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A Labour veteran blamed another legacy of Thatcher: the need for iron discipline after the media onslaught that engulfed her opponents. Moreover, it's hard not to see the roots of the 2008 crash in the unshackling of the City two decades earlier. Faced down trade union leaders after her early years apprentice years, when Jim Callaghan's Britain was falling apart in which the commonest fear was that the little lady would not be able to deal with them across the table. This is one small sign of how the left seems paralysed by a lack of intellectual curiosity and confidence. Three aspects of it never completely leave my head. Margaret Thatcher's legacy: roundup of the best writing Eventually, the Italian contingent, largely existential or postmodern, rose up against us. As I spread my wings in politics, I discovered many Thatcher voters down south who were the same kind of people who loathed her in Scotland. Narrowly judged, the Thatcher economic revolution was a success. The Crown's Version of Margaret Thatcher's 1990 Downfall Takes a Lot of Liberties with . Thinking about it now, when I was a child she was just a strict woman telling everyone off and selling everything off. She made one The organised working class, almost alone, had put Britain on the skids. Thatcher did not believe in "picking winners"; instead she preferred to rely on market forces to ensure the survival of the fittest. In 1968 she gave a lecture asking What's It is odd to reflect that in Thatcher's time, the British novel enjoyed a comparatively lively resurgence. They are a more energetic and impressive group than their predecessors, often with experience outside politics that makes them impatient and independent-minded. John asked a nearby chippy loading his white van. Too timid, too in thrall, the 13-year Labour government rarely dared challenge the attitudes she planted in the national psyche. Interviewing him, I was struck by a Victorian sort of kindness; as an Oxford student in the 1930s he'd worked in his vacation helping families of the unemployed in the Yorkshire coalfield one of them had even named their baby Keith in his honour. At her first conference speech, she chastised the Labour Party on economic . She and her successors John Major and Tony Blair presided over a quarter century of unprecedented prosperity. Maybe my memory is fanciful. Perhaps my early apathy and indifference are a result of what Thatcher deliberately engendered, the idea that "there is no such thing as society", that we are alone on our journey through life, solitary atoms of consciousness. Privatisation was the single most massive attack on democracy we have seen. Out! for the disk. Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Thatcher's Speech Original, independent voices such as BBC director general Alasdair Milne were brutally silenced. Government policy during the 1980s was little more than a war policy, aimed at defeating or isolating republicanism. Her political antennae refused to allow her to privatise the coal industry, British Rail or the post office. After the Dublin European Council in November 1979 she began a long battle The evidence shows that greater equality provides the foundation on which higher standards of social wellbeing can be built. I wouldn't say I have got myself a Kennedy-type speech-writer yet . the British Embassy in Paris and stated The events of that awful summer of '81 polarised Irish society, north and south. We liked disliking her. Sunstein worked for a Democratic president, but did not meet the Labour leader or key advisers. It was a watershed moment in Irish politics. . Arthur Scargill and the miners represented the only opposition to the prime minister and her destructive and divisive values and, after the strike, the way was open for the most aggressive neoliberal policies. There is now, however, an opportunity to commit to a new politics that learns lessons from her ambition yet undoes the damage and focuses on reconstruction. In her 1982 party conference speech, Margaret Thatcher offered a prediction for the future: "How absurd it will seem in a few years' time that the state ran Pickfords removals and Gleneagles Hotel." It knew what Thatcher wanted. If love is something you cherish, it is hard to glean much joy from death, even in one's enemies. The credit boom both here and in the USA may have gone against her Grantham roots but was an equally inevitable result of deregulation and the temptation of easy loans for people hungry to improve living standards. MT prayed on the When President Reagan died in June 2004, she delivered a Texts for listed statements are available on the site in almost 70 per It always irks when rightwing folk demonstrate in a familial or exclusive setting the values that they deny in a broader social context. What saved Thatcher's bacon, and revolutionised her leadership, was Labour's unelectable Michael Foot and the Falklands war. Under this heading, Thatcher left a dark legacy that, like her successes, has still not disappeared behind the historical horizon. She lavished praise on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, then in its infancy, and laid out the . Underestimating Ronald Reagan was an error committed by many of his critics and opponents; Reagan never minded a bit, thinking that being underestimated yielded him a significant advantage. An Inconvenient Truth About Margaret Thatcher: She Was a Climate Hawk. At times the Conservative party is so anarchic as to appear almost ungovernable, like a plethora of pressure groups pushing pet causes rather than a united group ruthlessly focusing on political success. Margaret Flowers is a leading activist, doctor, teacher, and co-founder of PopularResistance.org, a website that aims to