Tuesday 9 April 2013

Thatcher 2.0

Of all the nice and nasty things said about Margaret Thatcher since the sad news of her death yesterday, we that she was a driven woman who knew her own mind and had a desire to get things done. Right or Left she was a woman of action.

Equally unanimous is the derision for the current leaders of Cameron, Clegg and Milliband for their uniformly weaselly approach to politics which allows strong positions only to be taken on minor or non-issues like gay marriage or support for foreign aid (this is a bit disingenuous to Cameron re Education and Welfare, but its not like these are his ideas, is it?).

So if the Iron Lady was in her pomp now, what would the UK be doing about its problems? I posit it would be something like the following:

1. Europe - Nothing different I feel, Thatcher saw the post-war need for a more united Europe although her fear of a united Germany has come to pass in a way which she would not have expected with its use of the Euro as a tool for domination.

2. Economy - Taxes would have been cut and the deficit would have grown, now we would be worrying if the rise in revenues was going to make up for extra debt pile. Thatcher would have trod carefully on the Welfare budget as she always did.

3. Immigration - A staunch nationalist, Thatcher would have worked hard to stop unlimited immigration, she understood families and resisted big cultural changes - this is the issue she would be targeting the EU on re allowing too much transfer of people.

4. Unemployment - With visions of the damage of high inflation I doubt the policy of QE and the ultra-low rates that have created zombie banks and companies would have been passed. Unemployment would thus be higher with more companies going to the wall, but perhaps more like the USA our recovery would be quicker as new firms rose from the ashes.

So what would a strong leader do now, there are always constraints and you can't wave a wand - what would we want a new Thatcher to do to turn our Country around from the financial crisis?

22 comments:

roym said...

tear up planning regs

build more houses

VAT cut

increase spending on applied R&D and technology development

Ben 11 said...

Simon Jenkins, liberal writer for the Guardian, says there is no housing shortage. That there are enough houses for everyone.

26.4 million households in the UK in 2012. So if its 2.9 people per house, then he's sort of correct.
Assuming some socialist-communist system where everyone is allocated a house in a random area of the country.

andrew said...

Three things

A
Ignore lefty whinging about general income inequality - in an increasingly prosperous world the gap between low and high income will grow. Get over it.
Understand that regional inequality is a bad thing. On a national level, the strains between a poor north and rich south-east is nationally corrosive.

1 - Big fat motorway leeds <> Hull, leeds <> Newcastle, an 'M25' around leeds. Better trains leeds <> Hull, Newcastle, Liverpool - freight compatible. New or bigger airport at leeds
2 - Abolish green belt north of liverpool / Hull, south of Preston / York / Scarborough
3 - severely limit new build in SE. No new infrastructure there. No new houses.
4 - Move bits of govt from London up there

B
Resist the temptation to fiddle with Schools / Universities.
Blair bet that lots of people with a degree will make lots of money and has not been proven wrong (yet). The German model looks to be correct so far - but you cannot tell what the outcome will be in 50 years time.
Give major tax breaks to companies that provide apprenticeships/ training to people of any age.
Learning should not stop at 18/21.

C
Abolish the tax credit system.
Call it a wage supplement system.
Increase the minimum wage for over 21s to a livable level. Make it regional.
We have RTI now and so we should be able to pay a supplement to someone that automatically adjusts on a monthly basis (or even weekly).

something to upset everyone!







Anonymous said...

I think the current plan is to let the financial sector get going again, but to tax it a bit more, and use some of the money to try and come up with the next big thing.

Its not much of a plan. Marginally better than using the tax take to give to people to stay at home or to try allow the cleaner to earn the same as the manager.

Blue Eyes said...

Maggie wouldn't be fracking about. The legislation and tax regime would be in place by now. Blackpool would be a boom town.

I can't imagine she would have nationalised the banks. Maybe a savers' guarantee and a bail-in for the rest.

She would let stupid investors take the hit for their stupid investments. Housing would have slumped further but recovered more quickly (outside London).

I think she would approve of Gove's school reforms.

Andrew is half right, a massive Enterprise Zone for the whole North from Liverpool to Hull. John Prescott had a decent idea but it was based on lots of council housing and grand rail projets.

Sell off the rest of the council housing in London to take the heat out of the market. Not working? Want a cheap house? Move somewhere else.

Clive said...

Mrs. Thatcher would definitely, there is no question in my mind, have let the banks fail (no TBTF in her view of the Free Market). Deposit protection would have been honoured, maybe all retail savers over that threshold would have been bailed out even if not entitled but that would have been that.

And we'd be 5 years into clearing up the resultant mess instead of enduring the current perpetual near-death experience.

Jan said...

She would have got some things back from the EU so that we would have been able to get rid of Abu Qatada.

But most of all she would have done more to sort out the economy and would have cut much more from the public sector to try to balance the books.

agence web said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Nick Drew said...

