BBC: Margaret Thatcher on Mikhail Gorbachev (1984)

[pajfarfar]

Regarding the title and description; Gorbachev wasn't elected president (the only one of the USSR) until 1990, and didn't rise to the leadership of the CPSU before 1984.

[JagjeetMann]

old fucking bitch, ruined the country, led the downfall towards today

[balearicsoundwave89]

@JagjeetMann and worse,she destroyed whole communitys and ways of life, with no care what so ever.and all for her own moraly lacking ego.senile horror.

[Texfield91]

@balearicsoundwave89 lying about liking Gorbachev? man you left wingers have absolutly lost it. oh and it's spelt L-Y-I-N-G.

[balearicsoundwave89]

@Texfield91 los americanos,parasitos del mundo.tan tonto,como un burro rollo patatero.

[nigel106]

Thank you for posting the video. Now if only we could have the rest of the interview : )

[nphanlon1973]

this was her best moment....her worst was handing over hong kong.

[bossu3konn]

Hard to understand how Mrs. Thatcher's dresses could be socially accepted

[MrOzanachronism]

I liked the Derek and Clive skit where Peter Cook says Maggie Thatcher should flash her tits, maybe a brief, tasteful glimpse of her vag, to 'get a lot of the 'orny voters in'.

[Kidsgrove49]

She spoke so clearly, it's no wonder she kept being re-elected. One of my favourite Thatcher quotes was:- "Trying to cure Britains problems with Socilaism was like trying to cure Leukemia with Leeches".

Something we should remember.

[cheeriosinabowl]

I would say Margaret Thatcher looks good, very good compared to who/what is running the country now. (Or ruining the country now ....)

ps... I always liked Maggie,  great lady, Iron Lady.

[Pringles352]

@cheeriosinabowl you like maggie but not cameron? different problems they have faced, however i believe that cameron is not ruining the country. we will see by 2015.But we dont know what thatcher would have done if she became PM now, so hard to judge. i am true conservative, and i understand, like many labourites seem to have difficulty in understanding, that the deficit has to be reduced quickly, and i also am against reducing the defence budget, but i know that what has to be done has 2 happen

[cheeriosinabowl]

@Pringles352

... yes, judging by your post you are a true conservative, no mistake about that. :))

Btw, the deficit will NEVER by reduced, it has spiralled into the stratosphere. Socialism is here to stay, like it or not.

[Uberdude25]

What a honorable human being this is

[scottishchap2008]

the soviet union starved and murdered anywere between 20 to 60 million people, say what you like about thatcher she never set up labor camps or re-education centres and she would be opposed to the labour partys/fabian societys assualt on our civil liberties

[ammarios]

What a horrible human being this creature is

[tinurieaa]

perra.

[111jasy111]

What a cunt.

[ThePoison27]

She really hates all children! No wonder there were thousands of unemployed students protests in the streets of Britain, and even today, look what's happened to the University Student Fees that are going up!

As what Rick from The Young Ones once said:

"I HOPE YOU'RE SATISFIED, THATCHER!!!"

[MrDragon1968]

@warriorprince1010 Lol. Thanks for the so called 'education' kiddo. How old are you?

You've just made claim after claim that I've refuted with actual facts in the real world, which you haven't been able to answer any of in return- other than further attempt to extrapolate even more outlandish claims. I tell you what, I'll give you the actual economic growth rates vis a vis UK and the US in the last two years, if you first attempt to rationally answer my responses to the rubbish your spouting.

[MrDragon1968]

Also I'd like your sources on half a million people losing their jobs because of the 50% tax rate? Given a rough estimate of approx 30 million people in full/part time employment in the UK- that's equivalent to 1.6 per cent of workers losing their jobs. Our current unemployment levels increased during 2008/9 by about 1.8 per cent because of the recession. How do you factor 1.6 per cent of this unemployment increase was from a tax rise introduced after April 2010!???

[atosafi1]

@LORDMCHUGH

Exactly, it has nothing to do with religion it's got more to do with class and social injustices just like Africa being poor and miserable has nothing to with culture or skin colour but rather exploitation and outside influence.

You're such a hypocritical wanker.

[atosafi1]

@LORDMCHUGH

You aren't logical, you're so snowed in it's pathetic.

How about I call Irish people savages cause you're all killing eachother over religion. You'd be pissed.

[atosafi1]

@LORDMCHUGH What's sad is that you sound EXACTLY like some conservative corporate slug.