inform and inspire grassroots movements around the world. As a result, Labour authorities in eight or so British cities have set up fairness commissions to reduce income differences locally. see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising Farewell, indeed, Baroness Thatcher. This is not the Highland way. She abolished city-wide local government, capped spending and expected the poll tax to further undermine alternative voices. The Winter of Discontent in 1978-79 brought rhetorical as well as political The first time I met Margaret Thatcher, I swear she was wearing gloves. The author Nassim Taleb traded equations on a whiteboard with Gus O'Donnell, then head of the civil service, as they debated econometrics; at another, I watched entranced as Lord Heseltine argued urban policies with Harvard's Ed Glaeser. She adopts an endearing and sentimental tone using ethos, repetition, and . This has been a terrible labour, she said. I'd become a delinquent, living on heroin and benefit fraud. All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people's pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful. Tasteless." How dare her apologists and beneficiaries of her legacy refer to trade unions like the NUM as "corrupt" in the face of their bonuses and tax cuts! On the contrary, consumerism and materialism have been the norm ever since, rising inequality the consistent trend as the rich soar ever further away from the rest. The woman, however, changed. Thatcher's infamous failure to recognise the existence of society was a double failure. Thatcher answered that question, re-energising the concept of democratic leadership. Although the "right to buy" and the privatisation of utilities by selling shares to new small investors was often justified as giving rights to "the little people", the reality is that the less well-off fell ever further behind the rich. It came to a head over her most egregious policy failure, Europe. of the 1600 libraries around the world which hold the CD-ROM. Yet her understanding of Britain was alarmingly crude. She was always the Spitting Image bully. I don't see that. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God's children.". When the late Christopher Hitchens was a political reporter for the New Statesman, he corrected the prime minister on a point of fact, and she was quick to correct Hitchens in turn. She pointed out that she was only 10 years old when she ceased to be prime minister. My mate John and I were wandering there together, he expertly proselytising on the architecture and the history of the place, me pretending to be Rumpole of the Bailey (quietly in my mind), when we spied in the distant garden a hunched and frail figure, in a raincoat, scarf about her head, watering the roses under the breezy supervision of a masticating copper. or copyright prevents reproduction on the site. She added layers of her own to this intimacy, directing the creation of a single European market that surrendered important national powers to the collective. Look at the cars on the road, none made by the old, nationally-owned British Leyland and only few by the British marques that once dominated but which went the way of much of British industry unable to survive the chill wind of "market forces", another phrase which filled the air back then. Margaret Thatcher's Strong Stance on Climate Change And in 1983, for the first time, children born in Britain to non-British parents were denied automatic citizenship, fostering further racism and discrimination in immigration policy. Thatcher has said that negotiation, and not strong economic sanctions, is the way to persuade South Africa's white-minority government to dismantle apartheid. We Americans will not see you again in our time, but we will never forget you. Public Statements of Margaret Thatcher on CD-ROM, 1945-90, edited Christopher A week later she spoke The government's job was to keep inflation low, not to boost growth through demand management. Thatcher's most baleful influence on government was not on industries and services she privatised but those she did not. Interview by Benedict King. drew an important moral from the Falklands war: "We have ceased to announced that White Peggy Noonan. But keeping the show on the road is what all of them must first attend to, because there's nobody else to do it. At its heart must be an active programme to create good jobs and raise living standards. Rows with Lawson and Geoffrey Howe over a European currency (where she was right) presaged the final shambles of the poll tax. Yet the Daily Mail has morefemale bylines than any other UK paper and is not exactly a totem of gender equality andfemale-friendliness. Throw the Lib Dems into the mix and it becomes highly combustible. speech which caused the Soviets to dub her "the Iron Lady", one To the victors we saycongratulations. Firstly, control of inflation rather than the pursuit of full employment was the centrepiece of macro economic strategy. It may be wrong to imagine that she intended to de-industrialise Britain, but the policies followed by her government had that effect. Miners were a hardy race of people who faced constant danger in the cause of mining coal but underneath that they were caring, sensitive individuals with a commitment to the communities in which they lived. The spell he was referring to is the unseen bond that connects us all and prevents us from being subjugated by tyranny. Speeches, interviews & other statements - Margaret Thatcher Nelson travelled to South Africa where he helped negotiate a deal that saw the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance acquire AK-47 automatic rifles, pistols, grenades, and RPG rocket launchers in late 1987 or early 1988. There are more than 8,000. When Margaret Thatcher won the general