Thatcher is Dead

[kaosmark2]

Selfish? So its selfish for my family to want to move out of a horrible 8th floor council house in Brixton? My Dad watched the Brixton riots in 1981 unfold in front of him! They lived hand to mouth and the conservatives gave my family the chance to get out of that hell hole and have a better life.

I don't think thats selfish, i think thats wanting better for your family and seizing the opportunity when it comes along.

I concede the poll tax was wrong, and people were at a disadvantage because of her policies but just as many people benefited.

[davidd]

"I concede the poll tax was wrong, and people were at a disadvantage because of her policies but just as many people benefited"

Utterly ridiculous.

[feral chile]

I have been pushing the "Dong Dong" song. While I am not happy about the choice of song and would have preferred something meaningful, the sentiment remains the same. I did not realise my own anger at Thatcher until Monday. Once the idol worship started there needed to be balance. We are watching history in the making and I did not want it written that she was respected by a nation. Now whenever we look back on this it will be hard to ignore the song campaign and the predicament it put the BBC in. To me that is job done.

I have been getting in some heated online arguments and it amazes me peoples jack of understebding of our electoral system. I was told WE voted her in as a majority. As she got 42 or 45% of the vote sone people need to realise the majority did not want her.

I find it repugnant that many have said that she was a divisive leader as though that is a good quality in a leader. No, a good leader is one that brings a nation together. Yet we are expected to honour a bitch that split the nation in 2. To be frank it makes me ashamed to be British.

[GuitarManDan15]

I have been getting in some heated online arguments and it amazes me peoples jack of understebding of our electoral system. I was told WE voted her in as a majority. As she got 42 or 45% of the vote sone people need to realise the majority did not want her.

[GuitarManDan15]

Thinking that the right-to-buy policy was a good thing because it helped your family is selfish, because it helped your family at the cost of many others across generations.

It's a Thatcherist ideal that you work for yourself and your family, and noone else. And it's a horrible one.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

I think its incorrect to say any anti Thatcher-ites are left wing. As you can see, there's huge numbers of anti Thatcher people.

[Big Vern]

in the words of the great Gordon Gekko "greed is good". I salute you Baroness Thatcher.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Big Vern

[abdoujaparov]

So if I said to you, you can raise your kids in Brixton on you can raise your kids in Kent, which one would you choose?

My family chose to take advantage of the right-to-buy policy and given a million chances they would do the same thing every time.

[kaosmark2]

Just a point about the electoral systems, we haven't had a government with over 50% of the vote in over 80 years. Stanley baldwin was the last in 1931.

We were offered a new electoral system it was soundly defeated.

More 'representative' electoral systems are only marginally more 'representative' sometimes less so. They are also more likely to lead to coalition governments, which no one voted for. In 2010 36% voted for conservatives and 23% voted for the Liberal, but no one, directly voted for a coalition of the two.

A perfect electoral system that is 100% representative and pleases everyone does not exist and never will. From STV up to FPTP all have there advantages and all have huge disadvantages

[kaosmark2]

So if I said to you, you can raise your kids in Brixton on you can raise your kids in Kent, which one would you choose?

My family chose to take advantage of the right-to-buy policy and given a million chances they would do the same thing every time.

But then again I have noticed the huge leaning towards the left on this forum, I know music is traditionally littered with those on the left but this place is hugely biased.

I think I'll stick to chatting about music, whose gonna be added to the glasto line up and what shit will R+L add to the NME tent is way more interesting the politics anyway

[feral chile]

I think in this life you have to play to the rules which are put before you. If you live in a council house and buying it is going to improve your lot in life then you should be able to do that some what guilt free. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of what few government policies might be out there to help you get on.

But you do have to recognise that it was a policy that also had a huge impact on the nations future. The property boom and bust and lack of social housing that followed was down to the policy.

I take whatever I can from government policy but at the same time I happily vote for a different reality. I don't think there is anything to be gained by sacrificing any opportunity to allow your family to move on.

The policy wasn't bad really... Allowing people to buy an house and move on isn't the issue really. It was the fact she didn't back this policy with a second one to build more homes which was the real problem. If we had done that with the profits from north sea oil it could been a much better picture now.

[davidd]

So if I said to you, you can raise your kids in Brixton on you can raise your kids in Kent, which one would you choose?

My family chose to take advantage of the right-to-buy policy and given a million chances they would do the same thing every time.

But then again I have noticed the huge leaning towards the left on this forum, I know music is traditionally littered with those on the left but this place is hugely biased.

I think I'll stick to chatting about music, whose gonna be added to the glasto line up and what shit will R+L add to the NME tent is way more interesting the politics anyway

[kaosmark2]

I think in this life you have to play to the rules which are put before you. If you live in a council house and buying it is going to improve your lot in life then you should be able to do that some what guilt free. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of what few government policies might be out there to help you get on.

But you do have to recognise that it was a policy that also had a huge impact on the nations future. The property boom and bust and lack of social housing that followed was down to the policy.

I take whatever I can from government policy but at the same time I happily vote for a different reality. I don't think there is anything to be gained by sacrificing any opportunity to allow your family to move on.

The policy wasn't bad really... Allowing people to buy an house and move on isn't the issue really. It was the fact she didn't back this policy with a second one to build more homes which was the real problem. If we had done that with the profits from north sea oil it could been a much better picture now.

[abdoujaparov]

Oh yeah, I don't think it's horrendous behaviour to have taken advantage of the right to buy scheme, or other subsequent schemes. I do think it's ridiculous to call it a good policy though. "It helped me and my family, therefore it's good" is very different from "It's an unfair policy, but I'm lucky to have been able to benefit from it".

IF - and it's a big, huge, ginormous if because it didn't happen - there had been schemes to rebuild the social housing that was bought off, Right to Buy would have been a good scheme, however as it happened, without the replenishment of the social housing stock, it was a fucking horrendous policy that continues to fuck the availability of cheap accommodation to this day.

[kaosmark2]

Two other very big problems with the policy. 1 - it was essentially a massive government sanctioned gerrymandering scheme. 2 - it helped to drive a massive an unsustainable house price bubble

So whatever the positives, they were massively outweighed by the down side

[wullie72]

Good fucking riddance to the auld cow.

[TheGayTent]

Very eerie walking through the city this morning during rush hour with the only noise being the fall of footsteps.

No vehicles noise at all due to the roads being shut. Lots of bored looking coppers mind.

[russycarps]

Very eerie walking through the city this morning during rush hour with the only noise being the fall of footsteps.

No vehicles noise at all due to the roads being shut. Lots of bored looking coppers mind.

[TheGayTent]

Just can't help constantly saying fucking waste of money... Which it is...

[TheGayTent]

shame the w*nker cyclists were still allowed on the roads though

[whisty]

I only watched 5 mins to see it go past Fleet St and funnily they cut to the Queen and missed the protest. Turned the shit off, making me feel ill and gone back to music.

Edited April 17, 2013 by whisty

[russycarps]

Don't dispute there are w*nker cyclists. But are there any more w*nker cyclists than there are w*nker pedestrians or w*nker vehicle drivers?

[LondonTom]

Don't dispute there are w*nker cyclists. But are there any more w*nker cyclists than there are w*nker pedestrians or w*nker vehicle drivers?

Edited April 17, 2013 by LondonTom

[TheGayTent]

that's a tough one, considering the City is full of w*nkers

I'd say the cyclists just edge it though

[TheGayTent]

Saying that the w*nker professional drivers (Taxis, construction vehicles, delivery van drivers mainly) in the city can go do one to.