So how do you feel about Margaret Thatcher's death

[Jegsimmons]

Was she high handed? Yes.
Was she bigoted to gays. Yes.
Did she cause suffering among the UK working class. Yes.

Did her policies and changes to the UK economy work? Yes.

She did alot of unpopular things. But she did stop the UK from flushing down the economic toliet. Stopping or slowing the eventual fall of a nation is never easy nor painless. There will always be someone hurt by it. But the sooner you do it the less people will be hurt. She was able to turn the UK around before it got to the level of Greece and Italy. And what she did worked so well that even the PMs that came after her haven't undone what she did.

Finally someone with some sense and decency in this thread. People need to understand that economic reform is always going to have some sore backs. It's life, it ain't easy. You can't expect things to be easy just because.

Yes but the point is the way she did it. Some of what she did was simply to prove a point, and people will, and should, refuse to have respect for someone who ruined their lives simply to show that she could!

Also the economic reforms weren't necessary, she could of kept England an industrial nation, there is a rather large, and extremely successful one in Europe with very strong unions .... Germany.

i personally have more respect for a politician who can prove her stance, more than the ones who just throw money at stuff hoping it'll work but never does.
Plus, her 'unpopular' stuff still doesn't warrant the sheer amount of disrespect and down right mean spirited comments people have been giving in these comment.

Really from what ive seen with the UK, alot of its problem come from places OTHER than thatcher's policies.
Most of it coming from the UK's unchecked parliament which from what i've seen in recent history, has kind of sucked economically, and is turning your nation slowly into a police state and resorts to legislation based on 'feelings' and 'safety'.

The only politicians who i ever hated, was LBJ, and thats because of his horrid civil rights policies (quick tip, he didn't sign the civil rights acts because he cared about minority rights, the man wanted them for the democratic vote, and was opposed to similar legislation back in Eisenhower administration....LBJ was a serious racist, and was the lead start up to the 'democratic plantation'.) And he's fiscal and economic policies along with his poor handling of the Vietnam war.
But i'm not glad the guy is dead, just out of office.

 

[Cabisco]

I kind of nothing it on a personal level, while most people my age (early 20s) will say she was evil and celebrate she's dead the fact if pressed on the topic quite a lot of people tend to be unable to give me an answer beyond the two words 'mining strike' I can't help but feel a lot of this feeling towards her is overblown due to the nature of a lot of people knowing very little about her (yet having the strong feelings). I do assume there are people who are well educated on the matter and hate her, it's just I haven't meet them much.

On the other hand my dad is a big fan of hers and gives some pretty good reasons as to why she actually helped the country a lot, pragmatic and all that. Though I suppose that just makes my dad the devil or something to some people.

Really until I properly research her I don't think I'll have any truly strong opinion on her.

 

[xplosive59]

Well because I was not born when Thatcher was in government and I am not retarded so I do not hate her. I do not like her either but she did what had to be done and essentially saved England from what would of been a huge economic crisis if British engineering and mining had continued. She completely reinventing the London Dockland area and created soft serve ice cream which is great but at the same time she put countless people out of work and there is obvious resentment there which I sympathize with. But honestly? If you are in my age group of 18-21 and you are not effected in anyway by Thatchers reforms yet you hate her then fuck you! You bandwagon jumping ninnyhammers! Thatcher was always an 'end justify the means' prime minister and that I respect.

 

[flarty]

Umm. He didn't eradicate poverty. He basicaly turned the country into a 2 class system. The rich(general those that support him) and the not rich.

Relax, take a deep breath and read what i wrote again. I said he eradicated poverty by 2 roughly thirds

"Mr. Jeremić praised Mr. Chávez?s commitment to social justice and improving the lives of Venezuelans. Under his leadership, Venezuela had made great strides in fulfilling the Millennium Goals and its poverty rate had dropped from over 70 per cent at the end of the twentieth century to around 20 per cent today."

In case you dont know who Vuk Jeremić is, he is president of the united nations general assembly, link provided below to
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/ga11345.doc.htm

Oh yeah its the rich who oppose him not "(general those that support him)"

And using the term "nationalized" is a really nice way of saying he seized a sizable number of private companies for his own profit with no legal reason given.

