Privatisation, Consumerism and Thatcherism in the 1980's.

[ameroffsky]

Once again, Andrew Marr's closing statement sums things up perfectly well. As a non-British person, I think the "big bang" and conspicuous consumption of the 1980s were a sort of necessary first step in order to create a calmer, more orderly prosperity and entrepreneurial spirit. This showed itself in the Britain of the 1990s and the early 2000s.

[38pt3]

I love Thatcher on youtube, it's always posted by some lone wolf loony and unleashes a wave of 'out and proud' Thatcherites now that they're anonymous on the net. Then you get some simpleton rhetoric thrown about by her supporters, usually quoted from her Little Blue Book, about Lefties and Socialism not working etc followed by more credible responses that are dismissed by some paraphrased version of Hobbes Leviathan. As for the thumbs up comments, it's like we were watching different videos

[MaxWeberz]

What a joke, Thatcher tripled the number in poverty and the actual growth in incomes wasn't anything compared to the post-war years, the only new thing was consumerism.

What's more, literally the poor got poorer and the rich got richer as incomes increased for the rich and decreased for the poor.

[teenageriot123456]

@ericclaptonismygod31 making three million unemployed, sure.

[darwincity]

The very last sentence seems to perfectly sum up the reason for the 1987 market crash and the crisis of the end of the 2000's...

[rfcmaster]

Greed is good!

[MrBillcale]

in 1981 i admired François Mitterrand and despised m thatcher and R reagan but in 2011 at 52 in retrospect i think they did at least as much good as harm

[muzzster1970]

Why do rabid, postulating lefties have a penchant for getting the vapors over conservative politicians who've long since retired? Notice the brainwashed Marxist zombies here with their supercilious attitudes and great senses of entitlement, but completely bereft of reality, facts, commonsense, logic, and most importantly, life experience. The politics of envy are dangerous and soul destroying.

Grow up, kiddies, if that's at all possible.

[carlo88moe]

@muzzster1970 pff,talk about postulating.Look i can say,"notice these deflecting righties w their supercilious attitudes and great senses of entitlement,but completely bereft of reality, facts, commonsense,logic,and most importantly,life experience."All that is just insipid ad hominem,no substance at all.Also,the idea that leftists are just sophomoric kids addled w romance and will eventually succumb to the"dour reality"of realists is just sanctimonious BS.Most of the intelligentsia r "lefties"

[davh1231]

@muzzster1970

couldn't agree more, it's up to you, it's out there, go and earn some money.

[m4rkyboy]

No mention of oil

[ericclaptonismygod31]

I wish some comments would come from people alive during the 1960s and 1970s so they can comment on the Stagflation and rot of the UK economy with some authority.

Otherwise these teenagers with shit for brains have no idea what they are talking about when thay talk about Thatcher`s critical reforms.

[nowthatsinteresting1]

Dunno whether private is better than public - but I do know that when you have to deal with the state, you get a MUCH better service than when you have to deal with a privatised body. Have you tried to get BT to do anything recently? Or booked a rail ticket? Or changed gas/electric supplier? To me, they are more-or-less the same - faceless, incompetent and far too expensive.

[Jigssaw1989]

"Loads of MONEYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ::D :D :D

[fannybaba]

The end point is right, we the people should take some of the blame for what has happened to our country. We wanted a free market and the opportunity to get rich, we should not be surprised that spivs and greedy bankers jumped in and took the opportunity also! now they run the whole system, and the whole system is based on MONEY and PROFIT at the expense of a fair, hardworking society.

[fannybaba]

That Estate agent... Tim nice but dim!!

[ericclaptonismygod31]

Learn some basic economics. Without Thatcher the UK would have decended into an authoritarian (perhaps Marxist) dictatorship. Have a look at some East German videos if you want to see.

Thatcher did not pick winners and losers. The UK consumers did.

[ToaJoe]

@ericclaptonismygod31 You are a complete joke. When right wingers start claiming that Labour are communists, you can tell that they are 11 year old fools who live in a rich household.

