This will be the last from me on Mrs Thatcher and the BBC….her death has allowed them to air all the old canards about her ‘legacy’….from the Belgrano, the Miners, the cause of the 2008 crash, the apparent rise of greed and individualism/selfishness and the destruction of the manufacturing base.
The BBC has long kept such myths simmering away, a constant repetition no doubt bringing them to a new audience of trusting young listeners and viewers. With the death of Mrs Thatcher clearly this is going to go into overdrive and bore everyone senseless….so I’ll make one last comment on their coverage of Mrs Thatcher and move on to other subjects.
Plenty of nonsense being spoken about Mrs Thatcher on the BBC, and no doubt elsewhere today…a lot of it by the BBC itself.
Ken Clarke fought hard against the tide of Leftwing historical revisionism presented as fact on the Today programme…..
Ken Clarke on the Today programme says that both Left and Right are building their myths about Mrs Thatcher….he suggests ‘someone will have to write a sensible history of her time in office’…but not by the BBC whose political correspondent Nick Robinson is continuing to write the myths and keep them going says Clarke.
The same Nick Robinson who said he ‘sensed’ that those out ‘celebrating’ the death of Mrs Thatcher were in fact merely protesting the ‘Thatcherite consensus’ in politics today. That’ll explain the ‘Rejoice rejoice rejoice the Bitch is dead’ type slogans then.
The problem is that BBC presenters nod along in agreement with much of the nonsense as well as letting the most outrageous comments go unchallenged. There is a distinct lack of context to help judge the truth of many of the anti-Thatcher comments and which serves only to perpetuate the myths and legends that have built up, with not a little help from the BBC, over the years….for instance the Belgrano was not a ‘troop carrier’ but a fully armed battleship, and was sailing towards the Falklands…and even the Argies admit she was a legitimate target.
The first bit of nonsense comes from an ex BBC employee, Judith Stamper, who once interviewed Mrs Thatcher in 1983 for BBC North and accused her of running an ‘uncaring government’.
Stamper is now a political communications lecturer at Leeds University and spoke on 5Live ‘Morning Reports’ (17 mins 30 secs) where she ‘discusses how Margaret Thatcher brought advertising, marketing and public relations into politics and its impact on her campaigns and image.’
Stamper told us that Mrs Thatcher invented the photo opportunity, the walk about, the selling of politics and that ‘spin doctoring’ started with her….she was a manufactured product….Labour’s spin doctoring was a response to that of Mrs Thatcher…er…by then long out of government.
Only problem with all of that is it’s baloney….the first political image making? How about all those Emperors who had their faces on coins, or Elizabeth I who strictly controlled her own image and the paintings of her, or Churchill who used his fame as a soldier and war correspondent to get his foot in the door of politics…or Monty in the desert with his two cap badges…and who can forget Goebbels….or indeed Chamberlain and his ‘piece of paper’. Walkabouts? Try WWII again with the King and Queen touring the blitzed areas to raise morale….and to uphold their own image as people who care about the ‘ordinary people’.
Spin doctoring, image control and self promotion have long been a feature of any political ‘regime’…..Thatcher certainly changed her image to suit her role but her policies were not ‘crowd pleasing’ ones moulded by focus groups…Ken Clarke saying she was a conviction politician who took no notice of polls or the newspapers, her politics were based on her ideology not just designed to stay in power …unlike Blair and Co who sold out their principles to take power and couldn’t make a move without checking with Murdoch first…as indeed Cameron sold out to appease the BBC.
Next bit of nonsense was Mickey Clark on Wake Up To Money….and blaming Mrs Thatcher for the Crash in 2008…’sowing the seeds of disaster’ with the ‘Big Bang’. (16 mins 30) and when a text comes in saying businesses closed in Scotland due to strikes Mickey asks ‘Is that fair?’. …preferring to blame Mrs Thatcher? and not the Unions
The Big Bang being the cause of the Crash is a constant theme on the BBC…and completely unjustified….happening over 20 years before the Crash….and with the economy brought back under control and actually running a surplus rather than a deficit in 1998-2000 before Brown went for broke….clearly something else broke the banks…and that something was Brown’s much more extensive deregulation of the financial industry and the failure of his FSA creation.
The programme is worth listening to though as you get a far more reasoned and sensible analysis from the guests.
Another programme that came as a surprise, in my view, was from Andrew Neil, whom you might have expected to be more balanced, in ‘The People’s Thatcher’ …but the programme painted a more negative picture of Mrs Thatcher than you might expect and slipped in a few barbed comments along the way….when talking about giving away council houses rather than selling them he quoted her as saying ‘That would do nothing for our people’…..meaning the middle class rather than the council house tenants who could benefit from getting a house cheaply….not such a ‘People’s Thatcher ‘ then?
Another quibble with BBC coverage, along with Thatcher’s Big Bang being the cause of the 2008 crash, is the great legend that the BBC help perpetuate that Thatcher alone destroyed the mining industry with pit closures.
Rubbish…she closed uneconomic pits…but then so had previous governments for decades:
Pit closures in 1960s and 1980s….The loss of the collieries was devastating in such villages as Cwmparc, Clydach Vale and Blaencwm and it could be argued that these South Wales villages and many like them have not fully recovered from the colliery closures in the sixties.
The Fifties and Sixties 1950 to 1969….old ways had to be consigned to history. While oil refineries were opening at the mouth of the River Tees, the coalmines and railways were closing with huge consequences for the communities they supported.
What is interesting about the closures in Wales in the sixties is that they were sometimes caused by lack of available labour…the men didn’t want to work down the pits ….better paying jobs with better conditions were available in the factories.
Arthur Scargill in the eighties proclaimed that Thatcher was destroying jobs that belonged to the miner’s sons and daughters….but given a choice would they want to work down the pit? Most of the evidence suggests not…it was a source of income first and foremost…and a dangerous one at that, dirty, hard work. If they could get the same money elsewhere who would mine coal?
The BBC should do more to look at the history of coal mining and stop allowing the myth to be kept alive that Mrs Thatcher was the ‘Devil incarnate, a demon, an absolute devil’ as one miner called her on the Nolan show…going on to proclaim that the Jews celebrated the death of Hitler and he would celebrate the death of Thatcher in the same way.
Whilst many of the guests invited on to various BBC programmes spend a deal of time giving fair and rational analysis of Mrs Thatcher’s policies and legacy it does seem the BBC presenters still can’t resist blaming her for everything….or not questioning the ‘received wisdom’ that she is to blame.
Look at one last myth…We are constantly told that Thatcherism spread the blight of ‘individualism’ and promoted selfishness and greed, fragmenting society and destroying social cohesion.
As I understand it Christianity usually gets the credit, not the blame for ‘individualism’, and it was this that gave us the ‘Enlightenment’ and the enterprising individuals who whilst seeking to improve their lives improved others along with it (along with the Protestant work ethic)….a feat not possible in societies suppressed and controlled by oppressive community values….and I believe ‘greed’ was mentioned in the Bible a couple of thousand years ago….so not Thatcher’s fault perhaps?
You can blame, in more recent times, the Sixties and all those anti-establishment types, in the Media and Arts especially, who ended the automatic respect for authority and the deference to ‘one’s betters’.
You can of course blame the Welfare State which broke communities and made people reliant on the State rather than helping each other…especially inside the Family. The State has taken over the duties and role of the Family….people pay their taxes and abandon all further responsibilities for much that goes on in Society.
Human Rights laws and Health and Safety laws both kicked away the foundations of the civil society and encouraged a more antagonistic and aggressive and greedy society as people relied on State Law to settle disputes rather than common sense and mediation….they always see a profit now in any dispute.
