trousers

Source?

A drop in the ocean compared to the money she saved the country. [awaits backlash]

I enjoyed it. But, there again I'm an ignorant selfish bastard so my misplaced delight is understandable I suppose.

Maybe we should discriminate against people with lower levels of intelligence and not allow them to vote in the likes of Thatcher... Lets only give the vote to those with an IQ of 100 or above. Problem solved.

Nah....can't see the PDT ever making stuff up as they go along....

And speculating that they might not have gone up at the same rate isn't? 'My' poor example? I was quoting the article you provided old bean. Do let me know which bits of the articles you post as 'evidence' that I'm allowed to reference. Good game.

Spookily accurate...................

More so.

I find ignorance very calming. You should try it sometime.

Thanks - couldn't see any reference on there to train fares being "5.2 times more expensive now" - maybe cut and paste the relative paragraph from the relevant article that quotes that figure for expediency. Anyhow, it's all very well plucking an "increased by" figure out of the air but in doing so you have to make a whopping assumption that the rate of fare increase under government control wouldn't have increased too. Indeed, this is articulated in the BBC article you kindly posted above:

Source?

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2009/05/david-torrance-debunking-the-myths-about-margaret-thatcher-and-scotland.html

http://hallrightnow.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bick-hoist-on-his-own-petard.html?m=1

My ignorance is legendary - well done for spotting it. I manage to hoodwink most people into thinking I'm a genius.

Yep, agree with that

I don't know enough about the figures to contest that (I.e . How many 'sustainable' mines were closed by Thatcher unnecessarily?). Any links to the stats appreciated - cheers

The Community Charge (aka Poll Tax) wasn't actually one of Thatcher's ideas. She initially didn't want to replace Rates with another local tax at all. Instead she wanted to fund local services from central taxation. She was convinced to change her mind by a William Waldegrave and Kenneth Baker green paper. Of course, Thatcher's subsequent downfall was that, having been convinced to go with the concept of the Community Charge , she did it with her usual dogmatic gusto. Her singlemindedness often stood her in good stead but it didn't with the Community Charge, but, for once, she wasn't the architect of it even though people assume she was.

The 1979 and 1983 Tory manifestos pledged to remove various powers from the unions. Ergo the Tories were given a democratic mandate to carry this out by virtue of winning these elections. Thatcher resisted a "set piece battle" for best part of 5 years and it was only the act of Scargill calling a national strike without a national ballot that set miner against miner and miner against the government. Are people suggesting that Thatcher shouldn't have carried out the mandate she was handed by the electorate?

How many of the pits that Thatcher closed were inefficient and how many were closed out of pure political spite? Genuine question as I've no idea what the stats are.

Fair points. I just highlighted this 'ordinary northern woman' interview because she said Thatcher made her life better and was still feeling that some 30 years later. Yes, no doubt for every 1 'ordinary northern' person the BBC unearth that benefitted from Thatcher someone else can find another 10 (or whatever ) that didn't, but I think it's 'fair' to dispel the myth that Thatcher destroyed ALL working class families in 'the north'. As I say, I've no idea how representative this woman was of the 'silent minority' - she could well be an optimistic needle in a pessimistic haystack for all I know - but felt it was worth mentioning.

Yep. Wilson closed c.3x more mines than Thatcher (for example)

Bad. How often are your trains delayed on average these days? Mine are probably on time c.95% of the time. That figure would have been nearer 75% in "the old days" (anecdotal memory rather than statistical)

You sound surprised....?