Politics aside, what do you make of someone whose previous job was to find ways of putting more air into ice cream? Yes, I kid you not. Her previous job ( or one of them) was to find a way of churning emulsifiers (and thus air) into ice cream to make it lighter and fluffier. It resulted in that vile stuff they call "soft-serve" ice cream. It is not ice cream at all in my view but some people must like it. It sells.
Thatcher sold too. She sold herself and her party three times if my memory is correct. People bought her and her party.
It seemed she was hated or she was loved. Some of those who hated her secretly admired her even while they did not admire what she was doing.
Although they are on opposite sides of the political fence I suspect our present Prime Minister would be a secret admirer of Thatcher. Our Prime Minister does not have the same physical presence as Thatcher but it may be that she has tried to model herself on the Iron Lady.
It is said that Thatcher did not get on well with the Queen. Their meetings were apparently tense affairs. I suspect Thatcher did not like being given advice - even by someone who, although not formally trained, has to be one of Britain's most knowledgeable constitutional experts.
I suspect our present Prime Minister would not take kindly to being given expert advice by the Governor-General - if such a parallel can be made.
It can be said that Thatcher got things done - and stared down the likes of Arthur Scargill in the process. Gillard has tried to appear to do the same. The comparisons probably have to end there because they are or were on the opposite side of the political fence. Gillard has the support of the Australian Scargills - or, more accurately, they support her and she knows it.
I did not like Thatcher and I do not like Gillard. I still do not know what to make of Thatcher but I do know what I make of Gillard. I have the unfair advantage of knowing what she was like as a teenager. I know people she went to school with and what they thought then - and what they think now.
If one has to like any politician then yes there are a few I think I would have liked to meet and talk with - and they come from both sides of the political fence.
I cannot help wondering though what would have happened if Thatcher and Gillard had met when they were both Prime Minister.
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5 comments:
Cat, there are times when you scare me! Chris
The country was in a pretty dire condition when she got the job. She picked it up and gave it a severe talking to, and did actually improve some things. At least she jolted it out of the rut it had been in.
That said, she also did some bad things, and made some mistakes that a more measured personality might have held back from.
She was called the Iron Lady, but the present incumbents (and their immediate predecessors) have custard for their backbones!
Think what you like of her, at least she outlived her Tory predecessor Ted Heath and his monumental sulk! Now HE was a useless politician.
I do slightly take issue with the "ice cream" remarks - back in those days, the chances of a female chemistry graduate getting a research job in anything worthwhile were remote in the extreme - those jobs had to be reserved for the boys. And she had a living to earn then.
e are living with the results of the Big Bang in the City of London when the banks moved in on the other financial institutions....we are living with the results of lack of independence in fuel....
No, a shake up was needed, but not an explosion.
Throw Hilary Clinton and Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir into the conversation and I'd pay good money to be in on the conversation!
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