And as for social cohesion…wasn’t it Labour that imported millions of immigrants who form their own societies within a Society unable to cope with such a large influx?
People, if not born with a silver spoon in their mouths, do get issued a ‘Ration Book’ of Rights that they can use to their own advantage…the one thing missing is a similar book demanding they fulfil their ‘obligations’ to Society and pay something back.
Shame the BBC does not do much at all to reflect such different perspectives on the causes of the perceived ills of our Society…..a start would be acknowledging that Thatcher inherited a broken economy and country….little mention is made of the conditions in the 1970’s which were the real causes of the gutting out of the manufacturing base.
“And as for social cohesion…wasn’t it Labour that imported millions of immigrants who form their own societies within a Society unable to cope with such a large influx?”
I did write a blog post on this ( but understand the rules), so will put it like this :
Now, i like those to the right of labour ( and current gov) subscribe to the free market, i also subscribe to the free movement of labour, i love competition.
The questions you should ask :
1 : why are Brits so unemployable
2: if you was in charge of small company/biz would you hire a Brit or best person for job.
3: If you restrict immigration do you really think biz will suddenly employ those that are unemployable?
While i the benefits debate is also tied to this ( it does need changing) we must not forget that immigrants are doing the jobs that some Brits dont want to do or incapable of doing, closing borders is not the answer unless you want to harm biz.
Thats all ppl : ) (if you want to read my post on it ask me on twitter and will tweet you link ) 🙂
The notion that native Britons are unemployable, lazy or unwilling to do certain jobs combines racism and class hatred in one package and is a favourite theme of the Establishment. If the price is right, people will do the jobs. The problem is that wages are too low, having been artificially depressed through cheap immigrant labour, whilst at the same time welfare benefits are too high. You really cannot blame some people for opting for the latter in the circumstances. Britain’s education system is failing and not producing enough educated, capable and motivated workers, being mainly concerned with social engineering rather than meeting the needs of individuals, industry and society as a whole. Unfettled globalisation means British workers are at a profound disadvantage, as greedy companies transfer their jobs to China and elsewhere. Unfair trading agreements such as those imposed by the WTO and World Bank, plus the dead hand of Brussels bureaucracy, help create mass unemployment. So no, I for one do not accept the standard media lies about “immigrants do the jobs that we won’t”.
My main disagreement is that wages are too low. They’re not. They are what th emarket sets them at. The real problem is that taxes are too high.
I find it offensive that the “living wage” berks ignore than for every pound extra earned, 65p is taken in tax. Why don’t they ask for tax cuts by reducing government?
Good point, but we need to make our own people (who we have a *responsibility to as fellow countrymen) get out of the Welfare induced sloth and shamelessness they’ve fallen into. Hiring loads of foreigners instead simply is inviting our own self-destruction.
I look at British history and I think we’re worth preserving, nay, I think it’s critical to the cause of world civilisation that we restore those things that made us great.
Just like Maggie Thatcher did the last time we were reeling.
The answer is not to undercut the natives by flooding the place with people who are ABLE to do it cheaper.
Guess what, if those champagne socialists can’t get a cheap foreign cleaner, they will have to offer a fair price to the natives.
People have mortgages and bills to pay, most can’t afford to work for £6.21ph or less.
My idea of conservatism includes conserving our beautiful and irreplaceable countryside. In fact it’s very close to the top of my agenda. We’re full!
Really sorry not to post this on open thread, but a question for Admin, what has happened to list of contributors/bloggers on side of main page?
maggie thatcher by defending the falklands brought down the right wing fascist goverment of argentina of murderers and torturers and freed the people of that country,isnt it ironic that the far left and the socalists took sides against margeret thatcher and backed the bloody fascist argies in that war,mind blowing hypocrisy from the far left socalists as usual.
A terrific point but the hard left view the whole conflict and invasion through the prism of colonialism. This kind of post-colonial guilt defines so much of what the left believes in with respect of British history, and our role in the world today.
Argentine colonialism?
Actually most of them believe that the war was deliberately fostered by Mrs Thatcher to revive her flagging opinion polls.
I suppose it was easy for the British ‘left’ to feel politically comfortable in its support for Argentina, given that Argentina’s enemy was/is Britain.
And how many of the ‘left’ supported the murderous IRA attack on the British government in Brighton?
‘how many of the ‘left’ supported the murderous IRA attack on the British government in Brighton?’
Who’s to say? Maybe there’s a sometime BBC contributing humourist and BBC-supported, aspiring Labour MP who could be prevailed upon to offer a view?
Kate Hoey really is exceptional. She’s a Labour MP, was brought up a protestant, hates the IRA, opposes EU membership and lost her sports ministry because she opposed the Olympics drug ‘n’ corruptionfest. And she’s chairman (yes, chairman) of the Countryside Alliance.
Goodness knows how she survives in her party. Small and quietly spoken, her natural authority seems to prevent BBC interviewers from talking over her. I’d love to see her on the box more often – along with another principled maverick, Tory MP Douglas Carswell.
Agreed. Along with Frank Field, she’s one of my favorite Labour MPs, and seems to speak a lot of sense.
O’F… or just oaf.
Even Michael Foot – pretty far left – made a fierce speech against the junta and backing the Government in the fateful Saturday debate
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306620/Young-union-firebrand-Bryan-Simpson-middle-aged-anarchist-Ian-Bone-parties-hatred.html…class war huh,they are all a bunch of spoilt university educated posh boys and girls rebelling against there there middle class backgrounds.
DV, as almost always, I agree with absolutely everything you’ve written. Can’t judge too much on BBC coverage as, frankly, I know what the BBC is like and don’t want to have Maggie’s passing sullied by listening to it, but I have to say that, as much as I have no time for harrumphrys and Robinson, I thought the ‘Two Kens’ piece was very good, and that as welcome as Ken Clarke’s very fulsome tribute to Mrs T was, I felt he was off the mark in criticising Robinson’s take.
BBC Correspondents are of course not meant to give their opinions as ‘arbiters’. They’re there to report and let us make our own minds up about a range of opinion. It really does say so much about their sense of self-importance that they said themselves up as ‘arbiters’ giving their unimpeachable words of wisdom from on high.
“Public anger at BBC bias: Viewers hit out at lengthy coverage of poll tax and miners’ strike after Baroness Thatcher’s death.”
“Viewers complain bulletins gave too great an emphasis to critics.
“Twitter users accuse BBC of ‘shameless’ bias against the former PM.
“One viewer said: ‘You name the socialist, they’ve interviewed them.’
“Another said the coverage was ‘an absolute Left-wing biased disgrace.'”
By VANESSA ALLEN and ALASDAIR GLENNIE
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306564/Margaret-Thatcher-Public-anger-BBC-bias-Viewers-hit-lengthy-coverage-poll-tax-miners-strike.html#ixzz2Q2mNLxz2
Oh no! You mentioned the Daily Mail. Albaman will be upset. How can you be so beastly?
Upset, why? The Daily Mail criticising the BBC is hardly an exclusive.
Perhaps George R could limit his posting to “You should read the Daily Mail” instead of giving a running commentary its content every day.
Looks like you were right Roland
Aldumbmutt is nothing if not a product of the script they give him you know like one of those drones who phone you at seven at night !they stick to the lines and hit all the target points !
“Aldumbmutt” – your point in being unable to type “Albaman” is what? Is it an attempt at humour?
Back on your lofty perch, eh Albaman, after a tail-between-legs absence which coincidentally started after your lofty Little Scotlander pronouncements on the blamelessness of the Bank of Scotland in the HBOS debacle were proven to be – how shall we say – a load of old bollocks.
