The Iron Lady had a stroke and died today. Much ink will be spilled about her career. Our own right wing will be thrown into a fit of nostalgia. But little will be written about the long-term consequences of Thatcherism/Reaganism. Look at their project now. Look at the state of the Conservative and Republican parties. They are utterly spent forces. Look at what has happened to the middle class in the thirty-four years since Thatcher and thirty-two years since Reagan took power.
How did that Persian Gulf War work for us? How did it work out for Iraq?
She was an impressive lady who has a complex legacy. But I can’t muster much in the way of kind words. My condolences to her family.
found this from Zander:
UPDATE] I had forgotten about Thatcher’s treatment of Nelson Mandela.
The Conservative prime minister had dismissed the ANC as “a typical terrorist organisation” and refused to back sanctions against the apartheid government, pursuing instead a policy of “constructive engagement”. South Africa was then seen as a vital ally in stemming communist expansion.
………………
so, um, no condolences from me to the family.
Yes. All she did that kept Mandela in jail and he out lived her.
One thing I can almost guarantee won’t be talked about regarding her and Reagan’s twin legacy is their energy policy. Instead of continuing on the course towards sustainability embarked by Carter, they opted for the breakneck pursuit of oil (and were lucky that geology complied in the form of the Alaskan North Slope and UK/Norway North Sea fields). That flooded the market with cheap oil and gave a temporary (~15 year) boost to an ailing economy without resolving any of the underlying problems. (Indeed, all the problems just got worse — inequality spiked, sustainability got worse, etc.)
See my diary – US Foreign Policy in a 3-Letter Word OIL.
I was attending Univ in Canada during her tenure. Watching the death spiral daily, hourly, of the strident Irish political prisoners who chose starvation and her stoic non response was something that haunts me still.
The female Churchill–if Winnie had ordered the blitz instead of encouraging morale during the blitz.
An eminent plutocrat with Elizabethan ambition.
What male chauvinism demands that women politicians become.
Makes you wonder what that same chauvinism would force a Hillary to become. shudder
She claimed to have followed Thatcher’s recommendation that women of a certain age should dye their hair blond. Of course that might be as true as having been named for Edmund Hillary and that she ducked sniper fire in Kosovo.
There will be no mourning in the Chief’s house.
I went looking for Dylan’s Masters of War to post on Facebook in her honor – best I could come up with was by Pearl Jam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG443N7lo4Q
Brit long time lurker here.
I lived through her time. She destroyed much of the country through the deliberate abandonment of British industry in favour of ‘loads-a-money’ finance and property speculation.
The Miner’s strike in 84 was the lowpoint. Deliberately orchestrated to destroy a powerful union it led to the total destruction not just of an industry but countless villages and towns, which have never recovered.
I was part of the miner’s support, taking part in a first ever LGBT support group. We were welcomed and that support paid huge dividends in getting the labour movement to swing behind gay rights.
Don’t wish bad on anyone who has died but a lot of Britain – Liverpool for one, which was left to ‘managed decline’ – will be celebrating. I see that Twitchy is already on to this, having no sense of what she actually wrought.
Here’s an oldie but goodie piece on 20 reasons why much of Britain hated Thatcher.
Fellow expat lurker here, Paul.
Concerning that coal policy of Thatcher’s: Britain began to import vast quantities of coal from South Africa during the 80’s and 90’s. Britain got cheaper coal, and certain segments of the economy prospered while other areas went into economic depression.
BUT! This is where a Thatcher policy came back to haunt the Blair/Brown governments. The surplus of cheap ships that transported the coal from South Africa to Britain became a full shortage. The culprit? The rise of the Chinese mega economy, and the need for concrete which necessitates importing the concrete by ships for China’s building boom. The surplus of ships that often led to extraordinarily cheap shipping rates figured into the cost of coal, transformed into a shortage of ships with high shipping rates and consequently high priced South African coal. Consequence? No more cheap coal from South Africa. The shipping rates drove up the price of the commodity. Now, British coal is attractive again. Short sighted policies are the norm for conservative governments the world over. Conservatives boast, “We opened China to the paradise of free market economies.” Actually, you folks let a genie out of its bottle.
