Why is thatcher so hated

The Poll Tax is the stand-out, unequivocal disaster of the Thatcher Government. Though, that's a somewhat contested claim. Many believed that changing the way the tax was calculated, from the estimated market value of a property to the number of people living in it, was a backwards step. It disproportionately hit large families living in relatively small accommodation and was universally hated for being unfair on ordinary working people.

The Community Charge caused intense distrust and deep wounds in the political psyche of millions of voters, many of whom never forgave Thatcher for her actions as we see from the anger released following her death. The changes generated seething public anger , mass protests , public disobedience, mass refusal to pay , legal challenges and some of the worst rioting ever seen in England. Yorkshire Police even made preparations to refuse to arrest anyone as thanks to the problems of implementing the tax , the force believed it lacked the resources to deal with such wide-scale civil disobedience.

John Major won the resultant leadership contest and immediately abolished the Community Charge. It was based on the essentially identical Rates system used prior to the Community Charge. Such is the strength of feeling still felt in Britain about the Community Charge, politicians have consistently steered clear of adjusting it for over 20 years, save for minor alterations aimed primarily at increasing discounts for certain households and individuals.

As ever, things are more subtle. The Labour Party initially campaigned against the internal market, claiming it had fragmented the NHS and distorted incentives. GP fundholding was abolished, and primary care groups later primary care trusts were established as the new commissioning bodies, but with a greater focus on needs assessment and accountability to the local community. Although they initially helped primary care groups with needs assessment, they were to ultimately take on a more managerial role, determining local targets and standards.

The sentiment is more rightly directed at the Conservative Party as a whole. Section 28 refers to Section 28 of the Local Government Act which stated:.

Nonetheless, such legislation reflects the generally held beliefs of the Conservative traditionalists that Homosexuality, though no longer illegal, should not be promoted. Modernists, including current Prime Minister David Cameron , no longer support such sentiment. Cameron even went so far as to issue a much needed and long overdue apology in July , despite he himself having voted for a retention of the Section in He stated:. This highly complex topic developed over months and you should take the time to read the background , particularly the testimony of Jill Knight excerpt below , who introduced Section What it did do was serve to highlight and ostracise the Gay and Lesbian community, legislating for separate treatment and restriction of teaching that many LGBT supports legitimately felt discriminated against them.

It perpetuated a feeling of resentment and distrust of the LGBT community, serving as a clear example of homophobia and prejudice within the institution of Government.

The feeling of vilification felt by many in the Gay Community can therefore, understandably, explain their dislike of Thatcher and her government. The Irish Hunger Strike in were an extraordinary development in the history of the Northern Ireland troubles and set the tone for decades to come. Specifically their goals included:. A complex timeline of events ultimately led to the the deaths of 10 prisoners. But that was not before an incredible development — the leader of the Hunger Strike, and one of those who would later go on to die, Bobby Sands was elected, from his prison cell , to the British House of Commons following a By-Election in Thatcher has never been forgiven for what she did to the Left during the s.

She didn't so much break up the industrial labor unions as eviscerate them, gladly shutting down scores of coal mines and steel foundries across the country, and refusing to compromise with striking miners during the year-long industrial action of Her Conservative Party privatized vast swaths of the state's apparatus, including the gas, water, telecom, and electricity industries, and reduced public funding for education, welfare, and social housing.

She was nicknamed " Milk Snatcher " after scrapping free school milk supplies while education secretary in the s, and the name stuck throughout her premiership. It easily fit her reputation among liberals as a callous, cold-hearted villain. To communities riven by unemployment, she must have seemed like one, too.

But it would be altogether wrong to suggest that the only people mourning Thatcher today are Tory plutocrats. Thatcher's decade of supply-side economics made a lot of people rich, and not just the 1 percent.

The economy boomed under Thatcherism, sparking a rise in house prices and productivity that served to create a real, wealthy middle class. Without Thatcherism's program of deregulation and tax reform, the City of London would never have become a titan of the financial world. Maggie is now working on a plan to privatise Hell. Rattner is right of course that you can be a Democrat Thatcherite and that is basically why everything sucks. Thatcher is dead, but unfortunately Thatcherism lives on.

Let's bury it with her: ow. Say what you like about Margaret Thatcher. Let us remember those who died from the stress of the unemployment she caused thatcher. Cultural significance trumped politics. Tories believe in division and inequality Thatcher defined that and Thatcherism continues today as bad or worse than her period in office.

Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist". I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires. This post has been updated throughout.

Already a subscriber? I remember the first time I felt an ounce of sympathy for her. Yet the bogus story still gets widely circulated. Those who fall for it completely misunderstand Thatcher. Yes, she was ruthless; yes, she had a view of the world that believed poorer people would fare better if their safety nets were removed, despite the harsh initial consequences. She just thought they should take responsibility for themselves, and not look to the state for help.

She was absolutely wrong to take this to extremes, and the mass unemployment her policies caused has led to social problems that have passed down the generations. But in many ways she was not the hardline ideologue that even her most rabid Tory supporters believed her to be. Her upbringing in the family shop marked her out as different to most politicians, realising at an early age that spending more than you have is not sustainable in the long term.

Her scientific brain she studied chemistry also gave her a strong sense of how things worked. This unpopular policy was carried out under John Major, and has been a disaster — for passengers, for the public purse — in fact for just about everyone except the shareholders of the massively subsidised private rail companies.