Have a little read, follow the sources, confirm for yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_Hugo_Ch%C3%A1vez_government#Nationalizations

You realize that any real political opposition to him either fled the country or ended up in jail, dead or just dissappeared. After that the idea that it was a legit democratic proccess is laughable.

There are currently 9 major political parties in Venezuela.

Now i noticed you live in the US, a country that along with Spain attempted to overthrow him in 2002 in media backed coup, so you have to ask yourself what chance has he got of getting a fair hearing in your mainstream media?

 

[senobit]

Well because I was not born when Thatcher was in government and I am not retarded so I do not hate her. I do not like her either but she did what had to be done and essentially saved England from what would of been a huge economic crisis if British engineering and mining had continued. She completely reinventing the London Dockland area and created soft serve ice cream which is great but at the same time she put countless people out of work and there is obvious resentment there which I sympathize with. But honestly? If you are in my age group of 18-21 and you are not effected in anyway by Thatchers reforms yet you hate her then fuck you! You bandwagon jumping ninnyhammers! Thatcher was always an 'end justify the means' prime minister and that I respect.

Saved from a huge economic crisis? like the early 90s recession yeah she did good job on that.

What about the current economic meltdown? We're mainly a service industry now would we've have been hit so hard if we had a more diverse economy?

Buy a house, use a utility, pay your council tax, get a job - you don't live in a bubble and you are affected by the choices made by the thatcher government.

 

[Timmey]

Was she high handed? Yes.
Was she bigoted to gays. Yes.
Did she cause suffering among the UK working class. Yes.

Did her policies and changes to the UK economy work? Yes.

She did alot of unpopular things. But she did stop the UK from flushing down the economic toliet. Stopping or slowing the eventual fall of a nation is never easy nor painless. There will always be someone hurt by it. But the sooner you do it the less people will be hurt. She was able to turn the UK around before it got to the level of Greece and Italy. And what she did worked so well that even the PMs that came after her haven't undone what she did.

Finally someone with some sense and decency in this thread. People need to understand that economic reform is always going to have some sore backs. It's life, it ain't easy. You can't expect things to be easy just because.

Yes but the point is the way she did it. Some of what she did was simply to prove a point, and people will, and should, refuse to have respect for someone who ruined their lives simply to show that she could!

Also the economic reforms weren't necessary, she could of kept England an industrial nation, there is a rather large, and extremely successful one in Europe with very strong unions .... Germany.

i personally have more respect for a politician who can prove her stance, more than the ones who just throw money at stuff hoping it'll work but never does.
Plus, her 'unpopular' stuff still doesn't warrant the sheer amount of disrespect and down right mean spirited comments people have been giving in these comment.

Really from what ive seen with the UK, alot of its problem come from places OTHER than thatcher's policies.
Most of it coming from the UK's unchecked parliament which from what i've seen in recent history, has kind of sucked economically, and is turning your nation slowly into a police state and resorts to legislation based on 'feelings' and 'safety'.

The only politicians who i ever hated, was LBJ, and thats because of his horrid civil rights policies (quick tip, he didn't sign the civil rights acts because he cared about minority rights, the man wanted them for the democratic vote, and was opposed to similar legislation back in Eisenhower administration....LBJ was a serious racist, and was the lead start up to the 'democratic plantation'.) And he's fiscal and economic policies along with his poor handling of the Vietnam war.
But i'm not glad the guy is dead, just out of office.

Im afraid you cant say that her 'unpopular' stuff doesn't warrant hate. These are peoples lives we are talking about. Going weeks without heating, electricity, living in poverty, generations of families unemployed, and unemployable. Driven to such extremes as suicide. How do you expect them to react.

Also 'unpopular' stuff like supporting apartheid, supporting Pinochet. These aren't unpopular actions, these are appalling actions. Its not 'unpopular' to call Mandela a terrorist, its disgusting, just as she was.

 

[hutchy27]

I don't care, I thought she died a few years ago to be honest and was a little surprised to hear she died recently.

 

[FiveSpeedf150]

The victim class wasn't a fan of her, it seems. So... I mourn her passing. Hopefully her & Ron can kick back and reminisce together wherever it is we go after death.

 

[RicoADF]

I feel as follows....

Who's Margaret Thatcher?

No, seriously, being Australian I have no idea who she is or how she has pissed so many people off.

She was the priminister of the UK during the Falklands War and the one pushing for the UK to fight back rather than accept the invasion. Other than that I know little to nothing about her.

