But
I thought she was wonderful.
When I was young being brought up in the Scottish Highlands, all I knew was Conservatism. Scottish Highlanders were by tradition and instinct Conservative.
The Scottish Labour strongholds where down south in the lowlands, in industrial Glasgow and Clydebank and parts of the central belt.
A bit of Liberal influence crept into the North - but Labour - Never
Then the SNP came on the scene - very left wing and again not appealing to the North.
Then came Maggie and her disastrous Poll Tax which she inflicted on Scotland first. It caused riots which were not reported in England. Nobody in England cared until it later happened to them. (This is the sort of thing that makes Scots cross with England)
But
I liked her and admired her
Life in Britain was dreadful before she took over. It was so bad that we left and went to Canada in search of something better.
Then this little petite women got in and sorted it out.
MEGA
Being female, I admire her even more because I can understand what a huge thing it was, to have done what she did - as a female in a very very male world.
She was amazing.
If only she hadn't done a 3rd term.
Perhaps PM's should be banned from doing a third term. It always seems to be a mistake.
My Mum met her once at a function she was hosting and was most impressed. She had previously met Edward Heath who had looked over her shoulder all during their conversation looking for someone more important to talk to. Margaret Thatcher had a good conversation with her - woman to woman type stuff and listened to and was interested in what my Mum said and made a point of thanking her and all the helpers when she left.
A niece of mine once shared a taxi home after an event with one of Mrs Thatcher's children. The taxi stopped first at The Thatcher house and Maggie (PM at the time) insisted on my neice coming in and cooking her some eggs (herself) because they had missed their evening meal.
So what was this poll tax
It was a way of raising money for local government services such as collecting rubbish.
Before - the money was raised by a tax called - Rates. This was based on the value of your property and was a single tax regardless of how many lived there.
Poll tax was per person - everyone paid the same - although there was help for poor people
So suddenly - everyone in one property had to pay something.
The argument was that we all use the services therefore everyone should contribute - who can.
There were winners and there were losers as with all tax changes
I dunno - it is very unfashionable to say so - but I thought it seemed pretty fair to me
Why should a little old pensioner living alone pay the same as a big household of wage earners?
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