Maggie (Not Deutz)

OUT OF HOURS BULLY'S TRUCKSTOP BAR (INTERACTIVE)
1

Today Maggie’s ie being laid to rest!

I wonder what our collective memories and comments on her time in power are.

Here’s my take.

Like Churchill, she made a lot of mistakes and her policies did hurt a lot of people but my God when her country needed her she was there to stand firm. She was no warmonger like Blair but when a tin pot dictator in the south seas threatened our people she was prepared to take the risks and lead our fantastic forces to a wonderful victory.

When she came to power the unions had reached above themselves and believed that they were entitled to overthrow the elected governments of the day, Heath and Callaghan. Only Maggie had the guts to stand up to them and set our country on a course to greatness again.

Whatever your politics I feel she merits some respect so please either bow your head for a few moments or just raise a glass to this great lady who was there when her country needed her.

2

She was one of only two great Prime Ministers our country has had in the last 100yrs, that Churchill bloke being the other :sunglasses:

RIP Iron Lady :cry:

3

Hi Jazzandy I think Maggie was great for this country love her or hate her she was not afraid to stand her ground and my god we need some one with qualities and vigour like hers today, all these protests by mostly youngsters who were not even born when she ruled is sad if they wanted to protest about her why did they not do it when she was alive. I have been in the haulage business most of my life and handed on to my boys it is a tough game to be in and I know what its like to work hard for little return, our state of affairs today leave something to be desired is it not time we cut the welfare system and just give out food vouchers instead, there would be no ■■■■ and mobile phones etc for those not working and before any one starts saying there is no work what are all these Europeans doing, they want to work and they do maybe not there ideal job and not for the money they want but they work. The system is to blame and we cannot carry on borrowing to pay this debt as at some point it has to be repaid and I feel if the country was a business surely it would fail, no ordinary business could get the finance to carry on like the government does. I personally think the ones that are paying taxes should revolt and with hold monies until there is change but unfortunately I cant see that happening any time soon. Surely there are like minded people out there but are we all to busy trying to make our respective companies viable in difficult trading times I fear so, perhaps if the country was run by like minded people to me it would be a better place to be right now, If you are sick you need the medicine so lets take it, cheers Buzzer.

4

I respect the fact that she has passed away and that she has a family who will miss her and they will also be very upset as were we all when we lost our Mother. However she is only remembered for having balls not for any great policy she introduced. Look at what she did in her past.
Took free school milk away from the kids.
Introduced the “right to buy” but all the cash from the sale of council houses went to central government and no new houses were built by local authorities.
Introduced training schemes that were worthless to the trainee just to reduce the unemployed numbers.
She had a deep seated hatred for the working class and her terminoligy for the miners was “the enemy within”
She was determined to destroy the unions and started with the miners, then the steelworks.
She sold off all the nationalised industries without giving a second thought for the thousands of people she put out of work.
She introduced legislation to ensure that the unions would never again have any power, that is why today the average working man will never again get a meaningfull pay increase.
The Norther Irish hunger strikers, she just let then die and rot in jail without any intervention to prevent this happening.
I feel sorry for her family but not for her passing. Ten million quid on her funeral what a way to rub peoples noses into the mire. Just think about how many miners lost their jobs their lives and homes and the way she dealt with the “enemy within” by sending charging horses against them. The comunities she ripped apart are still hurting to this day. Go round places like Grimethorpe, Featherstone, Normanton and just look at what has gone on.

5

Carlc:
I respect the fact that she has passed away and that she has a family who will miss her and they will also be very upset as were we all when we lost our Mother. However she is only remembered for having balls not for any great policy she introduced. Look at what she did in her past.
Took free school milk away from the kids.
Introduced the “right to buy” but all the cash from the sale of council houses went to central government and no new houses were built by local authorities.
Introduced training schemes that were worthless to the trainee just to reduce the unemployed numbers.
She had a deep seated hatred for the working class and her terminoligy for the miners was “the enemy within”
She was determined to destroy the unions and started with the miners, then the steelworks.
She sold off all the nationalised industries without giving a second thought for the thousands of people she put out of work.
She introduced legislation to ensure that the unions would never again have any power, that is why today the average working man will never again get a meaningfull pay increase.
The Norther Irish hunger strikers, she just let then die and rot in jail without any intervention to prevent this happening.
I feel sorry for her family but not for her passing. Ten million quid on her funeral what a way to rub peoples noses into the mire. Just think about how many miners lost their jobs their lives and homes and the way she dealt with the “enemy within” by sending charging horses against them. The comunities she ripped apart are still hurting to this day. Go round places like Grimethorpe, Featherstone, Normanton and just look at what has gone on.

