Today the world mourns the death of a woman who broke the mould and who is equally both loved and hated.
I do not love her but I do greatly like and admire her.
What did she give this country (and the world)?
She proved (if it ever needed proving) that women can make exceptionally good and effective leaders.
She faced up to the communist unions and the 'closed shop' mentality and won.
No man should have to work underground on his knees and suffer with lung disease; she broke the stranglehold of the mining unions and closed down the Victorian style coal mines.
She aligned herself with President Ronald Reagan and, in so doing, made a powerful contribution to removing the threat from the axis of evil.
Gorbachev fell under her spell when she recognised that he 'was for turning' and turn him she did. Mrs T had him sewn up even before he was top dog in the Soviet Union.
She enabled thousands of council house tenants to buy their own homes and gain a foothold on the property ladder.
Under her rule thousands of small businesses started up; many failed but many succeeded and went on to become major contributors to the economy.
Inward investment (especially in Wales) boomed as never before and never since.
There were no nuances under Prime minister Thatcher; all was black and white.
She gave her views straight and without the pussyfooting around that we have become used to under Blair, Brown and Cameron.
And she led Britain in a war against all the odds, fighting to free the Falklands from the shabby and rhetorical Argentinian dictatorship.
She did not suffer fools gladly; not all of her decisions were the right ones; but she succeeded in removing the shackles of Britain being regarded as the lazy, dirty, idle old man of Europe.
She broke the power of the trade unions and she gave to the poor something that no other party could give.
Esteem and self respect.
I do wish that she had been a Catholic.
More than that I wish that she had been a Catholic with reform of the hierarchy in her sights.
She would not have minced around Eccleston Square.
She would not have pushed for same sex "marriage".
She should have been a Catholic.
May she rest in peace.
A very fair tribute. Although she was very frail and had suffered much ill health her death was quite a shock. Whilst I could not agree with all of her policies she was clearly a giant amongst politicians and prime ministers. RIP
ReplyDeleteShe was a consistent supporter of abortion and prophet of the "greed is good" heresy. She had a uniquely evil take on the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Thatcher peddled the sin of selfishness as a virtue: we are reaping the consequences in a society many of whose citizens embraced that deception. R.I.P.
ReplyDeleteI can't mourn her, but I recognise her personal achievement. Her political achievements are open to question, I think. Both Blair and Cameron are, unfortunately, "Thatcher's children".
ReplyDeleteOne of her biggest mistakes was, as Macmillan put it, selling off the family silver to finance a boom. But, for all that, she did not possess the cynicism of later politicians.
Had she been a Catholic she would have been on the side of the NO and most definitely "low church". She misconstrued more than one parable as supporting her view of the world rather than Christ's. A very liberal take.
Nevertheless, for all that she was unique and won respect for the UK worldwide. I can't think of a more foxy compliment than Mitterand's: "She had the eyes of Caligula and the mouth of Marilyn Monroe."
Her later years were not happy ones. RIP.
sHE VOTED FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ABORTION ACT, 1967, AND FOR EVERY LIBERAL PRO ABORTION AMENDMENT in the years following (She opposed its extension to Norhern Ireland because she was still dependent on votes there . ) She divided families with her poll tax when members of families had to be turned out because families could not pay the tax on individual members (polls) in the home . She politicised the police force and gave them the nod to act illegally by preventing people passing through the Dartfort Tunnel, swetened by a massive increase in pay!She ordered the bombing of the Belgrano when it was travelling away from battle, She murdered hundreds of Argentinian sailors in thr process. She divided communities in Kent - divisions which still run deep today, and caused massive unemployment with her closure of coalmines there. An evil ,dictatorial psychotic feared by the men of her own cabinet. WE are a grandmother! more delusions. May the Lord have mercy on her soul
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how one can express any degree of admiration for Mrs Thatcher particularly in relation to the decimation of whole mining communities the effects of which are still apparent today. I shall do my Christian duty and pray for her soul but I do not mourn her passing.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWe have disagreed before Mike and probably will again. I guess the fact that I would prefer Saints Miner and Union to the Tory gods of money and privatisation shows what a diverse lot we Catholics are.
DeleteIntroibo - apologies- your riposte is generous! I came online with the intention of removing this comment, so I have, I'd thought it wasn't helpful! Id far rather disagree with fellow catholics about this sort of thing than about the basics of the faith! Only there's no way to turn the internet into thoroughly good catholic disagreement over a good pint, preferably just after mass, such as I remeber in the UK many many moons ago. I can offer you a virtual Rioja from the kitchen, which isn't much.I've seen sad, dispirited, exmining and exindustrial communites in other places than the UK, you see, inter alia .Leave it for some merry meeting!.
DeleteBTW
I can remember disagreeing on mine host's combox but cannot remember it being with you- I must try to run a search!
No problem Mike. I guess the lady in question stirs up various emotions. Whilst I am unable to mourn her passing I abhor the unchristian sentiments expressed elsewhere and feel deeply sorry that her family will have to endure the many unkind remarks made about her. I drink to your health with a wee tot of an 18year old Laphroigh.
