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The Disenchanted Isle: Mrs. Thatcher's Capitalist Revolution
Traces the former British prime minister's career and the effects of her policies and personality on the various social strata of England, from opposition politicians to coal miners to the patricians in her own party.
- GenresNonfiction
416 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1995
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March 10, 2019
Enlightening in the sense it showed how many were crippled under Thatcher's grand enterprise.
Her wishes:
"A capitalist revolution took place in Britain during the Thatcher years. By this, I mean the attempt to undo socialism, contain the Welfare State, domesticate the trade unions, privatize nationalized industry, institute supply-side economics, enliven the free market, and stoke the entrepreneurial spirit. Riches without embarrassment, self-help without guilt, individual responsibility without fail — these were the cornerstones of Mrs. Thatcher’s plan to restore Britain’s lost greatness. All told, the political, economic, and cultural reforms she sponsored constituted a revolution both in the modern sense of a break with the present and the ancient sense of a periodic turning of the spheres.35 In short, her mission was to revive Britain by turning socialist decay into capitalist prosperity."
Her Failings:
"But those on the bottom were worse off on two fronts. They were forced to take the economic brunt of cuts in social spending, the fragile net woven to shield those who could not support themselves. The poor also had to endure the emotional burden of being impoverished in an age that had neither the stomach to face deprivation nor the heart to cure it."
"Had Margaret Thatcher, the most religious of twentieth-century prime ministers, attended Anglican services in St. Michael’s in the City, a slum-ridden parish in the broken center of Liverpool, she would have seen how many were left out of, if not thrown down by, her economic boom. The priest who presided over this troubled flock was a youngish cleric, the Reverend Colin Marsh. He was used to break-ins in the rectory and his car. Sharply critical of Mrs. Thatcher for disregarding the poor and unfortunate, he had nothing good to say about the ethics of the rich or the values of the enterprise culture. At least he came by his objections honestly, having seen what the decline in social services had done to his parishioners."
Her wishes:
"A capitalist revolution took place in Britain during the Thatcher years. By this, I mean the attempt to undo socialism, contain the Welfare State, domesticate the trade unions, privatize nationalized industry, institute supply-side economics, enliven the free market, and stoke the entrepreneurial spirit. Riches without embarrassment, self-help without guilt, individual responsibility without fail — these were the cornerstones of Mrs. Thatcher’s plan to restore Britain’s lost greatness. All told, the political, economic, and cultural reforms she sponsored constituted a revolution both in the modern sense of a break with the present and the ancient sense of a periodic turning of the spheres.35 In short, her mission was to revive Britain by turning socialist decay into capitalist prosperity."
Her Failings:
"But those on the bottom were worse off on two fronts. They were forced to take the economic brunt of cuts in social spending, the fragile net woven to shield those who could not support themselves. The poor also had to endure the emotional burden of being impoverished in an age that had neither the stomach to face deprivation nor the heart to cure it."
"Had Margaret Thatcher, the most religious of twentieth-century prime ministers, attended Anglican services in St. Michael’s in the City, a slum-ridden parish in the broken center of Liverpool, she would have seen how many were left out of, if not thrown down by, her economic boom. The priest who presided over this troubled flock was a youngish cleric, the Reverend Colin Marsh. He was used to break-ins in the rectory and his car. Sharply critical of Mrs. Thatcher for disregarding the poor and unfortunate, he had nothing good to say about the ethics of the rich or the values of the enterprise culture. At least he came by his objections honestly, having seen what the decline in social services had done to his parishioners."
Displaying 1 of 1 review