Get it right Mrs T didn’t introduce the polices she was the spokes person for the party running the country, you cant blame just the one person donk .
The training schemes ha look at it we now have the DCPC who’s introduced that and its not even a pass or fail test .
The miners by listening to Mr I’ll grab anything I can Scargill… who aint done anything since 1980.
She destroyed the Unions because it was shown that one union ( the miners ) could kill the whole economy by cutting power to every industry in the country no electric no work no work no money… the miners didn’t think they just followed …
was it right that blocks of concrete was thrown at the lorries ■■ the miners were out to get what they could for who ■■? freedom of work they didn’t have to be miners but maybe they were to dumb to see that and by holding the country to ransom was as it seemed an easy way.
A meaning full pay increase you say ha too many people cant be arsed to work because of the EU ooh yeah she didn’t want that did she but who did the other party …

you don’t have to kill the innocent to get your point across like some miners did , remember Blocks of concrete thrown on the cabs of lorries killed innocent drivers trying to earn to provide for his family …

6

Carlc:
I respect the fact that she has passed away and that she has a family who will miss her and they will also be very upset as were we all when we lost our Mother. However she is only remembered for having balls not for any great policy she introduced. Look at what she did in her past.
Took free school milk away from the kids.
Introduced the “right to buy” but all the cash from the sale of council houses went to central government and no new houses were built by local authorities.
Introduced training schemes that were worthless to the trainee just to reduce the unemployed numbers.
She had a deep seated hatred for the working class and her terminoligy for the miners was “the enemy within”
She was determined to destroy the unions and started with the miners, then the steelworks.
She sold off all the nationalised industries without giving a second thought for the thousands of people she put out of work.
She introduced legislation to ensure that the unions would never again have any power, that is why today the average working man will never again get a meaningfull pay increase.
The Norther Irish hunger strikers, she just let then die and rot in jail without any intervention to prevent this happening.
I feel sorry for her family but not for her passing. Ten million quid on her funeral what a way to rub peoples noses into the mire. Just think about how many miners lost their jobs their lives and homes and the way she dealt with the “enemy within” by sending charging horses against them. The comunities she ripped apart are still hurting to this day. Go round places like Grimethorpe, Featherstone, Normanton and just look at what has gone on.

We live in a democracy,we have a system where we vote at elections to bring about a Government,MT served 3 terms,it was the peoples choice of Government,and she served the country well.MT RIP.

David

7

Please let’s have all points of view. We were all affected in different ways and it will be fascinating to hear the comments from those different perspectives.

8

Scargill did more damage to the miners than anyone a communist with an agenda as for Margreat Thatcher I wish she was pm now .I heard George Galloway on the radio yesterday stirring up hls usual crap this from a man who thought he had led his new respect party to victory not so long ago in Blackburn only to find out after tweetingit that he infact was leader of the party in Bradford R.i.p Mrs T

9

Those of us who worked through the '70’s and ran businesses ( and paid wages ) will remember the situation BEFORE Maggie Thatcher came to power -

UK was definately the " sick man of Europe " and we surely needed a real man (Maggie THatcher) to dish out the medicine to cure the economy - we became a nation with some pride after that.

The following was published on Trucknet on another forum and may remind or inform some younger members of our dire situation before MT :

My memory of the 3 years before Margaret Thatcher

1976
29 January - Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in London’s West End.

14th July - Ford launches a new small three-door hatchback, the Fiesta - its first front-wheel drive transverse engined production model - It will be built in several factories across Europe, including the Dagenham plant in Essex (where 3,000 jobs will be created), and continental sales begin later this year, although it won’t go on sale in Britain until January 1977

Emma Bunton and Ellen McArthur born

1977
29 January - Seven IRA bombs explode in the West End of London, but there are no fatalities or serious injuries.

