Burka

[Zodiac]

Poor Maggie...

Thatcher was not brought up in poverty by any means. Remember I am in the Detroit area; owning a couple of stores and the apartments above them would make you literally wealthy here...

Hi Capps,

Yes indeed, Thatcher's father not only owned two grocery stores, but he was also, at one time or another, a member of the town council, a Justice of the Peace, a director of the Trustee Savings Bank, President of the Chamber of Trade, a director of the Grantham Building society, President of the local Rotary Club, governor of the local Grammer School, Alderman of the town council and, of course, the Mayor of Grantham!!! So the very fact that the sainted Maggie somehow managed to claw her way out of such a hopeless, lowly, impoverished and underprivileged background should stand as a testament to us all, that anyone, of any social class, even the most petty members of the most provincial petty bourgeoisie can rise to the highest office in the land!!!

Best wishes,

Zodiac.

[Stephen Thomas]

Thatcher was not brought up in poverty by any means. Remember I am in the Detroit area; owning a couple of stores and the apartments above them would make you literally wealthy here...

You are quite correct, Cappucina. I was born in a reasonably sized town in Yorkshire a long time ago (1945 no less) and my grandfather owned a shop and plumbing business and was regarded as a local worthy and I believe that he was a Freemason and I know he was also also the friend of Rutherford, the man who split the atom . The Brit upper class never involved themselves with the industrial North of England, or Scotland or Wales for that matter. The first time I encountered the 'upper class' of the UK was when I came to London in 1965 aged 19 and I was totally astonished by certain people I met.

Mr Hinton is a lowly magistrate but seems to think he's a High Court Judge.

[cappuccina]

I find certain members of the Royal Family distasteful, and Prince Charles is one of them.

OTOH, I adored the Queen Mum, she was fantastic!

Frankly, the Queen Mum is the only more recent member of the Royal family who did work very hard to help those devastated by WWII. Not only that, she was a war nurse in WWI, and offered her HOME to be used as a field hospital. She was brought up to duty... I'd looove to see Charlie dealing with battlefield casualties in his home when he cannot even stand to wipe his own tushie....really....

Just like anywhere else, every family has it's distasteful members.

Umm....dude....I'm not interested in your outdated "caste-based" feudal system. I don't want a Burke's Peerage "heritage". (Hint....this is not an argument you will "win" with most Americans unless you are arguing with a Rockefeller or a Kennedy or someone like that....The rest of us do not aspire to have wealth based on our name or family only.)

Thatcher was not brought up in poverty by any means. Remember I am in the Detroit area; owning a couple of stores and the apartments above them would make you literally wealthy here...

[Bob Hinton]

Oh really...

Bullshit; she was the daughter of a man who owned two grocery stores, not the minimum-wage employee who bags groceries or stocks the shelves...

In the US someone who owns two grocery stores is far better off and more likely to be in a different "economic class" than what we would call a grocer here which would be, e.g., the produce man in a grocery store OWNED BY SOMEONE ELSE. So, I stand by what I said earlier.

(And apparently you have stayed with Prince Charles long enough and in his private quarters to know that this is NOT true....Camilla is going to be really, really mad at you, you realize!! )

Oh don't be so silly. Mrs Thatchers father owned two stores of the 'Open all hours variety' which he worked hard for. She was brought up in the small flat above one of them. Hardly Gimbles and Macey's is it? She also worked hard for everything she achieved.

According to you then unless people are born slaves they are born to privelege.

And your distateful remarks about members of the Royal Family show just how barren of any real argument you are. If you really believe the tripe you are talking then quote your sources. It is you who is making these outrageous and idiotic assertions, therefore it is up to you to prove them.

If a quarter of the people in this country worked a quarter as hard as members of the Royal Family ( I mean the real one not all the hangers on) this country would not be in such a mess.

The reason why people like you are anti royal family is that you realise that for all your countries money there is one thing in the world you cannot buy - a heritage.

[cappuccina]

Bullshit; she was the daughter of a man who owned two grocery stores, not the minimum-wage employee who bags groceries or stocks the shelves...

In the US someone who owns two grocery stores is far better off and more likely to be in a different "economic class" than what we would call a grocer here which would be, e.g., the produce man in a grocery store OWNED BY SOMEONE ELSE. So, I stand by what I said earlier.

(And apparently you have stayed with Prince Charles long enough and in his private quarters to know that this is NOT true....Camilla is going to be really, really mad at you, you realize!! )

[Bob Hinton]

Yes and total nonsense. Cappucina I have still to hear your reply to my pointing out that far from being born to a live of privelege Mrs Thatcher was the daughter of a grocer. Like most people who hate anyone who has done better than you you seem to have an aversion to the truth.

[cappuccina]

OMG, Stephen!!

That is scary, actually!

[Stephen Thomas]

We have wealthy Republicans telling Detroit families living in abject poverty that they "know how they feel" because they've had to "tighten their belts a bit", and I then think of Prince Charles having to let the servant who put the toothpaste on his toothrush for him go...

Hi Cappucina

Methinks you didn't hear the apparently true story of Charles having a manservant to hold his penis while he urinated. This story sort of validated the centuries old Brit belief that the Royal Family had servants to wipe their bottoms after they had a crap.

[cappuccina]

Hi Brummie,

Even though I live in the US, I completely agree with you....We have wealthy Republicans telling Detroit families living in abject poverty that they "know how they feel" because they've had to "tighten their belts a bit", and I then think of Prince Charles having to let the servant who put the toothpaste on his toothrush for him go...

[brummie]

Every time I hear the word 'Strategy' I reach for my revolver. The gap between the well off and the not so well off widened under Labour as it always does. Usually because lots of useless people were paid millions of pounds to come up with strategies!

Funny hearing Cameron come out with "We're all in it together" has the same effect on me. Surely the most asinine political soundbite in many a year.While people like my brother loses his job and faces losing his house if he doesn't find another soon, what will the affect be on Mr Cameron? buying a smaller Daimler?, put the butler on a three day week? it seems some of us are in deeper than others.

[Bob Hinton]

The last government was not perfect - far from it. However - they did introduce a lot of strategies to at least start to address the huge gap between the well-off and the not-so-well off and allowing at least some social housing to be built was a whole lot better than selling off vast amounts of the social housing stock.

Every time I hear the word 'Strategy' I reach for my revolver. The gap between the well off and the not so well off widened under Labour as it always does. Usually because lots of useless people were paid millions of pounds to come up with strategies!

[Natalie Severn]

As this thread has gone seriously off topic---and I am as much to blame as anyone for digressing---I thought I would provide a link to some literature on the matter of women living under Muslim Laws:http://www.wluml.org/node/5408
[more to follow]

[Robert]

Phil, I PMd you about Nobby Stiles.

[Limehouse]

Yes Julie, they sold all the brownfield land at a loss (sometimes at hugely deflated prices) if the new owners built a really low percentage of social housing - the authorities were actually barred by the Government from building council homes, so they didn't do their own building. And btw, why are you shouting at me?

I apologise Dark Ali. It ws rude of me to shout. I was just a bit carried away.

The last government was not perfect - far from it. However - they did introduce a lot of strategies to at least start to address the huge gap between the well-off and the not-so-well off and allowing at least some social housing to be built was a whole lot better than selling off vast amounts of the social housing stock.

[Phil Carter]

And btw, why are you shouting at me?

Pssst Dark Ali, (I whisper)

There seem to be a lot of people here in the pub...is that why?

best wishes

Phil