 

[Korolev]

A lot of what she did, had to be done. Many british people don't remember what it was like before the 1980s. The 1970s and 60s wasn't a particularly nice time for the UK, and many of the national services were incredibly inefficient.

That said, her policies DID ruin a lot of lives. Her policies had a disproportionately devastating effect on some areas of British Society, while benefiting other sectors of British society, and no, it wasn't "hurt the poor to help the rich" - it was more like "hurt certain very specific sections of the working class to benefit a very sizeable chunk of the middle class".

It is not hard to understand why Thatcher's name is essentially a curse word in certain areas of the UK and Ireland. Especially if you happen to be a miner or related to a miner. Her policies REALLY did hurt those people a whole lot. She was also kind of racist (but then again, virtually everyone of her generation was).

I always got the impression that those who hated her, hated her attitude more than her actual policies. "she seemed heartless" is a reason I hear a lot for hating her.

Regardless of whether or not you liked her or hated her (and depending on where you lived, what your job was and what class you were in, either reaction is justified), hating her NOW does nothing. She's dead. The time to fight her was in the 80's. Your battle with her or for her was over in 1990. 23 Years Ago. I know it's hard, but you really do have to move on. If you hate her, letting her spirit linger over you and torment you for over two decades means that she won.

 

[flarty]

The victim class wasn't a fan of her, it seems. So... I mourn her passing. Hopefully her & Ron can kick back and reminisce together wherever it is we go after death.

The fact your avatar sports the slogan commies are not cool with a picture of Che Guevara suggests you are politically illiterate. If you bothered to read up on the Batista regime that he helped overthrow, when he could of just sat comfortably in his middle class home in Argentina and carried on with his medical profession. You have to admit he was a pretty cool guy.

 

[Andrew_C]

eradicated

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

erad·i·cate transitive verb \i-ˈra-də-ˌkāt\
erad·i·cat·ederad·i·cat·ing
Definition of ERADICATE
1
: to pull up by the roots
2
: to do away with as completely as if by pulling up by the roots
? erad·i·ca·ble adjective
? erad·i·ca·tion noun
? erad·i·ca·tor noun
Examples of ERADICATE
The disease has now been completely eradicated.
His ambition is to eradicate poverty in his community.
Origin of ERADICATE
Latin eradicatus, past participle of eradicare, from e- + radic-, radix root ? more at root
First Known Use: 1532

I think the word you are looking for is reduced, perhaps?

 

[flarty]

eradicated

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

erad·i·cate transitive verb \i-ˈra-də-ˌkāt\
erad·i·cat·ederad·i·cat·ing
Definition of ERADICATE
1
: to pull up by the roots
2
: to do away with as completely as if by pulling up by the roots
? erad·i·ca·ble adjective
? erad·i·ca·tion noun
? erad·i·ca·tor noun
Examples of ERADICATE
The disease has now been completely eradicated.
His ambition is to eradicate poverty in his community.
Origin of ERADICATE
Latin eradicatus, past participle of eradicare, from e- + radic-, radix root ? more at root
First Known Use: 1532

I think the word you are looking for is reduced, perhaps?

Yeah, i guess your right, though you didn't have to quote the dictionary. The last line would of been fine =/

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

It's never a bad day when a fascist dies. And before anyone here feels the need to harp on me for using such a politically-charged word as "fascist" to describe ol' Dead Eyes Thatcher, go look up any of the dozens of definitions of the word. It describes her and her beliefs to a tee.

 

[Hap2]

A lot of what she did, had to be done. Many british people don't remember what it was like before the 1980s. The 1970s and 60s wasn't a particularly nice time for the UK, and many of the national services were incredibly inefficient.

"Had to be done"? Exactly what did her policies do except pander to the particular ideology of her and her neoliberal buddies? The economy of the UK, which includes the working class and the middle class, is still feeling the largely negative aftereffects of her 'efficiencies'.

That said, her policies DID ruin a lot of lives. Her policies had a disproportionately devastating effect on some areas of British Society, while benefiting other sectors of British society, and no, it wasn't "hurt the poor to help the rich" - it was more like "hurt certain very specific sections of the working class to benefit a very sizeable chunk of the middle class".