15 March - British Leyland managers announce intention to dismiss 40,000 toolmakers who have gone on strike at the company’s Longbridge plant in Birmingham, action which is costing the state-owned carmaker more than £10million a week.

26 June - 16-year-old shop assistant Jayne McDonald is found battered and stabbed to death in Chapeltown, Leeds; police believe she is the fifth person to be murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper.

6 September - Car industry figures show that foreign cars are outselling British-built ones for the first time. Japanese built Datsuns, German Volkswagens and French Renaults are proving particularly popular with buyers, although British-built products from Ford, British Leyland, Vauxhall and Chrysler UK are still the most popular.

3 October - Undertakers go on strike in London, leaving more than 800 corpses unburied.

21 December - Four children die at a house fire in Wednesbury, West Midlands, as Green Goddess fire appliances crewed by hastily-trained troops are sent to deal with the blaze while firefighters are still on strike. 119 people have now died as a result of fires since the strike began, but this is the first fire during the strike which has resulted in more than two deaths.

30 January - Opposition leader Margaret Thatcher says that many Britons fear being “swamped by people with a different culture”.

31 January - 18-year-old prostitute Helen Rytka is murdered in Huddersfield; she is believed to be the eighth victim of the Yorkshire Ripper.

18 February - Twenty suspects arrested in connection with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing of the La Mon restaurant in County Down which had killed 12 people and injured 30.

28 March - The government lost a motion of no confidence, later leading to the 1979 general election

26 September - 23 Ford car plants are closed across Britain due to strikes.

4 November - Many British bakeries impose bread rationing after a baker’s strike led to panic buying of bread.

30 November - An industrial dispute closes down The Times newspaper (until 12 November 1979)

West midlands motorcycle manufacturer Norton Villiers Triumph is liquidated.

Keith Moon Died

1979
5 January - Lorry drivers go on strike, causing new shortages of heating oil and fresh food.

10 January - LABOUR Prime Minister James Callaghan returns from an international summit to a Britain in a state of industrial unrest. The Sun newspaper reports his comments with a famous headline: “Crisis? What Crisis?”

12 February - Over 1,000 schools close due to the heating oil shortage caused by National lorry drivers’ strike.

1 March - National Health Service workers in the West Midlands threaten to go on strike in their bid to win a nine per cent pay rise.

30 March - Airey Neave, World War Two hero and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is Assassinated by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons car park.

4 April - Josephine Whitaker, a 19-year-old bank worker, is murdered in Halifax; police believe that she is the 11th woman to be murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper.

Largest number of working days lost through strike action since 1926.

4 May Election Day - Margaret Thatcher Won.

27 August - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, last Viceroy of India - Assassinated by IRA

14 December – Michael Owen, footballer born

10

Hi Andy, I have just been watching Maggies funeral service on Sky News and for some reason it reminded me of a warm summers morning in Dover Eastern Docks back in the eighties. Loads of drivers who were waiting for their import paperwork waiting to clear customs were all stood around a television set watching a Royal Navy aircraft carrier coming into Portsmouth harbour just after The Falklands War had finished. Thousands of people were stood along the quayside waving Union Flags and cheering. Hundreds of smaller boats had sailed out to meet the returning ships which were full of British soldiers. There were at least several drivers who walked in to watch that telly that morning and said doesn’t it make you proud to be British. I don’t remember seeing anything like those scenes when British soldiers returned from Iraq after looking for Blair’s weapons of mass destruction.
At the time of the Falklands War, some of us might remember that The Sun newspaper gave out a sticker which said The Falklands Are British with a picture of a Union Flag. I had one of those stickers on the side window of my cab and one day I was doing my cabin control with a Czechoslovakian officer at Folmova who stood looking at it and said in very good English. Ah Maggie Tatcher, The Iron Lady, she is a very strong prime minister, I wish we had a prime minister like her.

Regards Steve.