"Savages" I'm sure the majority of people in the world consider Europeans and Americans to be savages for exploiting, murdering, enslaving and conquering people across the globe. You may have forgot but both World Wars were started by european savages.

[LaughingMage]

@atosafi1 No they would not. They would view them as ruthless conquerors and dictators. But they would not consider them savages.

Calling someone a "conservative corporate slug" gets you nowhere. True conservatism is anti-imperialist, anti-totalitarian and pro-individual liberty. I can't say the same about centrist Corporatism, however.

[DrPepperAndSteak]

Dismantled his empire, or saved thousands of lives? Both.

[warriorprince1010]

@shanekeane200123456 Well stop focusing on Ireland. The British dd less damage than Pol pot, Hitler, Mao, Stalin and Napolean so they were more productive than any of them aswell. The UK did less damage then most it is because they invented capitalism that you dislike the UK, you wnat state slavery...communism like the Lisbon treaty has brought us.

[JonoC79]

@warriorprince1010 In all fairness, we British ruined people's lives all around the world with our empire. Forced people into slavery, manipulated governments to benefit us. I'm ashamed of our old empire.

[warriorprince1010]

@JonoC79 Many countries had empires dude. None of them built railways, vaccines, a rule of law, hospitals and educated the people they were governing. The British did. Slavery..The UK was late to that and the first country ever to ban it, amazing really.

[elite1980s]

Thatcherism aKa the Iron Lady, or a brutal dictator from the pass and still shock waves felt now days. She said "do business together" which means literally appeasing corporations and screwing over the people which is exactly what she did whilst in power. BT, Water Supply, Electric Supply all sold onto privately owned companies & we the tax payers taken for a ride. Then the miner's strikes & the removal of our rights at work slowly faded away. Then you had the Poll Tax & the fiasco that created.

[warriorprince1010]

@shanekeane200123456 Because everyone had an empire and most did not achieve what the British did, think about it. The catholic church did more damage to Ireland than the British did, even Bob Geldoff admitted it.

[warriorprince1010]

@shanekeane200123456 The Soviet union fell further and further behind the developed world under communism, fact. If there was a famine tomorrow it would be easy to deal with. Your anglophobia means you seem to think famines only ever happened under British rule. Dude millions died every month somewhere in the world back then from famines, far far worse than anything in Ireland.

[warriorprince1010]

@shanekeane200123456 Dude, there were famines every year back then in different parts of the world. The British killed less than Napoleon, Hitler, Mao, Stalin and pol pot. The Soviets took Russia backwards, not forwards. The life expectancy on planet earth before the industrial revolution had been constant at 30 for 4000 years of recorded post flood history. Now it is 75 in the developed world.

[warriorprince1010]

@shanekeane200123456 The British empire was one of the least wicked and killed less than most empires. The British empire was of course the only constructive empire we have seen. The constructive empire.

[CosmosLoyal]

@ailingequation I respectfully disagree. The most recently opened archives aren't so kind to this view, either. In September 1989, Thatcher visited Moscow and lectured Gorbachev against the reunification of Germany: It "would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security," she said. She kept up this view even after the people of Berlin had taken history into their own hands. The Cold War was ended by the workers of the Eastern Bloc.

[SexyLiLLeilaniMya]

Long live Maggie I can't wait until the we in the States get our own "Lady Thatcher" she was the greatest female leader of all time outside of Mrs. Bhutto!

[iamdiaperman]

Lady Thatcher is one awesome lady ! tough to the bone, relentless, but quite seductive ! YEE HAA !

[WashingGrendel]

eugghhh "we can do business together" - she was such a GANGSTER.

also, where's this evidence to say that society as a whole benefitted in Russia? Russian people I've met seem to disagree on that score.

[WorldOfWarcraftlol1]

@WashingGrendel Russia belongs to Romanovs, they would rule it if some idiots wouldnt have massacared the entire family. there can be no capitalism there. its just how we Russians are

[daviddoyle1978]

She knew it... he knew it....

[daviddoyle1978]

He dismantled his empire, she did everything to resurrect hers.

[pandapop999]

Yet failed and destroyed our country.

[brianclough]

@daviddoyle1978 Aye, but both did right in my book

[warriorprince1010]

@daviddoyle1978 The British empire was and has been the most constructive empire in human history. I do not remember communists creating an industrial revolution and then sharing the technology with the rest of the world.

