General Chat

Less of the old :-P ;-)

Me too Hayley, the roof over our heads for one :-D

Is this the nice thread that is being sent to her family?

What happened to the nasty thread? :-S

sorry, Hayley :-D :-D



no it wasn't your fault!!


it was the "grass is greener" syndrome .............


or the "brain drain" ..................


which was HUGE in the late 1960s and 1970s.

We have few friends from university days in the UK .............. they're almost all overseas, having left between about 1965 and 1975.


There was also the "class" system which still existed in those days

Both of our accents (OH Cheshire, me Lancashire) were "wrong" for many of the positions that were available for people with OH's qualifications.

John ..................


please do NOT start anything


If you had read through before posting, you would know.


Bit of friendly advice from me ................. keep silent for once!

Just in case any individuals have misread or forgotten (easily done)...

"Add whatever you want on this thread.
It is not an RIP thread, more of a statement that she has died and a look back on what she did or did not do.
Just please don't let it turn nasty (not directed that at anyone in particular)"

Echoes what SylviainCanada said ;-)

I too echo the very same....Thank you Silvia & Lyndi

K/Regards,
A/Canuck.

me too Lyndi - John stop winding up!

With hindsight, it’s easy pinpoint changes which have had an adverse effect, such as the sell of council houses without replacing the stock. On the other hand, many tenants benefitted and were grateful to have the opportunity to get on the housing ladder.

She also confronted the Unions. You may say that the UK is now ruled by the needs of financiers, but at least we are no longer being ruled by a minority group of Marxists who thought they could bring the country to its knees.

Perhaps this view is caused by the north/south divide since most of the coal fields were ‘north’.

And again, and that applies to all who are stirring it.

(Bit of friendly advice from me ................. keep silent for once!, that is)

As I said this morning, the alternative will otherwise end in tears for all those sucked in.

I hope that doesn't point at me IGP I was as subtle as I could be!

I wonder how tomorrow's newspapers will play it after all the media coverage today

RIP Maggie Thatcher. Whatever her politics, whatever people's views of her actions, she was still the first woman prime minister of my country, and she was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.

Condolences to her family and friends.

Absolutely Joy - although, as I am sure readers of the thread know, this is not an RIP thread but well said

I didn't always agree with Mrs Thatcher but by golly what a woman! I had the greatest respect for her as a person and sometimes as a Prime Minister too. Strength of leadership is what this country needs and she certainly had plenty of that to deal with Europe and the Falklands.....In my opinion, that is.

Eternal rest give unto her and let perpetual light shine upon her, may she rest in peace.

Amen to that x

I think one tends to forget what she achieved as a WOMAN


as the first, and only, female Prime Minister of the UK, she ...........

a) showed that it was possible for a woman to do that job

b) showed that women politicians could aspire to do more than just be an MP, or be a local councillor

c) demonstrated to young women and girls that there were more jobs open to them

d) showed married women that they could have marriage, children AND a profession



and that's just for starters.


Most of you were not young women in the 60s and 70s and probably do not know just how restricted possible "jobs" were for women!

Feminism had arrived in the 1960s, and while people made (and still make) fun of the "burn the bra" brigade ................ feminism was actually a rebellion about the control of men over women, the lack of entry into professions for women, etc.

I'm old enough to remember that time, to remember the jobs that were open to me ..................... teaching, nursing, secretarial, etc ................. and the jobs that were practically impossible to get or even aspire to ............... doctors, lawyers, head of companies, military service on the front lines or as officers, etc.

By making it to the top job in British politics, whether you like her politics or not, she opened the eyes of many people, and opened doors for thousands of young women.


It is ironic that her exit from politics was not due to the British public voting her out, but to the activities of men in her own Party who disliked her and her policies.

Going off topic a tad here but I couldnt agree more with you Sylvia with regards A B C and D and if I may say so as I have done so before and you must be bored of reading it, but my own Mum who is coming up to be 82 yrs , she was the youngest of 9 children and from probably the roughest area's of Manchester, however she was very bright, she didnt marry until she was 27 and had her first baby @ 30 this was late for women from her back ground, she was a nurse and when later went in to the civil service. She had to leave when she married. I am appalled at some of the tales my mum has told with regards female status at this time, so even though she never burnt her bra she and I certainly do not mock the bra burning brigade, I am not a feminist because I enjoy being to much being female and a pampered princess, however in the real world I also can be totally independant again thanks to my Mother and of course couldnt even begin to imagine a world where we wasnt treated as equals. I certainly salute these very brave women from history.

Hayley .............


I'm not that much younger than your mother ......... and I do well remember those times!


I lived about 9 miles away from Manchester, and the town I lived in was in fact a matriarchal society ......... the women ruled!

Behind the scenes, that is ................ the jobs available to them were nursing, teachers, shop work, cotton mills, etc. And, just like your mother, most of them had to stop work when they married.

You got permission to do something from your Mum, and then she told Dad what he was to do! It is quite funny to look back and realise what went on.

My mother had to leave school at 12, as did Dad. She won a scholarship to the Grammar School, but her parents wouldn't let her take it up, because it was WW1, she was the eldest child, and had to go out to work. She went straight into the cotton mill, and eventually became a velvet weaver, which is a very specialised job, but left when she married at 25.

As a result, she was keen on education for her children (which she also had later in life) ....... and told Dad what my brother and I were going to do!


I have no idea what Mrs Thatcher's home life was like ............ but she was certainly encouraged to go for higher education, which was not all that common for her age group, or in the 1940s.

Even in the 50s, girls at the Grammar school I went to were encourage to go to Teaching College, and not to a university. Several of us did buck the trend, but it was not without much effort, and support from our parents.


I never ever intended to suggest that you, or anyone else on this thread, mocked the "burn the bra" brigade ................ but it was a fact that it happened then, and it can still be heard today.


I was never ever a member of it ............ never comfortable without a bra
:-) ................

I'm a feminist in the sense only that I want equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal pay .............. to do the same job as a man, if I want to (no desire to be a fire fighter, do military service, or lots of other jobs), and equal pay if I am doing the same job.

I like having doors opened for me, men offering me seats, and having all the other courtesies .................. but I also open doors for other people, including men, as well as offering courtesies as necessary. I never miss the chance to say Thank you .............. and hope to always get a thank you back in return!


I do appreciate the fact that the out-and-out feminists opened the doors to more jobs for myself, and for the next generation after me.

As a side note ........ my daughter is an architect .............. how many architects were there in the 50's and 60s' (rhetorical question!). In 2 years, she and another woman will be the 2 Senior Partners in the firm ................... incredible!




and Mrs Thatcher was one who made that obvious to young women all around the world.





actually ............... I didn't know your mother was from Manchester!!!