[Z]

Originally Posted by lostalex

If you believe that you live in a democracy then you cannot blame Thatcher for anything. If you believe that you live in a democracy then surely the entire parliament and by extention the entire peoples are responsible for everything. That is what a democracy is. She was no dictator, she was no communist Zsar. She was just one cog in the mechanism of democracy, and all of the people of the UK had a say in it.

To place blame on a leader in a democracy is like placing blame on a single molecule of water after a flood.

I agree with the general point you're making but I don't think that's necessarily true of Britain (or America, though it's not what we're discussing) because I think the First Past The Post style of voting is deeply flawed, there are lots of cases in Britain where the winning party didn't even have the majority of the electorate's votes, they just had the greatest percentage, e.g. a party could win with 40% of the votes with the other 60% being split up between different parties - you end up with a government that less than half the people wanted.

Margaret Thatcher was a strong leader at a time when Britain needed a strong leader. I think Britain's overdue a strong leader. The last one we had was Tony Blair and I don't think it'll be long before we see another strong candidate rise up from the back benches and take up the mantle. The Prime Minister represents the country and as such is liable for the pitfalls of their government. You can blame Thatcher for what she did, but you can't blame her for being in control of a system that existed before and after her time.