Comment on Remember when she fucked up the economy

Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• ECB@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  She (similar to Reagan in the US) enacted a massive shift in government/society from a more social-democratic focus to a more (economocally) liberal one. Her big goals were to privatize and financialize as much as possible.

  This ended up leading to (as it always does) massive increases in inequality, with particularly rural/industrial regions suffering heavily while the services/financial sector in London boomed.

  So she is EXTREMELY polarizing. Many conservatives or big-business types worship her, while for many/most others she’s seen as the worst thing to happen to the UK.

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  • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Also lets not forget how the changes in press-ownership legislation during her time set the way for the growth of the Far-Right which has already delivered Brexit and will quite likely keep on regularly delivering problems to the UK.

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  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    got it, thanks for the broad strokes and context

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  • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Why does she show up as LibLeft on political compasses if she’s so Reagan?

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    • ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Source? Never seen anything like that cause she was the definition of capitalism.

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• wewbull@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  The big thing she’s remembered for is closing down the mining industry. Whole communities throughout the north of England and Wales were left penniless. They were towns where everyone worked as a miner or in some way related to the mine. Nothing was done to give any alternatives.

  Of course there was a huge industrial dispute - The miners strike. Massive, initially peaceful, demonstrations that turned violent as police would attack and stir up the conflict. People died, communities were shatteredd, yet through it all Thatcher was unmoving. Just using the police as her own civilian army.

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQh4n8rRLw8

  She viewed as a uncaring authoritarian tyrant by many.

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  • Klear@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Weren’t the miner strikes started by the management refusing to define metope?

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  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    wow, that’s crazy. thanks for the video, i just watched it.

    if thatchers goal was to close the mines, wouldn’t miners voluntarily not working play into that?

    or does strike in this context mean general protest rather than specifically not working?

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    • wewbull@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      The purpose of the strike was to raise awareness and make the issue one of public note more than anything else. It didn’t really work in the long run. The pits closed. The communities suffered and they’re still feeling the effects today 40 years later.

      The mines needed to go IMHO. The country needed to move on, but the way it was done with absolutely no support was callous and heartless.

      We repeatedly face the same problem with industry still running from the Victorian era. This week it’s 2,700 steel-workers at blast furnaces in Scunthorpe. The government are stepping in “to save British steel”, but as part of it they want to modernise. A modern arc furnace only needs about a fifth of the workers (based on Port Talbot having 2,500 job losses when they closed their blast furnaces, but only needing 500 for the new furnace when it opens), so whilst they are “saving steel worker jobs” they’re also planning to let most of them go. The key question is what do those people do instead. Hopefully something less hazardous, but it has to be something.

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      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        thank you I was wondering about the public reaction to the mines closing, since it does seem like a good thing on its face, no you’re absolutely right that a problem doesn’t need to be handled the hardest way.

        interesting to hear about the cycle coming around again with steel workers now.

        that was a great write up and an appreciated explanation, have a good one!

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• fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  I think others have pretty much covered her social and economic destruction of the UK, so I’ll add “Section 28”.

  Section 28 - Wiki link

  To “protect our children”, she introduced the policies to ban any books/songs/art/plays etc from schools which mentioned or suggested homosexuality in any way neutral or positive - obviously this led to an increase in the already fairly popular “gay bashing”.

  Thankfully nothing like that would happen anywhere now, outside of the few countries Vladimir Putin runs.

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• TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  To add on what @Higgs Boson@dubvee.org said, credit to where it’s due, the privatisation did help the struggling British economy lift itself out of edging bankruptcy caused by the oil crisis. We have to admit that, sometimes, you need to tighten your belt. But, Thatcher went too far with gutting welfare and unions. Even some respectable conservatives at the time agreed that she went too far.

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• abbotsbury@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Thatcher Thatcher milk snatcher

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• Monzcarro@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Another one I think should be added is that she presided over the selling off of large amount of council housing (homes owned by local authorities and rented at controlled to people who needed them or for free in the case of some benefit claimants).

  The scheme is called Right to Buy and was lauded as a way for everyone to own their own home, as they were sold to the tenants at way below market value.

  However, housing stock was not replenished, as local authorities did not get all the money from the sales, and were further restricted from using what they did get to build new housing.

  What we’ve been left with us severely depleted council housing. Where I live and work, we have a huge list of applicants, and only those with the very highest level of need can get a council property, leaving others to pay extortionate private rents or become homeless.

  Furthermore, the rules around resale weren’t strict enough so you see ex council housing on property websites where people have made tens of thousands in profit on selling them. Many of these are now in the hands of private landlords.

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  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    wow, yes I appreciate you adding that context, that’s some important information to know

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