Another objective post from johnnythefish, not.
What you fail to acknowledge is that by 2008 the Bank of Scotland was a trading name of Halifax Bank of Scotland. The majority of the HBOS business and employees are based in England. The decisions post-takeover were made in England.
So, no lofty perch, no tail between legs and certainly no little Scotlander and any bollocks on this subject can be laid at your feet not mine.
I’m afraid re-tuning your bagpipes and spinning another Scotch mist – I mean myth – which puts all the blame on the English for yet another episode in your country’s sad tale of economic ineptitude won’t get you off the hook Albaman….
‘The man who destroyed the Bank of Scotland with a reckless and out-of-control corporate and real-estate lending spree is in the media again.
Mortgage Strategy has an article (Living in the age of less reason) which touches on the “pig on pork” or integrated finance model favoured by Peter Cummings, who was in charge of HBOS’s corporate lending division from 2005-09. Cummings joined the Bank of Scotland as a tea boy in 1973 and worked his way up the ranks’.
That would be Peter Cummings, born in Dumbarton, by the way.
http://www.ianfraser.org/peter-cummings-aladdins-cave/
And we haven’t even started on RBS!
Toodle pip, old boy!
Why not compare the BoS mortgage lending with that of Halifax (and later HBoS) and tell me who was the largest mortgage lender. Any reckless activities in BoS came after the takeover by Halifax.
Shows again the typical hypocrisy of the left when even less than a week after they were accusing the government of using the deaths of the children killed by Philpott to score points on how the welfare culture contributed to it, and yet following the death of Thatcher they use it to launch out at everything they believe she stood for, even if they don’t understand it,
Maggie did more for the workers than her Leftie critics ever did
They are still at it, currently on Radio 5 with a long procession of wining ex miners, no hoper politicians and sundry other spongers. Surely this is a hate crime, or incitement to a hate crime where are the fuzz now!
Sudden BBC interest in public spending on the funeral – predictable and hypocritical.
‘Sudden BBC interest in public spending on the funeral – predictable and hypocritical.’
Students of the Stuart Hughes School of Anger and Protest (down at the left, Mason)?
There seem to be two main strands, one being the fact of a public funeral at all, and then the cost aspects on top.
It appears many of the costs are down to the likely reaction of many sweethearts so determined to show their loathing to a dead person they will wreck and maim anyone they can find in passing. Watch out for BBC Editors handing out logistical advice or asking to be informed when the next fire extinguisher kick-off or drop down is.
I do predict a riot, and the images, if uncropped, will be not many wanting to get their pictures in the papers on screen, matched or outnumbered by those from the MSM only too happy to oblige.
There are of course also those unhappy bearing the cost of an event they don’t want or approve of.
The compelled funding BBC may have to tread carefully around the way this is ‘discussed’, unless they opt to think of themselves as a unifying national treasure that research by the Graun’LSE has shown is loved by 110% of the UK population (3400% in Tower Hamlets) and hence not comparable to a ‘divisive witch’.
Speaking of paying for things not asked about or wanting, the time of this may be less than perfect if the BBC is going to throw much weight behind those who seek choice in what public funds get committed to by minorities for minorities…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/radio1-big-weekend.html
Again, I struggle with the claimed ‘free’ aspect.
And how much did the BBC pay to create their tasteful tributes to Jimmy Savile then?
Then-how much to destroy all the footage, then to hold their enquiries into how it got out(sorry-how lessons might be learned,).
And the smell of hypocrisy is?….well Jimmy Saviles laundry hamper at the BBC…still all stinks!
I like William Hague’s slapdown – we can afford to pay for the funeral out of the £21 billion Maggie’s rebate from the EU has gained us – so far
I think Hague claimed it was actually £75 billion. Nearly 20 years worth of BBC funding!
The vile scum of SWP and anarchist groups will cause well over £10 million worth of damage to property and livelihoods
The BBC have found one claim that she was a racist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22087702
Thatcher was a racist = BBC paydirt.
Find someone to say it, put it out there and it becomes part of the narrative
Such a cheap story.
I am disgusted by ther BBC’s news front page today more than yesterday.
They are really ramping it up now.
They have no shame.
But what Thatcher was saying was simple plain fact. Nothing racist about her remark – just objectivity. The population of Australia is relatively small – and the populations of nearby Indonesia plus India, Pakistan, Malaysia – AND CHINA etc are massive. An open-door policy would see Australia swamped with Asian immigrants in an instant.
‘In a conversation with her “in her retirement”, Mr Carr said the former UK prime minister had warned Australia against Asian immigration.
She said “if we allowed too much of it we’d see the natives of the land, the European settlers, overtaken by migrants”, he said.
She was right – it’s already happening in London. She was making a political debating point which, unless you are from the Hacked Off school of censorship, cannot be considered in any way racist.
But they neglect, in that article, to point out that Mr Carr is the former Labor (Aust.) Premier of New South Wales, and is a commited republican.
The reader is left with the impression that a distinguished world-stage politician has a story to tell, without any information that indicates his personal political agenda.
For some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, this approach by the BBC seems somewhat familiar…
Yep, there’s a reason why it’s a cliche about ‘no son of mine is going down pit’.
It’s the perfect microcosm of what’s up with the BBC – and the left in general – a bunch of luvvies who work in climate-controlled offices all going misty-eyed about how somebody else’s kids have lost the chance to do a dirty and dangerous job that they wouldn’t want their kids to do for a gold clock.
There’s a wider issues here too. Mining was good because fathers knew their sons were guaranteed to end up following them down the pit. When did that get to be a good thing? Wasn’t that what the Labour Party was meant to fight? When did aspiration get to be a bad thing?
Ditto, these towns might have had a great sense of community, but isn’t that pretty much what the BBC sneers at in any other context? Look how they deal with small town America. Take the pit away and you’re talking about exactly the people the BBC usually depicts as small-minded, parochial bigots, drinking themselves to death and ranting that they don’t need no nancy boy ‘books’ in this town.
‘no son of mine is going down pit’.
And a ridululous comment from a BBC sponsored northern ‘mining community’ spokesperson this morning….
‘The Tories would have people still working up chimneys!’
So Arthur Scargill wanted people working, where ….?
Northern myth was well sent up by Monty Python and others (condensed version) –
When I were a lad we lived in’t shoebox in’t middle of road, had to get up before we went to bed, pay t’mill owner to work 48 hours a day, and when we got ‘ome Dad would cut us in half wit’ bread knife – if we were lucky.
I left school in 1979, and started an apprenticeship with the NCB, working down the mines at that time was an absolute joke. It was virtually impossible to be sacked, and the NUM ran the mine not the management.
I left after the miners strike and went to work in private industry, I never looked back.
I wasn`t keen on some of Mrs Thatchers policies, but even then I understood that she was a person of priciple, and if she said something, she meant it!, how unlike todays lot.
I felt no personal animosity towards her in the 80`s & 90`s, and now I am sad that a great, although divisive Lady has died.
Those who are dancing in the streets, should hang their heads in shame, as I have no doubt they will when they grow up in a couple of years.
Paddy
These people have no shame – no amount of growing up will change that.
Like you I was not a fan of Thatcher’s at the time – but compared to the PMs we have had since her she was a colossus – she had principles – Blair, Brown and Cameron wouldn’t recognize a principle if they tripped over one.
