Mrs Thatcher brought in the politics of bile and spite.
Prime example sine qua non of provincial middle-class snobbery and prejudice in sensible shoes. A venal, vicious harridan who pandered to and hugely supported by the blue-rinse brigade of the beat 'em, starve 'em and flog 'em back to work politics.
A nasty, vindictive woman who poured scorn and hatred on the poor, low paid, sick and elderly.
Whilst I agree that some businesses should not, and should never been in public ownership (Coal, Car-building, Oil), she went out of her way, quite deliberately, to destroy many industries. Indeed, I remember even the CBI (the unholy bastion of pop-eyed, flat-headed capitalism) complaining that she had gone too far. Her reign then became increasingly autocratic, signs of which were being detected by prominent members of her own party (Howe, Heseltine) who eventually forced a leadership contest.
She doted on her visibly and utterly unintelligent son whilst neglecting her daughter.
And she got into bed (figuatively) with Ronald Reagan, the double-minus epsilon semi-moron of a US president of whom when asked of the Late Robin Williams when he was diagnosed with dementia: 'How can they tell?'
I'm going to stop now lest I throw my laptop across the room.
Watch the programme on Channel 4 about the miner's strike and you will kick your TV in.
And breathe.
Given this thread has produced a variety of responses, some reasonably pragmatic, I have to say the terms used in the above quote define her perfectly.
She had
NO redeeming features as either a person or politician. She was a despotic, autocratic dictator whose legacies remain. She did
nothing for the UK, except, decimate social adhesions . She was far from alone attracting acolytes outside the political spectrum, who were as repugnant as she was ( talking of which, a special mention for Maude / Joseph in this respect) and she also used brutal repression in the form of developing the police into a quasi paramilitary force.
I was driving to Newark one day, and, the other side of the M1 between Chesterfield / Mansfield, saw what amounted to the police in battalion size numbers and thought, NO ! this is so wrong in the UK. It's been well reported how many subsequently boasted of their overtime payments and material benefits that resulted. The UK Police, police by consent,
NOT, through brutality.
It wasn't just the miners who suffered. Her policies cascaded across the UK, Trafford Park for example, was badly hit. For those who have never seen it, try and watch "The Boys from the Blackstuff"...satire it maybe, but, it exemplified the misery endured by millions as she imposed her doctrines of hate and malice.
The DNA was all too evident in her equally repulsive son, failed in everything he's done, but "saved" by the family connection.
I cheered, and I was probably far from alone, with the classic shot of her leaving Downing St, tears of nitric acid rolling down her cheeks, and again when the news was announced she had gone to Hell.
I am bemused as to those who felt she benefitted the railways, because she had a long term detestation of rail and rarely travelled on such.
And finally, for those who wonder what working life was like in a mine, I recommend a visit to "Big Pit"...possibly
the best museum in the UK...it's been cleaned up, obviously, for visitors, but, it's about as far from being some sugar coated sanitised display as you can get...there's also bits of railway stuff there.