[TheJaaysog]

@warriorprince1010 so you think 1million deaths in our empire was acceptable-as for the industrial revolution, yes but remember how desperately poor the workers were

[american2015]

@daviddoyle1978 I could not agree with your statement more. We need an american duplicate of her right now.

[insainiac33]

@daviddoyle1978 He never set out to do so though - he wanted communism to survive in Eastern Europe, just couldn't afford to keep it there by force. I'm glad Thatcher took a firm stance over the Falklands personally, and brought Britain back a bit of backbone that we'd all but lost since the Suez crisis.

[MrOzanachronism]

@daviddoyle1978 True, but the Empire was doomed after World War II. It cost the Empire to win that war.

[Pringles352]

@MrOzanachronism good quote u have there, but a sad one:( were france really worth the empire? would we have remained the sole world superpower after the war if we stayed out? i wish i could see the answers, but we will never know. i guess britain stood up for its allies with such huge odds... as any great country would.

[MrOzanachronism]

@Pringles352 It's not a quote. I came up with it myself. If Chamberlain wasn't such a coward and stood up to Hitler early on and nipped Germany's remilitarisation early in the piece, WWII may not have started. But Britain and France were still weary from WWI 20 years on while Germany had scores to settle. Unless Britain allied itself with Germany, as Hitler had originally intended, or somehow remained neutral, British involvement in the war was inevitable.

[FFulmenTheFinnish]

@MrOzanachronism Oh it would have started. You're the typical "it was all Germany's fault" entirely ignoring the far larger tyrant in the east. Unlike Hitler, Stalin actually was bent on conquering the world. Read Communism. To unite the world under one "family of Socialist States" (the USSR) was always the goal of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and more or less their followers until the 70s or 80s.

In fact you should thank Hitler for saving Europe from Stalin's clutches.

[MrOzanachronism]

@FFulmenTheFinnish If you knew your Russian history better (presumably you're from Finland, so being so close to Russia, you should know more about your neighbour!), you would be aware that Stalin had all but abandoned the idea of World Revolution for his policy of 'Socialism in One Country'. Don't confuse Lenin and Trotsky's masterplan with Stalin's need to secure a buffer on his Western frontier to defend against Hitler.

[MrOzanachronism]

@FFulmenTheFinnish And don't confuse the plight of the Baltic States and Finland with Britain. Stalin, a tyrant? Certainly! A threat to Finland's freedom? Obviously. But that wouldn't have made a difference to Britain's strategic position. Different issues. I'm not saying the war wouldn't have started. I'm saying it would have been a far shorter war if it started in 1934 or 1935, when Germany was still much weaker than it became in 1938 and 39. I've spent a lot of time in Finland, btw.

[MrOzanachronism]

@FFulmenTheFinnish Anyway, I'm talking about Britain here, you're talking about Finland. I might as well be saying 'hammer', and you 'screwdriver'. Or me 'Jumala', and you 'Perkele'!

[FFulmenTheFinnish]

@MrOzanachronism No, you said "If Chamberlain wasn't such a coward and stood up to Hitler early on and nipped Germany's remilitarisation early in the piece, WWII may not have started.". I was replying to that.

[MrOzanachronism]

@FFulmenTheFinnish Okay, let me rephrase. It may not have been started by Germany, and if Hitler was effectively neutralised by Britain and France, USSR could have possibly started a war westward, but militarily, they were too weak to take on Europe in 1939. If Stalin finished a couple of 5 year plans, he may have been in a position to invade by late 40s, but there's no evidence of any such intention.

Give me a break! How well rounded do you think I can be in 500 characters?

[FFulmenTheFinnish]

@MrOzanachronism Well it depends. Historically the Red Army was a mess before Stalin re-organized it thanks to the lessons learned from the disasters against Finland in the Winter War. Some form of Winter War would have come anyway though, with or without the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, as Stalin was always intent on expanding the USSR into Europe (contrary to what you said there is evidence for this), meaning those lessons would have been learnt in some form anyway.

[FFulmenTheFinnish]

@MrOzanachronism Anyhow it is debatable if the weak late 30s-early 40s militaries of France, UK and a prolonged Weimar Germany etc. would have been sufficient to stop Stalin from conquering all of Europe. Maybe, maybe not.

[Joseph32People]

@daviddoyle1978 It's not that simple

[TVgeinus90sSim]

@daviddoyle1978 He tried to save the Union, liquidate the communist imperialism over the world. Despite the failure to keep the Union, he made a blow to communism that will have it hard to recover even 20 years later. Margaret Thatcher did what no lady was able to and led the nation to a brighter era. For that, I give the two my sense of honor and respect as leaders (sorta wish they could do it again for nostalga and because I wasnt born then)

[Dudedubba]

@daviddoyle1978  His empire was in crisis and could never get on.

