Travel to West Brom

[CAPSLOCK]

And all in just 18 months

What an amazing woman

[William the White]

And all in just 18 months

What an amazing woman

That she is.

But I'm looking forward to the party...

[Montreal Wanderer]

Not a chance. Thatcher trashed the streets of Britain much more thoroughly than any rioters of any shade... the shells of empty factories, boarded up shops, the piles of bricks where once things had been made and sold and exported... the destruction of working class communities, the exponential growth of crime and the slow torture of the NHS... No greater vandal has ever drawn breath in this country...

Some feel harsh reforms were necessary if Britain was to compete in the world. In the same decade in Canada we went through something similar. In Quebec we killed of the clothing and furniture making industries because they couldn't compete with foreign competition. The decision was made that we should concentrate of hi tech fields and natural resources. Of course the carpenters and rag trade employees were not qualified as aerospace engineers or computer programmers so they underwent a hard time. It was probably the right decision as opposed to propping up uncompetitive industries with high import tariffs (and the resulting sanctions against our softwood lumber etc.). Basically we opted for free trade in North America and concentrated on things Mexico (and later China) couldn't produce.

[a1]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

[Gary the Enfield]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

...amongst other things. 3 million unemployed. Massive union disruption. A winter of discontent. Recession. The dead remaining unburied.

From Wiki:

The "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, which refers to the winter of 1978–1979 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, and because the government of James Callaghan sought to hold a pay freeze to control inflation.

The strikes were a result of the Labour government's attempt to control inflation by imposing rules on the public sector that pay rises be kept below 5%, as an example to the private sector. However, employers conducted their negotiations within mutually agreed limits with their employees' unions.[1] While the strikes were largely over by February 1979, the government's inability to contain the strikes earlier helped lead to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and legislation to restrict unions. Public sector employee strike actions included an unofficial strike by gravediggers working in Liverpool and Tameside, and strikes by refuse collectors. Additionally, NHS ancillary workers formed picket lines to blockade hospital entrances with the result that many hospitals were reduced to taking emergency patients only.

The phrase "Winter of Discontent" itself is derived from the opening line of William Shakespeare's Richard III: "Now is the Winter of our Discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York...", and was popularly applied to the events of the winter by the then editor of The Sun, Larry Lamb, in an editorial.

[thebish]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

no - she got voted in because, basically, people are greedy bastards...

[thebish]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

...amongst other things. 3 million unemployed. Massive union disruption. A winter of discontent. Recession. The dead remaining unburied.

that is so MASSIVELY wrong it needs to be corrected.

when Thatcher came to power unemployment was about 700,000 (which - back then - was considered to be high)

she didn't think it was high enough - so she worked hard, wasted no time and succeeded in boosting it to over 3 million and plunged the country into full-scale recession.

the ensuing mass unemployment - particularly in inner-cities - created the atmosphere ripe for rioting.

[Bruce Rioja]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

no - she got voted in because, basically, people are greedy bastards...

Greedy bastards with overflowing dustbins and Granny's corpse rotting out the back.

Selfish feck*.

[CAPSLOCK]

Yeah, don't exaggerate, Gary

Next you'll be posting some nonsense about inflation being 27 per cent

[thebish]

didnt thatcher get voted in coz folk were pissed right off with not getting their bins emptied and the like ?

no - she got voted in because, basically, people are greedy bastards...

Greedy bastards with overflowing dustbins and Granny's corpse rotting out the back.

yep - that's them.

[William the White]

Yeah, don't exaggerate, Gary

Next you'll be posting some nonsense about inflation being 27 per cent

When was that rate recorded then?

[as]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

not ONE of the riots was just black people.

I'm sure it wasn't just

But my statement comes a sight nearer the truth than you putting it down to Thatcher

Not a chance. Thatcher trashed the streets of Britain much more thoroughly than any rioters of any shade... the shells of empty factories, boarded up shops, the piles of bricks where once things had been made and sold and exported... the destruction of working class communities, the exponential growth of crime and the slow torture of the NHS... No greater vandal has ever drawn breath in this country...

So her getting a state funeral won't be very popular then, William?

The documentary on C4 a few years back showed a very 'interesting' climate in parts of Birmingham, where the asians owned all the local businesses in black/asian areas. Darcus Howe was given a tour of the area, and the asian bloke showing him around ended up mocking him 'the problem with your people is that you're lazy, look at us, we're thriving in this country'.

Birmingham is a good p*ss up, it is, however, the ugliest city I've visited in England.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Yeah, don't exaggerate, Gary

Next you'll be posting some nonsense about inflation being 27 per cent

When was that rate recorded then?

More like this actually Will - which is a pretty good shout for democracy and a change of government from about 1972 don't you think? No, you probably don't.

1990 7.00%
1989 5.20%
1988 4.90%
1987 4.20%
1986 3.40%
1985 6.10%
1984 5.00%
1983 4.60%
1982 8.60%
1981 11.90%
1980 18.00%
1979 13.40%
1978 8.30%
1977 15.80%
1976 16.50%
1975 24.20%
1974 16.00%
1973 9.20%
1972 7.10%
1971 9.40%
1970 6.40%
1969 5.40%
1968 4.70%
1967 2.50%
1966 3.90%
1965 4.80%
1964 3.30%

[Lord Kangana]

Now this is a football forum, and lord knows how we've strayed this far, but from a point of pedantry the second highest rate there is in 1980. Just saying.

[Lord Kangana]

You seem to be challenged at whatever slow reading is.

Now leave me out of this.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

You seem to be challenged at whatever slow reading is.

Now leave me out of this.

Indeed - but you joined in! As a matter of interest how long do you think it takes an incoming PM (even TINA) to reverse a trend?

[William the White]

Not sure what your question is there, Zulu. Nor why you stopped at 1990 nor started at 1964.

But the stats seem to show inflation on a serious increase from 1971 when the Tories are in power and remaining high throughout most of the 1970s and the early 1980s, covering both Labour and Tory governments.

Do you think OPEC might have had anything to do with that?

But you haven't found the elusive 27%. Why's CAPS keeping it a closely guarded secret, do you think?

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Not sure what your question is there, Zulu. Nor why you stopped at 1990 nor started at 1964.

But the stats seem to show inflation on a serious increase from 1971 when the Tories are in power and remaining high throughout most of the 1970s and the early 1980s, covering both Labour and Tory governments.

Do you think OPEC might have had anything to do with that?

But you haven't found the elusive 27%. Why's CAPS keeping it a closely guarded secret, do you think?

I could have started in 1751 and finished in 2006 if I felt like it. It's all out there, if you know where to look. OPEC had a lot to do with it - so did heavily state subsidised UK industries which were uncompetitive and riddled with restrictive practices. As for the elusive 27% - I haven't got a clue. Ask CAPS - again.

[Lord Kangana]

You seem to be challenged at whatever slow reading is.

Now leave me out of this.

Indeed - but you joined in! As a matter of interest how long do you think it takes an incoming PM (even TINA) to reverse a trend?

Careful starting down that route, look at 1974 and 75's inflation figure. Sauce for the goose etc.

And as it happens, much as everyone wants to pick sides, save for Atlee in the immediate post-war and the first half decade of Thatcher, we've had a cigarette paper between the parties ever since. We're being done.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

... and the worst figure prior to the frightening 24.20% of 1975 was an eye watering 25.20% in 1917 - at which time our fortunes were at their lowest ebb WW1.

Still, if they had been given more time I am sure that James Callaghan and his crew would have got us out of the shit in 1979. Mind you I also believe that there are fairies at the bottom of my garden.