[Unit371]

Thatcher did not invent greed but she did help elevate it to an ideal. As long as irrational "wants" reamain the engine of scoiety and all other factors are subservient to these random whims then we will continue to destroy the environment and each other in the drive to seize our share of finite resources.

[ericclaptonismygod31]

thatcher was given 3 mandates - 1979, 1983, 1987! All the dictators I know of are fucking socialists!

[ericclaptonismygod31]

Without Thatcher, the UK would have been another North Korea by now.

[StephenHP62]

@ericclaptonismygod31 Spoken like a true ideologue: we have two choices and two choices only--laissez-faire capitalism or a Stalinist command economy. No room for more rational and humane ways to organize our economic life. Of course, Generalissimo Thatcher considered even two choices to be too many. "There is no alternative."

[MRwonderman1]

The end point sums up my view entirely.

THis whoe blame Thatcher for human greed ethos that goes around these days, all she wanted was for each man to prosper and be sensible, greed is a flaw of mankind arguably an instinct not a creation from Thatcher.

[UnitedBritannia]

@MRwonderman1 Yes indeed. But it's easier to blame one politician for the country's ill's rather than to look to and confront the unsettling frailties of human nature. Some socialists seem to believe that greed simply didn't exist before the Thatcher revolution - what they are struggling with in reality is the fact that ordinary working class voters were liberated from the dead hand of the State in the 1980's and became what lefties simply couldn't abide - home-owning Tories.

[omid145]

@UnitedBritannia You're a deluded bastard, Thatcher destroyed this country. She destroyed our communities, destroyed everything we held dear, destroyed our morals and values, destroyed the way of life that made Britain a warm and GOOD country. People value money because of her. We've become capitalist, greedy individualists because of HER.

[123HMatty]

@omid145 All I can see its the oposite, before her everyone was on strike people in other countries talked of a "british disease", because the people were selfish and went on strike for more wages. After her people were investing their money in companies, investing money in other people. No more strikes and "british disease", just a booming british economy and happy british people. And how did she DESTROY communites when she gave people the right to buy, making communities stronger by ownership

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty You clearly don't understand the winter of discontent then. Part of the reason Labour had to start a war with the unions was because they needed to save money for the HUGE deficit left to them by Edward Heath!

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe we then Labour don't understand economics if they think you save money by turning Britain into the finincial equivalent of a stray dog dying at the side of the road

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty Gordon Brown ran a huge budget deficit because he had to bail out the banks.

Edward Heath didn't have any banking problems in his premiership, yet he ran a huge budget deficit even in proportion to the current one. Wilson and Callaghan were left with the task of clearing it up. Then with squabbles with the trade unions, the winter of discontent happened. It's funny how Tories like to insult Labour with that period of history, even though they caused it.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe he didn't have any BANKING problems, but the fus that the miners kicked up dwarfed what Brown faced. There was a national energy shortage and a three day working week, while the miner's strike was backed by the far-left Labour party. The same party who's later leader James Callaghan said "if i was a young man, I'd emigrate". Ofcourse your not going to listen to how messed up Labour is

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty No, I acknowledge Labour's failings. But I detest the Tory party much more. I'll tell you some decent Tory leaders- John Major, Ian Duncan Smith, even Edward Heath. But most of them are ridiculous. David Cameron, for example, is such an arrogant person (politics aside), I want to punch him in the face over and over again. His 'style' of politics is mocking other people. Calling Ed Miliband 'wallace and gromit' is just fucking pathetic

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe Ed miliband is pathetic. Always sniping from the side lines and moaning about every single cut, even though after he was elected leader he said they would be a "mature opposition". So mature that they don't make any policies so they cant be shouted at. The same person who talks about a "new generation", so new that there are literally no new cabinet ministers. Also how can you call John Major ridiculous? Most people accept has the only normal person to be prime minister

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty It's called political strategy. Up until the last few months before the 2010 election, Cameron outlined only a VERY limited number of policies. Miliband can complain all he wants, he doesn't have to come up with policy because he isn't in government. That's not his job. Cameron is a fucking idiot and he is so arrogant I can't believe my ears when I hear him speak. He is the opposite of John Major- loud, obnoxious, rude, repulsive, arrogant, chubby and RICH!

