This is messed up, what is wrong with you?

About the only reason the UK isn't suffering the maiaise that France and Greece now suffer was that she broke the unions and privatized as much as she could. Thatcher saved the UK from becomeing a socialist pesthole.

So why Germany isn't suffering? Germany has far stronger unions than France and Greece ever and far stronger economic base than UK, France and Greece combined. And Germany isn't a Socialist hellhole either.

I liked this alot....Maggie was the perfect OS.....Margaret Thatcher was the right Prime Minister for the times.. and respected the world over...Childish behavior by dissidents get another day to dis' ...The press is happy and show they have no class ..Again

I agree. The way the British chavs reacted on Thatcher's death was simply repulsive.

We may think of Thatcher's life and career whatever, but nobody can deny her achievements on foreign politics. I personally consider her internal politics little short of disastrous - she effectively divided the British nation in two, destroyed the trust between the masses and ruling elite and crushed the soul of the working class, but merely playing hard against the Argentinians was an achievement on itself. It led in the downfall of the military dictatorship and democratization of Argentina.

But rejoicing on someone's death - especially when the question is of a democratically elected prime minister - is simply creepy.

The comments show Maggie is still as divisive as ever. I don't even admire her patriotic stance on the Falklands, let alone her domestic politics. Any leader who puts their country before the people in it doesn't get my vote. Let's save the economy by making the rich richer - the homeless and disenfranchised have no economic value so screw them. Tp Americans, I say study a little of your own industrial history and find out what happened to those who stood up to the mining companies for the right to a decent living. Well done again, Susanna. A balanved view of a controversial subject.

pretty good 544

for shame, for shame. but i guess it's fine to put down the greatest British woman of her time and all of her political foreign policy accomplishments during the Cold War as well as firm opposition to joining the Euro crowd. look at the state of the EU today, a cobbled together mess of rich and poor in an ever expanding financial crisis with Chancellor Merkel dictating financial policies to the lessers! one wonders who really won the Second World War! At least Maggie taught the Argies a lesson in humiliation when she ordered the General Belgrano torpedoed. as a sailor you should know this, but then again the Finns are lucky to have a nation at all considering that the USSR could have taken everything in their sweep into the fascist heartland. taking a wee on a dead person's grave under guise of parody is in poor taste to say the least. Finland has never and will never have a leader like the Iron Lady who started off in life as a grocer's daughter. eleven years, 'nough said. this is rubbish

Victoria, you are simply wrong. President Urho Kekkonen (as President 1956-1981) was a son of a lumberjack. President Mauno Koivisto (as President 1981-1994) was a son of a factory worker and he himself started as a longshoreman. President Tarja Halonen (as Predident 2000-2012) was a daughter of a seamstress. Her mother was a war widow.

It is true we are not likely to have as black-and-white and as pig-headed leader than Iron Lady. Our leaders tend to be far more pragmatic. But many of them have not began their lives in the petty bourgeoisie, but rather in the working class.

I myself am a daughter of an engineer, and know well the plight of the industrial workers. I grew up in an industrial town, which, had it been in UK, would have been hit really hard during Thatcher's regime, so I can emphatize the UK workers. On what comes to Germany and Angela Merkel, can you really blame the Germans if they have re-built their nation from zero and taken care of their economy while UK had messed it up? I would personally think that Germany, not France nor Italy, is the true frame of reference of UK, and UK should be compared to Germany, not those Slothern European countries.

On what comes to WWII:

But USSR didn't. USSR tried to wipe us out in 1939 and in 1944, but failed both times. In 1939 because Red Army did everything wrong. In 1944 because of Finnish Air Force (which butchered the Soviet Karelian Air Army and gained aerial domination), Luftwaffe Detachment Kuhlmey (which bombed the Soviet logistics into pieces), Finnish Radio Intelligence (which cracked the Soviet military radio code) and Gunnery General V.P. Nenonen, whose innovative doctrine allowed the Finnish field artillery to shoot the Soviet formations into mincemeat. The Karelian Summer Offensive 1944 was the only Soviet grand operation which was successfully intercepted and beaten back.

Needless to say, we not only kept Ivan away from our country but also successfully rejected Jerry off. Finland fought Germany in the Lapland War 1944-1945, and managed to throw the Germans off, with horrible cost. Germans simply levelled the whole Lapland. With Teutonic efficiency.

WWII was not us a battle between good and evil. It was simply a battle between two evils. Black evil and red evil. It is no use for you to teach us Realpolitik. The enemy of your enemy is your friend, and Germany happened to be the enemy of Stalin, which was Finland's enemy. Not that we had liked Nazis. Politics make strange bedfellows, and the question is not about who is right but who is left.

