Baroness Thatcher has died

[ainsworth74]

Whatever your opinion on her premiership this is still the passing of an iconic figure of British history:

Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher dies

Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at 87 following a stroke, her spokesman has said.

Lord Bell said: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning."

Baroness Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

She was the first woman to hold the post. Her family is expected to make a further statement later.

Baroness Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts, became the Conservative MP for Finchley, north London in 1959, retiring from the Commons in 1992.

Having been education secretary, she successfully challenged former prime minister Edward Heath for her party's leadership in 1975.

She won general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.

Baroness Thatcher's government privatised several state-owned industries. She was also in power when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982.

Link

 

[bb21]

Very sad news indeed. Whatever your views she played a massive part in shaping today's Britain and shall go down in history as one of the most influential person on the political scene.

 

[Aldaniti]

Very sad news indeed. Whatever your views she played a massive part in shaping today's Britain and shall go down in history as one of the most influential person on the political scene.

Indeed, I did not agree with everything she did but she was a conviction politician the likes of which we have not seen since.

 

[DarloRich]

one word - good

 

[christopher]

To quote Margaret Thatcher herself....

Rejoice, Rejoice!

 

[chris89]

one word - good

My Father has said the same thing and sure my mum shall as well. Also apparntly a few people at my Girlfriends work has as well (She told me she had died)

 

[bnm]

Anyone know where the grave is going to be?

I can't dance that well, but I'd give it a try.

What? Too soon?

 

[Qwerty133]

one word - good

Except for cereal killers and terrorists no ones death is good. You might not have agreed with her views but she still had a family who will be upset by this and anyway she hardly did anything political nowadays anyway.

 

[Darandio]

Except for cereal killers and terrorists

That had to be intentional surely?

A bit of light hearted comedy in a depressing thread I guess.

 

[DarloRich]

Except for cereal killers and terrorists no ones death is good. You might not have agreed with her views but she still had a family who will be upset by this and anyway she hardly did anything political nowadays anyway.

Are you suggesting I should show the kind of compassion she was famous for?

Trust me, good is the most “family friendly” response I can give. I am glad she is dead. I hope she suffered. If that makes me an ogre then I am comfortable with that.

I can see my opinions will offend some people but I don’t care. I make no apologies. I am sure her apologists will be along soon to reprimand me and begin the valediction.

PS or cereal killers was a joke to get a WUM out of me!

 

[Trainfan344]

That had to be intentional surely?

A bit of light hearted comedy in a depressing thread I guess.

It could be or it could be an auto-correct on a phone.

 

[4SRKT]

Yeeee-haaaah!!

<opens champagne>

 

[Aldaniti]

Except for cereal killers and terrorists no ones death is good.

Oh, I'm not so sure. I hope I live long enough to see Tony Blair's!

 

[christopher]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmmomV-ax-s

 

[RPM]

Well I most certanly didn't agree with her politics but I do have some grudging respect for her abilities. Can't say I feel either sad or happy at her demise. A historical day though.

 

[Darandio]

It could be or it could be an auto-correct on a phone.

Maybe, it was still fantastic regardless.

 

[Giugiaro]

[youtube]dZ_0MYwilHo[/youtube]

 

[Ivo]

This has been coming for a while, but when it did finally happen it would be a very sad day. She was (in my opinion anyway, which I know differs to a substantial number of others on here) the best Prime Minister we ever had, with the possible exception of Churchill, and gave millions of young people the incentive to do as they wished - after all, she was a female in the biggest job of them all!

Rest in peace, Lady T. The thoughts of people all over the world are with your family at this time.

It should be noted that there will be no State Funeral as per her own wishes, although I would expect *something* to happen to celebrate her life and work.

Oh, and just this once, maybe you Labourites should give the Lady a break.

 

[TheJRB]

I hardly think celebrating somebody's death is appropriate, regardless of political views.

Baroness Thatcher was a strong uncompromising leader of the like we have never seen since and will probably not see again.

 

[Butts]

I don't think anyones death is a cause for celebration unless they were suffering and wished to pass away.

You may disagree with someones politics but that is no reason to rejoice in their death.

A lot of people making the derogatory comments are probably to young to remember the "fag end" of the seventies and what life was actually like.

