Heartland

Excuse me if i am writing in this as foreign to UK politics, but i remember when i was a little kid watching at tv news images with cavalry against people that were protesting for Saddam Hussein and the news saying that Thatcher supported Saddam Hussein, is it correct or fantasy?

It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

markfiend wrote:The Poll Tax a good idea? Pull the other one.

I sent back all the forms with "can't pay won't pay" scrawled across them and I'd do the same again.

(Glenda Jackson is a fu-cking legend.)

In theory the poll tax was a good idea. Why, after all, should single people who live alone (and use 1 person's worth of local services) pay more than a married couple (who use twice as much in terms of local services), just because the single person happens to live in a property that is valued more highly?

But just like soviet communism, in practice it doesn't work - this isn't rocket science, and they must have known that it wouldn't the first time someone suggested it as an adequate replacement for the rates. Then again, the Tories were long on theory and woefully short on practical application.

markfiend wrote:It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

Indeed. Sided with, armed, and turned a blind eye to when it came to Iraq gassing civilian populations. In 1990, when they were gearing up for Desert Storm, there was a lot of military & political commentatory about how well equipped and trained the Iraqi army was. People asked, "How come we know so much about their weapons?" to which the answer was, "Because we sold them to them."

markfiend wrote:It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

To be fair, so did all of Western Europe IIRC, Saddam was almost seen as some kind of hero who stood up against lunatic Khomeini. Iraq was the biggest customer to quite a few even non-military companies in Sweden at the time.

Iraq is really a symbol of cynical geopolitics

euphoria wrote:

markfiend wrote:It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

To be fair, so did all of Western Europe IIRC, Saddam was almost seen as some kind of hero who stood up against lunatic Khomeini. Iraq was the biggest customer to quite a few even non-military companies in Sweden at the time.

Iraq is really a symbol of cynical geopolitics

Very true ... all Western countries chose to look the other way when Saddam decided to attack the Kurds in his country with gas ...

euphoria wrote:

markfiend wrote:It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

To be fair, so did all of Western Europe IIRC, Saddam was almost seen as some kind of hero who stood up against lunatic Khomeini.

Iraq is really a symbol of cynical geopolitics

Indeed. Between the devil and the deep blue sea, one might say

The problem I have is that if someone like Thatcher qualifies for a State funeral then it sort of cheapens all the peeople in the past who actually deserved it.

Then what happens in the future if someone REALLY GOOD comes along and then dies. You can't just give them a State funeral because that is what Thatcher had. You are going to have to up the ante. Shoot them off in to space. Have them cloned. Come up with something more special

euphoria wrote:

markfiend wrote:It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

To be fair, so did all of Western Europe IIRC, Saddam was almost seen as some kind of hero who stood up against lunatic Khomeini. Iraq was the biggest customer to quite a few even non-military companies in Sweden at the time.

Iraq is really a symbol of cynical geopolitics

I don't think that's quite right. The Western view was probably most accurately captured by hammerin' Hank Kissinger, who allegedly said of the Iran/Iraq war "it's a shame they both can't lose."

sultan2075 wrote:

euphoria wrote:

markfiend wrote:It's possible. The UK and USA sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war IIRC.

To be fair, so did all of Western Europe IIRC, Saddam was almost seen as some kind of hero who stood up against lunatic Khomeini. Iraq was the biggest customer to quite a few even non-military companies in Sweden at the time.

Iraq is really a symbol of cynical geopolitics

I don't think that's quite right. The Western view was probably most accurately captured by hammerin' Hank Kissinger, who allegedly said of the Iran/Iraq war "it's a shame they both can't lose."

Ok, I change "seen as some kind of hero" to "treated as if he was the good guy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... 93Iraq_War

There's a huge gap between how politicians think and how they act, especially in foreign politics, and even more so in the Middle East where there are many regimes who are not especially likeable but have things you need (oil), and also themselves need things you have (weapons) to oppress their people or to build up military strength against imagined threats from outside (instead of dealing with the real threat from inside, namely their own sad way of governing).

Anyway...Thatcher's dead but not her ideas obviously, as she triggered "New Labour" which in its turn was copied all over Europe. She would not be controversial or especially influential today, as she would have very little to fight against...

If something wrong is copied all over the Planet, does not make it automatically correct or right. It simply change the size of things.

Anyway please someone who knows tell me who owns now all those private companies that made at her time for electricity and water and other x-public things. He who owns them now perhaps is the only one who gained from such political moves at that times.

I believe that they're mostly owned by the banks and insurance companies. They are probably the largest investors in the UK stock market.

Well, it's her funeral today, and Brother and I are getting Very, very pissed...

LyanvisAberrant wrote:Well, it's her funeral today, and Brother and I are getting Very, very pissed...

...bit early for festivities isn't it?

special occasion... I guess...
Without being too disrespectful

LyanvisAberrant wrote:special occasion... I guess...
Without being too disrespectful

I believe she was partial to a nice single malt.
It's what she would have wanted.

Hom_Corleone wrote:

LyanvisAberrant wrote:special occasion... I guess...
Without being too disrespectful

I believe she was partial to a nice single malt.
It's what she would have wanted.

Hear hear!

Hardly anyone "lining the route" in London I understand.

so it's another day when avoiding watching news on telly is a must or at least advisable.

Bartek wrote:so it's another day when avoiding watching news on telly is a must or at least advisable.

Absolutely! decided to take the day to knock on doors and introduce my self around the constituency I'm standing in for the local council elections...only one bloke didn't want to hear what I had to say, because as he said in his own words "You're too right wing for my tastes"...and promptly went back to watching Thatcher's funeral