Thatcher her legacy not

The media has taken a genuflect as news of Margaret Thatcher's death hit the headlines. What is most annoying is the sentiment of not talking harsh of the dead. They go on about her achievements, what she did for the country as though everything Thatcher stood for was great, as though she was the greatest thing since sliced bread. This she certainly was not. The reality is for those working classes who lived through her reign, and it really was very much an autocratic reign, hardship, depression and subjugation took place. She was a bully, she stood for the rich and hated the poor. Everything she did had a secondary or tertiary reason behind it. She completely hoodwinked the Americans as well. They too have some kind of fake notion Thatcher was great, however, considering they voted in Ronald Reagan at the same time Thatcher was around, and we all know Reagan had the start of Altzhiemers, then it goes to show their voting public were no better than the voters of the UK.  A great many women voted Thatcher in because she was a woman, and they didn't take heed to her political persuasion or the symbolism of her handbag being as representative as Hitler's moustache. They were misguided. British people voted Thatcher in because it was the 80s and during the 80s the economy was going great. They had money and aspirations to be rich and better than their parents.  Voting for Thatcher was saying they were not just on the up, they were aspiring. It was yet again another symbolic act of stupidity.

Thatcher it is known had so many arguments with her own cabinet over her entire tenure all except one member changed (Hestleltine). There was only one way to run the country and it was her way. With her never against her. She was known as the Iron Lady for good reason. Thatcher's third term of government was a chance event which she is forever indebted to Argentina and the invasion of the Falklands.  Thatcher showed she could be the female version of Churchill after all, something every Prime Minister loves is a little war, because it  immortalises them in history.  Tony Blair was the same when he sided with America in a cynical special relationship to hit Iraq.  He pulled out all the legal stops and interpretations of international law to allow joining in.  Of course the fact he got on charmingly with Bush about as moronic as Reagan is serendipitous fortune again. Thatcher got on well with Pinochet, the Chilean president, the dictator who killed thousands of his own people. Thatcher got on so well with him because he provided radar coverage while the fight back of the Falklands took place. Then of course when he needed an operation and had been exiled she let him come here so he could get fixed up and ensured the international courts did not arrest him.

They say Thatcher saved the UK billions of pounds in the agreements she fought against EU agreements.  But it was her predecessor Heath who put the UK in the common market in the first place. She was only fixing a bad deal he'd set up. In Thatcher's relationships with oil rich states, her son Mark (now knighted) was allowed to broker arms deals as a middle man and syphon off a few million into his own bank accounts.  While he wasn't getting lost in his car over the sand dunes. Thatcher introduced the right-to-buy scheme, so Council tenants could purchase their own homes with great big discounts.  The reason for this was to aid her friend in Westminster Baroness Shirley Porter (Tesco heir) and she changed the voting boundaries to ensure more Tory MPs won seats. Then those council houses left Local Authority housing stock and were sold off by people who couldn't afford them and made a quick buck, only for the same individuals to go running back to their Council's asking to be re-housed yet again.There was no additional social housing built as compensation. She also introduced the Poll Tax, a local taxation system as a way to fund Local Authorities. Rather than this being based on rateable values of houses it was based on individual adults. Millions in public funds was lost as people disappeared and could not be traced.

When Thatcher came into power there was one resounding effect of her leadership. Poor people go even poorer. It was hard times. She sold off British institutions to keep the economy afloat.  She sold back to the people those assets they already owned.  British Rail, British Gas, British Telecom. Her running of the economy encouraged Building Societies to turn into banks, carpet bagging became a common term. Greed was in the air, the entire country became morally self centred. And the richer and more powerful an individual the greater their riches and power became. She believed in de-regulation and banks got bigger and greedy, Building Societies were carpet bagged and made into banks just so the members could make a quick pound or two. All the money of which went back into the economy as poor people are more likely to spend money. But the security of the Building Societies was lost. The few remaining today stand firm while today's biggest banks are owned by the tax payer. Saved from failure because as private institutions they could not be allowed to go bankrupt.