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe yeah, everytime i see him hes mouthing off loudly at people being repugnant and arrogant, and compared to Gordon Brown he is so chubby isn't he... and yeah he didn't tell people what his policies are did he, apart from eing honest about the cuts and telling people what to expect, but what does he know about political strategy hes only the prime minister... yes i am being sarcastic, i can't stand it when socialists assume the high ground and think they can say what they want...

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty You clearly don't know the facts. David Cameron was wildly enthusiastic for Labour spending up until 2009. He argued for DE-REGULATION of the banking sector. He says Miliband is taking 'political oppertunities'. He himself took a ridiculous amount of political oppertunities for years.

BTW, until you bring in economic facts, you are losing this argument by simply talking.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe well in my opinion de-regulation is a good thing, but we wont argue about personal opinion, also the ecnomic fact i made about the miner's strike you seem to have avoided quite well. Just like labour avoids most of its problems, red ed brushes of responsibility of iraq, the ruined economy and britain shattered international reputation - caused by labour - by yapping on and on about a "new generation", just like everythin else labour says, a false promise and a lie...

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty Congratulations, you have just proven to everyone reading this that you know jack shit about economics.

Light touch regulation of the banking sector was what caused the financial crisis in the first place. This brings us back to square one.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoesometimes i wish i was a labour person, i could give one word answers, blame everything thats bad on thatcher and would alwayslook popular without doing anything... as i remeber our square one was the winter of discontent - caused by over regulation. Whats the alternative to deregulation, over regulation. If thatcher had increased regulation like labour wanted her to we wouldn't have any banks today, we couldt have had the crash because we wouldnt have had an economy to crash...

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty Your stupiditiy is hilarious! Say what you want about me, but it means nothing unless you back it up with EVIDENCE. I don't blame everything on Thatcher, retard. Winter of discontent? A result of over regulation? What planet are you on? How old are you?

Do yourself a favour, kid. Go back to school and learn some economics. You are out of your depth here. Repeating Cameron's lie without any substantial evidence does not make you look intelligent.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe there we go avoiding the point about thatcher needing to de regulate to save what economy we had left by simply making personal attacks on david cameron. And im the one who needs to go back to school? A im in school any way and B your the one swaring and making this personal...

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty No, let's take this to a very simple level. By deregulating the banks, she systematically created the free market friendly environment that paved the way for future banking disasters.

You see, what Ronald Reagan and Thatcher did was deregulate the banks and a flow of artificial money came swarming in. This lead to a 20 year boom- and as a consequence, in 2007, the bust began. This is very basic economics. If you haven't learnt it already, I don't blame you.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe all im trying to say is that one bust after 20 years of boom is not a bad trade off, considering that if margaret thatcher didnt change the economy we would have still relied on industry which couldnt have survived against china or india... recessions happen after a while anyway so its best to make the most of the boom times.

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty Look, sorry for swearing, if you're a kid.

I'll try and explain this simply.

Thatcher gave us the biggest boom in history, and the biggest bust in history. That is a result of Reagan and Thatcher's economic failures. Temporary brilliance- London became the financial capital of the world- and then in 2007, the banks collapsed and now we have huge budget deficits.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe  tempory brilliance? 20 years seems pretty long term... im more of a history guy than a economics person but surely 20 years of the fastest boom sonce the industrial revolution for about 2 years of bust and 5 years of cuts seems kinda good

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty You don't get it. Thatcher gave us 20 years of a huge financial boom. Everyone naturally decided to keep the banks deregulated because of the success. People (like Gordon Brown) believed that we had gone beyond the laws of economics. But it was actually a huge boom, and as of 2007, we are paying for the bust. That is why we have a £180 billion deficit- just so you know, that is not something that happens reguarly. This is something not seen since the war.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe I clearly mustn't get it then... as far as I could see thatcher had a choice, keep britain as more of an industrial country ot do what you said and make it a banking country, but the more industrial countries like Germany are having real problems, almost their entire industry has moved to places like China, whereas in Britain we have - like you said - the biggest financial centre in the world. Every system has its pro and cons but as far as i can see this is better on balence

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty Actually in the GDP, Germany is two places in front of us and has been like that for a while.