Pursuing short term gains that benefit the vested interests of a few wealthy patrons in exchange for long term damages to the entire economy is not going to benefit anyone but those few. Regulation is put in place to prevent things such as auto accident fatalities, infectious diseases through bad meat or produce, toxic spills and other environmental disasters, and from people abusing the economy through failed speculations. She and her ilk are the kind of people who remove such regulation because its inconvenient to their personal bottom lines. Thatcher doesn't deserve praise or apology; if anything, the people of the UK, not its rich few, deserve the apology.

It is not hard to understand why Thatcher's name is essentially a curse word in certain areas of the UK and Ireland. Especially if you happen to be a miner or related to a miner. Her policies REALLY did hurt those people a whole lot. She was also kind of racist (but then again, virtually everyone of her generation was).

Because "virtually everyone of her generation" was "kind of a racist", does not excuse discrimination or ignorance.

I always got the impression that those who hated her, hated her attitude more than her actual policies. "she seemed heartless" is a reason I hear a lot for hating her.

Diversionary nonsense. It is hard to be empathetic to one who deliberately caused so much harm for her own ideological gain, especially if you or someone close to you was directly affected. There are many reasons to hate Thatcher; dismissing them as being mere 'problems with her attitude' is made either from grave ignorance, or out of a sense of apologism for those who do not deserve it. The former I can understand, but the latter is abhorrent in the face of facts: her legacy, and the legacy of her fellow ideologists, is at the heart of today's economic crisis.

Regardless of whether or not you liked her or hated her (and depending on where you lived, what your job was and what class you were in, either reaction is justified), hating her NOW does nothing. She's dead. The time to fight her was in the 80's. Your battle with her or for her was over in 1990. 23 Years Ago. I know it's hard, but you really do have to move on. If you hate her, letting her spirit linger over you and torment you for over two decades means that she won.

What people fought against then, and are still fighting against today, is the continued exploitation and destruction of the ideal of a just and fair society by a few neoliberal corporate fascists who are bent on maintaining both their wealth and their power at the expense of everybody else. Instead of rightly criticizing her, and the ideology she shared with her contemporaries (e.g. Harper, Blair, Bush, Obama, Cameron, etc.), we get people like Harper, who treat her with an almost messianic reverence, and Obama, who praise her quietly while ignoring or glossing over the damages she caused, and apologists, who think her being dead automatically qualifies her as untouchable to all forms of criticism. Each one an enabler, some of whom are more directly involved in spreading the ideology she possessed and wielded while she was in power (the above names being a few of the most recent, and, unfortunately, not an extensive list either).

The issue isn't back in the 80's. The issue is still right here and now, and you can be damn sure, it matters.

 

[Alex Baas]

Had me listen to a lot more Clash as of late. Other than that...

 

[vallorn]

Was she high handed? Yes.
Was she bigoted to gays. Yes.
Did she cause suffering among the UK working class. Yes.

Did her policies and changes to the UK economy work? Yes.

She did alot of unpopular things. But she did stop the UK from flushing down the economic toliet. Stopping or slowing the eventual fall of a nation is never easy nor painless. There will always be someone hurt by it. But the sooner you do it the less people will be hurt. She was able to turn the UK around before it got to the level of Greece and Italy. And what she did worked so well that even the PMs that came after her haven't undone what she did.

Finally someone with some sense and decency in this thread. People need to understand that economic reform is always going to have some sore backs. It's life, it ain't easy. You can't expect things to be easy just because.

Yes but the point is the way she did it. Some of what she did was simply to prove a point, and people will, and should, refuse to have respect for someone who ruined their lives simply to show that she could!

Also the economic reforms weren't necessary, she could of kept England an industrial nation, there is a rather large, and extremely successful one in Europe with very strong unions .... Germany.

Ok can we bring into perspective how the UK unions back then acted?

They had ousted governments by calling national strikes across multiple industries when the people voted a way they didnt like. Even if the party in power was one they ostensibly paid for.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_the_United_Kingdom

Major strike action by British unions during the 1978?1979 Winter of Discontent are widely acknowledged[by whom?] to have contributed to the downfall of the Labour government of James Callaghan. Callaghan, himself a trade-unionist, had previously appealed for unions to exercise pay restraint, as part of the British Government's policies at the time to try to curb rampant inflation. His attempt to try to limit unions to a 5% pay rise led to widespread official and unofficial strikes across the country during the winter of that year. Official and unofficial strike action by lorry drivers, rail workers, nurses and ambulance drivers precipitated a feeling of crisis in the country. Memorable scenes of picketed hospitals, mounting piles of coffins, and heaps of unburied rubbish accumulating in public parks were embedded deeply in the public psyche.