DeleteI love her as a fellow soul but I did not like some of her policies and acts in public life. Obviously, one of the most flagrant wrongs was the support of laws which provided for the killing of innocent defenceless babies in utero - a most egregious intrinsic evil. I admired other things she said and did. As an Eireannach, I was aggrieved by her lack of understanding of the ancient and subsisting Irish nation and her insistence that the arbitrarily formed six county "Northern Ireland" was and should remain part of the UK. Having said all that she showed more moral fibre than most politicians since. May her soul rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteTo all - yes, I wholeheartedly agree that Lady Thatcher had her flaws and, certainly, the abortion element is paramount among them. I really wanted to hold her up as a model of what a good leader could aspire (partly) to. I actually believe that the Poll Tax was a most fair and even handed means of taxation; she was boorish as far as Ireland was concerned but she never 'peddled' selfishness, rather self help and an entrepreneurial spirit. As always, I think that Genty has a good comment that wraps it up well. Thank you all.
ReplyDeleteWow, A great article. May God bless her soul and yes I do agree she SHOULD have been Catholic, and then that much more good she would have accomplished. Reading your comments about Mrs. Margaret Thatcher has "sparked" an interest in learning a little more about her, although am not English. Thanks for this post and God Bless you and ALL your loved ones. Mrs. RosaMaria W. Arrojo.
ReplyDeleteThe captain of the Belgrano, Hector Bonzo, denied he was heading for port and said that if he had been in command of Conqueror he would have acted as her captain did. The Argies did not recognize the TEZ - as far as they were concerned hostilities commenced on 1 May with the Vulcan raids on Port Stanley. However, since a change in the ROE was required, Admiral Woodward needed Cabinet approval before ordering Conqueror into action. It was his decision, based on sound operational reasons.
ReplyDeleteHow many coal-fired power stations would be operating nowadays? None, thanks to the environmental lobby. So the pits would have closed anyway. Oh, and both Pope Francis and Cristina Fernandes de Kirchner should be grateful to Lady T for toppling Galtieri and restoring democracy to their country.
Not surprisingly the communist-led trade unions in Britain hated her, but to the free trade unions in Poland she was a heroine. Arthur Scargill had condemned Solidarity for being anti-socialist. He may not have been a Soviet agent like Jack Jones CH MBE but he was an unreconstructed Stalinist and a Soviet lickspittle. "The enemy within", indeed.
Good comment JN, thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Mrs Arrojo.
If she had been a Catholic she would not have been allowed to become Prime Minister, right?
ReplyDeleteWith all her shortcomings, a giant in the midst of pigmies.
May she rest in peace.
Mundabor
Of course, a Catholic can be Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteLynda - Mundabor is correct, in this country a Catholic is barred from the post of PM. So much for equality.
ReplyDeleteJohn Nolan - eloquently put and I agree completely.
ReplyDeleteIf she had have been a Catholic then maybe she would have had a conscience, well at least she was not, one less scoundrel to be buried by the Church! She was or should have been considered a war criminal, purely on the Belgrano sinking
ReplyDeleteNewry Liam - of course, the IRA are blameless? If Nazi Germany sent forth bombers from Sweden, say. Would we not blow them out of the
ReplyDeletesky before they got close to allied territory? Please elect for a reality implant.
On 2 May 1982 the UK and Argentina were at war. As far as we were concerned hostilities commenced on 2 April, and in the case of Argentina on 1 May (they saw the invasion of the Falklands as simply reclaiming their own territory). They attempted to launch carrier-based aircraft against the task force and only the inability of their obsolete light fleet carrier (formerly HMS Furious, disposed of by the RN in the 1960s) to launch heavy modern jets in calm conditions prevented them from initiating naval hostilities. The TEZ around the islands was primarily to keep Soviet submarines out, since any underwater contact was deemed to be hostile. Newry Liam and the other Belgrano conspiracy theorists are talking nonsense on stilts, which calls into question everything they might say about anything.
ReplyDeleteRichard, there is no political office which may not be held by a Catholic, including that of PM. Advising the sovereign on appointments to the CofE would contravene the 1829 Relief Act, so would be delegated to another minister. In 1974 it was made clear that the Lord Chancellor could be a Catholic, and the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, which was barred to Catholics, no longer exists. The Conservative Party has had a Catholic leader in Ian Duncan Smith.
Australia has had two Catholic PMs in succession - James Scullin (1929-1932) and Joseph Lyons (1932-1939). During the Abdication crisis, Lyons took a hard line against having Wallis Simpson as queen.
John, yes, you are correct, a Catholic could, in theory, be prime minister, thank you.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies to Lynda.
Gnosticism.
ReplyDeleteThe damage done to Catholic Society is huge when we do not know our Faith.
This woman and people of her ilk lead souls to Hell by promoting Satan's agenda
Vatican Council II was the opening in Catholicism Satan worked hard to achieve.
Here is a quote from one Archbishop that did not succumb:
"We have to build, while the others are demolishing. The crumbled citadels have to be rebuilt, the bastions of Faith have to be reconstructed; firstly the holy sacrifice of the Mass of all times, which forms saints; then our chapels, our monasteries, our large families, our enterprises faithful to the social politics of the Church, our politicians determined to make the politics of Jesus Christ – this is a whole tissue of Christian social life, Christian customs, Christian reflexes, which we have to restore."
Modernists must learn they are like frogs set to boil in a pot of water on a low flame.
Gnosticism is the pot they are boiling in.
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