Thanks. Did not know that though I believe UK still imports something like 50m tons of coal a year.
Andrew Sullivan has a particularly blind fanboy piece on her which reckons that ending the coal industry was a good thing because it meant that miners’ sons weren’t forced to acquire black lung! Arrrgh!
Tombstone epitaph: “You don’t have to be right but a decision needs to be made.” MT did provide clarity in politics.
“utterly spent forces…”
Well, they are utterly failed forces, but it’s hard for me to see them as spent. Certainly not in Murica. The joke now is that St Reagan would be seen as a RINO. But objective failure is not a problem for “conservatism”, we know.
We still live in the Conservative Era. Don’t see it ending soon.
Thatcher’s greatest popularity in America seems to stem from her great Falklands expedition, which Reagan of course glommed onto (and supplied) to share in her glory. I’d say the whole Falklands campaign was a huge boon to re-inflating American militarism, which was Reagan’s chief accomplishment.
Spitting Image Satire
Of course the British are posting opinions on YouTube webpage, as decisive as ever …
Simple solutions – mostly “I got mine; screw those that haven’t – appeals to minds slowly deteriorating. What a shame the people are suckers for those leading them into gaga land.
Strong and wrong usually beats weak and right, here and across the Pond. Tough-talking pols usually impress folks, until years later after the dust settles and they see what the tough talkers have wrought. Then a few years later they forget and are again impressed, etc. Lather rinse repeat.
FIgure it’ll take us a few centuries before we stop this stupid cycle. That might even be an optimistic outlook.
At the rate we’re going, the stupid cycle will outlive us.
Mouseketeer Annette Funicello has died. And that makes me sad. Thatcher, not so much.
I told my twenty-four year old son that Annette Funicello had died and that it made me much sadder than when I heard about Margaret Thatcher. And he said, “Who’s Annette Funicello?”
Now I really feel like crying.
Sweet memories …
How is the ruling British Conservative party a spent force?
Are you talking about the changes Cameron had to push on social issues? Economically they seem as bloody as ever.
And yeah, even though I knew what would be happening I dared ready Sully today.
A ‘complex legacy’ only in terms of the many interconnected ways she damaged the lives of the vast majority of people living in the UK.
That’s complex. The ‘legacy’ part is pretty straightforward.
Thatcher’s greatest contribution to humanity.
I will always remember Maggie Thatcher as the subject of a NSFW song by the 1980s hardcore band, the Exploited.
Not recommended for work, or for those who can’t deal with extremely rude language.
I’ll quote my British friend:
“She did not improve living standards for ordinary people, she created greater inequality. Her policies drove down wages, undermined the NHS, gutted the social housing stock etc. Her rhetoric was about attacking the poor and blaming them, she talked about how there was ‘no such thing as society’ she was a ‘greed is good’ neo-liberal, everyone out for themselves and bugger everyone else. On paper she may have improved the GDP of the country, but it went primarily in to the pockets of an already rich minority. Under her premiership homelessness soared, poverty and welfare dependence soared. Some of the stuff, like closing down the mines, was necessary, but she did it in a way designed to cause maximum suffering because of her ideological battle with socialism and worker’s rights. Her whole ethos was to make her rich friend’s richer. They got richer.”
And there is Alex Ferguson(it wasn’t said today .. but remember .. and yes .. that one!! .. that Sir Alex is from Scotland .. and they despise her even more up there:
http://bit.ly/YcpFqz
and then .. there is who else .. but Morrissey:
http://thebea.st/Zwz8e8
My condolences to her loved ones..May she rest in peace..She will be remembered in her memorable life.
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