Britain is no longer the biggest financial capital of the world either. Like I said, it was temporary.

What you see in this video is what we would like all the time. But it does not work like that. You have boom, and you have bust. It has been like that since the beginning of trading items. Reagan and Thatcher persued dangerous economic policies and we are paying the price today.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe I don't know i think its harsh to blame all this just on Reagan and thatcher. There was 13 years of Labour govt before the crash, why didn't they change it? i just think that thatcher made a positive change to Britain but john major to a degree and certainly labour didn't keep it going and you just said that its always been boom and bust thats what i said before and you said i was wrong... I also though gordon brown had ended boom and bust :P

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty There's nothing harsh about blaming anything on Reagan and Thatcher, the two of them sent millions out of work for an ideological right wing gamble. John Major was a better PM that Thatcher, he was a decent man who cared about the unemployed.

Labour did 'keep it going', actually. Up until the last three years, which was when the banking crisis happened, Brown saw uninterrupted economic growth. And yes, he did think he'd ended boom and bust. So did everyone else, including the Tories.

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe so what your saying is that the boom was down to john major and labour and the bust was thatcher's fault? even though she started the boom and labour couldnt see the problems commin, even gordon brown was supposed to be the "prudent chancellor".

[ToaJoe]

@123HMatty *sigh*

No. I don't know where you got that from. Boom and bust usually happens over a seven year period. It was generally like that throughout the 60s and 70s. Then Reagan and Thatcher introduced economic policies involving deregulation of the banks. Have you heard the term 'when America sneezes, the world catches a cold'? Reagan's policies affected most of the western world. This sent us into a 20 year boom through both John Major and Labour, both of whom failed to regulate the banks

[123HMatty]

@ToaJoe Ive just realised you put John Major as decent, sorry, i can't stand it when people are mean to him  he was a great PM...

[ToaJoe]

@omid145 Amen to that! Thatcher may have improved the economy, but as a result millions suffered! Under new labour, we regained some of our social responsibility again. But Thatcherism is terrible! And now Cameroon is trying to finish what she started- selling off the NHS!

[GMoneyStillTippin420]

@UnitedBritannia I'm American but I'm part Scottish. Truth is she did destroy the working classes, but doing that enabled millions of bright hardworking enterprising young people (many of them anti establishment punk rockers in the late 70s ironically enough) from Scotland and the North to become upwardly mobile in ways never possible under post war national consensus socialism. People assume that if we have more freedom its right back to some Dickensian Gilded age which just fucking wrong lol.

[StephenHP62]

@MRwonderman1 Of course Mrs. Thatcher didn't invent greed. But she catered to the base, narrow, and unenlightened self-interest of people at the expense of the common good--with predictably lamentable results. Giving tax cuts to people to buy a second car or providing easy credit to take holidays abroad every year while de-funding vital public services is a policy that may buy short-term political popularity. But it creates a society that's more unequal and less decent.

[sansam25]

@MRwonderman1 Thatcher appeals to our dark side..bitch

[borjon23]

@MRwonderman1

No one has accused of her of creating greed, whatever that even means. They accuse her, correctly, of stridently rationalizing it.

[carlo88moe]

@borjon23 YES!!u nailed it...greed is a selfish,barbaric throwback a thousand conservative idiots, drunk on ayn rand, rationalize as "good policy"

[carlo88moe]

@MRwonderman1 greed is good, eh? no one should be canonized for endorsing the sordidness of mankind as a virtue....thatcher's a brazen cunt who conned millions into thinking they could become millionaires, sold them the dream..ideology as shallow as hers is totally reckless and ignorant on social contingencies- her ethic is "if u want to be rich,u will be," sorry ingenuity is part circumstance...people like her are always afraid to admit how much of their"brilliance"was the luck of the universe

[Threepwoodist]

@MRwonderman1 That's true, but Thatcher said it was O.K to be a greedy bastard.

[CocacolaCowboy1919]

@MRwonderman1 God Bless Thatcher and Reagan.

[imre1000]

A very shallow explanation of the UK economy...

