Reckon our politics are divisive at the moment? The death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher reminds us what social and political divide-and-conquer really means. As Guy Rundle writes:
“With the harsh economic policies had come a harsh social policy, of law and order, and a series of police crackdowns on inner-city communities, especially black ones. That together with vanished employment set the stage for the Northern and London riots of the period …
“In parallel, the “big bang” deregulated the financial markets and institutions, and pulled vast amounts of capital into London. The country suffered a huge geographical division from which it has never recovered — a North, West, Wales and Scotland drained of employment and capital, subsidised by a booming south-east …
“By that time, Thatcher had become more rigid, not less, in her belief in the conservative-liberal mix. The cause of freedom did not extend to s-xuality, with “section 28” laws banning the “promotion” of homos-xuality. Democratic opposition, such as the mayoralty and assembly of London, had already been abolished because they stubbornly insisted on electing Labour. Nelson Mandela had been denounced as a ‘terrorist’, even though the ANC’s armed struggle avoided civilian bombings …
“Eventually, she adopted the purest notions of Hayekian ideas — that taxes, such as council taxes, should apply equally, with no regard to property. The resulting poll tax proposal — or council charge, as it was called — prompted massive demonstrations in Scotland which quickly transferred to England, and had the country in uproar …”
We’ve been debating Thatcherism for decades; the demise of the Iron Lady of world leaders crystallises the lessons and draws into sharper focus what Britain — and the western world — is left with. Rundle’s obituary again:
“The collectivism she smashed could be over-rated — especially in nostalgia — but what replaced it has been an individualism of diminishing returns.”
Now that’s always worthy of debate.
She made scapegoating-for-votes an art form – a text to be followed by politicians everywhere, even Honest John.
I was in my late teens & living in the UK when Thatcher came to power. It was a really frightening period with huge social unrest, strikes leading to power cuts for hours in the middle of winter & the constant threat of nuclear war as she sucked up to Regan & pissed off the Russian’s. To celebrate her death I’m going to wear one of my fave T shirts from 1984. It has a big face shot of Thatcher with the slogan “Big sister is watching you”. On another note – vale Annette Funicello.
Mouseketeer Funicello probably made more people smile…?
I always preferred her colleague, Lorraine – blond as Funicello was dark, lithe as she was ample, and a whole lot more interesting. Fing is, they were almost adults before the Mousekettiers’ first eps made it to Oz TV.
AR – I was living in Iran in the early 70’s & the American forces tv (I think that’s who it was) used to rerun the old Mickey Mouse Club shows, otherwise I would never know who she was.