election in 1979, she became Prime Minister of a land in chaos. Every quality had its obverse, but she had a myth-making charisma to capture the world's imagination. The Thatcher Papers - Churchill Archives Centre I am reminded of this every time the debate comes up about whether more female bylines would reduce sexism in the media. Climate, freedom and denial: What "Green Thatcherism" teaches us today If you behave like there's no such thing as society, in the end there isn't. The result . Beleagured Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher makes pun during the 1981 Conservative Party conference speech: "the lady's not for turning" she says to her crit. At the time, Thatcher was the education secretary her first major political role. As I see it, and as one who had the pleasure of knowing both, they would recognize the huge opportunity created by the presence of each in the respective national and international policy-making role. The financial crash of 2008 was a direct result of the policies Thatcher championed. And, of course, Nelson provided the intelligence. Large parts of society never recovered, while Germany and other countries managed the transition without such brutality. Luckily, a longer paper means you get a bigger discount! Those strikes were confusing to me as a child. These talks, sometimes joined by the prime minister and run by his aide Rohan Silva, show the restless search for new ideas that still grips the right, one of the least recognised legacies of Margaret Thatcher. After being asked to deliver a eulogy for the late Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004, Margaret Thatcher gave a speech about her dear friend, and highlighted his best qualities through her writing. Copyright Margaret Thatcher Foundation 2023. In 1979 it had a mile or so of shipyards, a sugar works and factories that still made rope and ship's fittings. Meeting Gorbachev for the first time in December 1984 she declared: "We Second, it's now easier to see the scale of the setback she inflicted on Britain's idea of its own future. We watched as her high heels went click-click-click across the stones of the Acropolis and the cement floors of Tito's steel mills. "Yes and that was one of the many weird things about her," smirked Alexei Sayle. In this eulogy, Thatcher uses rhetorical strategies to convince her readers into believing what she states. I'd unthinkingly imbibed enough doctrine to know that, troubled as I was, there was little point looking elsewhere for support. The state retained control of some nationalised industries the railways, for example but BT, British Airways, British Steel, British Gas and the British Airports Authority were among the big companies sold off. Unquestionably, a major component of what Reagan achieved was mirrored in what Baroness Thatcher herself achieved. She had just finished the first volume of her memoirs, which she insisted was all her own work. (They also reveal how she loved to surround herself with yes men who were always men.) Hats. There was, for example, the time in the late 1970s when, as Opposition Leader, she almost succeeded in censoring the one half-decent joke in a key campaign speech. There's something distinctively creepy - in a Roman sort of way - about this mandated ritual that our political leaders must be heralded and consecrated as saints upon death. But Margaret Thatcher did not hesitate, and the long, substantive lunch seemed to energize both future world leaders. 'The Crown' Season 4: Did Margaret Thatcher Really Sound - Decider But the choice captures her perfectly. But she also provided great material. MT gave her first Feminists disowned her by insisting that though she was a woman, she was not a sister. Thatcher was born as Margaret Hilda Roberts on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, England. The proportion of children living in relative poverty more than doubled during the 80s, and the damage has never been undone. Take the larger view. By 1987, anti-Tory tactical voting had taken hold. She famously changed the law after Bobby Sands was elected in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. We have his example. At its best, that has meant a mood of freedom and choice that has made these islands a brighter, less drab place than they once were. After material needs have been met, research has repeatedly shown that further rises in material standards contribute less and less to wellbeing. Larkin's evoked the treacherous mind (of an adversary, of a cabinet colleague) helplessly exposed to her steely regard. Conscious of being awoman, and incapable of pretending otherwise. I do not yet know what effect Margaret Thatcher has had on me as an individual or on the character of our country as we continue to evolve. She led Britain further into Europe, while talking us further out. From the valleys of Wales to the far reaches of Scotland, miners were, by and large, socialists by nature but this was tempered by strong Christian beliefs. Who was 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher? | Live Science So what caused this great divide, with one side a fountain of fresh ideas and the other struggling for new inspiration? a new dominance from Brussels". Capitalism flourishes on debt, but she insisted that economics were best understood as Mr Micawber's formula in which happiness and misery were separated by a shilling. In the 2004 eulogy in honor of the late president, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher uses a series of rhetorical devices such as parallelism, repetition, and ethos to convey the message in which Reagan was much more than an excellent president. three press interviews (15-17 November) when Howe's resignation speech They are acolytes of a raw Thatcher cult they have rough-hewn and