[flynn2008]

All countries benefit from free market capitalism. The country that are most free from government's intervention in the economy will have the most growth.

[dimgwalltameiben]

Labour opposed Maggie's laws but how many did they repeal? They opposed her on the coal strike then did f*** all to save Rover. Opposed privatisation and then forgot to re nationalise. Against the Falklands war then invaded Iraq. It goes on and on. Whoever's in power we are always going to be a Tory country. Not a bad epitaph.

[PadrethePio]

@jaguarclaw Yeah I agree. Basically what the banks are doing is economic warfare. The Rothschilds were doing it centuries ago (and lets not forget they were in control of half the worlds banking in the 19th century). The Labour government should be arrested for treason - especially Blair and Brown.

[gregorioallegri]

Well the New Deal didn't exactly work the first time, so why the hell would anyone want to retry it? There wasn't a 'bailout': the Governments on both sides of the Atlantic loaned the banks money in return for shares. Would you say someone with a mortgage on their house had been 'bailed out'?

[09kfin]

Wish she was our Prime Minister now! An amazing woman.

[kirwanco]

So we were we given freedom for the correct reasons, but the ends did not actually justify the means; the present financial crisis is the result of this. Yes the state was out of control and the unions and other vested interests had far too much control over the destiny of the UK, but now the situation has come full circle and we have a new set of problems.

Credit became too free for those who did not know how to use it. The term 'investement' was used too loosely and not properly understood

[MiraginXXX]

Yeah they sure did let the predators take over the jungle .. A feeding frenzy at the expence of the poor .. The privatisation of our countries assets was the biggest economic travesty ever .. The cost of fuel bills and water rates exemplify this matter perfectly ..

[gregorioallegri]

Because fuel and water prices remain forever constant when clasped to the warm bosom of the state, of course.

[aekel66]

Ah, cheap credit was only breifly mentioned, even tough the whole clip was about ppl consuming to much...

Reminds me about our own swedish state owned television.

[ericclaptonismygod31]

Love Thatcher. The woman who saved the UK!

[mbb05jb]

fuckin - A!

[rumpraisin]

@ericclaptonismygod31 What do you love her for? For making a select few ' winners '(stinking rich) and the vast majoriy 'losers' (used to be middle class,precariat, poor) ?

[sansam25]

@ericclaptonismygod31 From what..it was never in danger to begin with moron!

[tjam95]

@ericclaptonismygod31 no. she saved england and killed Scotland.

[Threepwoodist]

@ericclaptonismygod31 haha. You've not read much on Thatcher then.

[davh1231]

@ericclaptonismygod31

spot on, lefty 1970's dribble we hear even now.

[Cracky3000]

the communizers are ass holes, talking shit about capitalizm. If we all go the way of ass holes like france were frickin screwed! Go USA and Britain

[Bolifrag]

@Cracky3000, get a brain ! france is not communist T - T but capitalist.... ignorant !

Trop de consommation = fin des ressources = la mort pour tous !

bande d'handicapés du cerveau ! sortiez les yeux de votre big mac !

[QueenieAlexander2000]

Oh come on. Britain's oil production has run out. And the US had to start importing in the mid 1970s. The privatisation is just a way of stealing what remains of the wealth from the majority and placing it in the hands of a nauseatingly selfish minority that will do anything to increase it- including war. Capitalism, socialism - same stick, different ends of big government. Relocalise and take back control of energy and government.

[MiraginXXX]

Well said ..

[pardeepsinghk]

All the financial gains made since 1995 has been wiped out

[raphaelnik]

I wonder how much that broom-cupboard is worth now, £250k?

Funny how history repeats itself, housing bubble, credit boom, over excited bankers...

[attie3]

i want the usa and uk to be like this right now damnit lets go

[TheWilliamcale]

capitalism is cyclical

be patient it WILL BE BACK

[MiraginXXX]

So will the other plagues .. But i imagine your financially immunized ..

[userblue]

Hear hear!

[Vidcar1]

I wouldn't fear my American friend, I'm sure that socialist imbeceile of a president currently occupying your White House will be there for one term. Oh and tell him to make his mind up on sending troops to Afghanistan, the British and American troops on the front lines can't wait forever while that idiot ponders insignificant nothings such as what dog to buy for his daughters...

