Thatcher has died

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Oh the joys of the permanent way Tegan I remember years ago when my late husband worked on the Railway he got a radio message telling him to watch out for a dead dog on the track. He stupidly asked what kind of dog it was (why on earth it would make any difference is beyond me) It's a Golden Labrador came the reply. "What colour is it?" he asked. "Black" came the reply.

Like others on here, I cannot say It has any effect on me as she had a good long life and what a wonderful nursing home to end the last days of your life in ( the RITZ ). Pity a lot of old people did not get the same treatment and have spent years watching their families struggling because of her stubborn policies.
I no doubt people see it as wicked and disgusting to speak ill of the dead
but we have to have lived the life she left them with, to understand.
To top it all the same poor people I speak about now have to pay her funeral costs ! is that fair?

bluebell you do seem very irate about nothing. I am sorry but I assumed your daughter, and also you, were intelligent enough to know these things. I have commented before on 'assumed' so should not have done so. I do apologise for the 'artificial indignation' under the circumstances of my mistake.

I am sorry, I had no idea I spoke for the whole of Gransnet, when was that decided? It missed me.

Who am I? Well, I am an intelligent person who does not share all your views. Presumably that means I'm persona no grata to you.

Movedalot....is it necessary to speak to bluebell in that fashion. No matter how clued up you are on employment law it must still be distressing to find your job is at risk and that your employer is trying to do it when you are least able to fight your corner.

vq of course it is. If you read right back you will see that after being unpleasant to another poster she claimed the union had done something for her daughter in order to justify the union. She then went on to say her daughter worked in HR. I simply said that I thought someone in HR would know how to do that themselves and wouldn't need the union and then she was very unpleasant to me and used a 3 letter offensive word. Are you saying that is acceptable?

Is it because I don't agree with everything you have said about Mrs T that you complain to me but accept her behaviour?

It appears you think I'm so petty that I can't accept that others might hold views that are different to my own.

I posted because I thought your remark about intelligence was unpleasant and argumentative rather than simply being a comment forming part of the discussion between you and bluebell.

Yes, I think the language used in bluebell's post was rude and offensive. I would have thought you'd be asking her if it was necessary to speak to another poster in that fashion, vampirequeen.

Well I'm sorry but I did think that an anyone working in HR would be intelligent enough to know the system. It seems bluebell did not agree with me.

It seems we have different views about what is 'unpleasant and argumentative'. I think her post to me was argumentative. I think using those 3 letters was worse than merely 'unpleasant' I found it offensive.

Watching and listening to some of the behaviour and comments shown on the tv it's hard to believe that traditionally we Brits live in a Christian Society.... Stones being thrown comes to mind...My thoughts go to her family and friends. God Bless Margaret Thatcher

You know, you've made me remember the way she quoted St Francis of Assisi when she first became Prime Minister..something about bringing peace and harmony to us all. Yes, it is unfair of us, as a Christian society, to dislike her given that her policies were based on Christian values .

Unions no longer needed?

From FT.com 7.4.13 : "Employers Increase Zero-hours Contracts
"Zero hours contracts are creeping into white collar work as a broader range of employers adopt an idea originally devised to help retailers and restaurants manage busy periods.

"David von Hagen, an employment lawyer, said "It is cheaper as you only pay when you need them. ....... In the future, there are probably only going to be a few uber professional white collar sectors that might remain untouched".

"There are now almost 100,000 Zero hours contracts used in NHS hospitals, up 24% in the last two years, according to Freedom of Information requests."

The incidence of women on maternity leave being made redundant is becoming more common. Those women not in unions are particularly vulnerable as they would have to take a case to an Employment Tribunal without assistance. Employers hope that women finding themselves in this situation will just "go quietly" and, apparently, in most cases they do.

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/23/pregnant-wait-till-boss-hears

And, there is now a fee for taking a case to an Employment Tribunal. This ranges from £390 to £1,200. Those who are on minimum or low wages would find it difficult to fund this.

The Health & Safety Executive are changing the regulations regarding wearing hard hats on construction sites. These rules are being incorporated into another set of requirements and the union UCATT is concerned that by doing this the rules are being diluted.

Re: Health & safety risk assessments having to be filled out for "insurance purposes" - isn't this the assessments that insurance companies require in order to provide employers with cover, rather than to do with H&S rules?

I would like to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher without intending to offend those who disagree with her policies. Many of her detractors were children or not even born during her time in office so I think they should think before speaking (or writing). To my generation she put the "Great" back in Britain at a time when our country was the laughing stock of Europe. She was unafraid to make a decision and unlike today's politicians - of all persuasions - she jolly well stuck to it. The Poll Tax was the fairest method of all citizens contributing to the services provided and was scuppered by those not paying anything, afraid they would have to pay their share. A great, great lady who loved her country and did her best for it.

Here here.

I started watching the debate in the H of C yesterday and got hooked - it was fascinating. This is history and I remember some of it!

Whilst in the newsagents the day after Mrs T's death I noticed the range of front page headlines. All very predictable (nothing wrong with that in the circumstances, I suppose) but one stood out - The Star's "Maggie dead in bed at Ritz". It sounded almost racy.

hattiehelga I agree.

Movedalot It's hardly surprising that bluebell was angry when you referred to her "artificial indignation" - as much as saying she was feigning indignation for dramatic effect.

And "I did think anyone ........ would be intelligent enough" - it's really not very courteous to question someone's intelligence is it?

Eloethan, I just want say well done on an extremely well researched and referenced post. No polemics, just facts.

I am with you Hattiehelga well said.

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My grandson, who is married with two children, has to work very long hours on a construction site and has been forced to declare himself self-employed, which he clearly isn't, just to save his employers his NI, holiday pay, redundancy entitlement, etc. This is happening to thousands of decent , hard working people. Unfortuantely, there is no union to represent them. I am hoping HMRC will take a firm stand with such employers but given the antics of the last head honcho I am not optimistic.
It seems that some people here believe that all employers are saintly, altruistic souls who have their employees best interests at heart. I wish.

hattiehelga The Poll Tax didn't take into account income or property ownership and was based solely on the number of people living in a house, rather than its estimated value.

This meant that a family of seven crammed into a small house because they couldn't afford to rent or buy anything bigger, would pay substantially more than a wealthy individual living in a large expensive house.

Nicholas Ridley, the then Conservative Secretary of State for the Environment boasted that "A duke would pay the same as a dustman".

Is that fair?

I don't know how old you are but I'm nearly 63 and was around during Mrs T's leadership, as I suspect many of the posters on GN were.

I too agree with Hattiehelga about the poll tax. My understanding was that poll tax was to be paid by all income earners - to my mind, much fairer than the elderly couple alone in their house having to pay the same as a house where there were grown-up children earning.

*Tweedle24" But what if that elderly couple were living in a house worth £4 million?

Eloethan

May I 'respectfully' ask if you read my post today at 15.12.

I am obviously aware we are not in agreement on much but I am interested in your opinion.

May I ask in a civil manner. Do you believe, or can accept, or obviously not, that the period prior to Margaret Thatcher becoming PM the unions were, as a lot of us have expressed our feeling, out of control. As I said in my post I am not anti union, although I appreciate my posts will appear that way. That is because I have been talking about my life and rememberence of that era, not todays union business. I think I may have shown a different side to me in that post, or at least I hope I did.

I am asking this as I think a lot of the 'issues' that are being discussed do stem from our personal views of how the unions affected us all as individuals for good or bad reasons just as much as the government of 'that era'..