Who is most hated - Thatcher or Blair
Discussion
Ruskie said:
Thatcher. Destroyed communities, families and individual lives. I understand why but it doesn't make it right. Those same communities have never recovered and probably never will.
Can you give one single solid reason why you think those communities could've successfully carried on without Thatcher, rather than inreasingly taking the rest of the country down with them?Kermit power said:
Ruskie said:
Thatcher. Destroyed communities, families and individual lives. I understand why but it doesn't make it right. Those same communities have never recovered and probably never will.
Can you give one single solid reason why you think those communities could've successfully carried on without Thatcher, rather than inreasingly taking the rest of the country down with them?Can't stand or chose from either of them, but her, Lovely woman.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707333/Th...
Quite why some think the sun shone out of her backside is beyond me.
Countdown said:
Outside of PH I don't think Blair is hated that much. The hatred for Thatcher is much much greater. Hence the celebrations about her death even though she'd not been in power for 20+ years.
In 20+ years Blair will be unknown.
I don't think so.. Blair is thoroughly hated by pretty much everyone who was old enough to see / know what he was doing, whereas Thatcher is hated only by people who were old enough to be affected by what she was doing. I know she f**ked some things up, and set this country down a path it may never recover from, but a lot of people love her for it so opinion tends to be polarised. Blair on the other hand.. opinion seems to range from "smug git" to "execute him for war crimes". In 20+ years Blair will be unknown.
Anyway.. TL;DR version: I think Blair will be hated for a while once people forget about Thatcher.
Hatred of Thatcher is largely confined to small section of left wingers, whereas hatred of Blair crosses political borders. I know many committed socialists who detest the man and can't think of any admirers from either side of the political spectrum. I don't think history will be kind to Blair.
Countdown said:
In 20+ years Blair will be unknown.
Definitely disagree with this.The longer my political frame of reference becomes the more I tend to think in terms of epochs, rather than particular governments or Prime Ministers, though it tends to be a change of government that ushers in a new epoch. Blair most certainly did and we are still in it.
In a very broad sweep of post war history, the Atlee government began an era of socialist government that lasted until 1979. Thatcher's era marked a move to a mixed economy with a greater emphasis on enterprise. Blair's era is one of something approaching fascism* with syndicalist economics, the state playing a role in all manner of things without necessarily controlling them entirely, and regulations handed down from appointed bodies of experts with little that raelly resembles democratic scrutiny.
- I realise the F word here will cause some people to jump 6 feet in the air and say I'm equating Blair with Hitler. I'm not. Fascism was an established doctrine before the horrors of WW2, and didn't just centre around genocide.
Sadly he'll probably just be remembered as the guy who was "in charge" when house prices went up, until that funny Scottish guy took over.
smegmore said:
Hate them both but Thatcher was an evil vindictive witch, she should have been burned at the stake in the 70s.
Blair? A chancer and a good one, you have to give him that but his open door immigration policy will come back and haunt this country in the future, perhaps it's already started?
Even someone as full of hate as you must surely realise that she did a lot of good, as well as (in your eyes) a lot of harm. What was good about Blair? He has destroyed Britain with his policy of inviting the whole of third world to live there. There's no going back from that.Blair? A chancer and a good one, you have to give him that but his open door immigration policy will come back and haunt this country in the future, perhaps it's already started?
RYH64E said:
Hatred of Thatcher is largely confined to small section of left wingers, whereas hatred of Blair crosses political borders. I know many committed socialists who detest the man and can't think of any admirers from either side of the political spectrum. I don't think history will be kind to Blair.
Thatcher changed Britain and her influence can still be seen cross-partly regardless of those who suggest otherwise.She changed the way the unions acted (voting rights etc.) and made an attempt to stop the frankly idiotic powers and disputes caused by the unions (and I do think unions are generally a good supporter of the employee btw)
She gave people the choice to buy their own council homes
She started reforms of the NHS
She kept the Falklands British
She de-regulated the stock market
Share ownership trebled in the Thatcher years
She gave people the choice to make a difference in their lives
Westy Pre-Lit said:
RYH64E said:
MarshPhantom said:
Where do you get your figures from?
I didn't quote any figures.Edited by RYH64E on Friday 12th December 07:10
To paraphrase Half Man Half Biscuit, "I've only got 3 bullets and there's too many politicians who deserve one"
Thatcher was evil, Blair was Evil, but at least they didn't run a Paedophile ring from an office in Westminster.
The people who deserve the bullets are those people who knew something was going on, and did nothing.
It wouldn't surprise me if Thatcher and Blair both knew what was going on.
Thatcher was evil, Blair was Evil, but at least they didn't run a Paedophile ring from an office in Westminster.
The people who deserve the bullets are those people who knew something was going on, and did nothing.
It wouldn't surprise me if Thatcher and Blair both knew what was going on.
Margaret Thatcher came into power when the country was in a complete mess economically following a long period of nationalisation.
For anyone under 50 you have no idea what it was like, the complete mess that needed fixing. But fix it she did. She stayed in power for too long, but look back and learn about the late 1970s and 1980s and unless you are from an extreme left wing mental state Thatcher did huge benefits for us.
For anyone under 50 you have no idea what it was like, the complete mess that needed fixing. But fix it she did. She stayed in power for too long, but look back and learn about the late 1970s and 1980s and unless you are from an extreme left wing mental state Thatcher did huge benefits for us.
bennyboydurham said:
The folk that hate Thatcher shout the loudest, which skews the result somewhat. I genuinely believe that most people understand she had no choice but to drag the country kicking and streaming from a 70s tax and spend, unionised disaster zone to a lean market-based economy that is really now the accepted economic model.
Blair was just an actor. He said what he needed to say, but let Gordon do his worst as chancellor for all those years. Now, we see Blair for what he was, full of crap. So Blair more hated for me.
I think with Thatcher as well for everyone who hates her there will be another who thinks she was our greatest post war PM.Blair was just an actor. He said what he needed to say, but let Gordon do his worst as chancellor for all those years. Now, we see Blair for what he was, full of crap. So Blair more hated for me.
Whereas with Blair no one really has anything good to say about him.
I didn't really have any strong feelings about him as a person at the time, but looking back at the legacy of new labour they bankrupted the country and created numerous other social problems, and he was the unprincipled salesman who got them into office (just don't read the small print)
I wonder what state we'd be in now had Mrs Thatcher not taken on the unions?
Do the haters not remember the mid-late seventies? The WInter of Discontent? Three day weeks? Rubbish piling up in the streets? Even grave diggers were striking!
The unions were out of control and ruining this country. I was unable to get to my place of work because striking steelworkers had travelled from South Wales to picket our gates.
Does anyone really believe the mines and steel mills were viable in that climate? Should I be expected to fund the loss making industries from my hard earned taxes? I'd rather it was spent building a better economy than holding up a failed one.
Do the haters not remember the mid-late seventies? The WInter of Discontent? Three day weeks? Rubbish piling up in the streets? Even grave diggers were striking!
The unions were out of control and ruining this country. I was unable to get to my place of work because striking steelworkers had travelled from South Wales to picket our gates.
Does anyone really believe the mines and steel mills were viable in that climate? Should I be expected to fund the loss making industries from my hard earned taxes? I'd rather it was spent building a better economy than holding up a failed one.
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