[andrewb]

I've been avoiding this thread because frankly the original post is quite pathetic. Luckily sensible members of the forum have steered the conversation in a somewhat more structured fashion.

Thankfully I am not old enough to have been alive in the 1970's but a lot of you are. We had a 3 day working week. Unelected union bosses were bringing the whole of manufacturing industry to a standstill, stopping every housewife, every child, every honest citizen from having the vital power they need to go about their daily lives.

The economy was in a dire state, inflation was incredibly high, they thought you could solve money problems by printing more. The government couldn't do anything, it didn't have any control of the unions at all.

In stepped Thatcher who had the guts to make a hard decision. She gave the power to the decent, honest trade union member who didn't want to go on strike, in contrast to the trade union bosses that sought to bring this country to a standstill. They were invading the sovereignty of our British Parliament. She sorted our inflationary problems, yes by temporarily increasing them, but massive economy changes have that affect. Look at what it achieved, what people have today that they didn't have then, I can't remember a blackout lasting more than an evening in my entire lifetime. Our economy was incredibly successful after her reforms, the money was created for Blair to pump into education, the NHS, the police. It is just a shame that the money has been, in the most part, wasted.

No, she wasn't everybody's cup of tea. Yes, she went about things very abrasively, but she did what was right for our country.

Mancie if you're looking for somebody to blame over University fees, look no further than the current government who have introduced top-up fees making it incredibly more expensive for me to attend University. Look no further than the current government who want to remove the cap, so I could be looking at paying upwards of £7,000 a year to get a degree level education.

As for the Conservatives today, its a different kettle of fish, tackling a different set of problems. I wish we could move in progress, forward rather than constantly having to talk about the past.

This is not 'Tory Propaganda'. I don't know about anyone else, but I air my views, if you don't like them, that's fine, but I am just as entitled as anybody else. I'll defend to the death anyone's right to a viewpoint.