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

The Thatcher paragraph is a bit one-sided, in my view. I was only 10 when she came to power and even I remember how union power had crippled the entire country in 1979.

History will be a lot kinder to Thatcher than we are today.

Agreed. Foot's economic policies would have crippled the country for decades had Labour been voted in. And the proof is in the pudding - the Tories were re-elected three times and then Labour only after it amended its economic policies to something more similar.

As the entry says though, there were up-sided to the 1980s, but in the North of England, where whole communities were crippled by Thatcherism (Liverpool, Newcastle, Yorkshire...) she will always be remembered in a poor light.

I was 8 when she came to power, and 19 when she left, and the feeling of relief when we were told she'd resigned was audible. It says a lot that, coming from a staunch Labour-supporting family, my parents didn't mind Major at all. He didn't have half of the vindictive streak that Thatcher seemed to have.

(and in the interests of balance, if we'd *had* any entries that offered a positive view of her, we'd have used them. But I suspect that Thatcher's time of positive press was when she was in power. In retrospect, we're getting the much-needed backlash. Given time, it'll balance itself out though)

Jims

Well, you don't hear much said against Thatcher in my circles. Not that any of us are huge Tory fans (in fact I'm on the dole), but when you live in London, and work in finance (you know, the one thing Britain does better than anywhere else and which generates a high proportion of GDP for this country), she did plenty that we're thankful for. Unions aren't exactly flavour of the month for anyone who uses the Tube, I can tell you. And the alternative to Thatcher at the time would have destroyed the economy....and the country with it. Foot wanted to put a 10% surcharge on all imported goods for goodness sake! The reason Thatcher was hated by many was the fact that she was perceived as costing them their jobs, and destroying their way of life. Well, this is nonsense. The fact that they were working in loss-making industries cost them their job. Why should my taxes go towards supporting jobs for people who are too afraid to learn a new trade?

What new trades are you willing to learn? Just curious

Lots. My console gaming skills are fantastic now. Though my strategy is to wait around until my old skills are needed again.

Tell me Runner
"when you live in London, and work in finance (you know, the one thing Britain does better than anywhere else and which generates a high proportion of GDP for this country)"
What is that one thing ???

read it again.

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she really wasn't all that bad.
we didn't have anywhere near the amount of strikes we did in the 70's.
i seem to recall most of my childhood in the 70's was power strikes and no electricity.

that wasn't much fun.