Have to agree they will never stop this pathetic no ‘class war’ I have just been given a mouthful by some moron who I know very well ,should do he’s my brother? we grew up during her time but unlike me who with my mom and sister used to go and vote together thankfully she gave me the taste for democracy and politics but he never voted and mocked anyone who did he spent the 80’s and 90’s stoned out of his head at raves with his mates he has never brought a SWP paper never joined a union and he has never been on a protest or even done anything for charity
But his mates love the Guardian and BBC and now he thinks any Tory is worse then a pedophile ! whats even worse is hours after we sat in the crematorium saying goodbye to my mom who lost her battle with alzheimer’s he was joking with his socialist caring middle class mates about the’ Tory bitch is dead ‘ Odd my mom supported the Tory’s her whole life and had great admiration for Mrs T ? how can any defeat that mind set ?
Middle-class (Guardian / BBC) socialists are worse than the old working-class (Mirror) socialists when it comes to sick and cruel humour IMHO.
The media coverage in general –not just BBC- has been awful. Inviting Gerry Adams on within hours of her death was the most shocking of all. Harping on about Mandela/apartheid too.
When Mandela dies I wonder if the BBC will have white supremacists on within hours to see how they felt about him, so they can have unlimited airtime to abuse his name and memory. I wonder if his legacy of communism and terrorism and all will be featured as prominently, if not more, than his triumphs. I’m sure it will because the BBC are fair and balanced like that.
Watching the coverage on the BBC and Sky and both are pretty even handed. The majority of voters did not vote for Thatcher so its hardly a surprise that so many are opposed to her ‘legacy’. Reporting that is not bias.
Poor BBC can’t win. It’s almost wall to wall Thatcher on BBC News. What is beginning to happen is a backlash against the Tories and Cameron for turning the funeral into a PR stunt for the current party.
The Labour Party has no option but to lie low and leave the field to more extreme viewpoints. Don’t be surprised when these are broadcast. The dislike of Thatcher is immense in many parts of the UK and amongst many people who lived through the 80s.
And the UK is a democracy. The BBC reflects that. It’s not North Korea forcing everyone to cry at the funeral of the Great Leaderene which seems to be the stance the Tories and the far right wish for.
Remember Churchill’s words to his wife when he realised he had lost the 45 election. “this is what we fought for.” I suspect Maggie is chuckling over the whole series of events wherever she is.
No one wishes for North Korean style forced crying, we just don’t want to see a terrorist like Gerry Adams on TV within hours of Thatcher’s death gloating. We don’t wish to see children, many of whom were too young to have even been alive during her time in office, spreading lies and mistruths about her policies supposedly crushing the poor. We don’t want to see washed up ‘comedians’ being presented as social commentators and the implication being that we are supposed to take their views as seriously as former cabinet ministers.
Sorry though i agree with most of what you are saying PR stunt ? sorry what would you like to happen I know maybe what she actually wished ,no pomp no glitz and no B/S but that ain’t the world we live in if the family wanted a quiet ceremony the bloody swp and it fellow travelers would wreck it with their own brand of reforming violence so we have secure and public ! yep she would have loved how her enemy’s are still 20+years later emotionally crippled by he name !
Actually, I agree that the BBC is in an impossible situation. How do you define “impartiality” in a situation such as this? What constitutes “too much time” given to people saying or implying that they will celebrate her death?
The problem is, and it’s something I’ve referred to in the past, that we have no idea how the BBC goes about trying to ensure it meets its charter obligation for impartiality. All we get is “we think we got it about right” or “impartiality is maintained over our broad output”. Surely, for something as core to its existence as this, the BBC must maintain statistics of some sort. If it doesn’t it cannot say it is meeting its obligations. If it does then those of us who pay the licence fee on the basis of its so-called impartiality have a right to see them.
I fully accept that provision of these statistics would start an argument as to their validity, but is that such a bad thing? Shouldn’t there be a debate wider than hidden BBC meetings as to how we establish impartiality?
For my part, I think that anyone who challenges the convention of not speaking ill of the dead should be asked to justify themselves. There seem to be an awful lot of people making nasty remarks who are too young to remember Margaret Thatcher, let alone the Winter of Discontent, rampant inflation and need for the IMF which preceded her and yet they have not, to my hearing, been asked what they know about these matters.
And I wonder if the BBC (and other broadcasters) have stopped to ask if we actually need wall-to-wall coverage of Maggie Thatcher’s death?
‘How do you define “impartiality” in a situation such as this?’
As you say, a task like asking angels dancing on a Flokker’s head to nail jelly to the wall whilst rubbing their tummies.
You know it’s whatever it needs to be, or isn’t, I know it, and the BBC knows it.
So it boils down to who steers the circus surrounding it in whichever way suits.
Hence any complaint under the ‘bias’ category gets laughed all the way to Hug’s email account to nowhere.
What is interesting when other terms the BBC does like playing with, which are just as nebulous, suddenly acquire the certainty of a proven scientific theory.
Things like many ‘isms, or such as ‘proportionate force’, or ‘reasonable’ anything.
‘If it doesn’t it cannot say it is meeting its obligations. If it does then those of us who pay the licence fee on the basis of its so-called impartiality have a right to see them.’
You’d think.
Maybe the reason not falls under something ‘unique’, redacted and/or FOI-excluded?
You tell me how somebody who tried to murder the lady somehow gets to tell us what he thought of her at the time?
And not even before her body had been moved from the room where she had died a few hours before?
Sorry colditz…that I even have to ask those questions of you and the BBC tells you just how compromised and psychically warped your worldview has now become(thanks to the BBC).
A new low!
“The majority of voters did not vote for Thatcher”
WHAT?
Come on now fella, you don’t win 3 general elections, 2 by landslide if “The majority of voters did not vote for Thatcher”
Unless, of course, you are Labour, an gerrymander the election outcomes by re-shaping the nations borders.
The Conservatives under Thatcher never secured in excess of 50% of the votes cast which by definition means that the majority of those voting did not vote for her party.
1979 = 43.87%
1983 = 42.44%
1987 = 42.23%
http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/percentvote.htm
As far as I am aware the UK borders have not been re-shaped in recent times although they will be in 2015.
IIRC, no party since 1945 had ever achieved over 50% of the popular vote – not even Attlee in 1945.
The Guardian’s poll yesterday found that 50% of people thought Mrs Thatcher’s 11-year premiership had been good for Britain while 34% thought it had been bad for the country. In any election, that would be a landslide, but of course the Grauniad reported that opinions were divided.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/thatcher-flagship-policies-guardian-icm-poll
“In any election, that would be a landslide,………………………”. But it was not an election it was an opinion poll so it really does not matter what a small sample of the population think.
Also based on only 50% agreeing that would seem to prove that opinion remains divided.
The reason Thatcher won so convincingly from 83 on was the split on the left. A large % of labour voters went for the SDP and effectively gave Maggie victory. However the centre left has been consistently the majority for at least 40 years.
The irony now is that UKIP is threatening to do an SDP on the Tories in the next election.
Nah, we’ll have the dream ticket coalition of Boris and UKIP!
But labour party wasnt centre left then, they were Loony left,I was told that often enough back then when I was knee deep in concrete trying to ‘get the vote out’.Ordinary workers rejected wholesale that trotskyite bull shit.
In fact the only way I could sell it was on the basis of what the labour party wouldnt do rather than what they would.Nothing to do with the gang of 4,the middle classes voted for them
I agree that ‘it really does not matter what a small sample of the population think’. So will the bBBC stop publicising the tiny number of grave-dancers and the even smaller number of violent lefties who take any excuse to smash the place up and fight the police?
Alabaman, you like your statistics. Pray give us the total percentage of the vote Tony Blair received for his landslide victories in 1997, 2001, 2005.
