more revisionism, more paperthin posts....there's that same theme running through a lot of your posts.
If they're so paperthin you'd think that you'd be able to rebut them. Refusing to engage is very telling.
rebut what exactly? you have nothing to back up what you say and so have nothing substantial worth commenting on. no first hand experiences, no facts, no figures....it's just a scenario you've constructed to fit how you want things to have been, to find some redemption for the disgrace that was the thatcher era. you don't even read my posts properly. you talk the talk but behind the veneer there's not much of substance there. (and yes, i cherry picked stats...important ones i felt gave a reasonable range of economic comparison. find me your cherry picked ones that do similar)
I've pointed out why the statistics you've chosen are meaningless and you have no answer. Thatcher achieved industrial production growth, manufacturing growth, productivity growth, all without the billions of dollars in subsidies previous governments threw at the economy. Even the rate of decline in coal production slowed under her watch. Unemployment during the second half of her premiership steadily declined, and by 1990 was under 7% - still high, but not substantially worse than the 5.5% that Callaghan left given the productivity gains in the interim. Anyone would acknowledge that there are things she could have done differently, things she could have done better, but your inability to recognise the scope of her achievements comes off as little more than bitter peevishness.
This was largely achieved by taking many unemployed out of the official figures - moving them onto sickness or incapacity benefit.
Callaghan did block In Place of Strife, though, so there's a great deal of responsibility there in terms of creating the monster. As to Thatcher's real terms increase in the NHS budget, it doesn't seem so amazing when you consider that there was a 29% rise in the number of admissions during that time and that the percentage of GDP spent on it went up by 0.3 during the Thatcher years, which is lower than any other decade (the rise in percentage of GDP spent on health since 1950 is roughly the same as in other countries and is currently on the lower end of average for European countries - however this includes a huge increase since 1997 ). The extra cash mostly went on GPs and prescriptions, while the number of beds in hospitals fell by 30% (come on, the use of trolleys as extra beds was famously widespread in the late '80s and early '90s, ignoring that is having a massively selective memory!) and hospital budgets hardly went up, which explains the different viewpoints people have of that area. Thatcher certainly didn't love the NHS, she just knew not to mess with it if she wanted to win elections.
That's the NHS spending increase covered, now what about the cuts to education, to local government, to public services? What about the doubling of child poverty? The reduction of the tax burden on the rich at the expense of the poor? The massive increases in homelessneess? The selling off of social housing while banning councils for replacing them? The increase in inequality?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/16/bury-not-just-thatcher-but-thatcherism Pretty well summed up
Maggie's hottie American granddaughter read some Bible verses at her funeral. Her dad Mark Thatcher allegedly tried to overthrow the govt. of Equatorial Guinea (try to find that on a map!) Kind of a f*cked up family situation: Like many hot people, Amanda Thatcher is American. Born in Dallas, she spent the early part of her childhood in Cape Town, South Africa but returned, along with her mother and older brother, to her mother's home state of Texas in 2004 at age 11. The move happened after her father, a former race car driver, was arrested in South Africa for his alleged involvement in a failed coup to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. (You know, that old chestnut.) The U.S. refused to give Mark Thatcher a visa based on his record and he and Amanda's mother, Diane, separated. She now attends the University of Richmond. http://gawker.com/5994902/margaret-...funeral-howyoudoin-amanda?tag=who.s-that-girl
http://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ay_107549413.jpg?w=650 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...-on-margaret-thatcher-funeral-procession.html