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[challenge entry] thats how I look using the dell

From the Inappropriate TV Product Placement challenge. See all 374 entries (closed)

(I helped save b3ta! Paul_P http://www.Paul-hub.com, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:37, archived)
# "i'm disabled"
incidentally, can anyone recommend a book on thatcher britain? i don't really know much about her policies and the pit closures, i'm looking for something unbiased so i can make my own mind up about whether she ruined the coal industry or whether it was on its way out anyway etc (all i've heard so far in my 33 years is either "she's a cunt, i wish she was dead" or "she's amazing, bring her back to sort this mess out"), it's something i really feel i should know a lot more about

edit - just wanted to say thanks for all the replies and helpful advice, i knew b3ta would be the best place to ask this :)
(I helped save b3ta! sock more tea vicar?, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:43, archived)
#
Was recently chatting to a retired chief inspector from the time who said they would all the police would be bussed in from across the country - they loved all the overtime they were getting! Also was sometimes strangely gentlemanly with everyone going to the canteen for food and then it be everyone back to the picket lines.
(I helped save b3ta! SoBadItsGood Its only a crime if you earn <£100000, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:49, archived)
# You're unlikely to find something unbiased about that evil cow.
I wish she would hurry up and keel over, so I can send out the party invitations.
(I helped save b3ta! finnbar has officially retired, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:50, archived)
# yeah you're probably right
it'll be something by a fan boy or an angry person, it's a shame though because it's a big thing in recent uk history and i'd really like to know more from a source that isn't a polemic, ho hum
(I helped save b3ta! sock more tea vicar?, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:52, archived)
# I just heard on t'radio
that she tried to persuade Gorbachev (spelling?) not to allow the re-unification of Germany.
(I helped save b3ta! slight yoinks!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:51, archived)
# this
Despite my family being very working class and not the usual Tory demographic, my Dad was very pro-Thatcher. He kept telling me how hellish it was in the labour 70s when everyone was on strike. My generation have been brought up to believe that everything in the Thatcher years was hell too. My dad worked in the steel industry so he had to make decisions whether to down tools with his colleagues or go to work to pay for his family.

Can't help with the book but it'd be interesting to read an impartial view on the subject.
(I helped save b3ta! h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:50, archived)
# She did win three elections, so she can't have been that despised.
It's just that the people who do hate her have the loudest voices. If you weren't a coal miner, you have no reason to hate her really.

(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:17, archived)
# But who in their right minds would have voted for Michael Foot or Neil (foo)'Kinnell
John Smith was the most likely to beat her but he went and died!
(I helped save b3ta! CanonCaliber A big bore, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:35, archived)
# He died in 1994 though.
On my birthday.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:37, archived)
# I can't suggest one myself,
but, with such a polarising character, I wouldn't expect to find one so easily. Rather than settling for a wholly unbiased biography, you're more likely to have to settle for the least

EDIT: Actually, these are supposedly a very good account now I think about it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Clark_Diaries Although he was part of her government, it is often accepted by political historians as the definitive account of the end of her reign in particular.
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:51, archived)
# ah splendid mr soosh, thanks that looks ideal
(I helped save b3ta! sock more tea vicar?, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:54, archived)
# Obviously it aint gonna be wholly objective,
and is written from his own personal memories, but it is very highly regarded and was made into a BBC TV series too if you can't be arsed to read ;)
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:56, archived)
# When I did my history degree
I found the best way to get some impartiality was to read some from each side with a healthy dose of scepticism. Always remember that things are written for a reason so you need to evaluate who was writing it, why, when (at the time or later with hindsight - or motive) and who it was being written for. Some newspaper articles and hard figures from published accounts might help too.
(I helped save b3ta! The Cat's Mother Not a People Person., Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:00, archived)
# that sounds like heavy stuff
can't i just get a pop up books that opens up with a thumbs down or thumbs up? ;p