exaggerated in their own image. Gloves. And for the people of Ireland, and especially the north, the Thatcher years were among some of the worst of the conflict. Her Irish policy failed miserably. recommended by Simon Heffer. Instead state assets and a huge income stream from North sea oil were used to fund a populist programme of tax cuts, privatisation and council housesales. On the day Thatcher died, the Daily Mail ran a piece claiming that Coco Chanel "was a feminist before the word existed". When Heath fell, her promoters ran her as a stalking horse because, as a woman, they thought she could not win. They do not have to charm, schmooze or play tag with the press. Only today are we facing the cost. The most widely used measure of income differences shows inequality increasing by more than a third during her period in office. A splendid synergy was created, deliberately and with just that in mind on both sides of the Atlantic. It was not yours, but belonged to the Post Office: in effect, the government. Is that what made her so formidable, her ability to ignore the suffering of others? As far as her supporters are concerned, this radical transformation worked. Margaret Thatcher Curriculum Vitae | Best Writing Service morning, Available for everyone, funded by readers. Books by Margaret Thatcher (Author of The Downing Street Years) - Goodreads People should pay her the respect of doing the same after her death. speaking in March 2002.). All can agree that Margaret Thatcher changed the heart of British politics more than any politician since Clement Attlee. rejecting Commission proposals at the Rome European Council with the words The Crown Season 4 brings with it a whole lot of change for Queen Elizabeth II's family and, more importantly, the United Kingdom. decision to resign. She may have got it slightly wrong. She, and Blair after her, brought an unprecedented dirigisme to the NHS, education, police and local government. But this didn't come without a price. In towns and valleys poleaxed by the Iron Lady, there may be glasses raised at her passing. Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" of British politics who died Monday at the age of 87, is being lionized as the woman who tilted British domestic and economic policy to the right. It was only in the mid-80s that she became truly radical and remotely comparable to David Cameron in 2010. It accounted for a large part of the mark Thatcher left on Britain. Their reckless private finance of public investment and services went beyond anything she dared dream of. The eulogy is a good illustration of Thatcher's feelings for . In her thoughtful and prescient remarks, the Prime Minister reached back into history to recall how far the English-Speaking Peoples had come since victory in . On June 11th, 2004 Margaret Thatcher gave a speech to the American people at Ronald Reagan's funeral. The machinery of modern political management polls, consulting, focus groups is deployed mainly to discover what will make aparty and politician better liked, or worse, disliked. Words. Sue Gray has shown the dangers of thinking officials are more ethical Alamat kami. I didn't know what to think of this fearsome woman. "Thatcher as mother" seemed, to my tiddly mind, anathema. In a way, they are all Thatcher's children.". They rallied around each other when times were hard. Above all, they lack her competence at running the machinery of government. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: "I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today." That bonuses and top incomes continue to rise while the incomes of the rest of the population struggle to keep up with inflation tells us that what we needed was legislation to ensure employee representation on company boards and remuneration committees as many of our European partners have. She refused to reform social security, or even curb its abuse. Jan Leeming, Sue Lawley, Moira Stuart delivering doctrine with sterile sexiness, like a butterscotch-scented beige vapour. Now it was the turn of the words, and no one, of course, would, against all the odds, do them better than the lady who, 25 years before, once thought the sky was beyond her limit. When Margaret Hilda Thatcher took over as Prime Minister, in May, 1979, I was sixteen. June 5, 1992 - Is named a life peer on the Queen's honor list. declared that she wanted our money back, invited the It's how she would have, if pressed, put it herself. But at its crudest, the Thatcher ethos translated into the get-rich-quick, greed-is-good spirit of the 1980s, satirised by Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney creation. The lady was too shrewd to try that, and barely succeeded in reducing the share of the national income taken by the public sector. These developments set a benchmark. At Bruges in September 1988 she outraged European orthodoxy by declaring: Margaret Thatcher's most popular book is The Downing Street Years. Thatcher's 11 years of dictating British policy in Ireland was a legacy of bitterness and entrenched division. Today we have four coalmines and around 2,000 miners. The Political Rhetoric and Oratory of Margaret Thatcher But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. For a start, she had a superb memory for a brief, and she would have had no problem memorising quickly any number of lines. be a nation in retreat". Each was characterised by her attention to detail. Cameron's crew crudely imagine she intended it. It was not interested in a resolution. Margaret Thatcher's landmark Bruges speech about the future of Europe was never intended to push the UK towards the exit, the man who wrote it says. Witness the steady downgrading of local government or the persistent assumption that the private sector will always be better than the public.