Hopefully our dear British Friends will find a 'new Margaret Thatcher' and we Yanks will find a 'new' Ronald Reagan soon...the wolves are not only at the door, they have made themselves at home in the sitting room.
I was posted by Uncle Sam to England in mid 1982, and arrived a few days after the start of the Falklands event. I departed in 1985. For me, it was a truly fascinating time.
Mrs Thatcher, who was much criticized in her own country by the screechier members of both the upper and lower classes (they had, and probably still do have, such things), was a marvel.
When I arrived, England appeared to a recent arrival from the US to still be recovering from WW II. When I left, the British were beginning to walk upright once again.
A unique woman. A unique person. A pity that she wasn’t ours - there is no telling what she might have accomplished on this side of the pond.
I am absolutely stunned by how far both of our nations have fallen since then.
sorry I don’t have fond memories of the thatcher years. Her cure for the “British disease” was to kill the patient. I well remember her “manufacturing no longer matters” speech and as a mechanical engineer I took it to mean that I no longer mattered so I left England and came in search of real freedom. Her era of prosperity was financed by asset stripping the nationalized industries and by whipping up a property bubble that burst in spectacular fashion. Oh yeah, she was a gun grabber as well, seizing all the semi-auto rifles following the Hungerford massacre.