It was 45% for Anthony Blair in the 1997 landslide but he actually got fewer votes than John Major did in 1992 (due to turnout).
And in 2005, Labour only polled 36.3% of the popular vote and received a majority of 60. Tories need 40-41% to receive a majority at all. That’s how skewed our electoral system is.
Just for info, no PM EVER has secured more votes than John Major in 1992.
“based on only 50% agreeing that would seem to prove that opinion remains divided.” Only? against what a whole 34% that disagree.
The question is why does the BBC feel it ONLY needs to represent one side of that divide.For instance where are the voices of the only 50% that think she did the right thing facing down scargil?
ONLY 50% I will bear that in mind
Actually, you do. I think from memory that Maggie got about 42% of the vote, but it was so far ahead of Labour that it was a landslide. Which means that 58% did not vote for her.
But it applies to pretty much any government, so I expect most would be opposed to Tony Blair’s legacy, and even more to Gordon Brown.
It’s just that most of those opposed to these two would be too decent to rejoice in their deaths.
Ah, while I was typing Albaman confirmed that my memory isn’t always as bad as I fear it is.
Your usual bending of reality, Colditz, combined with a dreary repetition of Leftist anti-Thatcher mythology.
‘The majority of voters did not vote for Thatcher so its hardly a surprise that so many are opposed to her ‘legacy’’.
The majority party in 3 elections was led by Thatcher. That’s how our system works.
‘The dislike of Thatcher is immense in many parts of the UK’.
Can you substantiate that (including the ‘immense’ bit)?
‘The Labour Party has no option but to lie low……..’
Lie low? Have you been watching the news coverage for the past 2 days? That joker from Durham for starters – not so much re-writing history as ignoring it. How many Durham mines were closed under Labour exactly?
‘…..and leave the field to more extreme viewpoints. Don’t be surprised when these are broadcast’.
Indeed. They knew it was guaranteed by their comrades at the BBC – Adams, Livingstone, Galloway – it’s amazing how they missed out Abu Hamza.
‘….the far right….’. What appeal does Thatcherism have to the ‘far right’ then? Her policies were a bit too cerebral for either the far right or the far left to understand. You for one don’t seem to have grasped how she rescued the country from becoming a complete basket case (how was it you described the unions – ‘belligerent’?).
And talking of lying low……you haven’t been around much the past few days – you’ve missed so many prime examples of rabid BBC bias, or maybe just found them a little difficult to deal with.
When Thatcher spoke of “the enemy within” I reckon that she probably meant the BBC as well as the likes of Scargill.
Found this as i was browsing the sport section. Not sure if it’s been reported on yet, but they really are scraping the barrel now.
Apologies, here’s the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22085707
The MP for Blyth Valley up in Northumberland is one Ronnie Campbell.
Even in an area where a nodding donkey with a Lenin cap can easily get to be a Labour MP( or at least a councillor, if he`s not as thick or greedy), wor Ronnie is well-known for being thick.
In my experience he`s not even troubled the local Metro Station or even hospital radio…the local papers won`t know of him, even though he`s been an MP up there since -oh God knows, was it 1979?
And yet-Today manages to wake him up for long enough to scorn, abuse or otherwise belittle a woman who actually DID things during our lifetimes.
Ronnie would have been there throughout, but would not even have been trusted to poop scoop for Blunketts mutt…but the Today Programme seemed to have suddenly this scion of Socialist Principle.
Just tell her it`s Marx` birthday-and plenty expenses in a party bag, and he`ll sleep on unto death.
Looking forward to his being asked on again in another forty years-he`ll make no more sense whether anybody can be arsed to check the old boobies pulse or not.
‘Honest’ Ronnie Campbell has claimed a total of £87,729 for the flat in south-east London since moving in. His first purchases were a DFS leather sofa and pouffe for £1,020 in May 2004.
During the same month, he spent about £190 on kitchenware and curtains from Fenwick and Marks & Spencer in Newcastle, near his main home in Blyth, which he bought with his wife, Deidre, in May 2007.
He went on to claim:
£1,710 on the redecoration of his bathroom;
£807 for a bed, £581 for a television, £80.72 for a steam iron, £169.91 for a microwave and £38.61 for other items from Makro in Washington;
£342 for curtains and rails, £158 for two lampshades and £154 for a quilt from Fenwick in Newcastle;
£269 for furniture from Ilva in Newcastle;
£83 for bath mats from John Lewis in Newcastle;
£57 for a mirror and lights from B&Q in North Shields.
A spokesman for Mr Campbell said all the items had been transported to the capital.
“The reason many of the items were purchased in the North East is they were reasonably priced compared to London,” she added.
In 2007 Mr Campbell spent another £1,960 on two sofas from John Lewis, Oxford Street. They were delivered to an address in Camberwell, south London, rather than his designated second home.
The spokesman said: “They were delivered to an alternative delivery address until he returned to London.”
——————————————————————————-
And ‘Honest’ Ron had to pay back £6,000 to HoC -ie us- despite his honest endeavouring to save us money.
Funny that.
Slimeball.
Oh luvacuck!
Giles Fraser would rather Thatch get a humanist wicca basket, than risk the sanctity of St Pauls.
Giles is clearly the new Pope for the Church of St Gerri(sorry if I offended anybody lol) in waiting….St Paul was well-so divisive-was he not?
As for that bloke up on the Cross we`ve just been supposed to be thinking of( yes, Giles the Easter Bunny!) …well, a bit divisive too was he not?
But Giles is the new breed that we`re supposed to dig. He `s the cool dude who welcomed, rolled over and sucked up to Occupy.
They`d have been inclusive, young and funky however…and St Pauls really ought to be turned over to their kind…the Fayfzone of Gerri is the new face of the Cof E as Giles would have it…with the Islamist suckups at the BBC in full baying mode.
TWATo indeed….Marthat kearney found a dead bat in her cupboard-send for Chrissie Hynde and run the mouse outtatown!
Looked on the Telegraph website.
They mention that a minutes silence will be held for Mrs Thatcher at a rugby game between Saracens and Exeter.
Having heard the appalling crap on Today this morning about how she`s not worth the minute( as if they don`t commemorate the death of a linesmans granny at the drop of a hankie) -football can F*** off from now on.
I was always told that rugby was the real mans game where rules and honour still counted for something…and so I`ll be going to my first rugby match this weekend, and football won`t be watched again-unless its Barcelona v Real or suchlike.
Now-where is Saracens…off the M4 somewhere south of Watford?
Now-where is Saracens
Jerusalem? Tyre? 😉
Bradford.
I came back from my morning walk just now to find my wife playing a CD instead of the usual BBC2 radio. She says she has had enough of listening to people complain about Baroness Thatcher. “The people they are interviewing are just nasty, they and the BBC show absolutely no respect” she said.
The point is my wife cannot usually see the BBC bias and my complaints about it are most times met with a blank stare. Anyway I much prefer not stop ABBA to the tripe usually served up by Vine, so no problem from me. My daughter, usually ambivalent to the bias now says she is also fed up with the BBC’s coverage. She pointed out that interviewing angry old miners supping pints in the pub that have lived off of benefits for years & and looking for the opinions of unrepentant IRA murderers does not look good for the future of the BBC. I concurred.
So a lot of people, not just my family, are very annoyed with the BBC and judging by The Guardian poll, yes honestly The Guardian, the majority of people (I did the math – 60% of those that had an opinion) think Mrs T. did a good job.
Well, what now, when it’s over? After the funeral when most people will be quietly paying their respects. After the minority of partying thugs have sobered up and gone home. Will the majority of people just keep paying the BBC Poll Tax as usual now their eyes are open?
