Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
I'm working on the revised introduction to my book, and I'm curious about your first thoughts about that question. I'd also be curious to know how you've revised them, if you have, since the last edition was released last year. Doesn't matter if you've read it, I'm just curious about perceptions.
I'd also appreciate any interesting links you've seen to anything written about her lately that I may have missed--particularly in places where the breadth of her influence is often underestimated, for example the developing countries that initiated market liberalization in the wake of the Thatcher revolution.
Or, frankly, I'm procrastinating. But it feels more like working on what I'm supposed to do than contemplating the Greco-Roman influence on Western culture or reading the new Wikileaks cables on Turkey. And yes, I managed to convince myself, yesterday, that nothing could be a more important use of my time, so I lost a day. Work really does consist of whatever a body is obliged to do, and play really does consist of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
- Comment (25)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Mar '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Claire, sorry I haven't yet read your book - maybe when you have the new intro.
You may have already covered it, but something I heard recently about how Mrs Thatcher mishandled the negotiations with China over Hong Kong is relevant today - a foretaste of what Mr Steyn would call the handing over of global leadership from the UK to the US, and now onto China.
The next step will be how the US handles Taiwan.
The other thought I had, somewhat related, was when listening to Peter's interview with Charles Moore - there is no way the UK could now do the Falklands War. The Harrier jets have been retired, the Ark Royal will be a tourist attraction in Hong Kong harbor, and the next UK aircraft carrier will be shared with the French, with no UK aircraft to put on it - sigh.
Edited on Aug 26, 2011 at 1:45amJul '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Claire,
Lady Thatcher is important because she proved once and for all that a nations' greatness is never lost so long as there are brave souls willing to defend it. The Lady rallied a nation in distress and gave Britain her dignity back.
To inject a little personal opinion here, I think the marvel that is Thatcher is especially profound when compared with her successors. Had John Major proven as formidable as Thatcher, she would appear less 'special.' With that said, because of the total lunacy that followed Major, both he and the Lady Thatcher both appear as giants amongst pygmies. Just my two cents.
Edited on Aug 26, 2011 at 1:56amMay '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
The only thing I can add is I'm constantly surprised at how sideways my lefty friends go if I even mention Lady Thatcher, the ones from the UK start to actually foam at the mouth, it is quite entertaining.
I must read your book, it is on my list.
Domo
Sep '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
I'm up too early to add anything relevant except that this picture reminds of the Queen's parody twitter account when it says:
"Goodness, look at the time: its Gin O'Clock."
Oct '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Claire, if you'll please forgive the triteness of the observations, Lady Thatcher matters because:
Sep '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Doesn't matter if you've read it, I'm just curious about perceptions.
The riots prove that what Britain needed was more Thatcher and less Blair.
Oct '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Maggie matters because she was the most effective free world leader in the second half of the twentieth century at a time when it mattered profoundly for her country and ours.
I could go on about particulars, but they would only illustrate, not state, my point. Unfortunately I haven't the time for illustrations. You already know the rest. You wrote a book about it.
Oct '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
The new movie about her portrays margaret thatcher as "granny going mad".
I miss the 80s music and the heroic figures of that time: Reagan, Thatcher, Pope John Paul 2, Lech Walesa, Cory Aquino. I even miss Gorbachev and his Glasnost/Perestroika thing.
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Is there a reason you specify England?
Nov '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Logging into ricochet is the absolute worst thing you can do when you're trying to be productive.
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
It gets even more complicated when you can say to yourself, "Why, I am being productive. This is my job, and I believe in it."
May '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
I don't have a response to your particular question, because I'm on 1/10th through your book and the reason I'm reading your book is that I always felt I didn't know enough detail about her.
I will offer, however, that the photo-shopped picture is very disturbing.
Apr '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Margaret Thatcher matters because she was right. When she said Gorbachev was someone the West could do business with I thought, 'l love you Maggie but you're nuts of you think this.' But she was right, and being right she changed the course of history.
But she was right about something else: she was right that the British were still capable of doing great things. There's an anecdote in your book about a Miner that encapsulates in microcosm what I mean:
"Harry always had a knack for drawing...When the pits closed he found himself sketching scenes from the mines...unemployed, he submitted one of those drawings to a local competition and won...His paintings are now prized by collectors and sold for thousands of pounds...Which image is more repugnant? Is it that of a middle-aged man his body wrecked from a life of hard labor being told he must now find a new job...Or is it the image of Harry, at the bottom of a coal mine, tracing images in the dust on the wall with his finger."
In light of the recent riots, it seems this lesson too has been lost of forgotten.
Jun '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
It is hard to discuss Reagan without including Thatcher and JPII. They are/were giants.
Her handling of the "Irish issue" was not her finest hour. There are still murals in Belfast with her likeness, denouncing her and her policies. The Broadway musical Billy Elliott has a lyric wishing for her death. Rarely have I heard such vitriolic comments about any other human being than I have from both Americans of Irish ancestry and Irish.
May '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Wish you could see this new movie first so you could refute some of the misrepresentations that will no doubt be in it.
Preemptively on that front: it's likely there will be some suggestion in the movie (as there has been from many sources) that the 2008 downturn was the result of Anglo-American anything-goes Reagan/Thatcherism, so the thrust of your intro should be to explain why the events of today (the riots, the collapse of the welfare state, the unworkable Euro, Obamanomics) serve to vindicate Thatcher, rather than her opponents.
There's also the more general collapse of tradition and common sense in the West that needs discussing. Here, Melanie Phillips's The World Turned Upside Down would be a great source. Nothing better illustrates Thatcher's point that "the facts of life are conservative" than that book.
Jan '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
As wise and courageous as she was, she failed to stem the collapse of a once-great culture. There's a lesson in that.
Jun '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
If you grew up during the Cold War as I did, you probably believed that the Soviet Union was a permanent fixture. Very few people saw the possibility that the USSR would simply implode. After all, even the best minds in the CIA completely missed this eventuality.
Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II became part of an historical triumvirate that you don't often see in history. Their combination of vision and resolve provided a fulcrum upon which the soviets were leveraged into the dustbin of history. Maybe the USSR would have collapsed anyway. But the three great leaders were proactive in seeing it happen. No small accomplishment.
Edited on Aug 26, 2011 at 7:18amJun '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
~Paules: If you grew up during the Cold War as I did, you probably believed that the Soviet Union was a permanent fixture. Very few people saw the possibility that the USSR would simply implode. After all, even the best minds in the CIA completely this eventuality.
Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II became part of an historical triumvirate that you don't often see in history. Their combination of vision and resolve provided a fulcrum upon which the soviets were leveraged into the dustbin of history. Maybe the USSR would have collapsed anyway. But the three great leaders were proactive in seeing it happen. No small accomplishment. · Aug 26 at 6:34am
Yes....in my mind, this is why Thatcher matters.
Apr '11
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
Would it be more or less disturbing if you learned that it wasn't Photoshopped?
Oct '10
Re: Why Does Margaret Thatcher Matter?
If you mean "other than lack of precision," er, no. :-) I mean neither that she wasn't Prime Minister of the entire UK, nor to offend the Scots, Irish, Welsh...