 

[deltic1989]

I don't pretend to understand politics I tend to leave that to people far cleverer than myself.
But I do understand that whilst her politics were somewhat controversial she was a great leader and a great lady in my opinion. There will be some that will not mourn her passing and they all have their own personal reasons for that but she did do some great things.
Peoples memories for the bad are longer than that for the good but we can all be agreed that whatever our opinions she will be remembered.
Rest in Peace Lady Thatcher, you will certainly not be forgotten.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

This has been coming for a while, but when it did finally happen it would be a very sad day. She was (in my opinion anyway, which I know differs to a substantial number of others on here) the best Prime Minister we ever had, with the possible exception of Churchill, and gave millions of young people the incentive to do as they wished - after all, she was a female in the biggest job of them all!

Rest in peace, Lady T. The thoughts of people all over the world are with your family at this time.

It should be noted that there will be no State Funeral as per her own wishes, although I would expect *something* to happen to celebrate her life and work.

Oh, and just this once, maybe you Labourites should give the Lady a break.

I hereby must agree with the honourable gentleman

 

[Harlesden]

Just curious to know what time the news was announced on the BBC. I got the news from a Barbados newspaper about 40 minutes ago and that was what brought me here - to see what everyone was saying.
I feel neither grief nor happiness. She was a part of our lives for a while and we thought things couldn't get any worse. But now we're stuck with David Cameron.

 

[bb21]

I find it incredibly disrespectful and childish to celebrate someone's death. By all means joke about it when she is alive, but to do so at this particular time shows a complete lack of compassion and maturity.

Whatever people's views of her, she is still one of the most important people in British history and without her this country probably wouldn't be as powerful as it is nowadays. No one is perfect, and all politicians are both loved and hated at the same time. She is no different. She made some very unpopular decisions however as the prime minister you have to have the balls to make these decisions. If you bow to public pressure every time then nothing will be achieved. As it turned out, she did a pretty decent job in her 11 years in office.

She is also well-respected all over the world and more well-known than any modern day British politician. No one can change all this whatever some people say.

FWIW there are many things I don't agree with her, nevertheless at the end of the day she is a human being and one that served this country with passion. She dedicated her whole life to serving the people of this nation and for that she has my respect.

 

[455driver]

She was (in my opinion anyway, which I know differs to a substantial number of others on here) the best Prime Minister we ever had, with the possible exception of Churchill, and gave millions of young people the incentive to do as they wished - after all, she was a female in the biggest job of them all!

Rest in peace, Lady T. The thoughts of people all over the world are with your family at this time.

Couldnt agree more, as I actually can remember her being voted in (unlike quite a few of the commenter's on here no doubt) she did some fantastic things as PM (before being sh%t on by her own cabinet) and dragged this Country kicking and screaming into the (then) modern age.

At the end of her tenure she was ill-advised and made a few mistakes but overall she did a lot more good than bad.

 

[Darandio]

Just curious to know what time the news was announced on the BBC.

Pretty much when this thread was started. I noticed it immediately after announcement on the BBC and then this thread followed pretty quickly.

 

[Qwerty133]

It could be or it could be an auto-correct on a phone.

Mix of that and it being the last day of the holidays

 

[radamfi]

Maggie was particularly determined to promote private motoring ("Nothing shall get in the way of the great car economy") and car based development (e.g. out of town shopping) took off in the 80s thanks to laissez-faire planning regulations. There was also "Roads for Prosperity" 'biggest road building plan since the Romans', although this proved to be unfundable. In addition, bus deregulation outside London took place in 1986 which led to massive patronage loss in the big cities.

Whilst total car dependence was discredited in the 90s, bus deregulation has seemed to be irreversible despite it happening so long ago. But maybe these things would have happened regardless of who was prime minister in the 1980s.

 

[ainsworth74]

Just curious to know what time the news was announced on the BBC.

Couple of minutes before I put the thread up.

I would also echo bb21's thoughts on this matter.

 

[DarloRich]

This has been coming for a while, but when it did finally happen it would be a very sad day. She was (in my opinion anyway, which I know differs to a substantial number of others on here) the best Prime Minister we ever had, with the possible exception of Churchill, and gave millions of young people the incentive to do as they wished - after all, she was a female in the biggest job of them all!

Rest in peace, Lady T. The thoughts of people all over the world are with your family at this time.

It should be noted that there will be no State Funeral as per her own wishes, although I would expect *something* to happen to celebrate her life and work.

Oh, and just this once, maybe you Labourites should give the Lady a break.

:roll:I am not even going to respond to this immature naivety in detail other than to suggest you take a look at what actually happened to the millions of people thrown on the scrap heap and the communities, still suffering today, that were destroyed by her policies. Perhaps you came from the “I’m all right jack” section of society created by these policies? I don’t. I know what she and her acolytes did. It won’t be forgotten.

Did things need to change? Yes. Did that change have to leave behind millions of people? No.