I am not the only one that is angry and I will put my head on the block today.
The BBC is a dead corporation walking.
Oh dear, the backlash is growing as I suggested.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-dead-ding-dong-1822206
The BBC infamously banned ‘God Save the Queen” during the Silver Jubilee so I suspect they’ll refuse to play this as it’s clearly political. I suspect they’ll be loathe to even report it but they don’t control news. Nor does the Govt. We are in an age when ordinary people can more easily vent their feelings for or against. I expect this will make more people turn out for the funeral. And more people protest.
I answered to one of your posts a couple of weeks ago, and posted back saying the BBC would not speak ill of the dead.
So how would you excuse the following ?
The sick tweets from the BBC comedy department.
No mention of her support for Poland’s Solidarity and her desire to see an end to the Berlin Wall
Skewed footage concentrating on miners and riots
Giving SWP / feral scum from Glasgow and Brixton the oxygen of TV publicity
Richard Branson ,recently told Rod , that it was`nt a fix , & he did get to no. 1, through sales , & God save the Queen was no.2 !
I suspect they’ll refuse to play this as it’s clearly political.
Really? When did that ever stop them before?
“Weaned on the Beeb’s hatred, no wonder the young rejoice at her death.”
By STEPHEN GLOVER.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306570/Margaret-Thatcher-dead-Weaned-BBCs-hatred-wonder-young-rejoice-death.html#ixzz2Q40taD9I
‘Charges were made against her which weren’t explained or placed in context.’
Now called, as with anything the BBC ‘reports’ not conforming to their world view, ‘the news’.
‘And before we leave you, some more emails we selected…’
Excellent article. Critique from colditz awaited with eager anticipation.
In the meantime:
‘I heard a young woman being interviewed who had taken part in a celebration of Margaret Thatcher’s death in Brixton.
Although she admitted she knew virtually nothing about Lady Thatcher’s record as Prime Minister, and was relying almost wholly on what her Liverpudlian parents had told her, this ridiculous person was taken seriously’….says it all.
The BBC have gone into anti-Thatcher overdrive now.
Clearly they feel that enough time has passed since her death to put a link to this bit of nasty trivia…
Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead headed for the Top 10
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/22093181
As the thread headline presciently allows, the BBC’s role in all this will be there to judge, if possibly redacted by Peter Rippon from its own archives.
I suspect Baroness T would have actually savoured the spectacle.
Like that idiot, inaccurate petition, the chatterati will wet themselves over what it all represents, forgetting that the internet age is a sword, like any other, with two edges.
Yes, people have more outlet for expression, but it is all so easy and thought-free, it is meaningless.
So what if 300,000 with no other commitments, a certain amount of conflicted interest (DWP – 5.7 million working age benefit claimants at August 2012 ) and access to an internet connection took 2 seconds to click a link they were told to?
I do care at the consequences, but a bunch of unemployed thugs trashing a charity shop to ‘protest’ the policies of a person now long beyond caring what motivated them is beyond satire.
And a collection of twitchy iTune fingers being herded via social media (and the national broadcaster’s Ms. Chi Chi Izundu) to driving a Number 1 on the basis of 15,000 downloads (Wiki – The Beatles’ first chart-topper, “From Me to You”, reached number one in May 1963. Around this time, a single needed to sell approximately 750,000 copies in order to top the chart) is something only the brain dead, content-bereft, 24/7 dead-airhead MSM could try and see anything significant in.
That leaves about 69,985,000 at real work, rest or play who have other things to worry about.
And, perhaps, not being ‘spoken for’ as much as claimed.
BBC dimwit Richard Bacon is astounded at the revelation that Mrs Thatcher had not heard of Monty Python and was not good at having jokes in her speeches.
That says a lot about the BBC really doesn’t it?
Armando Iannuci is fine comedy writer, I guess the BBC would like him to be our next PM.
If we are going to be served everything that astounds Mr. Bacon’s limited grasp of most anything, this is going to be a very long month.
Not only is the Lady not for TURNING she is also not for JUMPING.
So there is joy on the left. The old witch is DEAD!!! The bitch that is responsible for all our woes finally yielded to the grim reaper. Will the world now change? Will the halcyon days of the pre-Thatcher era return. Like the turning back of the clocks in the autumn, will we return to the Elysian fields of an all-powerful TUC, NUM, Transport and General Workers Union? The era when the dead remained unburied and rubbish piled up in the street. When British Leyland, that motor manufacture par excellence, out shone the shoddy products of the slant eyed nips and the barbaric Hun. When British industry led the world with its productivity, quality of manufacture, innovation and go get them labour force.
Yes this anti – British witch, this Manchurian candidate, came to power, as was re-elected another tw0 times, with just one thought in mind! Destroy Britain. Destroy its dynamic industrial base, raise unemployment to unprecedented heights, sell off all council houses to increase homelessness, beyond the levels reached by the failure of successive governments (mostly Labour Governments) to produce enough social housing.
I did not agree with all this ladies policies. The Community Charge was a monumental mistake, as well as a grossly immoral tax. It lacked the necessary quality of such a tax that it should be progressive i.e. the more you earn the more you pay. A flat tax has this necessary quality of fairness, thus a tax of 10% on income would mean that if you earned £10 you would pay £1 in tax and if you earned £10 billion you would pay £1 billion in tax. The Community Charge was a fix payment of X from every adult whatever they earn.
So there are those sad and infantile lefties who celebrate the death of the “old witch”. These sad people think it is ever so witty and trendy to jump for joy at the death of a frail old lady who achieved the great things she set out to achieve at far less cost to humanity than Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc. So the BBC drags out from the depths on his reptilian sewer, Ken (the c…k) Livingstone, to tell us what a divisive and destructive force Thatcher and Thatcherism was.
Unlike many of the young posting on Facebook and Twitter I lived through the 70’s and 80’s. I worked in unionized factories during the holidays. I saw the British working class committing suicide at the (no pun intended) coal face with the full support of the unions. I worked night shift at one factory producing high tech goods. I worked in the paint shop. The union rep was on the night shift and ran the show. The Charge Hand (Management at its lowest level) had no power and played along. We would work 2 out of the 4 nights we were on shift for. This is what it took to reach full bonus payment. So thereafter anything produced did not add to your wages. In the 3 months I spent there I became a well versed poker player. Play poker for half the night then roll up in a blanket/coat in one of the ovens and have a good night’s sleep. While across the world in Japan and Korea nobody was sleeping on the job.
Whilst at this same company I worked in another shop on days I think it was called the plate shop. Any way it was where the de-greasing and chemical ‘cleaning’ in vats was carried out.
Her I experience the generosity of my co – workers, union men to the core. The man who worked there permanently (It was his livelihood and I understand that I was just passing through) made sure, and protested to union rep if I was given any ‘good paying’, in terms of bonus, jobs. These were reserved for him.
One day it was asked to do new job which was to be subjected to a time and motion evaluation and thus linked to ‘bonus pay’. Well I was brief by the union rep and everyone else to move as slowly as I could. This I duly did. However the resulting time was ‘unsatisfactory’ Bert, the De- greaser expressed his disappointment in my performance and stated that he could not make money out of that timing. I believed that I had done my best without entering into a coma for several minutes before making any movement. The union protested the result and Bert performed for the time & motion specialist. His performance made me look like Usain Bolt. It was the one accepted by management.