11

mushroomman:
Hi Andy, I have just been watching Maggies funeral service on Sky News and for some reason it reminded me of a warm summers morning in Dover Eastern Docks back in the eighties. Loads of drivers who were waiting for their import paperwork waiting to clear customs were all stood around a television set watching a Royal Navy aircraft carrier coming into Portsmouth harbour just after The Falklands War had finished. Thousands of people were stood along the quayside waving Union Flags and cheering. Hundreds of smaller boats had sailed out to meet the returning ships which were full of British soldiers. There were at least several drivers who walked in to watch that telly that morning and said doesn’t it make you proud to be British. I don’t remember seeing anything like those scenes when British soldiers returned from Iraq after looking for Blair’s weapons of mass destruction.
At the time of the Falklands War, some of us might remember that The Sun newspaper gave out a sticker which said The Falklands Are British with a picture of a Union Flag. I had one of those stickers on the side window of my cab and one day I was doing my cabin control with a Czechoslovakian officer at Folmova who stood looking at it and said in very good English. Ah Maggie Tatcher, The Iron Lady, she is a very strong prime minister, I wish we had a prime minister like her.

Regards Steve.

And so do i

12

I won’t be shedding a tear, she is responsible for the cover up from the police at the Hillsborough disaster. She showed no remorse when she was ordering the chief of police to ‘tamper’ with the reports and ‘get rid’ of the evidence that would point the finger of blame at HER police force.

Then there’s the Liverpool dockers, that’s another story. She single handed destroyed the city of Liverpool one way or another. I’m not from Liverpool but her hate of Scousers was there for all to see. She hated working classes and she made them pay anyway she could.

She can rot in hell.

13

LeeJ:
I won’t be shedding a tear, she is responsible for the cover up from the police at the Hillsborough disaster. She showed no remorse when she was ordering the chief of police to ‘tamper’ with the reports and ‘get rid’ of the evidence that would point the finger of blame at HER police force.

Then there’s the Liverpool dockers, that’s another story. She single handed destroyed the city of Liverpool one way or another. I’m not from Liverpool but her hate of Scousers was there for all to see. She hated working classes and she made them pay anyway she could.

She can rot in hell.

Hi LeeJ I just wondered if you had an opinion on Hitler as you seem to have so much hatred for an ex British prime minister, just imagine what it would be like today if he had succeeded in his bid for European ■■■■■■■■■■, I know which one I would rather be under the control of and it certainly was not Adolf, cheers Buzzer.

14

Hi there, don’t really have an opinion on Hitler, I don’t really know much about him apart from whats been documented in film etc. I’m not sure Hitler and Maggie comparisons can be made. I mean, I understand the good that she did, don’t read me wrong here but as I come from a mining community I grew up during her term in power and our towns and surrounding towns/villages have still not recovered. I also studied the Hillsborough case for a long time after the event and more recently now the truth has been brought to attention and the cover ups and lies are there for all to see. I despise her for that.

15

I am posting something I put on W.H.williams thread shortly after the time her death was anounced, and also a reply I gave n te thread. I appologise to anyone who might have already read this.