[attie3]

@Vidcar1 i well we need to kick some ass right now long live capitalism

[DanMorgan98]

Shut your fucking mouth about America you fucking barbarian.

[Tuathalful]

@attie3 Boom and Bust mate. You just have to wait and hope you're in the right place at the right time, barring unforseen collapse of the system XD

[dmitrysedgwick]

And it's all been pissed away by the billions on an unnecessary war (Iraq) and the "bailing out" of the crave idiots who ruin our markets and society. What a tragedy.

[texancanadiancowboy]

Got to love this - "Opportunities" and "Shopping" by the Pet Shop Boys. Captures the feel very well.

[keirfree]

arlesfrance1973 does any one give a fuck about S A,,,,,,,? all Basket case Nations, would sell their Grandmothers for a Dime

[TheWilliamcale]

if only your men were as tough as your women

[keirfree]

Fuck,,,,,,, You Just Got To LOVE this lady, had more balls than Reagan, More Charm than Gorbachov,

[cmatewu]

Thanks Thatcher for putting us in this recession!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheWilliamcale]

you werent alive in 1979 i was .Thatcher saved Britian from total collapse, period. she did what someone would have eventually HAD to do.

[arlesfrance1973]

stupid billysands

you know nothing about France ..... I voted for Sarkozy and I like him, he is not like this shit of Reagan and Thatcher .......

he is french (and hungarian too),

and his economic politique is keynesianisme, and not this shit of Thaterisme and Reaganomics .. understand ?

You understand nothing of France, our right wing are in your eyes leftwing .... vive notre General De Gaulle qui a détesté cette merde d'anglosaxon ...

[billyysands]

thatcher and reagan were necessary evils

you never did straghten out the french economy thats why you have chronic low growth and high unemployment even before the crisis

[arlesfrance1973]

But there exist another America and an other Britain I like ....... and your shit of Reagan and Thatcher is completly dead ...

now we have Barack Obama, and he is the best friend of our président Sarkozy..

Barack Obama va complèment changé Amérique et de Ronald Reagan et Thatcher n'en restera plus rien ...... ils sont morts morts pour jamais et à l'enfer chez Satan.... Thatche ira encore .....

[arlesfrance1973]

billyysands

stupid british, ........ Pinochet killed 25000 (!) poeple, and read biography of Che, he executed 400 persons, soldiers and police of Batista, not all but many of the murderersl torturers of Batista .... you do know nothing about Latin America ...

but I am not socialist please ..... and the other friend of Reagan and Thatcher, Rios Mont of Guatemala killed in 10 years of his dictatorship about 400.000 indios, a genocid .... that were your friends ... shit of Thatcher-britisch"

[arlesfrance1973]

Margret Thatcher, best friend of the killer Pinochet, lost completly in 2008. The Thatcherisme is dead with the economic crisis, and now we know that it was a wrong concept.

And Margret Thatcher will be in the hell ..... Ronald Reagan and the mass-murder Pinochet are waiting for her in the hell and Satan too

[billyysands]

pinochet killed approx one third the nubmer of people your freind che did

pinochet turned chile into the most dynamic economy in latin america

your french and communism

stalin killed how many?

look at the basket case france is now thanks to Socialism

vive Sarkosy!

SOCIALISM IS DEAD

[arlesfrance1973]

stupid british ........ Pinochet killed 25000 (!) poeple, and read the biography of Che, he executed 400 persons, soldiers and police of Batista, not all but many of the murderers and torturers of Batista .... you do know nothing about Latin America ...

but I am not socialist please ..... and the other friend of Reagan and Thatcher, Rios Mont of Guatemala killed in 10 years of his dictatorship about 400.000 indios ..... that were your friends ... shit of Thatcher-britisch

[arlesfrance1973]

stupid billysands

you know nothing about France ..... I voted for Sarkozy and I like him, he is not like this shit of Reagan and Thatcher .......

he is french (and hungarian too),

and his economic politique is keynesianisme, and not this shit of Thaterisme and Reaganomics .. understand ?

