Thatcher, Society and Feminism
It won't surprise anybody who knows me that, on the whole, I was a big fan of Margaret Thatcher, and the vitriol I have read on Facebook has left a bad taste in my mouth (not the comments saying they weren't fans, or disagreed with her, or felt that she did harm to the country, they are fair enough, but comments celebrating her death and comparing her to Hitler). But this is not a post about her policies and my politics. I just want to raise two points:
Society
Thatcher has been quoted as saying "there is no such thing as society" but this is nearly always quoted out of context. She goes on to say "There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." In fact her whole point is that neither society or government can be seen as separate from those individuals who make it up and pay for it:
"I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation and it is, I think, one of the tragedies in which many of the benefits we give, which were meant to reassure people that if they were sick or ill there was a safety net and there was help, that many of the benefits which were meant to help people who were unfortunate-“It is all right. We joined together and we have these insurance schemes to look after it”. That was the objective, but somehow there are some people who have been manipulating the system and so some of those help and benefits that were meant to say to people: “All right, if you cannot get a job, you shall have a basic standard of living!” but when people come and say: “But what is the point of working? I can get as much on the dole!” You say: “Look” It is not from the dole. It is your neighbour who is supplying it and if you can earn your own living then really you have a duty to do it and you will feel very much better!”
Many of our tenants really believe in the government and society as a separate entity. Tenants will spend their housing benefit on a 50" TV, because they think they are taking money from the government not us personally as their landlord. When they tell us they can't pay rent in December because they want to buy presents for their children, they don't get that means we can't buy presents for our children.
Somebody was willing to work for us for £3 an hour, but when I said no, you have to go on the books (and therefore be paid £6.20) he said he wouldn't because he would lose his disability benefit. He has no problem with committing benefit fraud, but then most of the people he has worked for in the past have run cash business, and also claim benefits and don't pay tax.
Feminism
The worst thing about Thatcher's death is that, 22 years after she stepped down, not only have we not had another female Prime Minister, we haven't had a female party leader, and we have had too few female ministers. But I think that is maybe our fault. Clare Short complained Thatcher didn't appoint female ministers. But I have always presumed that was because there wasn't a female MP who she felt was absolutely the best person for the job. Because after all, she didn't need positive discrimination to get to the top (in fact she had the opposite), and when it comes to running the country I accept that there will be people in the top jobs who I wouldn't chose, but I was rather they were picked because somebody thought they were the best person, than because it will increase the number of women, or non whites, or state educated people in the cabinet. The reason I say it is maybe our fault is that when I was 15, when she stepped down, I was really interested in politics. I even said in my year book entry that I wanted to run the country. And then I didn't go into politics. I don't think I would be running the country right now if I had, but there would be more chance than zero. If we want more women in politics, running big business etc, then we had better get off our bottoms and make it happen. (And as some consolation, at least I have just start a company in a very male dominated industry.)
Society
Thatcher has been quoted as saying "there is no such thing as society" but this is nearly always quoted out of context. She goes on to say "There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." In fact her whole point is that neither society or government can be seen as separate from those individuals who make it up and pay for it:
"I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation and it is, I think, one of the tragedies in which many of the benefits we give, which were meant to reassure people that if they were sick or ill there was a safety net and there was help, that many of the benefits which were meant to help people who were unfortunate-“It is all right. We joined together and we have these insurance schemes to look after it”. That was the objective, but somehow there are some people who have been manipulating the system and so some of those help and benefits that were meant to say to people: “All right, if you cannot get a job, you shall have a basic standard of living!” but when people come and say: “But what is the point of working? I can get as much on the dole!” You say: “Look” It is not from the dole. It is your neighbour who is supplying it and if you can earn your own living then really you have a duty to do it and you will feel very much better!”
Many of our tenants really believe in the government and society as a separate entity. Tenants will spend their housing benefit on a 50" TV, because they think they are taking money from the government not us personally as their landlord. When they tell us they can't pay rent in December because they want to buy presents for their children, they don't get that means we can't buy presents for our children.
Somebody was willing to work for us for £3 an hour, but when I said no, you have to go on the books (and therefore be paid £6.20) he said he wouldn't because he would lose his disability benefit. He has no problem with committing benefit fraud, but then most of the people he has worked for in the past have run cash business, and also claim benefits and don't pay tax.
Feminism
The worst thing about Thatcher's death is that, 22 years after she stepped down, not only have we not had another female Prime Minister, we haven't had a female party leader, and we have had too few female ministers. But I think that is maybe our fault. Clare Short complained Thatcher didn't appoint female ministers. But I have always presumed that was because there wasn't a female MP who she felt was absolutely the best person for the job. Because after all, she didn't need positive discrimination to get to the top (in fact she had the opposite), and when it comes to running the country I accept that there will be people in the top jobs who I wouldn't chose, but I was rather they were picked because somebody thought they were the best person, than because it will increase the number of women, or non whites, or state educated people in the cabinet. The reason I say it is maybe our fault is that when I was 15, when she stepped down, I was really interested in politics. I even said in my year book entry that I wanted to run the country. And then I didn't go into politics. I don't think I would be running the country right now if I had, but there would be more chance than zero. If we want more women in politics, running big business etc, then we had better get off our bottoms and make it happen. (And as some consolation, at least I have just start a company in a very male dominated industry.)