
My grandad was a BT engineer until it was privatised.
I wasn't there when she was comparing notes with Pinochet.
I wasn't there when she gave Savile a cheque for the NSPCC.
I was there when the price of water/rail/petrol/buses etc. etc. shot up due to privatisation.
I'm still here enjoying the benefits of bank deregulation.
