Thatcher was the best thing to happen to this country in my lifetime as far as I can see.And yes, I was there, and I did vote for her.I was still at university at the time, but I was there and I was "aware".In fact, I had been "aware" for some time (I can even remember the previous and much hated Wilson / Callaghan labour governments as well), but what "radicalised" me (to coin a popular common phrase these days) was being confronted with the utter complete 24x7 in-yer-face idiocy and totalitarian behaviour of the left wing students union who were completely unable to tolerate any alternative point of view from their own.Banning this and banning that. Refusing to discuss any possible alternatives no matter how trivial, mundane, or even domestic in nature unless the solution fitted their extremely bigoted left wing perspective.Being labelled by them "reactionary" everywhere I went for daring to suggest that one of their crackpot ideas was a complete crock (I never did really figure out WTF they were on about with this one). No dissension was ever allowed you see. I think they called this approach to debate "No Platform!". As in - No Platform For Any POV That We Don't Approve Of.Denying the right of anybody with an alternative view to speak at the university.I was just an ordinary student.I did not go to political meetings.I was not and never have been a member of any political party.But boy, did these people interfere so comprehensively with my life and the life of everybody else on campus and they had such an utter and absolute sense of entitlement to power and to rule over those that they looked down upon that I saw then that these people needed to be stopped.Since then the fight goes on.I justify subjecting you to the following recollection on the grounds that it is at least (slightly) more relevant than your 'robin' anecdote. (18ft window sill you say? Hmm, that's some house you've got there for somebody that believes in giving it all away.)Just one example: As I mentioned above, I was just an ordinary student at the time. An ordinary more or less apolitical electronic engineering student in fact (albeit with a rapidly developing healthy disdain for the hypocrisies and corruption of the left on campus) and I along with a bunch of similarly (mostly technically) minded people used to run what was known as the Union Technical Organisation - a standard students union club which those of a technical bent and / or an interest in music would join in order to selflessly give up degree-threatening amounts of their own time to provide the rest of the university's student societies with free of charge discos (usually a couple every week during term time) as well as helping out visiting bands with the tech in the dance hall and maintaining the equipment the rest of the time. We even used to provide the extra amplification to the Film Soc when they felt like screening a particular film in glorious StunSurround (tm)(c)! All of this time was freely given in return for nothing more than the kind appreciation of our "customers". The club had been going for many years and I and the rest of the crew were just the latest in a long line of volunteers. Jealous of our success however, and especially of our relative autonomy and unable to cope with the respect that we were held in by the wider student body for our selfless dedication to our task and the contempt that we clearly held for those that would be our ruling elite, they closed us down. They changed the locks on our equipment storage area and simply declared us out of business so to speak overnight. Apparently, we were a "clique" and that is not allowed - unless it is a left wing clique of course in which case it is okay - encouraged even! In fact, we were a broad church and counted several amongst our number who were distinctly left of centre in their outlook. Everybody, regardless of political stripe, was welcome to join us. Heck - one thing we certainly never asked when we signed you up at the freshers fair was which way you were minded to vote! Far more important was whether you could solder or had an aptitude for furniture removal (the loudspeaker systems of the time being very substantial in size and weight).They, left wing politicians, and especially left-wing student politicians who were already even at that early stage squaring up to become lifelong inductees of the political system (with zero experience of life outside of that particularly insular little bubble), were and remain scum. Scum that deign to believe that they know better about what you should do and how you should spend your money than you do.In a nutshell, and to only slightly misquote the great lady herself:'The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.'** Where I have written 'scum' above obviously I mean 'misguided'. I was simply falling sway to the standard language of the student left when describing those that they disagreed with.ps - the fact that I lived in Grantham from the age of ten until I left (never to return I might add) to go to university and that Mrs. Thatcher went to my sister's school is just one of life's genuinely ironic little coincidences and has no bearing on the above whatsoever. :-)
Tony Colliver ● 4134d