Wooooooaaa Doug. Are you softening a bit? We can move forward together :D

makes sense..
many folks in Europe & elsewhere believe O to be the US savior..
residing here..
some of us would strongly disagree..

Rika

Ha! Meant Yank as the English use it "American"... but hmm, born Ft. Knox, parents from PA, but grew up military brat, then served in USAR...and despite all that, and living in GA, consider Destin, FL area home. As Bruce might say... "get ur carpet baggers off my back..." Cheers!

Reasonably forward, of course.

Soft? I don't know, do I?

Ah, makes sense now. We need to educate these English types on Yanks vs. southern gentlemen.

Lesson one: The Mint Julep

3 fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon Mint Simple Syrup
Crushed ice
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) bourbon
1 (4-inch) cocktail straw or coffee stirrer
1 fresh mint sprig

Place mint leaves and Mint Simple Syrup in a chilled julep cup. Gently press leaves against cup with back of spoon to release flavors. Pack cup tightly with crushed ice; pour bourbon over ice. Insert straw, place mint sprig directly next to straw, and serve immediately in the shade, rocking chair, on the veranda.

Sazerac

Yaz - As I said before - live and let live. If you have a different opinion that's cool. I think this would be a great topic to discuss - maybe under a new thread. This thread is to wish her peace in her final rest.

If you do start a thread - I would love to participate, discuss, and exchange viewpoints.

Cheers!
Baz

This thread has gone parfy. Let her RIP.

Why don't you start your own thread in PARF, recycled? Sheesh....:rolleyes:

Coz it's not necessary to give her career a makeover after she has passed on. Her actions speak louder than any words whether you are for her or against her. RIP

Correcting an entry on page 2. She DID appoint(note-not elect, thats not how it works in England) a woman to her Cabinet, Baroness Young.Sh had lots of woman junior ministers too.
She won three General Elections, so plenty of people must have been in favour of her policies, me included.
Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow etc were already ruined by the unions.

Plenty of people did vote for her. As is the nature of our elections, not the overwhelming majority her supporters would like us to think.

Elected the first time with 43.9% of the vote.
Elected second time with 42.3% of the vote.
Elected the third time with 42.2% of the vote.

Considering she had the Falkland factor, the Union bashing factor, sympathy about Brighton, success with the cold war etc etc, it doesn't sound like she had the resounding support of the country that it was made out to be.

We can disagree all day about the cities she ruined. Tell your side to the working class inhabitants of those great cities and see how far it gets you.

Your opinion is diametricallky opposed to every single Brit I have spoken to regarding Ms Thatcher. I have only spoken to a few dozen, but they invariably had great respect for her and considered her the best peace time PM you ever had and were of the opinion that she saved the country.

Clearly, none of them could possibly know what they are talking about.

Then you have spoken to very few. Why do you think message boards for newspapers are being shut own all over the place? Pure vitriol. I had a look at my local papers website and even I was embarrased.

I love it Toby. Your vox poll sounds very scientific.

I am making the hatred up. The whole country loved her.
The Tories daren't even use the term Thatcherism any more. Believe what you like.

Ireland =/= Britain =/= Scotland

I would think most natives of conquered or occupied countries would have little praise for the countrymen of their oppressors.

I was born in Glasgow and have lived in England for 39 years. My wife is English as are my children. I don't feel oppressed in the slightest. But I take your point.

Not scientific at all Scott, as I think I indicated. Every one of them were folks I spoke to here in the US, both in Texas and California. They have your opinion, you have yours, but each of them had specific reasons for their opinions that they clearly stated. All were Brits, not a Scotsman or Irishman in the bunch, which would explain part of the difference.

Angry, unhappy people are more vocal, in my experience. Anonymity makes one bold, which would explain the over the top vitriol precipitating your embarrassment. The woman I spoke to about it yesterday said you were probably just not a conservative, and indicated that partisanship is a universal malady.

You seem to attach ill intent to what Ms Thatcher did. I would disagree with that quite strongly. It is interesting to me that she is held in high regard here. Not that different from our current POTUS. He is apparently quite popular overseas. He is losing his luster here, even among his acolytes. History will be much less kind to Mr Obama than it has been to Ms Thatcher. Perhaps we can discuss it in a few decades.

I lived in UK through her tenure and I still have a grudging respect for her charisma and her abilities, especially in foreign policy. I can't help but think, for example, that she'd have given GWBush & Co a much harder time than Blair did over Iraq.

However, soon after she was first elected I began to realize that many of the virtues I'd been educated with - not being greedy, not to be selfish, help those less well off, you're part of a community etc - were being turned on their head by her pronouncements and policies. I believe that she set the country on course that has not served it well and has blighted generations

Mrs. T was best friends with General Pinochet and considered Nelson Mandela an enemy. Enough said.

Mr. Mandela was an enemy of the state and in league with the Soviet Union via the backers of the ANC. That in no way means Thatcher didn't also want to see an end to Dutch apartheid. The English were not really fans of the Dutch.

Mandela was caught in a terrorist plot and jailed for it.

Mr. Pinochet was a foreign leader at the time. Dictator or not, dealing with other foreign leaders is all part of the job.

No Doug, it went further than that. She had a genuine friendship with Pinochet.

I'll never forget when he was arrested in 1999 on a Spanish warrant. Who was the first to visit him? His old friend Mrs Thatcher who proclaimed his arrest was 'unjust and callous'.

Unjust and Callous in the case of a guy who presided over the murder of at least 3,000 of his citizens. Defend that one...