Free Republic

Conservatives of a fatalistic bent -- their numbers this month have swollen -- like to depress themselves with the maxim that government programs never perish. Statism's relentless march can be checked at times but rarely beaten back. Just look, they say, at those New Deal relics known as farm programs. And then they see Time magazine's cover this week -- Barack Obama pictured as FDR, with the cover line "The New New Deal" -- and they head for the window ledge. [snip] But the greatest refutation of their dour outlook can be expressed in a single name: Margaret Thatcher. When...

She may no longer make speeches, on doctor's orders, but there is no keeping Lady Thatcher away from her public. From the moment she clambered shakily from the back seat of a black Jaguar, on to the forecourt of the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, this was going to be her night. At 83, and reportedly suffering from dementia, she makes few public appearances these days. But this was a special occasion - the 20th anniversary dinner of the Bruges Group, which takes its name from a speech in which she first warned against the creation of a European "super state"....

1 hour, 31 minutes ago LONDON (Reuters) - Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher -- once known as one of the world's most formidable political minds -- has been suffering from dementia for the past seven years, according to her daughter, Carol. Carol Thatcher tells in her memoirs of how her 82-year-old mother, nicknamed the "Iron Lady" for her tough reputation, often struggles to remember things and repeats questions. In a memoir serialized in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, her daughter paints a picture of a very different woman from the political heavyweight who strutted the world stage in the...

The daughter of British former prime minister Margaret Thatcher tells how her mother's dementia has left her struggling to remember the simplest facts in book extracts published Sunday. Carol Thatcher wrote that, on her worst days, her mother struggles to finish sentences but shows occasional glimpses of her old self, particularly when talking about her time in Downing Street. "I had always thought of her as ageless, timeless and 100 percent cast-iron damage-proof," Carol Thatcher wrote in her memoir, "A Swim-On Part In The Goldfish Bowl", which was serialised in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. "Whereas previously you never had...

Margaret Thatcher: The patriot who vanquished failure Last Updated: 12:02am BST 11/04/2008 After decades of decline, Margaret Thatcher's leadership brought courage and conviction to a nation that had grown used to second best, says Charles Moore On the day in 1982 that the British task force set sail to recover the Falkland Islands from the Argentine invaders, Margaret Thatcher was asked on television: "If you fail, would you feel obliged to resign?" "Failure?" she answered, "Do you remember what Queen Victoria once said? 'Failure - the possibilities do not exist'." The remark goes to the heart of Mrs Thatcher's essential...

The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has made a defiant speech to Conservatives at the party conference in Brighton. In it she stressed her determination to stick to tough economic policies despite doubts expressed within Tory ranks. Responding to recent expectations of an about-turn on counter-inflationary policies, Mrs Thatcher declared to widespread cheers: "To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning!"

Baroness Thatcher has been released from hospital this afternoon after she was admitted overnight for precautionary tests. The former Prime Minister smiled and waved as she walked out of St Thomas's Hospital in central London, where she was taken after falling ill last night. The 82-year-old had been dining with friends in the Lords when she started feeling "slightly nauseous and faint", her private secretary, Mark Worthington, said. "Her legs gave way a little bit under her," he said, adding that she had not fainted. "We thought it safest to be sure about these things." A close friend said: "She...

THE frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph Giuliani, has attacked Hillary Clinton’s attempts to represent herself as a new “Iron Lady” by accusing her of surrendering to the hard left over the Iraq war. Giuliani flies into London this week to give the inaugural Margaret Thatcher lecture, organised by the Atlantic Bridge think tank. He will be awarded the Margaret Thatcher medal of freedom by the original Iron Lady, 81, who is revered by American conservatives. The former New York mayor has accused Clinton of pandering to left-wing Democrats by casting doubt on the testimony of General David Petraeus,...

