Of course, the airwaves and the internet are full of reminiscences of 'that woman!' and that has proved efficacious for me. First of all because I had mostly forgotten what an utter and total basket-case this country was in the '70s. You really do need to have lived through it to appreciate its grim, seedy nastiness with militant unions running roughshod over all decency (the dead left unburied), 3-day working weeks, the lights going off for long periods of time, giant state-owned corporations treating us, their 'customers', as though we were contemptible nuisances, top rate of tax at 83%, and our brightest and best, either in terms of intelligence or ability to run a profitable business, disappearing down the 'brain drain' to the USA as fast they could. It was all hideously depressing.
Then 'that woman' arrived! I was too busy trying to earn a living in those days to waste much time on politics and so my first impression of her was - that voice - truly off-putting! But gradually I listened to what she was saying rather than the frightfully careful and grating pronunciation she used to deliver it. And what she said made more and more sense. I had just taken up as a passing fad (the way you do!) philosophy in general and economic philosophy in particular. It was her known respect for Friedrich Hayek's thoughts on political and economic philosophy which made me seek him out in the several books which still sit on my bookshelf. Reading him and others, and then listening to her, was truly a revelation.
What was quite incredible at the time - and still is in retrospect - is that she not only saw the rightness in Hayek's philosophy but that she then set about hammering and bashing it into a recalcitrant Britain. Needless to say, my less-than-dearly beloved countrymen and women hated it and hated her and her poll numbers sank without trace. But she was blessed in her enemies. Two of the stupidest men in the world provided her with opportunities to win back her support. The first was the slimy and ridiculous leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, who led his 'poor bloody infantry' into total defeat and destruction. It took about a year and at times it was a close run thing but in the end she prevailed. Other unions rapidly got the message!
Her second enemy was the ineffably stupid, and frequently drunken, Gen. Galtieri of Argentinia who invaded the Falklands and thus gave the lady what every prime minister desires - a resounding military victory. She was swept back into power and there she stayed until the treacherous and pusillanimous likes of Geoffrey Howe and Michael Heseltine stabbed her in the back.
But, never mind, a seeming miracle had occurred in just 11 years! Britain, from being sneered at, not unreasonably, as the 'poor man of Europe' was now a hustling, bustling, wealth-creating, modernising country. Looking back it seems almost unbelievable that such a change should occur in such a short time. Quite literally, the Britain of the early 1990s was a foreign country to that of the 1970s. Now you, dear reader, might have detected a bit of doom 'n' gloom invading these august columns recently. In particular, my dread for the downward slide of the United States. The sad death of Mrs.(*) Thatcher serves to remind me that in politics nothing is set in stone. All it takes is for the right man or woman to appear at the right time and anything is possible.
Hello - America! - about NOW would be a good time, ya hear what I'm sayin'?!
(*) She is, of course, Lady Thatcher, but somehow, in some way, Mrs. Thatcher seems the right memory for the grocer's daughter from Grantham.
I completely agree. Whatever one thinks of her policies, she demonstrated that for Britain, leadership is all about reversing the decline - and it can be done. Compare and contrast with the thing we are lumbered with now.
Posted by: A K Haart | Monday, 08 April 2013 at 16:44
She was the last great English leader.
Posted by: Odin's Raven | Monday, 08 April 2013 at 17:30
"and it can be done", exactly so, AK.
'OR' (if I may trim your wings!), you have written what looks like an interesting story? fable? forecast? whatever over at your place which I have saved for later reading. In the meantime, welcome to D&N.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 08 April 2013 at 19:05
"... leadership is all about reversing the decline - and it can be done."
I'm just curious - is that likely with all those "Etonites"?I don't see a hint of authenticity from here.
(Side note - I just got off a conference call - somebody who'll remain nameless said):
"[I] wish I was as certain of anything as she was of everything."
Posted by: JK | Monday, 08 April 2013 at 20:31
Sorry about you being doubled up, JK, obviously a glitch with TypePad but I hope I have tidied up sufficiently.
They, by which I mean Cameron, actually, are known as 'Old Etonians' or 'OEs' for short. Osborne went to St. Paul's School, so that makes him an 'Old Pauline' - yeeeees, quite! Clegg went to two different public schools (that's 'private' schools in American!) the last being Westminster School.
As for your friend on the 'phone, 'Maggie' had her doubts but rarely if ever showed them in public - the sign of great leaders through the ages.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 08 April 2013 at 22:12
Very fine post, DD. I get the clear sense that you feel it deeply, yet see it clearly. Thank you.
It seems like the end of an era, doesn't it? Yet you are right about the possibilities of the future.
Posted by: Whyaxye | Monday, 08 April 2013 at 22:33
The end of the beginning of an era.
I wonder how she would have read Hayek and Friedman into todays situation? State spending out of control as it was in 1979 (today the state doesn't do coal mining, car manufacturing, steel manufacturing, telecoms, gas, electricity and water but still spends the same percentage of GDP as in 1979 when she took over; makes you appreciate the massive and inexorable decline in productivity of the state), but inflation at 3% today compared to 20+% in 1979.
Hayek and Friedman are clear: cut public spending by 20% as before, but this time crank up the printing presses and get inflation to 10% for 5 years to inflate the debt away and devalue to gain competitiveness; growth will do the rest. Fiscal austerity, but with financial Abenomics.
It's the last throw of the Tory dice - or else it's Miliballs for the foreseeable.
SoD
Posted by: Lawrence Duff | Tuesday, 09 April 2013 at 00:26
Thanks, 'W'.
'SoD', I have some thoughts on Miliband's chances which I will post about later.
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 09 April 2013 at 08:50
Thatcher stopped the bullying in the workplace by lefties. She made ballots legal and stopped the old cardboard box trick used by the Commies. (stuffing the boxes with unused ballots)
Posted by: Jimmy Glesga | Tuesday, 09 April 2013 at 21:23
Exactly right, Jimmy.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 10 April 2013 at 09:17