When Jim Callaghan's government lost a vote of no confidence, Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives swept to victory in the subsequent general election and introduced new union laws in part to combat the industrial unrest that had plagued the previous Wilson and Callaghan governments.

In essence. The unions could have played nice but chose to play hardball and got Thatcher instead of Callaghan.

 

[Timmey]

Was she high handed? Yes.
Was she bigoted to gays. Yes.
Did she cause suffering among the UK working class. Yes.

Did her policies and changes to the UK economy work? Yes.

She did alot of unpopular things. But she did stop the UK from flushing down the economic toliet. Stopping or slowing the eventual fall of a nation is never easy nor painless. There will always be someone hurt by it. But the sooner you do it the less people will be hurt. She was able to turn the UK around before it got to the level of Greece and Italy. And what she did worked so well that even the PMs that came after her haven't undone what she did.

Finally someone with some sense and decency in this thread. People need to understand that economic reform is always going to have some sore backs. It's life, it ain't easy. You can't expect things to be easy just because.

Yes but the point is the way she did it. Some of what she did was simply to prove a point, and people will, and should, refuse to have respect for someone who ruined their lives simply to show that she could!

Also the economic reforms weren't necessary, she could of kept England an industrial nation, there is a rather large, and extremely successful one in Europe with very strong unions .... Germany.

Ok can we bring into perspective how the UK unions back then acted?

They had ousted governments by calling national strikes across multiple industries when the people voted a way they didnt like. Even if the party in power was one they ostensibly paid for.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_the_United_Kingdom

Major strike action by British unions during the 1978?1979 Winter of Discontent are widely acknowledged[by whom?] to have contributed to the downfall of the Labour government of James Callaghan. Callaghan, himself a trade-unionist, had previously appealed for unions to exercise pay restraint, as part of the British Government's policies at the time to try to curb rampant inflation. His attempt to try to limit unions to a 5% pay rise led to widespread official and unofficial strikes across the country during the winter of that year. Official and unofficial strike action by lorry drivers, rail workers, nurses and ambulance drivers precipitated a feeling of crisis in the country. Memorable scenes of picketed hospitals, mounting piles of coffins, and heaps of unburied rubbish accumulating in public parks were embedded deeply in the public psyche.

When Jim Callaghan's government lost a vote of no confidence, Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives swept to victory in the subsequent general election and introduced new union laws in part to combat the industrial unrest that had plagued the previous Wilson and Callaghan governments.

In essence. The unions could have played nice but chose to play hardball and got Thatcher instead of Callaghan.

That's all fine but the point is Thatcher didn't simply reduce the power of the unions, she destroyed them, just to show she could. That's why people are angry, closing profitable mines just so the unions had less power isn't good leadership, its wrong.

Not to mention my other gripes are still her pro apartheid stance and buddying up with Augusto Pinochet.

 

[Xanex]

Was she high handed? Yes.
Was she bigoted to gays. Yes.
Did she cause suffering among the UK working class. Yes.

Did her policies and changes to the UK economy work? Yes.

She did alot of unpopular things. But she did stop the UK from flushing down the economic toliet. Stopping or slowing the eventual fall of a nation is never easy nor painless. There will always be someone hurt by it. But the sooner you do it the less people will be hurt. She was able to turn the UK around before it got to the level of Greece and Italy. And what she did worked so well that even the PMs that came after her haven't undone what she did.

Finally someone with some sense and decency in this thread. People need to understand that economic reform is always going to have some sore backs. It's life, it ain't easy. You can't expect things to be easy just because.

Yes but the point is the way she did it. Some of what she did was simply to prove a point, and people will, and should, refuse to have respect for someone who ruined their lives simply to show that she could!

Also the economic reforms weren't necessary, she could of kept England an industrial nation, there is a rather large, and extremely successful one in Europe with very strong unions .... Germany.

Ok can we bring into perspective how the UK unions back then acted?

