I keep hearing announcements of the old dear’s passing, Since I shall probably be out of the country when she does croak, here is my own obituary:
When she 'umbled Galtieri,
An' 'is dago devils drowned,
'Oo wept at 'ome but fairy
Politicians givin' sound
To treasons writ abroad in Mother Russia?
But now she's 'ad 'er innings,
An' it's time to call the score,
An' it's England's loss and winnings
What matters much the more,
Let's say to all the lefty scum what 'oped to crush 'er:
Oh, she was a blue war monger,
An' a bit o' a tyrant too,
An' ravin' mad with 'unger
For power - just likes you!
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Kipling was rather more subtle (and had more empathy) than this. He would have seen the complexities involved in Mrs T. (neither mad nor tyrant – but with fatal flaws).
Still the verses are strong – and they have a point.
And it is a point worth making.
“out of the country” – in this you are wise Dr Gabb.
Someone who has the chance to should leave this place.
Especially if they have a wife and child to look after.
Her late husband’s baronetcy will probably outlive her reputation.
She was the best Prime Minister since Churchill, perhaps the finest peacetime one this century. Pity she flipped and brought in the Poll Tax!
The charge was not a Poll Tax – the poor only had to pay 20% of it (if that). Under a Poll Tax everyone pays the same.
There had been a revolt against the Rates (the old property tax) in Scotland – and the system was breaking down as, in many areas, most voters did not pay Rates (and some taxpayers, such as local business enterprises, did not have a vote).
Of course this was the result of previous interventions (many years before) – ending the “business vote” and giving the vote to people who did not pay Rates – but it was thought “undemocratic” to reverse the previous changes.
So a new system of local government finance was created – which local councils used as an excuse to increase their spending (which is why the charge was so high).
An alternative system might have been a local sales tax.
This would have allowed people to “vote with their feet” (shop in the cheapest areas) and would mean that all voters (no matter how poor) would have felt the consequences of voting for wild spending policies.
But a local sales tax was thought to be too radical a move.
By the way……
The “Poll Tax” was not the cause of the fall of Mrs Thatcher.
The lady was stabbed in the back by G. Howe (and others) because of her resistance to the endless demands of the European Union.
I would have thought that Sean Gabb (the self described British patriot) would have mentioned that.
Certainly Mrs Thatcher had made terrible mistakes – of which the near doubling of VAT in 1979 (Howe again) because of the choice to accept the government sector pay increases agreed (during the “Winter of Discontent”) by the outgoing Labour government was perhaps the worst economically (although unemployment only exploded because of the total failure to reform the labour market for the first several years of the new govenrment – James Prior just sat on his hands and let the unions do as they pleased, and Mrs Thatcher let this dreadful man do that).
However, in was in 1986 that the key blunders were made – the so called “deregulation” of the City of London (actually government intervention into a private club, indeed a series of private clubs – and “deregulation” that soon became thousands of pages of government regulations) as Norman T. said at a dinner where I was present (only a few years afterwards) “the Big Bang was the worst mistake we made”.
After all there was no law (for example) preventing people setting up rival exchanges to the London Stock Exchange (a private club since 1801) or just trading “off exchange”. The so called “restrictive practices” are what had evolved privately – and sometimes for very good reasons.
And the “Single European Act” (Mrs Thatcher foolishly believeing the lies of the Civil Service, indeed the entire establishment, that this was about “free trade” – it was actually about allowing a tidel wave of EEC, as it then was, regulations without a British veto).
But by 1990 Mrs Thatcher finally understood the real threat the European Union posed – this is why the lady was destroyed.
And this is why Sean Gabb (and everyone else) should honour Lady Thatcher.
Mark – In retrospect, MHT was one of the worst peacetime Prime Ministers of the 20th century. Tony Blair was worse in absolute terms, but he only built on the PC police state she had founded. She made a mockery of the rule of law, and she regarded the Ancient Constitution as little more than a mass of rubbish from the past. When you take her and Tony Blair, and Edward Heath and Harold Wilson, it’s hard to say who is more to blame for the destruction of England – as said, they worked within a framework of precedents, and laid down precedents of their own. But, unlike the others, MHT took people like us for a ride. She promised things she didn’t deliver, and probably had no intention of delivering.
If I had to suggest who was our best c20 PM, I think I’d pick Stanley Baldwin – I don’t think Lord Salisbury, or even Arthur Balfour truly count as c20. Equally, Bonar Law and Lord Home weren’t in long enough to show themselves. I’ve always had a soft spot for Neville Chamberlain – but the Polish Guarantee was too big a mistake to be overlooked. Yes, I can’t say he did much good, but SB did less harm than anyone else.
“The New Despotism” – 1929. Indeed “Man Versus the State” 1884.
The decline of the rule of law goes back rather further than 1979.
As for thinking that Neville Chamberlain was too tough on the Nazis…. They would have been nice – if only he had let them have Poland as well as Czechoslovakia…… (as every school boy used to know – the real blunder of Chamberlain was betraying Czechoslovakia, not failing to betray Poland) Hitler was not really interested in world conquest and racial genocide – he was misunderstood…… This is sillyness Sean – you are not really pro Hitler, so why come out with tosh like this?