Thatcher went out of her way to break the unions, to break down terms and conditions of employment which had taken decades to achieve. The contract between employer and employee returned back to that of slave and master. She devastated the coal mining industry. Coal which today could be used to independently fuel fire stations, instead disused and now inaccessible mines have decayed. Today we import 50 million tons of it, it is a travesty of disproportionate amounts.  Depression hit the North, it hit every working family and it made all slaves to her ideology. At the start of Thatcher's tenure in office (1979) inflation was 13.4 per cent, when she left it was 9.5 per cent. Not a great change, it dipped and it peaked, she epitomises no special qualities as a Prime Minster by continuing the boom and bust of our economy. Let us not forget as well how it was her government which removed free milk to children in schools.  A supplement to children's nourishment, Thatcher, Thatcher the milk snatcher. Another reason why amongst the poor she is hated.

I hear in some parts of the country there were celebrations. Something I can very much understand as a reasonable reaction. Therefore in consideration of a multitude of events there are some pretty good reasons the late Thatcher should not be given a state funeral. She was not loved by the entire country, and only historically will her value be impartially interpreted.

Asad is at it again

President Asad has today been airing his views on the rebels fighting in his country. It is as though he thinks he actually owns his country and every life in it. Listening to part of his speech I found it quite laughable as everything he said could of been spoken by a rebel commander who had been given the publicity to air their thoughts. Asad should not be given the oxygen of speech he is now without doubt becoming a tyrant. Much in the same way as Gaddaffi and Saddam have been. These tyrants look after their own and then put the rest of the country into termoil, like parasites they suck the blood out of them.

The freedom of speech is not given to other political parties, to the rebels, to anyone who opposes the views of Asad. His words come across as those of a mad man, again similar to the mad men rulers of yesterday who are of course dead. Asad, you will tear your country apart, Syria needs to be free, you will be guilty of murder and so will your followers. Many will die and it will take a long time, but your days are certainly numbered.

25 years on after the miners strike

It has been now 25 years since the miners went on strike, when the most evil of all prime minsters to rule the UK was in power. She was Thatcher, and she took on Scargill resulting in the nation losing badly. Neither personality could contemplate a compromise, neither were prepared to talk. For Scargill it was a matter of keeping every mine open and every miner in a job as this was something which had carried on for eons. Mad Thatcher who had a blue streak the size of a six lane motorway down her spine was motivated by one intention. To break the unions, and in so doing symbolically break her political opponents beyond anything a politician could expect. She was not going to compromise, she was The Woman, doing a job no other woman had done before. Her gender was irrespective, as indeed was her motivation. It was common knowledge no member of her cabinet was able to deter her mind, in her usual style she would bully anyone who stood in her way.

This episode was a demonstration of bloody mindedness and power. It cost the nation sorely. It didn't actually help either Thatcher or Scargill. True politics would of been coming to a compromise, true politics would of meant meeting and talking. Eventually Thatcher's very obdurate attitude to leadership became her downfall. Since her comeuppance the Blue party have never been the same, and as though some divine intervention has now taken place as the Labour party have been ruling longer than any Tory ever has.

The lesson is, listening and compromise are things politicians should take notice of rather than their own personal agenda.

Zimbarbwe and Mugabe

I just heard this morning on the radio about the elections in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is yet again putting his henchmen to work in fiddling the election results. Of persons still alive and classed as Evil, Mugabwe must be on the list. He has been in a continual process of destroying his own country. I hear inflation is running at 100,000 % per year. Ever since the re-repatriation of land from White farmers to the indigenous population food has been in shortage. Zanu PF, are feared for the terror they bring. Mugabe has said he intends to be in power until he is 100 years old. He's presently 83. The famine and destitution of his country is equivalent to a Chinese water torture of genocide. This is one man in my opinion who is rich in his own self worth.

The current elections are officially said to be so close as the electorate has not voted a clear 51% winner. Yet on the radio 4 Today program a spokes man for the opposition party said Mugabe had lost as he'd only won 42% of seats. Of course it is well known elections under Mugabe's rule have been rigged. With deceased voters suddenly turning up on voting lists. Or empty fields being registered as places where thousands of voters live. The BBC have been banned from reporting inside of Zimbabwe. No doubt because Mugabe see them as part of a white imperialist society. I can only hope when the courts convene on acts of genocide or terror to humanity an arrest warrant is issued on Mugabe. He does not deserve his freedom let alone the status to rule a country.