You understand nothing of France, our right wing are in our eyes leftwing .... vive notre General De Gaulle qui a détesté cette merde d'anglosaxon ...

[happylad65]

I think the arrival of Ronald Reagan as US President in 1980 also had a great bearing on what happened in that decade, and beyond. You have to slot together the jigsaw to get the full 1980s picture.

[Gaius51]

I think your right in saying that Reagan's arrival as US president had a huge impact on the 1980s and 1990s however I would point out that his coming to power had little effect on the Thatchers domestic policy.

[happylad65]

Hmm... perhaps you're right, but it has been claimed (on another clip featured by UnitedBritania) that Thatcherism was still an unknown quantity by the General Election of 1983. I'm interested by her political relationship with President Regan, and the impact that the American boom had on elsewhere (including the UK). This is not to negate anything Mrs T is perceived to have achieved or damaged, but more to gain a wider view of the 1980s.

[billyysands]

the were two lovebirds

they were two co depend enablers

and thank god for them

thank god

[happylad65]

You missed the '80s? But you remember the "Caring, Sharing '90s", right? I never bought that load of smug flannel at the time - and I still don't. That's the trouble, up until recently we've always scapegoated the '80s and said "But we're absolutely lovely now." And now reality bites. Not before time.

[billyysands]

the 80s changed everything

[dianep123]

LOL, I was very small in the 80's glad I mostly missed it though, interesting how GB is like totally f*cked today. New Labour turned out to be only "The nasty party with a human face" who are ya gonna turn to, the Tories hahaha.

[billyysands]

this was my favorite decade i started it as a socialist, thinking it was the beginning of a new dark age.. i ended it as a libertarian..thinking what the hell, just enjoy the ride.. and i did..

[challsopp]

Surely Attlee, not Thatcher!

[GWHITE5287]

The Thatcher Revolution, the rebirth of Britain! Greatest post-war politician by far

[challsopp]

If the government had kept more control over the industries in the '80s then we would be able to do more about the current economic downturn, even though the markets wouldn't have boomed as much then.

[UnitedBritannia]

You forget to mention the fact that it was Gordon Brown who changed the financial regulatory system most recently when he made the Bank of England independent.

Yes, we have an international economic crisis to contend with - but the reason we in Britain are so badly placed is because of Gordon Brown's policies as chancellor and now Prime Minister.

The sooner we get shot of this wretched Labour govt. the better.

[moretonsuk]

Could not agree with you more. Hes trying to cover up the fact that new labour are failing and do as labour always do, blame it on the tories!

[alewisuk]

Hardly. You couldn't get a fig leaf between them in the last 13 years. The Tories have pretty much supported and voted through everything New Labour have done. Well, why wouldn't they? They wasn't any serious ideological difference. The only difference is that the Tories would have gone further and left us in more trouble. I remember loads of them saying that dergulation wasn't going far enough etc. So yeah, the Tories are to blame too for offering no proper opposition for the last 13 years.

[Reazzurro90]

Deregulation wasn't responsible for the economic crisis....

[cubkthomas]

Good point Einstein... and if we could have avoided that Industrial Revolution thing, we wouldn't have to worry about our cars breaking down.

[challsopp]

Industry doesn't have to be privately owned to be successful. The importance of industry and the government having some control on it is shown by the recent budget and the governments attempts to invest in the industries of the future.

[billyysands]

how old are you? do you know what Britian looked like under old labour with national industry?! it was practically a third wold country!

[gregorioallegri]

'The industries'?

So you're saying if the state had kept BT or British Airways this recession would magically have disappeared?

[gopconservative78]

Thatcher was the leader Britain needed, she transformed the nation and now its a power like the greatest power on the planet the mighty United States.

[billyysands]

I was a socialist in 1979 i was 20 by the time i was 40 in 1999 i had been voting republican for 10 years..socialism was a disaster if you wnat to make a better society you have to accept that capitalism is the only workable paradigm and go frm there..Blair accepted that good for him

[WallyPyneoil]

I was a socialist in the 1980s but the Labour Party no longer exists as it did then. What's wrong nowadays is not the 1980s, it's people transferring responsibility for the current day by BLAMING the 1980s.

