The Iron Lady

• 28 June 2007 at 13:52
• Politik Pop

The UK has just got a new Prime Minister. Tony Blair is gone, because of bad polls, and left his seat to Gordon Brown. The british system is weird. They don't elect persons but parties. Well, maybe it's not that bad.

It's funny how leaders come and go, all around the world, and there is not a lot after all, that we remember. I wonder the memory Tony Blair will leave behind him. Anyway, there is a British Prime minister we will not forget in the near future: Margaret Thatcher, a.k.a. the iron lady, left a very deep legacy behind her, such that, when talking about her with the English, they react very strongly. Either they admire her, or they hate her.

It should be stressed that Mrs thatcher made neo-liberalism triumph in Europe and has been a key element in the ending of the cold war. She has also been a very authoritarian leader who let strikes last for months (the miners' strike last more than a year) and who didn't hesitate asking unions: "Who governs Britain?" and she applied her programme meticulously. When she left, unemployment was huge but the economy could go again on safe grounds, and the UK is powerful today thanks to her.

I watched a few videos of Thatcher to try and understand the phenomenon, and I must say I have been surprised by her intelligence when she speaks. Either when it is about her arrival at Number 10, to defend her position about sinking the Belgrano or to defend... Pinochet.

Oh, what a woman!

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