Then there was the split between the skilled and unskilled workers. I once floated a few socialist ideas with a group of skilled workers. I was shoot down in flames. What mattered to skilled workers was maintaining the pay ‘deferential’ between them and the unskilled workers. This I recall was the cause of quite a few industrial disputes in the 60’s and 70’s, as were demarcation disputes. These were in essence the lords of the industrial world (the unions) fighter over the spoils to protect the interest of there ‘members’ against all comers. It was tribal warfare.
So no love lost between the proletarian brothers then. The skilled workers would, and did, strike to maintain that ‘deferential’. I was reminded of this attitude some years later when watching Mississippi Burning and the Gene Hackman character tells the story of a black share cropper who is economically resourceful enough to purchase a mule to use for ploughing. Gene’s dad does not have a mule and the other white farmers point this out to him. One day the mule disappears and is found dead. Gene notices the mules absence and points it out to his father. The father smiles and Gene knows at that moment that his father killed the mule and he knows why? It is because he says ‘If you can’t look down on a N….. who can you look down on’.
As to the charge that it was not what she did but the cold -hearted and brutal way she went about it. I am not going for moral equivalence here. The ruthlessness/ brutality was necessary given the power of the unions and their determination to hold on to the power that had to subvert the will of the electorate and establish extra – parliamentary government by striking and and ruling from the street.
The unions like every other organisation in this world, from the Catholic Church to the Metropolitan police and every NGO, has only on reason for existing: to look after the interest of it ruling elite and its members and fuck the rest of us.
Grow up you sad little p….s.
Well said sir!
That these people have been loading up (freeloading up) on bile, venom and fleck-spittled hatred for a woman who left politics 21 years ago..TWENTY ONE YEARS ago…tells you much about the sad, arrested developmental retards and sadf***ks who have done nothing with their lives.
Just blagged public sector pimped rides on the taxpayer or the CP Scott Trust as Labour, as liberal hacks and commentators or as union quangocrats with absolutely NO point or purpose to them. But the BBC and the broadsheets know of them, and have their contact details.
Since Margaret left Parliament, she has written books, spoken of her philosophies worldwide(especially where it counts in the USA)…and has had a cruel, long lasting descent into death. No mother or granny deserves the likes of Galloway and Sheridan, Adams,Brand or Benn…stalking weird misfits with a range of mental health issues and criminal convictions in some cases.
Yet these are the “caring left”-liberal and passionate for defending the weak, the infirm, the old…just look at them!
And promise yourself not to let them near you as you yourself grow old…remember Kinnocks speech in 1983 about that?
Well one meant it…and one would send you to Dignitas, and level your house for a Mausoleum for Chavez afterwards.
Their lack of humanity chills the blood-there will be war, and their disgusting attitude to an old lady will have its blowback.
Pity they weren`t so nasty to dear Jimmy Savile on the news of his death…gutless fucks!
Sheridan ? You mean “Tommy the Trot”. More like a piece of Tom-Tit on your shoes.
Oh Sorry. Here is the bit about JUMPPING
Listened to Jane Garvey (she with the champagne bottles in the BBC the day that Tony B came into office) on Vine at lunch time – discussing the people partying after Mrs T’s death. Well the researchers didn’t do a very good job – the people who spoke for Mrs T’s legacy ran rings round those callow youths or flat cappers who were partying. Jane had to shut the discussions up quickly. In spite of this the greater majority of the e-mails she read out were all about how dreadful Mrs T had been – Jane just couldn’t help letting her bias show by her selection.
Most of what the BBC allows past its filters, from guests to vox pops to emails, renders pretty much all such content fillers beyond the supposed objective reporting aspect, worthless.
It is also often to be noticed that on the few occasions an actual debate is permitted between differing views, if the one the BBC supports does not prevail, they will wait until the party who has scored leaves and then bring back the losers to stick the boot in when they have no opposition around.
Or, stitch up the ‘we want your reaction’ input, beyond the preselecting skew of the sofa dwellers who have the time and inclination to negotiate with their ‘research’ screeners.
That so many BBC ‘interactive’ blogs open only after 9am and close before 5pm shows their actual commitment to licence fee payers who actually work during the day.
So their whole corporate ethos is governed by a hardly representative ‘audience’.
No wonder they have to force people to fund them.
Have you noticed on the BBC News website – one of the ‘Most Popular’ links on the RHS reads : “Thatcher ‘racist’, says Australia FM”
When you read the article, it says that Maggie was merely speaking out against uncontrolled immigration.
This of course, suits the BBC preferred line, as the Labour party, supported by the BBC slates anyone who warned against uncontrolled immigration as ‘racist’.
To be fair to Mr Carr, he says many good things about Lady Thatcher, the BBC just selected his one negative (but mistaken) comment as the headline!
The BBC present the latest in their series of you couldn’t make it up….
John Pienaar is asked ‘who made the best speech in tribute to Margaret Thatcher?’
No prizes for his BBC answer: Ed Miliband
Stumbled across the BBC News tweet feed, and their wheeze to ensure the narrative is served seems to be quoting those they like: ‘Labour’s [so&so] says yes, she was [something vague if vaguely respectful], but mostly she was [full detailed, often inaccurate boot in]’.
And quote in this manner… a lot.
To Mr. Piennar, you can add a man who seems to be polishing that ‘Toenails’ nickname admirably:
Nick Robinson @bbcnickrobinson 1h
Once again D Cameron at ease on the big occasion but interestingly Ed Mil proved that he is becoming a master of them
Laura K evidently passed on a few tweetips on folk coming in and out of rooms, that set her ‘reporting’ career so afire: ‘The Tories slinked through the door, only to be eclipsed by the Adonis-glow reflecting from the Labour studly crew whose feet they were unworthy to kiss’
Britain was in a mess when Margaret Thatcher became PM. Under Labour, Britain was the laughing sytick of the world, “the sick man of Europe”, destitute and having to go cap in hand to the IMF. This to a nation that was once the manufacturing and global superpower.
The nation was in a ruinous cycle, heading to third word status, lead by a bunch of crypro-communists. It was not possible to see how that fate could be avoided. Yet this one woman turned a whole nation around. Margaret Thatcher provided an impetus to the nation that not only stopped the decline, but rejuvenated Britain’s status in the world. Her achievement has no parallel in history. Her task was of Herculean proportions, and she succeeded. It could never have been achieved by concensus, but only with fortitude and courage in the face of entrenched leftists in Labour, Unions, BBC, and even her own party.
Divisive? Cant be done any other way.
Has the bBBC ever asked any Labour Party spokesman: if closing coal mines in the 1980s was such a terrible thing, why hasn’t any Labour government since then opened mines up again?
They could also ask them why labour governments prior to Thatcher closed down more mines than she did.
That’s why Harold Wilson promoted the white heat of technology as much as he did, in order to manage the decline of old ‘smokestack’ industries such as cotton, coal and steel. Wilson wanted to do more of a Blair, but the unions didn’t let him.
Which is exactly the problem “Red Ed” would have
If I remember my ‘A’ level studies correctly, coal production and employment in the UK peaked at roughly 289 million tonnes and 1.1 million mineworkers in 1913. The respective figures upon nationalization after WWII were still 200 million and >700,000. “King Coal” really was king! By the 1980s the number of mineworkers was <150,000. Remember also the closures in the early 1990s – after Mrs Thatcher was no longer in power. So I am not convinced that you can blame her for the long-term decline of coal mining in the UK.
Certainly peak coal in South Wales was 1913, not sure if that applies nationally but even in the 1920’s the industry was in decline. Pits closed in every decade and Harold Wilson closed more in 5 years than Maggie in 11.
