Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

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RIP to impressive woman, however one feels about her.

R.I.P. Baroness Thatcher, you were an excellent leader and ally, you're already missed!

RIP. An extraordinary woman. I'm literally so upset about this.

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Exactly, there was a lot ... and I mean a lot, that I disagreed with but purely from a perspective of political history - the first woman party leader, opposition leader, prime minister and the longest serving leader of the 20th Century. She re-made her party and one can say (good or bad) her country.

People should show some decency, dignity and respect. Simple as that.

Thank you for such a considered statement.

If you find Thatcher so objectionable you can simply say nothing good about her.
Then just don't say anything.

[Supersonic]

I would like not to, but I cannot help myself.

Well, she finally contributes personally to her beloved health-care and pension cuts.

Nicest thing I can say, really.

Oh give over.

[Supersonic]

Whether people agree or disagree about whether Thatcher was a good thing for Britain, it's objective fact that her policies threw thousands of Britons into permanent poverty and ruined entire communities.

Also of relevance:

"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left."
-Margaret Thatcher

[Supersonic]

Also of relevance:

"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left."
-Saint Margaret Thatcher

fixed

Glad you have seen the light.

[Supersonic]

Also of relevance:

"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left."
-Saint Margaret Thatcher

fixed

Glad you have seen the light.

Unless the Church of England has started canonizing saints, Blair is the only possible candidate for sainthood amongst recent PMs.

What a travesty.

[Supersonic]

I am so glad Nelson Mandela outlived the ****.

No.

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I am so glad Nelson Mandela outlived the ****.

No.

Margaret Thatcher is a better person than Nelson Mandela?

It's not a question of whose better.

It's more a case of 'who cares if someone outlives the other'.

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I considered being solemn, but after seeing how the right reacted to Chavez's death I can't help but feel a bit of joy inside, however much I remind myself that she's still a human being.

Why do you feel joy when a women who has been out of power for 23 years, and was suffering with alzheimers, has died?

"Manchester United announced that they would not be honouring the former PM with a minute's silence prior to their match against rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford"

http://sidespin.kinja.com/margaret-thatcher-and-her-attempts-to-destroy-english-f-471243555?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

An Argentine player (Aguero) ended up scoring the winning goal. Heh.

Awesome.

That's quite amusing, aha.

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So this just happened like 10 minutes from where I live. Seen it on twitter.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHW8lAyCAAAXbqV.jpg:large

Not many people.

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It's easy for Americans to sing her praises as you didn't have to actually live with her or the consequences of her premiership.

A conservative-leaning Briton could say the same about a failed Labour PM. That's how politics work.

Quite.

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Really? They was two democratic elected politician, who both favoured their vote segment over the good of the country and both lacked any respect for informal check and balances and was willing to change the election structures to weaken their opponents. Chavec was nothing but a left wing version of Thatcher, no matter how much his supporters would hate to hear it.

I can understand why you would say they 'both favoured their vote segment', though how did Thatcher lack respect for checks and balances? She had a clear majority in every Parliament under her tenure. Also, how did she change the 'election structures'? It's not like the electoral system changed at all, which, her left wing opponents were badgering on about for a good while after 1983. PR and all that jazz.

[Supersonic]

I suppose the Thatchavez thing works with oil money and all that as well. Never forget that the Thatcher government wasted the North Sea windfall on free tax cuts.

though how did Thatcher lack respect for checks and balances?

...

Are you serious?

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Think he's referring to the dismantling of large sections of local government and the castration of the rest of it. Which, of course, was done purely because it represented an alternative source of political power to the one that she occupied.

To the point on checks and balances I would agree with forward '12 to an extent.

On local government, it was in the Conservative manifesto of '83 to abolish the GLC and Metropolitan Councils. Once Thatcher got back in, she did as such. It wasn't as if this was a spontaneous reaction. Also, she didn't change the electoral structure regarding General Elections.

Yeah, to be fair, the British constitution doesn't really give us a system of checks and balances to be respected in the first place. We have checks and balances in-name-only.

True. I agree.

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To the point on checks and balances I would agree with forward '12 to an extent.

You are both wrong.

k

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What has that got to do with the price of coal?

I was saying that it was in the Conservative manifesto to alter local government, so the changes at least had a mandate behind them?

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To the point on checks and balances I would agree with forward '12 to an extent.

You are both wrong.

k

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What has that got to do with the price of coal?

I was saying that it was in the Conservative manifesto to alter local government, so the changes at least had a mandate behind them?

So, if Chavez announced he would do controversial things, it would be okay because he announced it?

That's a severe mischaracterization of democracy.

How? It would depend if these 'controversial things' had a popular mandate behind it of course, if they did, what's the problem? That is democracy.

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Absolutely sickening front cover of the Socialist Worker.

 

#TheCompassionateLeft

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How's your compassionate conservatism going btw? Last I heard people more or less on their deathbed were being forced out to non-existent work so you can cut their benefits?

Or is it okay, because you now accept that the right don't hold any compassion?

Mindless socialist rhetoric versus the front cover of a profound left wing paper.

I'll take the paper as better evidence.

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How's your compassionate conservatism going btw? Last I heard people more or less on their deathbed were being forced out to non-existent work so you can cut their benefits?

Or is it okay, because you now accept that the right don't hold any compassion?

Mindless socialist rhetoric versus the front cover of a profound left wing paper.

I'll take the paper as better evidence.

Funnily enough plenty of evidence for it though: http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/04/32-die-a-week-after-failing-in.html ?

Come now. Quoting the Mirror as evidence is like me quoting the Daily Mail and keeping a straight face.

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She stood for liberty at a time when Britain didn't want it. She stood for western progress when her opposition pushed for Marxism.

What a load of mindblowingly absurd bollocks.

Enlightening.

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What are you, twelve? Moronic opinions that are factually wrong to the point of absurdity do not deserve to be treated with anything other than abuse.

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Tributes now in the Commons.

Fantastic speeches by Cameron and Miliband, I have to say! Clegg seemed rather bitter and divisive. Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Conor Burns were also very good.

Also, honest question, but did Harold Wilson do anything similar when Clement Attlee died? The 45-51 Labour government, after all, was as objectively groundbreaking as the 79-97 Tory government was.

I would like to know the answer to this too. I don't think I've ever heard anything about Clement Attlee's funeral.

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Appearently, we'll now have Margaret Thatcher Circle in Warsaw.

God, how I hate this f**king country.

FC. Freedom Country.

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I will accept that Lord Liverpool was worse.

I think you can add Baldwin and Eden to the list as well.

Why Baldwin? He was pretty sound.