[timustamus]

Short-term gain for long-term pain. Thanks, Margaret!

[theredraven]

It's not her fault bankers abused their freedom. Maybe we should keep all Humans locked in cells so none of us could ever abuse our freedom?

Giving the markets freedome isn't bad, it's when people abuse it. It's when people get too greedy.

[timustamus]

It's a brilliant film. Marr is careful to be impartial and you can equally interpret it either as an attack or defence of Thatcherism, but he makes clear that the seeds of the current crisis were sown by her.

Irresponsible attititudes to debt, consumerism, the Hooray Henry selling a ludicrously small property for a vast sum.

He makes a very good point at the end. If she thought deregulation would lead to frugality, hard work, saving and just reward she was sadly mistaken. Far from it!

[billyysands]

anything taken to an extreme is bad we just need a little balance not a communist revolution thankyou, margret thatcher had it 90% right its that 10 % you monkey with not the 90% she was right about

[theredraven]

Did you just call me a monkey? I happen to be a Thatcher fan.

Unless you were replying to someone else?

[billyysands]

We are ALL MONKEYS OKAY? black white left right, whether we like it or not we are ALL nothing but a bunch of clever homicidal monkeys. That all we are.

and I'm a fan of Voltaire and John Stuart Mill

[attie3]

point side theredraven its when people what to abuse it there freedome

[peterkvideo]

Especially in the respect of current deep crisis developing! :-)))

[frantic1971]

Have any of the changes policies that Thatcher did been repealed by succeeding governments in Britain?

[sugarraygras]

no i dont think so.

[billyysands]

No when labour took power again in 1997 it had abandoned socialism and embraced neo liberal policy..Thatcherism was adjusted not abandoned, economically it was good for Britian

[hfu1973]

If there is one image which absolutely defines the 80s it is in this clip, at 1:58 - the yuppie, fag and beer in hand, flashing his wad of cash - fantastic! I've been trawling Youtube for this footage. Also love the huge mobile phones and the Pet Shop Boys (a decade-defining song if ever there was one)!

[hfu1973]

Brings back fond memories - as Marr said, "it was heady and exciting" and it absolutely was - Britain totally rocked - in the economy, in music, in fashion, militarily (the Falklands) and in a swaggering self confidence - in a way that it hadn't rocked since the Edwardian era, and in a way that it hasn't since. Blair thought he had ushered in Cool Britannia but the soundtrack to that epithet, Britpop, was dead and buried before he even took office. The 80s were when Britannia really WAS cool.

[TogusaM207]

lol fucking yuppies!!

[akeefe]

This show wasnt very intellectualy strong. Bit simple

[pchristophergray]

The book's fantastic though

[screammac]

bring back the torys we needthe and we need them now

[patarciepaul]

They've never been out of power

[akeefe]

quite right

[Conza88]

The business cycle is caused by Central Banks. The BOOM is ALWAYS followed by a BUST... unless you have a Gold Standard / no central bank manipulating the economy.

It's NOT Capitalism. The 5th plank of the communist manifesto; i.e central banks.

[ogello]

yup. Eliminate the Rothschilds banking dynasty and lets take a look at the world over a cup of tea.

[attie3]

Conza88 the big boom of the business cycle can still go no for a very long time as long as you dont have people who fuck it up for them self the my time you fuck up your own freedom the more govt comes in and take it form you. dont you think?

[MrFox10]

What is the song at the start of this video ?

[msynman]

Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) by the Pet Shop Boys.

[msynman]

The Price Is Right host comes across as a real tosser.

Who's the comedian on Friday Night Live?

And could someone tell me each of the songs played inthis clip?

[old9skool9love]

Paxman's quite a good TV Brit, too. Not afraid to attempt to belittle the politicians, which lets face it, is what they bloody deserve.

[miksouthon]

andrew marr is great. best person on Brit TV. THE ONLY ONE WHO SEEMS PREPARED TO SAY WHAT WE'RE THINKING.

[melvinceltic]

brilliant episode, my congratulations to andrew marr, very clever and quite funny fella, loved this show, can't wait to see the others