[paddy260]

you did change his mind as he realised being a highly intelligent man that these communist economic policys; while well meaning ,were disastrous, he changed to your way of thinking and the income levels of all sections of society benefited as a result

[heathirving]

"we both believe in our own political systems,he believes in his, i believe in mine" they were both the bloody same!

[Speegs23]

Now perhaps, but Britain was a bit more capitalistic and and less socialistic 20 years ago, but your argument is almost valid in light of the state of affairs in 2009.

[MrDragon1968]

@Speegs23

I'd disagree with that. Economically Britain's more capitalistic than socialistic than it was twenty years ago. Thatcher got the ball rolling away from the more socialist values of the 1970's, and the ball's been rolling forward ever since.

[Dalek1230]

@MrDragon1968 Here Here

[warriorprince1010]

@MrDragon1968 The 50% tax is the highest in the developed world. The UK as of now is the most anti business country in the developed world.

[MrDragon1968]

@warriorprince1010 No it isn't. Belgium has an AVERAGE rate of income tax of 57%! Finland, Germany, Denmark, Italy etc also have much higher AVERAGE income tax rates. The average taxation in Europe is 44 %. In the UK it’s much lower. The top rate of 50% tax in the UK applies to earnings over £150,000 a year- it's not even an average tax rate. If you exclude stealth tax, Britain has a low tax rate compared to most of Europe. I disagree with our extra rate but it was done because of the recession.

[warriorprince1010]

@MrDragon1968 No, only Belgium does, the rest have lower top rate of taxes than the UK. The 50% tax has lost money and caused unemployment, it was done to shut down the private sector, thats what Brown and co are into. Cap in trade was done to shut down the private sector, socialist policies.

[MrDragon1968]

@warriorprince1010 Your confusing top rate of tax with overall taxation bands. Some countries have higher overall tax rates but a slightly lower top rate- which additionally can still mean you pay more as a top earner as higher rates come in earlier within your tax earning bands. You're wrong about only Belgium. Top rates for Denmark 51.5%, Finland 53%, Holland 52% Norway 54% & Sweden 55%. Austria also has 50% top rate. Also the real issue for business is actually corporate tax, not income tax.

[MrDragon1968]

@warriorprince1010 I should add that you're also not taking into account different VAT rates, and also other forms of taxation. As I said, I don't agree with a top rate of 50% for over £150,00 but it was a recessionary action to help pay off the budget deficit and is being kept by the Tories currently. It's hyperbolic to suggest that the UK is the least business friendly country in the developed world. Have you ever tried setting up a business in France!!!?

[warriorprince1010]

@MrDragon1968 Not sure what you mean. The 50% tax has lost money, they knew it would not bring money in when unemployment Brown put it into place. The 50% tax is a shut down tax, designed to shut down the private sector. It has worked. 500,000 people have lost their jobs due tot hat tax.

[MrDragon1968]

@warriorprince1010 What I mean is A/ I disagree with your comment we have the highest top rate of tax in the developed world- & I've proved it to you with examples. B/ A top rate of tax band that's higher than another does NOT necessarily mean you pay more tax as a higher earner- it depends on where ALL the tax bands are set within an income & what rate they are set at. C/ Income tax is only one form of taxation, you have to take on board ALL forms of taxation in a country- including VAT.

[MrDragon1968]

D/ Britain is NOT one of the least business friendly countries in the world. You need to include corporate tax rates & bureaucracy/regulatory issues- of which Britain is good compared to most. The 50pc tax is NOT a shut down tax for business (I have one) however you can argue it creates potential for more top earners to become tax exiles or find creative ways to put earnings into certain investments to avoid tax. It doesn't effect overall employment much as most people are not in that tax band.

[warriorprince1010]

@MrDragon1968 I am not debating I am educating. The 50% is indeed a shut down tax, hence the .05% shrinkage in the Uk economy while the USA who kept taxes low is growing at 3%.

 The 50% tax prevents investment and prevents growth, that is why it was used, and that is the end of it. The UK economy would be growing at 2 to 3 % right now if it was not for the high taxes 50% and rise in capital gains, as well as cap in trade. This is not under debate.

[LS8492]

Two wonderful leaders.

[WiseMonki]

indeed...