They had ousted governments by calling national strikes across multiple industries when the people voted a way they didnt like. Even if the party in power was one they ostensibly paid for.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_the_United_Kingdom

Major strike action by British unions during the 1978?1979 Winter of Discontent are widely acknowledged[by whom?] to have contributed to the downfall of the Labour government of James Callaghan. Callaghan, himself a trade-unionist, had previously appealed for unions to exercise pay restraint, as part of the British Government's policies at the time to try to curb rampant inflation. His attempt to try to limit unions to a 5% pay rise led to widespread official and unofficial strikes across the country during the winter of that year. Official and unofficial strike action by lorry drivers, rail workers, nurses and ambulance drivers precipitated a feeling of crisis in the country. Memorable scenes of picketed hospitals, mounting piles of coffins, and heaps of unburied rubbish accumulating in public parks were embedded deeply in the public psyche.

When Jim Callaghan's government lost a vote of no confidence, Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives swept to victory in the subsequent general election and introduced new union laws in part to combat the industrial unrest that had plagued the previous Wilson and Callaghan governments.

In essence. The unions could have played nice but chose to play hardball and got Thatcher instead of Callaghan.

That's all fine but the point is Thatcher didn't simply reduce the power of the unions, she destroyed them, just to show she could. That's why people are angry, closing profitable mines just so the unions had less power isn't good leadership, its wrong.

Not to mention my other gripes are still her pro apartheid stance and buddying up with Augusto Pinochet.

Actually the mines weren't profitable. And were only open due to UK government giving them bundles of money over and over. You say she closed the mines when in reality all she did was stop the flow of government money to them and they closed on their own.

 

[Timmey]

Was she high handed? Yes.
Was she bigoted to gays. Yes.
Did she cause suffering among the UK working class. Yes.

Did her policies and changes to the UK economy work? Yes.

She did alot of unpopular things. But she did stop the UK from flushing down the economic toliet. Stopping or slowing the eventual fall of a nation is never easy nor painless. There will always be someone hurt by it. But the sooner you do it the less people will be hurt. She was able to turn the UK around before it got to the level of Greece and Italy. And what she did worked so well that even the PMs that came after her haven't undone what she did.

Finally someone with some sense and decency in this thread. People need to understand that economic reform is always going to have some sore backs. It's life, it ain't easy. You can't expect things to be easy just because.

Yes but the point is the way she did it. Some of what she did was simply to prove a point, and people will, and should, refuse to have respect for someone who ruined their lives simply to show that she could!

Also the economic reforms weren't necessary, she could of kept England an industrial nation, there is a rather large, and extremely successful one in Europe with very strong unions .... Germany.

Ok can we bring into perspective how the UK unions back then acted?

They had ousted governments by calling national strikes across multiple industries when the people voted a way they didnt like. Even if the party in power was one they ostensibly paid for.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_the_United_Kingdom

Major strike action by British unions during the 1978?1979 Winter of Discontent are widely acknowledged[by whom?] to have contributed to the downfall of the Labour government of James Callaghan. Callaghan, himself a trade-unionist, had previously appealed for unions to exercise pay restraint, as part of the British Government's policies at the time to try to curb rampant inflation. His attempt to try to limit unions to a 5% pay rise led to widespread official and unofficial strikes across the country during the winter of that year. Official and unofficial strike action by lorry drivers, rail workers, nurses and ambulance drivers precipitated a feeling of crisis in the country. Memorable scenes of picketed hospitals, mounting piles of coffins, and heaps of unburied rubbish accumulating in public parks were embedded deeply in the public psyche.

When Jim Callaghan's government lost a vote of no confidence, Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives swept to victory in the subsequent general election and introduced new union laws in part to combat the industrial unrest that had plagued the previous Wilson and Callaghan governments.

In essence. The unions could have played nice but chose to play hardball and got Thatcher instead of Callaghan.

That's all fine but the point is Thatcher didn't simply reduce the power of the unions, she destroyed them, just to show she could. That's why people are angry, closing profitable mines just so the unions had less power isn't good leadership, its wrong.

Not to mention my other gripes are still her pro apartheid stance and buddying up with Augusto Pinochet.

Actually the mines weren't profitable. And were only open due to UK government giving them bundles of money over and over. You say she closed the mines when in reality all she did was stop the flow of government money to them and they closed on their own.

No, that's not what i said, i said she closed the profitable mines, which she did. Yes she closed some that weren't making money, but she also closed those that were making money, not because of economic reasons, but because she was on a vendetta against unions.