^ The reason we're in the mess we're in now is due to the road that she decided to take us down, though. Same thing with Regan in the US. Fair enough if you have a personal fancy for the iron lady or whatever, but claiming she did more good than bad is just crazy talk.
@ Feelers Reebo's last post
I always thought you were American, Reebo, I take it your another limey then?
Huh? I didn't say anything about private schools? If you go to a comprehensive then you have an opportunity to learn, do you not?
Yeah, but since when did that mean equal education either? Your taking things at face value without really considering all the various external factors which have a huge effect. You obviously believe that we live in a true meritocracy and that "if you work hard you'll be successful, no matter what", but in reality it's not that simple. Take the state education system which you are mentioning, for example: Look at the way the system is set up. We have performance league tables for schools, sounds fair,right? Except no, all that ensures is that all the more well off and gifted children end up in the well performing secondary schools higher in the table (Through means of their parents cultural currency,and the fact that such schools only want children that will help them maintain their high position on the league table, not children who are currently struggling or have disabilities). Which mean that most working class children end up in local schools that tend to be the worst performing schools, and since those schools are not performing well, they get funding cut and become worse. And how can you honestly believe that a child from a poor family is on equal footing with a child from a more wealthy family, in terms of achieving academic success within school, Qwerty? It's not hard to realise that a child from a poorer family wont have access to the kinds of learning instruments that a more wealthy child has (books, equipment, tutors, ect, ect), not to mention the effect living in an impoverished environment has, and perhaps not even having the opportunity to have breakfast in the morning before school. These are just a few factors that can have huge implications on academic success.
And there are so many other factors too, like race (yes racism still very much exists within our education system), the way teaching is conducted, the style of language it's taught in, and the way success is even measured. It's a nice notion, but children are not all on an equal playing field in our education system, it's not meritocratic.