In 'The Times' the day after she died they had a 16 page supplement along with 25 pages of detailed articles regarding her policies, the state she left Britain in when she left her position as Prime Minister in 1990, and the public outcry of both shock and celebration as a response to her death, notably in Glasgow.
1) Newspapers review the morning after: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22075382
2) Thatcher in her own words: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11734415
3) Thatcher years in statistics http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22070491
4) Nick Robinson on Thatcher: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/22061962
5) Mark Easton on Thatcher: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/22061962
6) Mixed public reaction to Thatcher's death: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22070623
7) US reaction: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22075246
Undoubtedly, it was Margaret Thatcher's policies that would create conflict, segregation, and split a nation right down its core. In 'The Times', the journalist Michael Savage points at the arguments for and against Thatcher's actions and policies regarding Northern Ireland, the Cold War, the Falklands, poll tax, privatisation, football, city de-regulation, the unions and Europe. In an extensive outlying of her policies, Savage shows how divisive Thatcher's policies were relating not only to foreign affairs but also internal economic and sporting affairs as well. She was to play a highly significant role in bringing an end to the Cold War along with the American President at the time, Ronald Reagan, who saw Thatcher as 'the best man in England'. If it wasn't for the joint efforts of both of these leading politicians, the Cold War could have been continued with an indefinite status of stalemate for years to come. The Falkland Wars gave the spark of controversy that led to people questioning her motives and actions when 255 British military personnel died, as well as the loss of a further 300 lives in the sinking of the Belgrano, the Argentine warship. Both of these events would lead to Thatcher strongly backing the actions up as a defensive course of action in an attempt to save more British lives for the threat it posed them. Nevertheless, it is without doubt that if it wasn't for Thatcher's determinism, decisiveness and rapid dispatching of British troops in early 1982, that the Falkland Islands would have stayed under Argentinean control and Thatcher's Conservatives would not have won the subsequent general election in 1983 with such a landslide victory. In terms of Northern Ireland, it has been seen as a battleground for recent decades; with bomb scares and IRA threats being a constant presence. Thatcher's hard lined approach to the hunger strike of 1981 was seen to be both preparing, albeit unintentionally, the ground for peace yet also condemning any plausible future efforts at creating some form of a compromise - a point sharply underlined as a result of the Brighton bomb of three years later.
Thatcher's rule was to be undermined and pressurised from all involved and affected by her policies regarding poll tax, privatisation and the trade unions. Poll tax led to Thatcher losing substantial support in Scotland, the mining communities and many low paid workers. This dissatisfaction ultimately led to the rise of a mass protest on the 31st March 1990 involving 200,000 marching and opposing this enforced tax. On the other hand, privatisation of industries such as oil, rail, electricity and water led to the exploitation of customers and worsened service in search for high profits. However, it is important to note that because of this, many companies that were smaller in origin around the time they became privatised are now a lot more efficient, and subsequently, more successful. In regards to the Unions, Thatcher's attempt at 'taming' them could only be seen as destructive, divisive and controversial. It led to the demolition of trade unions for a generation, eroded any rights that the workers had previously and left unemployment at an all new high. It was seen as an unforgiving action from which Thatcher lost the support of the trade unions and miners throughout Britain during her designated post as Prime Minister. Yet, through this backlash, she showed that a once disgruntled and economic society could be governable once again, even if this meant creating a great deal of unappreciated and despised rulings and limits on local political activity.
The final points that I want to make in relation to Thatcher and her rule throughout the 1980s was her relationship with football, or more importantly football's relationship with her. During her stay in power, there were three major incidents that rocked the support she had from the working and middle class segments of society: the fire at Bradford City's 'Valley Parade' stadium on 11th May 1985 which killed 56 people, the Heysel disaster of the 29th May 1985 when 39 Juventus supporters died before their European final game with Liverpool, and the Hillsborough Disaster on the 15th April 1989 which led to the deaths of 96 supporters. With each of these disasters still fresh in every football fans minds, it is safe to say that however the leading figures within the country at that time were to react, in this case Margaret Thatcher, would be scrutinised down to the last word and the course of longing for justice and answers would forever prolong over the shadow of football and politics. The Hillsborough Disaster has most recently been in the news for a renewed diagnosis as to what really happened on that fateful afternoon in 1989, with slogans going up around Anfield in recent seasons with the message 'Expose the lies before Thatcher dies'. The result of the latest inquest into the Hillsborough disaster over the last year has finally led to friends and families of those killed in the Hillsborough Disaster a sense of relief and reassurance as to knowing what happened and why it was kept under wraps for almost 23 years. Thatcher's connection with football was always a weak one at the best of times, and with her statement regarding Britain not having a 'society' (admittedly at the time the reaction to this statement was taken out of context), her desire to rid football of hooligans, the relationship would forever be one of a loose fit nature between Thatcher and football supporters.
So concludes another one of my blogs, on one of the more controversial topics around at this time. I hope that I have given both substantial arguments both in support and against Margaret Thatcher's policies and statements during her time in office as Prime Minister. It can be easy to ignore the success of an individual by their mistakes or misguided policies (no matter how good that persons intentions were), but it is an infallible certainty that if it were not for Thatcher's hard lined approach to both foreign policy and business acumen then the Falkland Islands would not have been liberated, and the Cold War would have lingered on for longer than it did with an even greater threat of nuclear war. Admittedly, I can wholly understand the reasoning behind many sectors within society taking a mass dislike in Thatcher's policies and stance on economics, trade unions and tax. So whether you agree with nicknames put upon Thatcher such as 'The Milk Snatcher' or 'The Immaculate Misconception', or desire to look at the respected and admired 'Iron Lady', I say each to their own, but I feel it strongly wrong and extremely sinister to celebrate one of our own Prime Minister's deaths as if she were somewhat on the same playing field of evil as Mao, Hitler or Stalin.
Now, time to watch the Iron Lady and see how Meryl Streep portrays 'The Iron Lady'.
Hope you enjoyed this latest blog, comments are appreciated if you have any thoughts on mine.
Jonathan Whitehead
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