Thatcher Statue

[mik_rik]

I was forced to go to London in the early 80s' for work as Liverpool as a whole was a wasteland for jobs, the difference was quite remarkable. I found myself each Monday morning at Lime Street station at 6am waiting to board what was nicknamed " The Tebbit Express " to go to work. We worked 12 hour days till Friday then got the 1pm return " Tebbit Express " back to our families, it was the only way to survive. Once in The Smoke, recession, what recession, Loadsamoney guys were everywhere, girls either wanted a loadsamoney boyfriend with their Porsches, some even wanted a bit of strange, namely all the guys not from London who were there to earn a crust, it was an eye opener.

If you were 35-60 in Liverpool then you never worked again, the P45 was your constant companion no matter what you tried to get a job. I was fortunate, I was 24 when I left home to support my family, Mum worked in p/t jobs to make ends meet but in reality we struggled for maybe 6-8 years, probably more in all honesty, Dad never worked again and he was only 56 at the time.

I recall one day when Thatcher was in Liverpool for something or other, Tate & Lyle had been closed down the same day, when asked how she thought about this she "spat back" in that vile "know your place" tone that she had, it was not her problem, she was there for a visit, she had no opinion, she said the market forces dictated it, she didn't care less. My city, amongst many others, was a wasteland to the Tories of the day, they wanted to grind us down & still probably do, know this though that memories are kept for a very long time by those who were let go.

For a taster of what it really was like then I suggest you get a nice comfy chair & watch in its' entirety "Boys from the Blackstuff" in one whole session. You may wonder 40 years later that surely it was not like that in any way, well I can tell you from my own experience that many many people lived that life, all due to a PM that was as cold as ice in emotion & thought the end result warranted the pain.

When she died my Dad danced like he had won the lottery, strip any man of his dignity, you create all the hatred you deserve.

I hope she is rotting in hell, I truly do.

Well said.
She started with steel,then the mines and finished with the shipyards with ,closing hundreds if not thousands of factories /businesses along the way.Winning elections by bribing voters with the promise of selling publicly owned utilities for knock down prices in the next Parliament,mainly for the benefit of the"City".Unemployment - "a necessary price to pay" was paid for by North Sea oil really coming on stream very soon after the 1979 election. Norway used their oil revenues to build infrastructure,ours was used for tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

She "raized the North"with more spite and malice than William the Conqueror

 

[TheDecameron]

Well said.
She started with steel,then the mines and finished with the shipyards with ,closing hundreds if not thousands of factories /businesses along the way.Winning elections by bribing voters with the promise of selling publicly owned utilities for knock down prices in the next Parliament,mainly for the benefit of the"City".Unemployment - "a necessary price to pay" was paid for by North Sea oil really coming on stream very soon after the 1979 election. Norway used their oil revenues to build infrastructure,ours was used for tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

She "raized the North"with more spite and malice than William the Conqueror

An illiterate industrial strategy. She wiped Scotland off the map as an industrial force along with large parts of England. Look at Germany now - third largest manufacturing exported in the world.

 

[Enfield boy]

Makes you wonder who really have been the 5th column in the UK, dunnit?

 

[Guinnless]

I was fortunate enough to see Janet Russell perform "Sanctuary" off her "Gathering the Fragments" album. Very, very moving.

 

[gavreid]

This is a good interview with Beckett since the same myth is often promulgated on the Forum.

"Wilson’s government has, of course, gone into the collective imagination as a disaster, possibly even the origin of the increasingly ridiculous cliche that Labour can’t manage the nation’s finances. Ted Heath had presided over a relatively prosperous Britain until the oil price shock of late 1973, whereupon the economy started to cascade. “Prices quadrupled; they even quintupled in places,” she says. This didn’t instantly multiply all other prices, but it did cause unemployment and dizzying inflation rises, from single digits under Heath to 24% by 1975; Labour, having won, “got the blame for all the fallout”. "

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...for-breakfast-margaret-beckett-blair-iraq-war

And Labour didn't have North Sea oil either. What they failed to do, in a similiar way, was to get Cameron holding the baby after the banking crash - by supporting, even initiating, Austerity.

 

[cooky1257]

They should drop it down a mineshaft.....

 

[Cheese]

An illiterate industrial strategy. She wiped Scotland off the map as an industrial force along with large parts of England. Look at Germany now - third largest manufacturing exported in the world.

Two contemporary designs (1972), not quite of the same level I am afraid. Not saying Thatcher was a good PM (dunno), but this is more or less the country she has inherited.

 

[Guinnless]

Two contemporary designs (1972), not quite of the same level I am afraid. Not saying Thatcher was a good PM (dunno), but this is more or less the country she has inherited.

The price point of those two cars are quite different as you know.
Why didn't you use a VW Type 1 as an example?

In 1972 Ford had been producing 16 valve DOHC Escorts for at least three years.

 

[Cheese]

Why didn't you use a VW Type 1 as an example?

Because the design is from the 50's. BL managed to launch that thing in 1972.

The 1974 Käfer is not that bad BTW: [EDIT]:I saw too late that this was a special version, so not really comparable.

 

[Guinnless]

Because the design is from the 50's. BL managed to launch that thing in 1972.

The 1974 Käfer is not that bad BTW:

 

[Snufkin]

Because the design is from the 50's. BL managed to launch that thing in 1972.

The 1974 Käfer is not that bad BTW:

The original was a 1930's design.

 

[Guinnless]

All the Type 1s are bad.

Not even a five speed gearbox unlike the Allegro....

 

[Tony L]

BL managed to launch that thing in 1972.

Indeed, nothing shouts Edward Heath’s Conservative Party more than the Austin Allegro (aside from maybe a police enquiry relating to small boys).

PS If you want a Harold Wilson-era car how about an E-Type or a Jensen Interceptor?

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Two contemporary designs (1972), not quite of the same level I am afraid. Not saying Thatcher was a good PM (dunno), but this is more or less the country she has inherited.

This would be a fairer comparison: Rover P6

Or Triumph 2500 perhaps:

 

[gavreid]

Indeed, nothing shouts Edward Heath’s Conservative Party more than the Austin Allegro (aside from maybe a police enquiry relating to small boys).

PS If you want a Harold Wilson-era car how about an E-Type or a Jensen Interceptor?

The Jaguar V12 engine was well ahead of its time - then said oil crisis...

 

[Monitor Gold 10]

Two contemporary designs (1972), not quite of the same level I am afraid. Not saying Thatcher was a good PM (dunno), but this is more or less the country she has inherited.

Leyland Motor Corporation and BMC should not have merged.

Had there not be inducements from the government at that time, they would likely have remained separate and we'd still have Leyland Motor Corporation with it's subsidiaries:

Leyland Motors (Truck and Bus)
West Yorkshire Foundries
Standard- Triumph
Rover Car Company and Alvis.

All had a modern and respected range of products.

 

[Cheese]

I don’t know the entire story, but I guess the situation was so desperate, there was no choice other than walking to the ministry with the begging bowl.

 

[gintonic]

we'd still have Leyland Motor Corporation with it's subsidiaries:

our doubt it somehow. The inevitable happened.

 

[Joe Hutch]

Indeed, nothing shouts Edward Heath’s Conservative Party more than the Austin Allegro (aside from maybe a police enquiry relating to small boys).

PS If you want a Harold Wilson-era car how about an E-Type or a Jensen Interceptor?

E-Type dates from 1961, so is more of a Supermac than a Wilson car.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

E-Type dates from 1961, so is more of a Supermac than a Wilson car.

That does rather show what a lead we squandered in the intervening decade, doesn't it?