They certainly do. I was involved only peripherally in Rotherham, in that, I came from a well off family so, the impact directly on our family was minimal.Slapsie Maxie wrote:[quote=
So I guess the scars run deep.
DP
My father was a Dr who treated both miners and police for their injuries, so I heard some of the horror stories.
I also had a huge number of friends whose families were either in the mines or the steelworks (you were more or less one or the other in Rotherham until the 80's ) and I saw the impact on them and their lives of the destruction of the industries and the strikes.
There are lots of arguments about the need to move away from a declining manufacturing base, but what cannot be doubted is that Thatcher did not care what the human cost was of achieving this. I saw familes go from a comfortable lifestyle to being on the breadline in two years. I saw hugely bright people being denied education because they had to get any job they could to support their parents and extended families. I had one friend whose family lost their home. These are the real human stories and no amount of Keynsian rationalising will make me feel anythingless than blind hatred for that woman and her henchmen.
It says a lot that, in S Yorks even to this day, Mansfield ( where the strike was broken ) is still called "scabtown" and that is over 20 years on
Slapsie[/quote]
That's the thrust of my argument. No matter what 'needs' the country had, the job of government is to serve it's people, not to run the country along some arbitrary principle to meet the demands of market led economics.
Thatcher wanted to push her reforms through with great haste and with ill-regard for the effects it would have on the miners, who like all trade unionists were seen as the enemy, as they were the backbone of the labour movement.
I always got the impression that she viewed it as a personal war, and that she was determined to leave as big a legacy as possible. Ultimately though, it backfired, and she is remembered by many as what she was, an evil egotist who allowed a huge proportion of the nation to suffer, and sacrificed millions on the altar of her ambition.
There is an irony though. Her ego also ultimately ruined the tory party. Every single potentially electable person they had, she used her influence to destroy after major. Major was her protege, and she also gave her support to IDS and the embryo William Hague.
Kenneth Clarke, who could well have got elected, Portillo, who at least had Charisma, and Heseltine, who would surely have gotten elected, were all ruined by thatcher.
The tories aren't going to win a general election for some time to come, and if they don't get in next time, after they lose this election, I can see the Liberal democrats becoming an equal party to the tories.
Well done Maggie....you eat your own party you poisonous bitch.
