Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

If it is peanuts, perhaps you should fork out for it.

Or, perhaps, the Party which practiced "treachery" when they deposed her should have a whip around and pay for the celebration.

Actually, I am glad Cameron arranged her send off.

======

Perhaps, the unemployed may get a few extra million, or perhaps the cash could have gone to help those who may go into debt because of the bedroom tax!

A blueprint?

Next staff to share chief executive's £2.4m bonus

Staff at clothing and household furnishings retailer Next are to get a cash payout after the company's boss decided to share a £2.4m stocks bonus among employees.

About 19,400 workers at the firm - those who have been employed by Next for at least three years - will receive an average £124 payout in July.

The GMB union described the announcement as a "PR gesture".

Yes well said Stan stand up to the public school boy whos had everything given on a plate from birth.

These people live in a different world from us.

Thatcher herself only wanted a moderate funeral.

This whole affair is Camoron making a political statement and like welfare trying to divide and rule the working class.

Saw a different side to Haystacks yesterday a helpfull compasionate guy. Not such a bad stick after all.

sticky - hope you read your e- .... it was intended very constructively so i hope you read it that way

gf
Thatcher never asked for a moderate funeral. She knew what it was going to be. It was decided under Blair.

never spoil a good story with facts

The ultra left such as the SWP and the Marxists hate Thatcher as she prevented a socialist revolution. When she came in the UK had more nationalised businesses that any non communist country and the militant unions were attempting to override the government.

Working class people not organisations hated thatcher. She looked after London and the south.

Cynic no i havent read your e-mail sorry my ISP is trying to sort it out. Big problem for virgin.

Plenty of working class people lover her and still do. She got bigger majorities than Blair.

And much of those business that was nationalised was nationalised for a reason.......
it was either loss making and in trouble or structuraly non workable ...... railways differing track widths etc etc.

She polled more votes when she was re-elected for the third time than she did when she was elected the first time. I lived in Scotland when she was PM and a lot of Scots respected her.

So Haystack were going to give Blair a similar funeral????

Unlikely. Blair is more unpopular than most PMs.

I thought "standard gauge" became law in the 1840s?

I saw an interesting statistic the other day. More pits were closed under Harold Wilson than were closed under Thatcher.It wasn't about pits, it was about Scargill trying to bring down the government.

Nationalisation in 1947





The "cycling lion" emblem, used on locomotives between 1950 and early 1956




The 1956 "ferret and dartboard" crest, used on locomotives until the Corporate (blue) Livery and logo was introduced
The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921 there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). During World War I the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the Railways Act 1921[3] is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected; nationalisation was subsequently carried out after World War II, under the Transport Act 1947. This Act made provision for the nationalisation of the network, as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlee's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four.[4]

There were also joint railways between the big four and a few light railways to consider (see list of constituents of British Railways). Excluded from nationalisation were industrial lines like the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway. Narrow-gauge railways, like the Ffestiniog Railway were also excluded, apart from three already owned by a company that was itself nationalised. The London Underground — publicly owned since 1933 — was also nationalised, becoming the London Transport Executive of the British Transport Commission. The Bicester Military Railway was already run by the government. The electric Liverpool Overhead Railway was also excluded from nationalisation.

The Railway Executive was conscious that some lines on the (then very dense) network were unprofitable and hard to justify socially, and a programme of closures began almost immediately after nationalisation. However, the general financial position of BR became gradually poorer, until an operating loss was recorded in 1955. The Executive itself had been abolished in 1953 by the Conservative government, and control of BR transferred directly to the parent Commission. Other changes to the British Transport Commission at the same time included the return of road haulage to the private sector.

Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846

Haystacks old news.

The pits that were closed under Wilson were at their lifes end, in fact miners from the nort east moved to yorkshire and nottingham

The pits thatcher closed had tons and tons of coal left/reserves.

But your looking at this wrong, Thatchers biggest mistake was not re- developing the coal mine towns and villages, she left them to rot while pumping millions into the City.

The suckers who too redundancy found they couldnt claim a penny in benefit until their redundancy money had run out.

Those that didnt take redundancy and fought to the bitter end could get benefits.

Believe me this turned thousands against Thatcher.