It is a bit like claiming that the problem with Barack Obama is that he has not spent enough money.
Ever considered a job on the Financial Times newspaper Sean? They (or rather Wolfman and other specific indivduals on the “FT”) actually claim that.
Stanley Baldwin.
Gave up free trade – but every other major nation had already given it up (so it was dead duck – although Baldwin did not believe in free trade anyway so it was easy for him to ditch it).
I agree he was generally a sound man (although I can not think of anything he actually achieved – no reductions in taxation or anything like that, although Neville Chamberlain’s obsession with “social reform” meant than any money government saved on the military side went into the bottomless pit of the “social services”) – although going back to the pre World War One exchange rate to the Dollar in 1925 (what was really meant by the “Gold Standard”) was a terrible – indeed fatal mistake. The Pound was worth less than it had been – this should have been honestly admitted (the pretense that the wartime inflation had not happened sent northern industry to Hell).
There were also the odd rushes of blood to the head – very strange in a generally well controlled and easy going man.
The most famous one being when Baldwin was under pressure in the House of Commons with Socialist members demanding to know how the government could be sure the Soviets were subsidising subversion in this country.
Because we have broken their codes (Baldwin shouted) and are reading their communications…..
All quite true – but he was incredibly unwise to say it.
The Soviets, of course, promptly changed their codes – and such things as the spy ring from Baldwin’s own university (Cambridge) then went undetected.
Post World War II some Soviet codes were broken again – and this time the secret was kept.
By the way – I have just read “Sean Gabb on Holocaust Denial” (the title appeared on the side bar).
I actually agree with the central freedom of speech point – someone should be allowed to say there was no Holocaust, just as someone should be allowed to say that Nelson never went to sea, or that Barack Obama is a paragon of business like (Calvin Coolidge like) balanced budgetism – there is a right to express any opinion (no matter how absurd).
But someone who has “no opinion” on whether there was a plan (and a centrally concieved and directed plan) to murder the Jews, and does not know whether most of the deaths were deliberarte or “the results of negligence” can not be considered an historian – no matter how many paper qualifications he has.
Although it is possible that Dr Gabb was indulging his very strange sense of humour.
Sean seems to be turning inside out!
Tony
The Poll Tax was intended to price people away from voting Labour.
Thatcher quit when John Selwyn Gummer persuaded her that to lose the Leadership race would be an intolerable humiliation.
Tony
The increase in local government spending was not Mrs Thatcher’s idea. The level the Charge (again it was not a Poll Tax – the poor got let off 80% of it, and benefits were uprated to help cover the 20%) was determined by the sudden increase in local government spending (although I still think a local sales tax would have been a better idea).
The challenge was nothing to do with with local government – it was to do with the European Union (which J.S.G was a supporter of anyway). If Sean Gabb was really such a British patriot he would praise (now) Lady Thatcher for her stand and her sacrifice. Although he would also say “if only you had seen the trap back in 1986 with the Single European Act”.
Mrs Thatcher actually won the leadership election – but not by enough (under the weird party rules). It was the second vote that Mrs T. was convinced not to stand in.
Still you know this Tony.
Of course, we must least not forget, it was indeed her own party who took
the decision to destroy her. Point of fact!
I am envious of your “in the manner of” abilities, and I’m halfway decent at such myself, here and there. This is gratefully reprinted here:
http://ex-army.blogspot.com/2013/04/one-more-from-dr-sean-gabb.html
For once thier lived a Leprechaun……….he danced around and round.
He cried that “Bloody Thatcher” jumping up and down………with crash and lightening thunder he brought her blue walls tumbling down, for much to his surprise the lady dusted down.
It’s amazing how things always drift back to Hitler and Poland, but what was his real intention for Poland. His Diary 2 October 1940, The Poles in direct contrast to our German Workmen are especially born for hard labour. There can be no question of improvement for them. On the contrary it is necessary to keep the standard of life low in Poland and it must not be permitted to rise. The Polish landlords must cease to exist. The must be exterminated wherever they are. There should only be one master for the Poles the germans. Therefore all representatives of the Polish intelligentsia are to be exterminated, such is the law of life. The lowest german workman and the lowest german peasent must alway’s stand economically ten per cent above any pole. This proves Hitlers intention to destroy the culture of the Poles by murdering all classes in Polish society, and enslavement of the rest of them, as were his palns for many other countires in Europe, his true intentions will only ever be understood by careful study and interpretation of his diaries, this is what exposes him for what he was beyond doubt. He was a dictorial maniac who had intentions to kill anyone who got in his way. No matter who they were or where they came from.
I think at some point later he decided a far worst fate for England. 4 September 1940, he states in dairy. When the British Air force drops two or three or four thousand kilograme bombs, then we will in one night drop 150-230-300-0r 400,000 kilograms. When they declear they will increase their attacks on our cities, then we will raise their cities to the ground. I think at this point it was clear he and Chuchill had become sworn enemies, he had little concern for the safety of the British public.
There’s been a big celebration going on in Ireland, huge crowds gathered
to celerbrate her death! biggest party so far.
Did you check first with your EU masters to see if you can afford parties ?.
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