A movie about former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the run-up to the 1982 Falklands War is being planned. Pathe and BBC Films are developing a script for a drama-documentary about the tense political period before the conflict between the UK and Argentina. It is being produced by Damian Jones, who was behind the recent film version of Alan Bennett's The History Boys. Last month, another high-profile biopic, of Queen Elizabeth II, won Dame Helen Mirren an Oscar for best actress. 'Crucial period' "The proposed film will be a revealing and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher as she battles...

A bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister known as the "Iron Lady," was unveiled Wednesday in her presence.The seven foot, four inch (2.24 metre) statue has been set up facing World War II leader Sir Winston Churchill in the members' lobby of the House of Commons, Britain's lower house of parliament.A joyful Thatcher told onlookers: "I might have preferred iron -- but bronze will do. It won't rust."She said the Commons had done her a great honour by commissioning "this fine and imposing statue," which portrays her with her right arm outstretched, as though addressing...

Lady Thatcher says Britain must stand shoulder to shoulder with the US in the fight against terrorism. The ex-Conservative prime minister, in Washington to commemorate 9/11, warned: "We must not falter. We must not fail." She spoke as current Tory leader David Cameron called anti-Americanism "intellectual and moral surrender". But Mr Cameron also called for greater "humility and patience" in foreign policy and called himself a liberal conservative, not a neo-conservative. 'Barbarism' Baroness Thatcher's comments came in a statement from the White House where she accompanied members of the US Cabinet to take part in a solemn ceremony to mark...

The bitter infighting in Prime Minister Tony Blair's party over when he will quit Downing Street is reminiscent of the rancorous way Margaret Thatcher was forced out, knifed by her own side in 1990. The vultures are circling over the Labour Party leader, demanding his immediate exit, just as they did with titanic Conservative prime minister Thatcher 16 years ago. Both delivered an impressive three straight general election victories for their parties, but Blair now faces the same situation Thatcher did after 11 years in Downing Street: clinging on to power while their rank and file turn against him. Mindful...

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's short-term memory has faded to the extent that she cannot remember the start of a sentence by the end, her daughter Carol has revealed. The "Iron Lady", 80, who has suffered a series of minor strokes, can still vividly recall events in the distant past but no longer reads much because it is "pointless", Carol Thatcher said, describing her mother as "very frail". "For someone who had such an exciting life, she doesn't take well to having time on her hands," journalist and broadcaster Carol, 52, told the Daily Mail newspaper. "She doesn't read...

Wednesday December 07, 2005 Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been admitted to hospital.Baroness Thatcher was taken to a London hospital after "feeling faint", a spokesman for the Conservative Party said.Known as the Iron Lady, she will be kept in hospital overnight but is likely to be released in the morning.Baroness Thatcher recently celebrated her 80th birthday at a London hotel, where she appeared frail.Her health has been failing since the death of her husband Denis.More follows...

Margaret Thatcher turned 80 Thursday with a rare return to the limelight a posh party featuring the queen and the former prime minister's two successors celebrating along with Britain's "Iron Lady." Heading the high-powered guest list were Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Sir John Major, Thatcher's immediate successor at No. 10 Downing St. Britain's first female prime minister, who has grown frail in recent years following a series of small strokes, gave up most public speaking on her doctors' advice several years ago. Thatcher's assistant Gilly Penrose said she was feeling good and was pleased about the...

LONDON - As Britain’s longest-serving 20th century prime minister and the only woman to hold the job, Margaret Thatcher presided over a decade of radical conservative change in Britain. On her 80th birthday on Thursday, Thatcher will throw a lavish party for 650 guests, a brief return to the limelight for the woman made Baroness Thatcher in 1992, two years after she stepped down. From the day in May 1979 that she arrived at Downing Street with her trademark handbag, Thatcher used no-nonsense rhetoric and a steely power over her male acolytes to take stagnant Britain on a path of...

High unemployment, a struggling economy, and widespread pessimism. Great Britain managed to break out of its downward spiral in the 1980s by sending Margaret Thatcher to 10 Downing Street. Germany may soon emulate England by electing reform-minded Angela Merkel. But the country may not be desperate enough for her to be successful.

