Thatcher has died

movedalot You said "I have often wondered what is so difficult about driving a tube train. Can there be much to do just driving on rails"?

Me saying "everybody thinks everybody else's job is a piece of cake" was just a lighthearted way of suggesting that people often remark on other people's jobs when they know nothing about them. I didn't think I was being provocative.

It is a very long time since I have posted on Gransnet , but I feel so strongly about the many riots and 'celebrations ' at the death of Baroness Thatcher , that I feel I must voice those feelings . What sort of person is it that 'celebrates' another persons death ? Irrespective of their politics NO ONE deserves that kind of disrespect . I am ashamed and appalled at the behaviour of those people and truly wonder what is happening to the country I was once so proud to be part of .If those demonstrations/riots were racist would they be tolerated ?

I might have got that on the wrong MT thread.

Are we sure she called Nelson Mandela a terrorist, and not just the ANC? There was all that awful 'necklace' killing, wasn't there? (nothing to do with NM himself)

No , you have got me there Mice , hope he only has one tongue .

You as a church goer may or may not be interested to know I was honoured to be chosen as Sacristan for my church.

I believe the church should remain separate from politics .

Nonu, no tongues in cheeks. He served in parishes which bore the consequences of policies promoted and initiated by Mrs Thatcher, and was appalled by her espousal of monetarism, her aggression, her support of Pinochet and attitude to South Africa and her calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist.

When I needed a neighbour were you there? is a lovely hymn / song by Sidney Carter inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan. He felt that those attending the funeral would profit greatly from pondering and acting on those words.

I'm with whitewave - why should we pay for her funeral? Will we pay for John Major's when the time comes?

Micelf, Hope your "Parish Priest " said that tongue in cheek .

Not totally sure what your Parish priest meant .

Do sincerely hope it was Christian

It seems to me we should accept what gilly says as surely she knows what she is talking about on this subject? (Doesn't mean I don't think you do on others gilly )

Eloethan No, I really do not thing that "everybody's else's job is a piece of cake". Why would I? I just asked a legitimate question. Is that really what you think or are you being provocative?

Eloe. just for curiosity sake , why do you think she is having the funeral she is, and the others you talk of did not .

Curiosity , you understand !!

I am afraid we will probably have to agree to disagree on this one Eloethan

It would be a boring world if we all agreed all of the time wouldn't it?

I think what some of us are trying to say is even 'before' Margaret Thatcher became PM this country was living in 'very dark days'. I think it would be a good thing if all GN's could accept that it was not just those in the north of England or the mine worker in the coalfields who were living in fear of loosing their jobs and indeed seeing our families loosing their jobs. The difference is the 'collective voice' is greater from the mining community as opposed to the disjointed 'non collective voice' of those in the Midlands, the South, the Home Counties etc.

Unemployment was forced onto the many, it was not the domain any one class, any one job, nor certainly any one geographical area. As said for some Margaret Thatcher is the demon. To others it was the unions, 'of that time'.

gillybob If a job is mind-numbingly boring but also carries great responsibility that requires concentration, my feeling is it should be well paid.

That maybe the case Greatnan however a more cynical person (like me?) would think it is because of the power they have to bring down the NE workforce should they when they strike and considering they have Mr Bob Crow as their union leader I think the power speaks for itself.

receive!!!

What is really exercising me at the moment is the fact that some of my taxes are being used to pay for this wretched woman's funeral. Why is such a fuss being made? - OK she was the first woman British PM, but really that is all, so it hardly constitutes a semi state bash. Whatever else she achieved or not simply means that she was doing her job.
Clearly, austerity and state spending cuts do not touch the wealthy. Those that have shall recieve even more

Perhaps they deserve good pay just because it is so boring?

No Eloethan I am not saying that at all. I am saying he left school with little or no qualifications, started a job on the railway (as his father and grandfather before him) then when the Metro took over the line he transferred (whilst keeping some of his railway perks although a fat lot of good it did him as died very young). His words to me were and I quote "an idiot could do this job, it is so boring and repetitive you hardly need to think".

gillybob Are you saying your late husband was too stupid to do a skilled and responsible job? It's hardly a scientific assessment is it?

I think I said a tube train. Eloethan and given that my late husband worked on the Tyne and Wear Metro (much similar) I stand by the zero skills involved.

noodles management should have known, but I agree with you that you shouldn't have been subjected to such treatment. I was a manager and always encouraged union membership. There are always people ready to exploit their positions, whether management or workers, but on the whole I believe unions have done more or workers than management ever did.

The right to withdraw labour is essential for most workers, and the collective influence of union workers banding together to deal with unfairness is too important to be undermined by myths and falsehoods about their motives. The miners who were on strike had to live off handouts and they and their families were destitute. To drive through those mining villages and see boarded up houses, shops and other buildings was so sad. All they wanted was a livelihood like anyone else.

gillbybob On what do you base your supposition that there are zero skills required for driving a train?

Does that apply to all jobs?

vampire Agree with you - unions consist of ordinary working people, and before they existed workers had virtually no rights and were ruthlessly exploited.