Yesterday we looked at a woman whose place in history was made by taking off her clothes.
Today we’ll be looking at a woman who took on the foul labor unions of Britain and the industries once nationalized by the socialist BritGov of the late 1940s (and denationalized them, saying “To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches”). And for good measure, she kicked the shit out of the Argies when they tried to invade and hold the Falkland Islands. A political foe once described her as having “breasts like Monroe and eyes like Stalin”, and he was right.
We all know who I’m talking about, of course: the Iron Lady herself, Margaret Thatcher.
Needless to say, the Commies in the UK (i.e. a substantial proportion of the population) hated her guts because in her time, she constantly flayed the monster that was “democratic socialism” both by her words and by her deeds.
Britain needs her today more than ever: I cannot imagine that the pantywaists in the EU government and the “Remainers” at home would last more than a couple hours against her — but lamentably, she can’t be there. And her words, most of which were said over thirty years ago, ring all the more true today:
“Left-wing zealots have often been prepared to ride roughshod over due process and basic considerations of fairness when they think they can get away with it. For them the ends always seems to justify the means. That is precisely how their predecessors came to create the gulag.”
“Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.”
“The choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life. And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.”
I miss her, and so should (big- and small-c) conservatives everywhere.
She had bigger balls than most male politicians these days, on both sides of the water. Feelings, nothing more than feelings. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to turn off the logic and utilize feelings only, and try as I might I am unable to do so. In fact, it seems most of the times I have feelings turned off. There must be something wrong with me.
Perhaps near to leading him by the ear to saddle up, in the run-up to the invasion of Kuwait Margaret Thatcher is said to have told President Bush; “Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly.” Sometimes amended to more the keeper; “Don’t go wobbly on me George”.
From the git-go, The Iron Lady fought the EU over England being overburdened with the EU budget. Sounding almost prophetic today, she responded to EU budget demands saying “I want my money back”. It took four years but in 1984 she achieved continuing budget rebates. And the “Iron Lady” label was originated by a Soviet commentator’s ill-intended comparison of her to Germany’s Iron Chancellor Bismarck. The nickname stuck.
Finally, she was class act to the end. Her own health failing due to strokes and the onset of dementia, she attended President Ronald Reagan’s funeral in 2004. Her eulogy was delivered via a video recorded months earlier as she herself traveled toward twilight.
“…We here still move in twilight. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God’s children.”
Purely as a point of grammar, I always thought it was ‘panty waste’ rather than ‘panty waist’
Am I just an uneducated Brit?
Margaret Thatcher – a True Brit. ‘Nuff said.
She and Churchill defined 20th Century Britain.
Q,
I would put it to you that Thatcher REDEFINED 20th-century Britain. Churchill simply saved Britain.
She also had terrific vitality and energy, and, in keeping with the original theme, was very attractive – though already formidable – as a young woman.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/photos-of-margaret-thatcher-as-a-young-woman
There was a fascinating video of her visiting Poland as Communism was beginning to wobble. A bit of it is at the end of this segment.
She met with leaders of Solidarity; they were drinking in every word. Their questions were about the nuts and bolts of parliamentary democracy, not ideas.
There’s a lot that she could have done better. But it would be churlish to focus on that.
She was the least worst Prime Minister in my lifetime, a definite boost for Britain and a very necessary antidote to the socialism and Tory mediocrity that preceded her, that’s for sure.
Her embrace of FA Hayek was of profound importance to our recovery.
Sadly, 40 years on from her ascent, here we are again, with a choice between socialism red in tooth and claw, and the Tory mediocrity of stuffed suits and managed decline.