Well you won't be surprised to hear me nominate scrapping the green nonsense !

Ryan said...

Tell the environmentalists they can set aside 75% of the country that cannot ever be built on, but the other 25% we can build whatever we like on it and they can't say a damn thing - it will be illegal in fact to challenge planning permission on environmental grounds in these areas.


Divide the 25% of the permitted building land into retail, commercial and housing land and let anyobdy build what they like as long as it is within the local vernacular.

Buildings left unoccupied for more than 5 years must be auctioned. If they still do not sell they must be demolished.


Get rid of Grade II listing on property, except in areas where there is a high density of such buildings.


Double the size of existing prisons and double all prison sentences overnight.


Make rape, murder and Class A drug-dealing mandatory life sentences. Life means life.


Court cases will consist of one day to present the case, two days to present the defence and one day of deliberation and sentencing. It will no longer be permitted to offer what amounts to "excuses" in court. Fees for legal work will be fixed - you will not be able to pay for "better justice". If you have broken the law you will do the penalty defined by the law, and these penalities will be advised to the public. Regular offenders will be permanently institutionalised, although not necessarily in a prison - more to just keep them away from everyone else.


Anybody on benefits will lose the right to vote in elections. They will work for the state on the basis of how much money they are getting from the state, i.e. youngsters on jobseekers allowance will do one day of work for the state per week. The work may consist of building and then destroying dry stone walls or cutting some old lady's lawn.


Parents that live on benefits for more than two years will have their children taken away from them.

The tax system should be made flat-rate by constitutional arrangements. It will be illegal to pay cash benefits to anyone. Benefits will only be paid in terms of vouchers for the specific benefit.


The minimum wage will be set such that a person working a 40hour week will be able to buy a two bedroom appartment without resorting to any kind of benefit.



Make immigration illegal with a constitutional committee to prevent gerrymandering of the democratic system by means of immigration.


30% of pubs and restaurants will be allowed a "smoking licence" sold by auction by the local council. Smokers will only be able to buy cigarettes using a special credit card obtainable only under prescription.


Women that have children with no visible means of support will have the children taken into care.


The children of divorced parents will reside with the father in the first option.



Well, that's a start.

CityUnslicker said...

Maggie was key to getting CFC's banned re greenery - she even persuaded Ronnie!

Electro-Kevin said...

I wouldn't like to guess what she would have done.

All I can say is that we would be in a much better place than we are now.

Budgie said...

E-K I think you are right there.

Maggie would not have used the CPI (which does not have house prices in it) to set mortgage rates, unlike J Gordon Brown the real culprit of the housing boom, and the bust.

Bill Quango MP said...

I love the way the Socialist Worker guy said "She never had a mandate from the British people .. never more than 45% of the vote."

How many people vote SWP? Is it below 1% ? I think it is.

Graeme said...

I am thinking of voting for Ryan...

Anonymous said...

There is a strange piece in the Spectator about why the home of Adam Smith never ever took to her.

In fact, her policies* helped divide the country into a multi-coloured cocktail of a blue south, red middle and yellow north.

Would make an interesting drink.

* Separate the person / the policies

Anonymous said...

Pulleeeze, enough already. Look I know the meeja has long since forked out on the obits and the talking heads - but please I for one have had more than enough.

Just spike the garbage and let her family send her off in peace - and please God, may all the television transmitters break down next Wednesday.

CityUnslicker said...

Roger I agree to some extent - this is my last piece. She was a great woman though and i doubt we will have another such I political leader in my lifetime.

Blue Eyes said...

Agreed, let's forget our history and move on!

Weekend Yachtsman said...

"derision for the current leaders...for their uniformly weaselly approach to politics which allows strong positions only to be taken on minor or non-issues like gay marriage or support for foreign aid"

Mostly this is because they've outsourced all the real politics to the EU.

Oh wait - that's their fault too.

Yes, I do despise them.

Compared with Maggie, to call them pygmies is paying them a compliment they don't deserve.

R.I.P.

site web maroc said...

C'est vrai que sa mort fera une chose terrible et sans aucune doute sa perte ne sera une chose facile.Dés son arriver au pouvoir, elle a su contrôler les choses et a pris initiatives que c'est difficile de les prendre en mains.

Agence communication said...

"" Equally unanimous is the derision for the current leaders of Cameron, Clegg and Milliband for their uniformly weaselly approach to politics which allows strong positions only to be taken on minor or non-issues like gay marriage or support for foreign aid (this is a bit disingenuous to Cameron re Education and Welfare, but its not like these are his ideas, is it?).

So if the Iron Lady was in her pomp now, what would the UK be doing about its problems? I posit it would be something like the following:

1. Europe - Nothing different I feel, Thatcher saw the post-war need for a more united Europe although her fear of a united Germany has come to pass in a way which she would not have expected with its use of the Euro as a tool for domination.""