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.