In article ws.net,
:::Jerry:::: wrote:
That is your take on the facts, but if the UK was in such a good
state (economically) why did Callaghan lose?

People were fed up of tightening their belts - getting the raging inflation
down without damaging industry or people is hard. And Thatcher promised much
reduced unemployment which was slowly creeping up to 1million.
And the Liberals left the coalition/alliance to gain political advantage and
the tabloids swooped on strikes by low paid workers and whooped it up.

I'm not defending most of what Thatcher did, in retrospect much was bad if
not vindictive [1] but I do think that the reconstruction of the British
manufacturing base (yes I do mean the cutting out of out-dated and
uneconomic work practises) was necessary and beneficial to 'UK industry
Ltd'.

It was necessary - try reading the 'White-hot Technology' speech of Harold
Wilson in Glasgow. No one questioned the need. The problem was that most of
the shake-up was required in management and the Labour government wanted to do
it without irreparable harm to industry or workers. It could have been done
but had to be done slowly and carefully or it wouldn't work. Only a blithering
idiot would have (let's get the DIY ideas in!) pulled the house down in order
to sort out bad old plastering - and blame it on the wallpaper!
Part of the reconstruction would come from the income from North Sea Oil.
Instead that was used to pay for high unemployment levels designed to destroy
industry.

Thatcher's idea was that if the statistics showed that, at any one time, 30%
of hospital beds were empty then you could close 30% of hospitals. She didn't
appreciate that by trying to get 100% hospital beds full you had people lying
in hospital corridors for days and endemic disease.
She didn't appreciate that industry employed people who weren't particularly
bright to do mundane work. She wanted such people out. Out where? Out on the
streets drawing benefit that the rest of us, and industry, had to pay for
instead of making the best use of their capabilities and making them a useful
part of society.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
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