Don't worry about it, Mrs HWS. The polls are an irrelevant distraction from a quick, lazy search on Wikipedia.

I lived through the three day week when electricity was rationed due to the miners strike of 1972, I also lived through the Callaghan/Healey debacle when rubbish didn't get emptied, bodies didn't get buried and top rate tax was 83% and basic rate was 33% and the IMF were required to Healey out of the crap.

I'd agree with that, but then it isn't as subjective as "best" and I'd guess the questions were a little more refined and the sample size a little more representative than that some of those linked to.

You probably find Blair was towards the top of some of those polls linked to, popularity within a certain sample of the population isn't an indicator or how the wider population feels.

I have a bottle of champagne ready for when she pops her clogs which I will drink to the tune of "Ding dong the witch is dead" from "Wizard of Oz". I will the be a true champagne socialist

Ajw 71, I suggest you listen to "Tramp the dirt down" by Elvis Costello to see why we hate her. She destroyed the entire economies of some towns, started the move away from free university education and sold off all the family silver in her mad cap privatisation program that have lumbered us with profiteering utilities companies and some of the worst and most expensive public transport in western Europe.

Is it? Your psychic powers must be amazing to know what I want. All I asked is for ajw to produce some evidence from an independent source with a decent sample and fair weighting. Otherwise polls are unrepresentative.

For instance The Guardian did a poll asking if readers "do you admire Margaret Thatcher as PM?"
Funnily enough the poll came out
Yep, I'd seen that. The weighting seems ok but there is a larger proportion of people living in the south that were polled compared to relative populations and for some reason Wales & NI is unrepresented entirely.
Though I'd agree it's a far far better poll than the dross that was brought up by ajw as "evidence". Though again we get into the issue of the question. You can think someone is capable whilst disagreeing with what they do.

Exactly. You can guarantee too that if Thatcher was at the bottom of these polls, the anti's would be lapping it up.

Just because they don't like her they want to believe everyone in the country doesn't too.

True, similar to the institutuion of slavery in 1860's USA. Wasn't going to go down without a fight, just like the unions.

Oh come off it. 7 of those 8 polls he put are utterly ridiculous, anyone with half a brain can see that. As I said, the only one that has semi legitimacy is the Newsnight poll, but then Newsnight attracts certain types of viewers from certain types of backgrounds.
Which part of that do you disagree with?

The poll you linked to is, as I said, far better. But isn't actually asking the question ajw talked about. Can you see that? Or are you back in your real world again?

As I mentioned earlier, the only poll that matters is the poll that her peers, fellow party members, and her cabinet took in November 1990, that was the point at which they chose to sack her from the job because they no longer agreed with her ideology, could see that she was obviously and intensely despised by the electorate, and feared for their own jobs at the next electorate choice.

Now when an extreme right wing politician is sacked by her own party members there can only be two reasons - one is that he/she is embracing a political stance that is too left wing for their tastes, or they are veering too far to the right and into dictatorship realms - like her very best ally Pinochet.

I think we all know why the Tory members of 1990 sacked her and I think we all know what the reality of any "popularity" claims were just by looking back at that time.

Deregulation of banking; opening up of and encouraging cheap credit; destruction of industry and move to 'service' economy; bar on social housing to boost the housing market ...

Recognise these?

They're the foundations of the current crisis.

All the Maggieites either don't know, have forgotten or applaud these things.

And that is without mentioning the rise of MRSA (a direct consequence of privatisation) and old people dying on trolleys in hospital corridors.

No you're not getting it. 1 historian said Thatcher was good at implementing her policies, so she must have been awesome. That's how it works here in the real world.

Oh, she was very good at implementing her policies.

So was Adolf.