Voting

[Mister H]

I can distinctly remember a week or two before the 1979 General Election meeting with a dear, well-intentioned neighbour ( now long deceased), who memorably said to me "now, you know what you've got to do next week."
You will recall the country was in some disarray with strikes, inflation and an air of revolution.
We all know what happened. But when one looks back now and considering we who now are, being a certain age, what might be called the political children of Baroness Thatcher, one has to acknowledge I think, the immense damage she did to the country in a sense in which, like the first world war, we have never really recovered from. We all know the situation was bad. But then to seek for solutions as she did from the lunatic Friedman was suicidal.
Friedman rejected the obvious truism that money is a creation of the state. Free trade (whatever that means) certainly meant for Friedman acting without restraint, laws, even morality which has put the world economy in the position where it now is, under a Himalayan amount of unrepayable debt no one knows how to get out of. Friedman said there should be no rules standing in the way of capital and that all state assets must be sold off, so all the assets - that had taken decades to build up with know -how and investment - should be transferred into private hands. The result of this looting in Britain was mass unemployment and a economy and production contracting to a third world level. One aspect (now ignored) is that many former state industries were saddled with vast amounts of debt as private entities.
I stupidly voted. But haven't done so thereafter.

[rebbonk]

I voted in '79. I didn't vote for Thatcher. Thatcher made many mistakes of which we will never recover. She foolishly believed in 'the free market' something that doesn't exist.

But on the bright side, I believe that when working in a scientific capacity, the grocer's daughter had a small part in developing the soft easy-serve ice cream that we all enjoy today. But even then, it was an attempt to force more air (a free commodity) into the mix and charge us more! And that about sums up how the UK has gone ever since her days in office, charge the plebs more for less!

There are still many families split by her policies as I found out when working in the north of the country.

I also blame her for politicising the police force.

It is popular to remember her fondly and remind ourselves of 'the iron lady'. To my mind, she was an evil witch, and I can rarely find a good word to say about her.

[Mister H]

I agree, the free market doesn't exist. its an enlightenment concept from the 18th century, that assumed a hypothetical world which, itself, doesn't exist.
Yes, she remains a divisive figure and there is no way around that. Really, she worsened, even poisoned, relations in Britain. Many one-nation Tories detested her, and at the time, were just dismissed as idiots and failures. This was simply not true. I remember in particular Peter Walker, who was a local MP in Worcestershire. He was a very bright guy. When Maxwell was at his height, he wanted to get Walker on board his companies but Walker said "I need to see the accounts first." Very quickly Walker wanted nothing further to do with him. This is in stark contrast with the long list of establishment politicos who accepted Maxwell's shilling and were then tarnished when he went overboard and the scandal.

[rebbonk]

Wasn't Walker involved in scandals of his own? Do I remember some naughtiness with his partner Jim Slater?

[margaret]

He was called - Slater, that is, not Walker - 'Changi Jim' because of his more than nodding acquaintance with the well known prison in Singapore. I've always been a bit intrigued by the career of (ex) Coventry (NW) MP, Geoffrey Robinson. He and Woodward were rumoured to be the richest politicians in Britain, served by butlers, domestic staff etc. Woodward made his money through marriage, whereas Robinson used an inheritance to start an engineering company and building on contacts he made in Italy at the time of BL I've always regarded him as a very clever guy .But there is also something Faustian about the guy that repels.

Mr H

[rebbonk]

Robinson allegedy 'inherited' his money from a Belgian countess IIRC?

His rapid rise in the early days of BLMC is largely unexplained, as was his position (CEO IIRC?) at Innocenti of Italy. He certainly held high office at a very young age in an industry not noted for such things in those days.

He was famously head of Jaguar and was very popular. - A lot of staff actually cried when he left the job.

Certainly a very popular and charismatic guy, but to my mind there is something a 'little off' about him. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a secondhand car from him.

[margaret]

Just a brief fly-over his CV shows he is, indeed, an interesting character. He was a very popular MP also, and had a reputation for getting things done for his constituents. But he also got himself linked with Maxwell when Peter Walker (whom he resembles in many ways) was smart enough to walk away. Lord Stokes (of BL fame) liked him a lot, and saw his potential.

Mr H