The average liberal seems to believe spending 40 years down a mine is somehow noble and uplifting. None of them would have done it in a million years. Hypocritical garbage from our useless elites.
I wonder if the BBC will find critics of Nelson Mandela’s prior years, following his passing.
Oh no – it will be sombre music and tearful presenters all round.
The greatest man of our age (let’s just forget about the terrorism bit).
We can all wear commemorative “necklaces”.
Here’s a take on history which definitely won’t be given an airing on the BBC:
‘To blame Margaret Thatcher for today’s problems is to misunderstand history’.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9982316/To-blame-Margaret-Thatcher-for-todays-problems-is-to-misunderstand-history.html
‘Yet it is a little-known fact that manufacturing output actually went up during her time in office, despite the necessary liquidation of so many unviable plants. Even the uncomfortably high pound, which shot up as a result of North Sea oil, wasn’t enough to throttle the recovery.
British factories boosted their output by 7.5pc between the second quarter of 1979 and the third quarter of 1990, when she left Downing Street, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Output had grown another 4.9pc by the start of 1997, when the Tories were booted out. Given the bitterness of the 1980s’ recession, caused by the desperate need to wring out extreme levels of inflation from the system by using high interest rates, it shows just how effective her supply-side reforms turned out to be.
The real decline happened under Labour: in the second quarter of 2010, when Gordon Brown left office, the output of UK factories was fractionally lower than it was when Thatcher took her last, tearful ride in that ministerial Jaguar’.
‘The Falklands Play’
(Patricia Hodge as Margaret Thatcher.)
(Part 10, Youtube, 7 mins video)
what a hatefull lot these left wing trogs are comrades,,,i have never seen so much hate in my life coming from these lot,,,makes you wonder why these dregs of stalinism live in are soceity they hate so much,,,they no better than these islamo fascists comrades,,,but here is the thing,,,how would they like it if we all held street partys al over the uk when george galloway dies,,,i just wonder…
Yes. God forbid they ever got real power …
Hmm knowing the way Gallows likes to relax of a evening when he goes it will probably involve the police the coroner and a very strong stomached clean up crew !
And these “caring professionals” run the NHS, the schools and, of course the media/BBC.
Not exactly fit to mind your sick, your kids-and certainly not in any fit state to tell the rest of us what “caring, compassion or social justice” would ever mean.
This lot are just Gregor Strassers kind of Nazi as opposed to Rudolf Hess…basically Rohms Brownshirts(unions) versus the Blackshirts or SS( media, social worker types).
Still-at least Margaret brought them all out from under their stones…we`ve no illusions about what Labour evil looks like any more.
The BBC is a divisive broadcaster.
“The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher”
By Charles Moore (2011).
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/12/margaret-thatcher-201112
Heard on the news(ITV) that the vicar of Grantham won`t be celebrating the like of their famous daughter, for fear of creating divisions…although they have bravely put their flag up at half-mast.
Now then leftyscum…when exactly did this country stop being free and safe enough to honour a dead ex-Premier?
She stood up so that this country would never end up like East Germany.
The Leftyscum want just that…under the pretence of tolerating diversity to honour the likes of Philpott, Savile…and all those mocking crowing boozy dole wallowers selling the SWP or the like.
Margaret deserves better…with St Georges Day coming up, she may yet get it.
Radio 5 Live Beeboid Ian McGarry has deleted his tweet about “Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead”.
https://twitter.com/garbosj/status/321399998178811904
Fortunately, we got the embed code in time, thanks to alert people here who spotted it quickly, and it’s preserved on the “In Their Own Tweets” page. They can delete, but they can’t remove all traces of it.
Labour Party’s vilification of ex-P.M Margaret Thatcher continued with Glenda Jackson’s vague vilification in Parliament today, keeping up the political standards of the Labour Party (and BBC-NUJ) around Britain:-
“Margaret Thatcher was ‘not a woman on my terms’, claims Labour MP Glenda Jackson in bitter attack on former Premier’s memory”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306997/Margaret-Thatcher-woman-terms-claims-Labour-MP-Glenda-Jackson-bitter-attack-Premiers-memory.html#ixzz2Q5a3rqZP
Ms Jackson should have stuck to working at Boots in Birkenhead.
It’s only a coincidence, of course, but BBC D.G HALL is from Birkenhead, Merseyside
Well Gulag Glenda deserves respect for he body of great film???/// no sorry I’m making me self crack up typing this dross! her bloody films were mainly in my humble opinion bloody crap and she did the world of the arts a favor by just stopping acting and turning to the world of politics has beens and days of people pointing and asking “who is that woman wasn’t she on morecambe and wise once?” !
What makes Glenda a fool, is spouting garbage like what the rest of the Left do (Apologies to Little Ern)
“Teachers of hatred: The drama mistress and the master from Miliband’s school who helped organise the Maggie ‘death parties'”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307040/Margaret-Thatcher-dead-Teachers-hatred-helped-organise-Maggie-death-parties.html#ixzz2Q8zHvt6W
No surprise though is it?
This bounty of misfits and Brand botherers was Browns legacy, once Blair had opened up the perpetual payroll vote of public sector sickos we now have in the NHS or schools.
If they`re soft, useless liberal window dressers-they go into the courts, social work, prisons or the police.
Unless there`s a whiff of UKIP, where the softies get CS gas and pretend that Putin taught them.
Thank you Labour.
And-if its true that Thatcher ever said that Blair was her greatest achievement- I too would now be inclined to riot at her nasty and insulting words.
I jest…lest Dez etc think we`re as scummy as their little darlings threatening an old ladys funeral…how brave!
And welfare payments don`t cover the cost of the Lambrusco bottles to go through Barnardos shop windows…you swine IDS!
And who said this about ‘climate ‘change’?
‘The fact that seasoned politicians can say such ridiculous things – and get away with it – illustrates the degree to which the new dogma about climate change has swept through the left-of-centre governing classes’.
Clue: it’s a wonder the BBC hasn’t used it in their ongoing character assassination.
http://www.thegwpf.org/margaret-thatcher-hot-air-global-warming/
And at least Margaret Thatcher was no longer able to be cited as an MP, when she made her joke about “The Mummy returns”.
Unlike Glenda-poor soul. Has anybody else seen or heard from her since 1975?…yet up she pops today as the voice of Hampstead.
I imagine they`ll be digging up Karl Marx in next doors cemetery to tell us what HE thought about Thatcher…he`d not be any more stupid than dear Glenda….who wasn`t even foil enough to replace Ernie Wise!
Oh so sad.
But as for Pope Francis take on Thatchers death?…well he`s just a wannabe Glenda Jackson or Ronnie Campbell, so why not ask the leaders of the BBCs REAL Church?
Tossers…except for Francis and Ernie of course!
“Readers’ fury at ‘biased’ BBC website:
Corporation accused after negative articles appear about Baroness Thatcher.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307211/Readers-fury-biased-BBC-site-Corporation-accused-negative-articles-appear-Baroness-Thatcher.html#ixzz2Q90lZi1Z
I am late to the fray as I have taken a few days off forums etc, for my own peace of mind and ti avoid the inevitable shit-fest that would ensue. I have been to Grantham on Tuesday to pay my respects too. It is interesting to read the complete crap that many write about Maggie, mostly from the mouths of those who were not even born let alone grew up before 1980. This can mean only one thing: they have been raised on lies, brainwashed, using Maggie’s as the Left’s bogeyman yet on almost every single issue they are wrong and deluded: milk-snatcher, miners, communities, manufacturing, warmongering, against workers, the Community charge etc, on every single issue when you look at the facts the Leftards are wrong, and as has been said in many places, that is why they hate her.