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.

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.

Yep skinny good point, state regulation nationalisation as we know it now.

Well spotted.

Redundancy has always been like that. The payments are treated as savings and you are expected to spend them before you get benefits. That has always been the policy and has nothing to do with Thatcher. Most benefits have always been means tested.

True Haystacks dont forget I worked for the old DHSS BUT at the time miners were led to believe that new industry and grants would help them use that redundancy payment to start up in their own business etc etc. In fact they even believed they could move and find work elsewhere.

It just didnt happen.


Thatcher ditched them.

She told lie after lie.

I see unemployment is up. Didnt think the fiddled figures could extend any further.

Always same with a Tory government unemployment always rises.

Triple dip in about 10 days time.

Wilson was plagued by strikes, including major miners strikes in 1974. As usual, the weak Wilson, caved in and paid with higher pay and cancelled mine closures that were needed. It is the legacy of Wilson's weak government that set the stage for years of strife for successive governments of Labour and Conservative. The miners had been used to getting their own way and expected it to go on for ever.

Come on Haystacks copy and pasting right wing propaganda again.

Your worth a lot more than that.

Saw a good side to you yesterday.