Margaret Thatcher

Although I don’t want to get into political argument I think as we went into liquidation 2/3 through her tenure of Downing street, and her policies certainly were partial responsible for this I think I should give my thoughts. In theory I should hate her as she helped destroy our business but being realistic I know what she did to the country had to be done and we were an innocent casualty.
My mind goes back to Macillan and during this time I grew to hate and fear the Labour opposition as they had policies to nationalise the road haulage industry, which was strange considering what a mess this had created the first time.
When Harold Wilson was elected he was certainly not as left wing and extreme as some had hoped for, certainly his main achievement was keeping peace between the two wings of the party. Like dad said ‘Never criticise labour as we have always made more money when they were in power’. It certainly was the case as they tended to be spendthrifts and we did well.
Heath was useless, and when Callaghan became prime minister I was very concerned as I had never been impressed by his efforts in other areas of government, however I think he genuinely tried to keep the dignity of the office and did his best, but unfortunately during the seventies communism had spread into the trade union leadership and just a few people had gained a powerbase where they could hold the country to ransom culminating in the winter of discontent.
We had spent a lot of money building up a vehicle fleet to fulfil our obligations to Thorn and Courtaulds in particular, but we were hampered by industrial unrest at both these companies Thorn regularly had strikes while we had vehicles and drivers standing with no work. At Courtaulds there was the massive strike lasting 28 weeks, which had its effect, also things like the Dockers strike created an atmosphere where we had vehicles standing and then as things returned too much work where we had to hire in sub-contractors. In those days we never dreamt of laying drivers off. Painting wheels and inside van bodies etc. were the norm to make work for the 40 basic hour week.
The drivers’ strike was the final nail in the coffin that sucked away our cash flow. It never should have happened but because of Thorn having a closed shop our drivers had been blackmailed into joining the Transport and Workers union, that together with the Road haulage Association had made such a mess to create the strike.
Things could not continue as they were. Callaghan had gone begging to The International Monetary Fund. The country was broke and ungovernable on the verge of anarchy. Along came Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. She was surrounded by ministers who were wimps, many just as bad as the Labour Government they had replaced. Yet she was strong and determined.
Time was not on her side ad she could not micro manage the economy. She made the large companies curtail their expenses, and become competitive on a world market. What she did was best described as squeezing a tube of toothpaste with the top on. It breaks and leaks at the weakest part. Road Haulage was one of the weakest and companies squeezed haulage rates to breaking point. If the Transport and General workers union had done their job correctly, companies would not have been able to get away with paying a ridiculous low percentage of vehicle earnings as wages and companies like us paying a genuine hourly rate would have remained competitive.
I have told before on this thread of the damage done to us by British Leyland making and supplying poorly designed and built vehicles such as the Lynx, Laird and Boxer, H ad it not been for the likes of Red Robo causing such dreadful strikes and disruption, Leyland might have had plenty of money for research and development to produce 1st class vehicles, and our profitability not been so badly hit by them. Had we not suffered the strikes and disruption at Thorn and Courtaulds we might have had more strength to fight. It is too easy to blame Mrs Thatcher. Without her strength in pulling the country round the future of this country was incomprehensible.

Going back to the miners strike.People sympathise with the miners but forget the lorry drivers. This was the time we had opened our Sheffield depot and warehouse and I had to travel down there quite a bit to check on things and saw first-hand how these poor drivers were coping. Scargill had recruited thugs, not miners to attack these drivers as they went about their work delivering fuel to the power stations.
Their lives were put in danger and had resorted to metal being welded across their windscreens and side windows with slits just big enough to let them see where they were going. The miners had voted twice against striking and Scargill had started the strike against their wishes. Had they had the courage of these lorry drivers and ignored him there would have been no strike.

16

dead and gone thats that …i’m more angry with cameron spending between eight and ten milllion pound on a gigantic self bigup and ■■■■■■ for him and his coronies…and as for stopping big ben !!,who the ■■■■ does he think he is ■■,talk about cheapening a state event !!

17

Carl Williams:
I am posting something I put on W.H.williams thread shortly after the time her death was anounced, and also a reply I gave n te thread. I appologise to anyone who might have already read this.