The divorced daughter of a Protestant minister, Angela Merkel, 50, Germany's conservative leader and its version of the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher could become the first woman Chancellor this autumn. She would then become the most powerful woman in the German-speaking world since the Hasburg Empress Maria Theresa. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder whose party the SDP lost badly in the biggest state North-Rhine Westhpalia was left with no option but to request the President to call an early election. People said the Chancellor was a man preparing his own funeral. When elected the leader of of the Christian Democrats after Helmut...

Conservative challenger Michael Howard is trailing Prime Minister Tony Blair in the British polls, and Margaret Thatcher has had enough. Facing the possibility of her cherished Tory Party losing to Blair again, and upset at the possibility that Labour will be leading England's government again, Thatcher skipped town for a little holiday - just days before the election. She is not campaigning for Howard, and British papers quote a close friend of the baroness as saying, "She wants to see a Conservative government again. She is frustrated that is not going to happen, despite the Labour Government's serious shortcomings and...

Former Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher paid tribute to Pope John Paul II as the greatest pontiff of modern times and the "moral force" behind victory in the Cold War. "We should remember Pope John Paul II not just as the greatest pope of modern times but also as a valiant fighter for the truth," she said. "His life was a long struggle against the lies employed to excuse evil. By combating the falsehoods of communism and proclaiming the true dignity of the individual, his was the moral force behind victory in the Cold War. "Millions owe him their freedom...

Thatcher knew how to fight terroristsBy Robin Harris(Filed: 13/10/2004) Twenty years ago yesterday, the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton, killing five people and injuring 34 others. The prime target was Margaret Thatcher. Memories in Ireland are long. And as she celebrates her 79th birthday today, Lady Thatcher will know that she is still on some terrorist's list. After the outrage, the IRA issued a statement. It sneered: "Today we were unlucky, but remember, we only have to be lucky once; you will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no war." Mrs...

Margaret Thatcher has made a dramatic return to the political front line with a searing attack on Tony Blair's "Left-wing" tax-and-spend policies and his failure to carry the nation in the war on Iraq. The former prime minister's broadside came as she defied doctor's orders to make a speech last night marking the 25th anniversary of her rise to power. Having once praised the rise of New Labour as her greatest legacy, Baroness Thatcher turned her fire on Mr Blair - to denounce his adoption of some of her policies as a "conversion of convenience". To loud cheers from an...

May 2004 marks the 25th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's election as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. I was 14 when she was elected and can remember discussing with some friends the novelty of having a woman in charge of the country. Most of them were apathetic - 14-year old boys aren't usually interested in politics, after all. One of them, however, quoted his father's opinion of her. It went something like - "Women are weak. They can't think straight. This country will be taken advantage of by unions and foreigners. She'll be gone by the next election, back...

Irina Khakamada is running for president but her campaign headquarters are not bustling. Phones aren't ringing off the hook and no one is barking instructions. This is no Clinton-style war room, yet this lone warrior still looks battle-weary. She says she harbors no illusions of unseating President Vladimir Putin, but that's not the point. "We're fighting so that people raise their voices," she says, not fighting to win. "That costs less." But it's not clear just who is raising their voices in support. Speculation that she is a mercenary front for the Kremlin or oligarch interests has made it difficult...

Lady Thatcher is considering coming out of retirement to join the campaign for a national referendum on the new European constitution that she fears will further erode British sovereignty. The former prime minister, 77, retired from public speaking in March last year after suffering a series of minor strokes. Now, however, her aides say she may join the campaign for a referendum, which is being resisted by the Government. "It's being considered," said her spokesman yesterday. "We haven't decided yet." The Telegraph has also learned that Lady Thatcher intervened this month in the European Union debate in Estonia, one of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is the only country able to fight a "twin-headed'' monster -- Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein -- in its efforts to eradicate terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Monday. "Evil has never been so technically difficult, never been so elusive,'' she told about 800 people after receiving the Clare Boothe Luce award from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Thatcher, who was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, was nicknamed the "Iron Lady'' for her forceful brand of conservatism. She led Britain out of...