h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was certainly never a fan of Mrs Thatcher and I think on balance history will increasingly view her time as one when much damage was done to the fabric of Britain. Probably the worst aspects were the effects of the Yuppie culture which basically promoted a machiavellian way of life... we are still reaping the effects of this in all sorts of ways... a whole subject in itself.

However, The Iron lady did do one thing that benefited Britain... and that was to destroy the outrageous power of the unions. Unfortunately, this also involved destroying the coal industry, the shipbuilding industry and various other industries, but if you want to see the benefit of the removal of union power just glance accross the Channel at France where they still hold far too much sway. The French have an annual event that involves various unions holding the government to ransom to get whatever they want. We can at least thank Mrs Thatcher that we don't have that particular problem.

Still, that doesn't detract from the fact that, in my opinion, she did a lot more damage than she did good. Britain was a poorer (not just financially) place after her reign than before it.