Margaret Thatcher

Although I don’t want to get into political argument I think as we went into liquidation 2/3 through her tenure of Downing street, and her policies certainly were partial responsible for this I think I should give my thoughts. In theory I should hate her as she helped destroy our business but being realistic I know what she did to the country had to be done and we were an innocent casualty.
My mind goes back to Macillan and during this time I grew to hate and fear the Labour opposition as they had policies to nationalise the road haulage industry, which was strange considering what a mess this had created the first time.
When Harold Wilson was elected he was certainly not as left wing and extreme as some had hoped for, certainly his main achievement was keeping peace between the two wings of the party. Like dad said ‘Never criticise labour as we have always made more money when they were in power’. It certainly was the case as they tended to be spendthrifts and we did well.
Heath was useless, and when Callaghan became prime minister I was very concerned as I had never been impressed by his efforts in other areas of government, however I think he genuinely tried to keep the dignity of the office and did his best, but unfortunately during the seventies communism had spread into the trade union leadership and just a few people had gained a powerbase where they could hold the country to ransom culminating in the winter of discontent.
We had spent a lot of money building up a vehicle fleet to fulfil our obligations to Thorn and Courtaulds in particular, but we were hampered by industrial unrest at both these companies Thorn regularly had strikes while we had vehicles and drivers standing with no work. At Courtaulds there was the massive strike lasting 28 weeks, which had its effect, also things like the Dockers strike created an atmosphere where we had vehicles standing and then as things returned too much work where we had to hire in sub-contractors. In those days we never dreamt of laying drivers off. Painting wheels and inside van bodies etc. were the norm to make work for the 40 basic hour week.
The drivers’ strike was the final nail in the coffin that sucked away our cash flow. It never should have happened but because of Thorn having a closed shop our drivers had been blackmailed into joining the Transport and Workers union, that together with the Road haulage Association had made such a mess to create the strike.
Things could not continue as they were. Callaghan had gone begging to The International Monetary Fund. The country was broke and ungovernable on the verge of anarchy. Along came Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. She was surrounded by ministers who were wimps, many just as bad as the Labour Government they had replaced. Yet she was strong and determined.
Time was not on her side ad she could not micro manage the economy. She made the large companies curtail their expenses, and become competitive on a world market. What she did was best described as squeezing a tube of toothpaste with the top on. It breaks and leaks at the weakest part. Road Haulage was one of the weakest and companies squeezed haulage rates to breaking point. If the Transport and General workers union had done their job correctly, companies would not have been able to get away with paying a ridiculous low percentage of vehicle earnings as wages and companies like us paying a genuine hourly rate would have remained competitive.
I have told before on this thread of the damage done to us by British Leyland making and supplying poorly designed and built vehicles such as the Lynx, Laird and Boxer, H ad it not been for the likes of Red Robo causing such dreadful strikes and disruption, Leyland might have had plenty of money for research and development to produce 1st class vehicles, and our profitability not been so badly hit by them. Had we not suffered the strikes and disruption at Thorn and Courtaulds we might have had more strength to fight. It is too easy to blame Mrs Thatcher. Without her strength in pulling the country round the future of this country was incomprehensible.

Going back to the miners strike.People sympathise with the miners but forget the lorry drivers. This was the time we had opened our Sheffield depot and warehouse and I had to travel down there quite a bit to check on things and saw first-hand how these poor drivers were coping. Scargill had recruited thugs, not miners to attack these drivers as they went about their work delivering fuel to the power stations.
Their lives were put in danger and had resorted to metal being welded across their windscreens and side windows with slits just big enough to let them see where they were going. The miners had voted twice against striking and Scargill had started the strike against their wishes. Had they had the courage of these lorry drivers and ignored him there would have been no strike.

Cant argue with that Carl,the problem is that Labour get into power borrow stacks of money we cant afford everyone thinks its great until we have to pay it back ,then the Tories get in and have to enforce cuts to pay back what we couldnt afford to borrow in the first place.Its a vicious circle .Just watching the local news and those “poor” miners are still slating her ,but they werent poor they were on great money and the hours werent too bad either ,the job was dangerous and thankless but the biggest enemy of the miners ,and they still cant see it today was good old Arthur a man who no matter what he got wanted more with ridiculous demands .It was cheaper to import coal than extract it from the pits here such was the demands Arthur had set in place.The problem was that just like many other industries of the time the unions thought they could rule .Arthur recently took the NUM to court over money he reckoned they owed him and he was over ruled and lost.I for 1 will be very happy when the likes of Scargill ,Galloway and Hatton and quite a few more are no longer with us they were the real enemy to this country no Mrs T she just got the thankless job of putting them in their place

18

curnock:
dead and gone thats that …i’m more angry with cameron spending between eight and ten milllion pound on a gigantic self bigup and ■■■■■■ for him and his coronies…and as for stopping big ben !!,who the [zb] does he think he is ■■,talk about cheapening a state event !!

That money will be returned to this country thousands of times over by increased tourism which will help solve some of the financial problems in this country and eventually will indirectly help you by reducing taxes.

The funeral will be shown throughout the word and particularly in America where Thatcher was idolised by the average person. Millions of people will come and visit the UK over the coming years, and bring much needed spending, to see where it all happened.can you imagine how much it would cost to place adverts for UK on world television?

Its sad that several people think like you and don’t look at the situation with an open mind and see the benefit for all of us in our country.

19

my opinion not yours so lump it,they more they make the more they want we will never see that money

20

Where will it all end ?