Baroness Thatcher

[EMDEE]

It’s not just the financial side of the sale of council houses that we need to look at, there is also the social side. Most of the folk who took up the offer of a house at a hugely discounted price were the ones who were already getting a good deal from the council as tenants, and were living in a house that they were going to live in anyway.

Who wanted to buy a house in a deprived area? The result of this is that these people have sold on their houses at a huge profit and moved on to the private housing market. Admittedly they would never have done this if the facility to buy council houses had never come about, but this does not make it right! These houses belonged to us, the taxpayers!

What has happened is that the people who happened to be the tenants of council houses at the time the legislation came in were able to make a “killing” when they sold on. This was a one-generational bonus, and presumably will not happen again.

What has happened now is that what was previously good council housing is not available for anyone who might need it. Social housing , as it is now called, is regarded as housing for the needy, disabled, pregnant or ne’erdoweels. You have to prove you are at a disadvantage now before you qualify for a hoose.

I can mind when we nearly aah' steyed in cooncil hooses, an' we had happier days than the youngsters hae noo. But maybe that's me gettin' nostalgic noo.

Great legacy from Baroness Thatcher, and to think she was a grocer’s daughter!

Bill, I know you steyed in a prefab lake masel', so how you can be a Thatcher man Ah don't know.

[Wee Toon Ajax]

WTA - Surely this was not her fault, but the fault of the local authorities who received the income, and squandered the money ridiculously in the 30 years since she took power?

And who funded the building of the council houses in the first place. Central government funded the mass building of council houses after WW II by lending money to local authorities. When the mass sales happened most local authorities used the money from the sale to repay the government the money that was initially borrowed. In most cases the cash raised was not enough to cover the initial debt. Some councils still have a debt for assets they no longer own. Thatcher and her government could easily have used the money they were receiving back to fund the replacement of the houses sold but instead used it for god knows what.

[Wee Toon Ajax]

WTA - Thatcher brought share ownership to the masses, whether those individuals wanted to cash in after 20 days or 20 years is part of human nature. All that I'm saying is that far more people now own shares than did 20 years ago.

Take this in 2 parts, the vast majority who received shares from demutualisations etc sold them within a very short time - this money was on the whole not reinvested in shares. Maybe there are more people owning shares still but the stock exchange was never a closed shop - anybody could have bought shares at any time and the only time most have had shares was when they were given them not when they went out and bought them themselves privately. The vast majority of shares of the former public companies in the UK are owned now by foreign conglomarates, pension funds etc. Individuals as such are not mass owners of shares, some dabble in it but not to any great extent.

I don't think you'd see many people voting to go back. There are some services where I believe mistakes were made, eg. Water and Rail Network, but these seem to now be being rectified.

I am not suggesting that we go back to public ownership but Thatchers government was far too quick to flog of the family silver, so to speak. Once the first privatisation took place think it was BT and was a success they could not wait to offload the others without looking at the long term consequences hence the mess the 2 we have mentioned are in - the Rail Network and water. In most European countries these are still under public ownership and seem to be run more efficiently than those in UK. If the problems with the rail network in the UK are being rectified then they still have a long way to go in terms of fares, being efficient, even being clean etc.

[Wee Toon Ajax]

remember where poll tax was introduced first.

Another thread entirely! Are there any taxes which are liked? This ultimately lead to her downfall, and her hatred within Scotland, but I think if you can disassociate yourself from the term Poll Tax and all the associated baggage, then it wasn't any more ridiculous a concept as Domestic Rates, Local Income Tax, Council Tax, etc.

Her hatred in Scotland began long before the introduction of the poll tax which was in 1989- she made no bones that she did not like the Scots full stop (maybe because she had no mps up here ) and the poll tax being introduced before the rest of the UK which was against the terms of the Act of Union of 1707 only cemented that.

[EMDEE]

Maggie's legacy will go on for a long time.

[Govangirl]

What has happened now is that what was previously good council housing is not available for anyone who might need it.

Emdee, I agreed with every single word of that post. There have been intractable social problems resulting from the years of discounted sales of council housing. Before the policy was introduced Margaret Thatcher, council tenants had come from a wide social mix, in my own experience, a VERY wide mix. Now, however, many people have taken their profit and left the council estates, which are now reduced in large part to 'welfare sinks' where the jobless and disadvantaged are crowded together. Another Thatcher legacy.

[four eyes]

What has happened now is that what was previously good council housing is not available for anyone who might need it.

Emdee, I agreed with every single word of that post. There have been intractable social problems resulting from the years of discounted sales of council housing. Before the policy was introduced Margaret Thatcher, council tenants had come from a wide social mix, in my own experience, a VERY wide mix. Now, however, many people have taken their profit and left the council estates, which are now reduced in large part to 'welfare sinks' where the jobless and disadvantaged are crowded together. Another Thatcher legacy.

words of wisdom hen,the only people she ever helped were those who didna need it.The vast majority are only now starting to feel the pain,the moneys run oot and hard times ars coming for a lot of folks.Down to the burnside and forget your sorrows.

[petewick]

What has happened now is that what was previously good council housing is not available for anyone who might need it.

Emdee, I agreed with every single word of that post. There have been intractable social problems resulting from the years of discounted sales of council housing. Before the policy was introduced Margaret Thatcher, council tenants had come from a wide social mix, in my own experience, a VERY wide mix. Now, however, many people have taken their profit and left the council estates, which are now reduced in large part to 'welfare sinks' where the jobless and disadvantaged are crowded together. Another Thatcher legacy.

I concur fully with the above.
The working population are having great difficulty getting local authority owned accomodation.
I should know, I'm one of them

[EMDEE]

The working population are having great difficulty getting local authority owned accomodation.
I should know, I'm one of them

I do notice that some of our East European economic migrants are occupying some of the houses.

[petewick]

The working population are having great difficulty getting local authority owned accomodation.
I should know, I'm one of them

I do notice that some of our East European economic migrants are occupying some of the houses.

And just as equally as many having to rent from a private landlord, I share
a villa with two Poles, whom I hasten to add work every hour there is to make
a decent wage because of their employers greed and not giving them a decent
hourly rate.

[Trapper]

The global economy saw to that, not Margaret Thatcher.

The Global economy we now have was created by Thatcher and Reagan and thier cronies!

[four eyes]

it"s dog eat dog thanks to the likes of them,and now we have incompatant muppets in charge of our future i fear for the younger generation.God help em.

[Govangirl]

Too true, the last couple of posters! I fear too for my children who will never be able to have a house of their own AND a family.

[Sheik Yir Erse]

OMG - I humbly apologise to everyone associated with Britain. It seems we now live in a place where no-one can afford houses, Poles can't earn a decent wage and no-one can afford to have children. All seemingly because of one woman, 30 years ago.

In the words of Private Fraser - Doomed, Doomed we're all doomed!

I'm astounded that everything appears to be so bleak in this country, no wonder people call us a nation of whingeing gits!

Would the last of you to leave the country please switch the lights off I've got my torch at the ready.

[Govangirl]

Well, sorry to rattle your Thatcher-loving cage Sheik but yes, our present society (oops sorry, like her, you'll believe "There's no such thing as society") has got a great deal for which to thank that woman and yes, I'll accept your apology.
Our horrific housing shortage and the rocketing prices of the past 20 years, the selling off of public services which led to a dangerous and bankrupt railway, dirty hospitals and unhealthy school meals, this era of greed and social disharmony we have, high VAT, the quality of our education............................... all her responsibility. I'm all for letting the Iron Lady 'rust' in peace but don't go making her a saint or worthy of a state funeral.