in all seriousness though, that's good advice and the route i'm going to take i think
(I helped save b3ta! sock more tea vicar?, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:04, archived)
# Just having a quick shufti through play.com for books with Thatcher in the title,
This seems to fulfill what you want in a way. Obviously I haven't read it myself, but it does claim to simply explain Thatcherism without personal account but in a social historical context.
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:10, archived)
# leftist, then
doesn't at all mean it's not worth reading -- just means you can have a quick judgement of its biases from the start rather than reading half of it, evaluating what the biases appear to be, and then re-reading the first half with that in mind...
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:31, archived)
# WHOA DUDE!
JUST TRYING TO HELP A BROTHER OUT MAN! NO NEED TO GET ALL ROBIN DAY ON MY ARSE!
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:33, archived)
# Batman Nights?
The long-lost X-Rated version of the classic series. JUST WATCH WHAT THE JOKER GETS UP TO WITH BATGIRL AND ROBIN!
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:34, archived)
# It's trying to be unbiased, so it's "leftist"?
What kind of twisted logic is that?

edit : or did you read "social" as "socialist"?
(I helped save b3ta! finnbar has officially retired, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:39, archived)
# "social history"
I don't mean politically left, I mean historically left. If it's looking at "social history" then it's looking at history in a particular way -- that concerning the people, and economics. If that's not what you meant by "social history" then I misunderstood.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:47, archived)
# sorry to come back to this so late
Social history isn't left or right or anything else. It's just social history.
Why you think that studying the history of people and economics is somehow "leftist" beats me.
(I helped save b3ta! finnbar has officially retired, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 17:43, archived)
# This is very true.
It is impossible to get a balanced view from one side. As Winston Churchill said, "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. "
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:05, archived)
# Haha
www.b3ta.com/talk/6436248
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:08, archived)
# Ha ha ha!
I like that, good old Al and his quotation appropriation ;)
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:11, archived)
# Alas I can't right now point you to an unbiased book on that period, (I honestly think we are not far enough away from it yet for anyone to really write one) but
if you want to a really good insight into the darkest days of the striking Miners and all the events leading up to the big dust-up at Orgreave. A book called "The English Civil War Part II" is well worth a look. It comes in very "lefty" but it covers a lot of the raw feelings that were running round the Industrial North of England at the time. And looks at a re-enactment of the event organised round 2000.
(I helped save b3ta! The magic of chutney Shakes it like an Instagram filter!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:52, archived)
# ok thanks, i'll give that a try
i think the best i can hope for is a book from either "side" and try to get the truth somewhere in the middle
(I helped save b3ta! sock more tea vicar?, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 12:53, archived)
# Are there any books about her that don't mention the miners strike at all?
You see, I don't give a shit about miners but would like to read about economics and Europe and that.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:39, archived)
# Ha ha ha!
I shouldn't imagine so, what with it being one of the most famous issues of her premiership. Do you reckon you could find a book on Tony Blair that had no mention of the Iraq War? Do you think you could find a book about Churchill that had no mention of the Second World War? Do you reckon that you could find a book about John Major that had any colour in it?
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:45, archived)
# Grey is a colour
It's a shame really, because in the grand scheme of things there really were much more important things going on than a few thousand miners losing their jobs. Things that actually affected the other 50-odd million people in the country instead of just a few isolated areas in the north.

Personally I'm sick of hearing about the fucking miners.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:48, archived)
# Well there's a heavily inaccurate statement.
Firstly, there weren't just mines "in the north". There were mines all over the country, from Kent to Scotland, out to South Wales. Also, the implications long term were a lot more complex than just mining.
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 15:15, archived)
# Explain these long term implications and how they were bad.

(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 15:23, archived)
# It was economics
It was far cheaper to buy open-cast coal from Australia,ship it across half the world,unload it at the docks and carry it on lorries to the power stations, than it was to dig out and bring to the surface deep mined British coal.Even British open cast coal could not compete on price
(I helped save b3ta! CanonCaliber A big bore, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:15, archived)
# Shhhhhhhhhhh with your logic :P
(I helped save b3ta! Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:27, archived)
# I'm still angry that I was made reduntant from a great job when Mrs T closed British Coal
Geologging....got only £600 redundancy pay :(
(I helped save b3ta! CanonCaliber A big bore, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 13:35, archived)
# Why not just get two completely biased books from each extreme
and just average them out?
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Sun 20 Sep 2009, 14:36, archived)