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Is dead. RIP
Probably Britain's best leader in recent times?

I donot know whether she is the best, but for me certainly the most rememberable. I grow up during the Reagan/Thatcher period. Of course, she will be remembered by the Falklands. I remember sitting near the radio every hour to follow the Falklands war.
She has some rememberable quotes:

"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - this one always came to mind when somebody in Dubai expressed one of the popular expressions in Dubai: "Do you know who I am?". The obvious answer was "since you have to ask, you already know you are a nobody or a wannabe".

"Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them." - still applicable for the current mess in the EUSSR.

Whether you agree with her or not, I believe she was genuine, a trait not much found in politics.

I think she did well for England. Put the economy right, cut down the powers of the Trade Unions, handled the Falklands crisis very coolly.

I remember after the first Gulf War, watching an interview of hers on some TV channel.

She said she was with President George Bush (the Senior), when someone brought him the news that Saddam Hussain had invaded Kuwait.
"The President became wobbly at the knees," she said! "I held his elbow, and guided him to a chair, and said Mr. President, you must not show weakness at this time, and do what has got to be done!!"

In her typical style.

I was sad to hear that some of her opponents were celebrating her death by holding parties. That is in extreme poor taste.

Unfortunately, all brave and effective and courageous people make a lot of enemies too. Such is the nature of The Human Race on this planet of ours......

I had a lot of time for Margaret Thatcher. She did a lot for the armed forces and gave us some good pay rises which we never got from the labour government. She was a good leader during the Falklands war but, IMO, made a great error when she told us we should celebrate the death of the Argentinian sailors. I didn't agree with celebrating the death of anyone.
Now many British people are celebrating her death which is also in poor taste.
I have a lot of family who were miners in the north east of England and I can say for certain that she was hated in the mining villages of England and Wales.

Still, she is someone's mother and I feel very sorry for her family during this time.
The funeral should be an interesting occasion.

RIP.

What happened to the mining and rail industry under her?

I believe she privatized rail, which, in theory, was a good idea.

But what about mining? Did she end/cut subsidies?

rayznack wrote:
But what about mining? Did she end/cut subsidies?

Before Mrs Thatcher came to power, back in 1974, the country was crippled by the power of the unions. People were working a 3 day week due to power cuts as the miners kept going on strike for more money and better working conditions. Coal became so expensive that it was cheaper to import it from Russia. The miners strike of 1974 brought down Ted Heath and the Conservative Government.

So Mrs T took on the miners the next time they went on strike in 1984. The strike lasted around a year and effectively broke the National Union of Mineworkers. Mining supervisors belonged to a separate union, which did not strike and this split previously close families apart. To this day there are still brothers who do not speak to their siblings because they broke the strike.

The UK doesn't have a mining industry to speak of and all miners blame Mrs T for it. The leader of the NUM at the time was Arthur Scargill. He recently took the union to Court as they refused to pay the rent of £30,000 pa on his London home for life. Previously every leader has had their rent paid for life but the union claim they can no longer afford to do so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_miners'_strike_(1984–1985)

I happened to be living and working in the UK during those years that you speak of BM, so I was an observer of events to a certain extent.

I think Mrs T spear headed the idea of privatization to bring about an economic turn-around. And she was very successful in this. She realized she had to break the stranglehold of the Unions for this, and she did this by confronting the miners Union. Privatization was actually called a crucial ingredient of Thatcherism!
Gas, water, and electricity were all privatized, as well as British Steel.

Privatizing British Rail really put the Railways back into business in England, and her privatization program of state owned enterprises was copied in many countries, including Reagan in the US, and as far away as China and India. They haven't looked back.

And this I think is the way forward now for the whole world!

You may correct me if I am wrong BM.

What you say is perfectly true Jonkers. The only problem is that we dont have any industry now in the UK to speak of. British Steel has gone, the mines have been closed, the Utility companies make huge profits at the publics expense and so do the banks. As for British Rail, it's owned by foreign companies and must be the worst railway in the world.

That is why people are dancing in the streets.

That is not my opinion, I reiterate, I had a lot of time for Mrs T. She was an inspiration to many women.

Strange are the ways of the Simulators indeed BM!
When you said British Steel is gone, I went to Google, and found this interesting reading. Incidentally, also a good explanation of why Privatization is a necessary evil:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Steel

So, privatised in 1988 by Mrs T; merged with a Dutch steel producing co. of the Corus Group in 1999, and then everybody was taken over in March 2007, by.................the Indian Steel operator, Tata Steel!!

Everything changes, as the Greek thinker and philosopher Heraclitus told us more than 3 thousand years ago. Its just our senses that deceive us into thinking that the world around us is permanent !
You cant swim in the same river twice, he used to say......