On what comes to Angela Merkel, its been now almost seventy years since WWII ended and Merkel is just as Conservative as Thatcher. Not as pig-headed nor black and white, but just as strong-willed. She is Thatcher's Lutheran mirror image. Germans tend to excel in everything they do, both in good and evil, and they be good on economy. Merkel dictating the economy to the Slothern European countries is no different from Thatcher dictating that of UK to Scotland or Wales. The Slothern Europeans have themselves messed up theirs, so they ought to be thankful there is a character like Merkel leading them off that mess. With as little damage to themselves than possible. You know, the old fable of ant and grasshopper.

What might be the most catastrophic legacy of Thatcher in the future, may be the break-up of the United Kingdom herself.

Before Thatcher, there was no Separatist movement in Scotland. Thatcher treated Scotland with very heavy hand, and she was universally hated in Scotland. It was her achievement that the Scottish National Party gained first visibility and then popularity. "Scotland the Brave" was the one song which Thatcher especially abhorred.

If Prince William one day is crowned as King of England in London and Prince Henry as the King of Scotland in Edinburgh, it will be the most lasting legacy of Thatcher.

The conflict of our times is over the role that government will play in the life of the individual. Government is a proven failure, everywhere. Governments murder more people than crazed lone gunmen ever could. I do like your observation that Thatcher helped to liberate Argentina along with the Falklands. As the grandson of Irish immigrants, the break up of the UK would not be much of a tragedy to me. That's the way the world is going. My great grandfather was a Confederate soldier, an American separatist. If the United States is to become a great and free nation once again, the federal government will have to be drastically curtailed and power devolved to the states and the people. If these means secession, so be it. The last time a tall, skinny, corrupt Chicago lawyer was president, look what happened.

I'm leaving 555 for many reasons; because this was a very brave subject to tackle, considering how controversial this woman was, and because there was a lot of truth in it. And of course because the pacing was spot-on too :^)

Maggie will forever divide opinions in this country. For some people she made this country much better; for others, she made it much, much worse. I was a child when she was in power, but I remember a lot of what she did in that time. Whatever 'good' things she did (and there WERE some) I still believe she's the reason our society's become colder and more selfish ever since.

This parody did seem balanced. I never knew that much about her, being a kid in America when she was in power.

Susanna, I think I will pass on this one except to say that Finland did not exactly beat the Soviets in the Winter War nor the 1944 conflict. In the former it signed an armistice with Russia and ceded almost 20,000 sq miles of territory. In 1944 it lost the base at Petsamo (sp?) and also the nickel mines at Kolosjoki and signed another armistice that ceded more land. German troops lost only 300 men at San Suri island and the majority of German forces escaped into occupied Norway which did not surrender until AFTER May 8, 1945. In 1948, Finland was forced to sign a pact with Russia and again in Jan 1992. If Russia would have swung into the North in 1945 instead of towards Berlin, it could have taken everything all the way to Norway b/c it had 10,000 tanks, 4000 a/c, and 2.2 million men supported by 20,000 artillery pieces and endless reserves. Finland was lucky that the Germans were the objective and would have had to move south or westward anyhow. The Finnish President was blackmailed in 1944 by the Nazis to stay on their side via document but realized the Soviet threat and disregarded it by Sept 1944. The Reds took Petsamo and the nickel mines in 7 days, easily. Finland didn't win- it compromised to stay intact. As for the Iron Lady, I am a Reagan Republican so I cannot rate this parody. I admire Maggie and her foreign policy goals that helped put the USSR in its place. Britain before her was going to unilaterally start to reduce its arsenal of nukes and the economy was a mess. She pissed off a lot of mine workers but free enterprise won out in the long run. She also showed Argentina and the world that the UK could fight its own battles and took the islands back by force. The Argentines put up a good air and naval war but were outclassed and had a poorly trained conscript army of young men that froze and starved in bad terrain with limited arms and ammo. After her gains as times changed she remained strong-willed to the point of making enemies in her own party. But still, a reign of 11.5 years is still a victory in my book and she has her place in history as the UK's first female PM. Now, there are other strong females in other nations like Germany, Argentina, and South Korea. NFC...

@ Rob 'I think I will pass on this one' LOL. Sorry, I know what you meant. Impressive military history as always. As for the politics, um. let's just not go there. You left out the Aussie PM, Julia Gillard; Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir probably deserve a mention too.

Open angled bracket-capB-capR-close angled bracket with no spacing will get you a line break. Doing it twice will get you a para break. You won't see it formatted on your keyboard, but you'll see it when you hit 'Preview' mode. It might get you more readers.

Checking the internet to see why people hated Maggie so. Thanks for helping to explain. However, it seems your pacing is way off; try to stay on rhythm next time. 3-4-4. P.S.: the security code for this post is UKG!