UKC

Ten years of government policy has been deliberately designed to undermine and disparage the role of the state. The current mishandling of the pandemic is the outcome.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/29/pandemic-weak-state-1...

I would go further and say that the erosion (deliberate dissolution) of the state and the undermining of any notion of society as a mutually beneficial and supportive body can be tracked back to Mrs Thatcher.

I'm trying to see it that way. Trouble is that she's been out of office for 30 years and it seems a bit of a stretch to blame her for problems that emerged after she died. 

Paradoxically the SNP is definitely Thatchers legacy to Scotland!

Either her's or Milliband's! 

True it was a long time ago that she ruled. But I believe she set a direction of travel that promoted deregulation, privatisation, the myth of the market solving problems and essentially that profit trumps (pun?) society. I found it very saddening that New Labour when in government continued to pursue that line of thinking. 

Yes, like before Thatcher the UK was a bastion of social inclusiveness and tolerance.  Really ? one woman single handedly managed to fundamentally change human nature ?

I think what she did was cut the brake cables. People suddenly realised that behaviours and attitudes that "society" had frowned on were now permitted, encouraged even. The moral compass had a small but powerful magnet put down next to it. 

Sounds plausible, and I especially like the point that overcentralization of power in the UK is to blame. But whether that is actually the main reason or just confirmation of my private political beliefs is unclear.

Here is some data showing correlations between Covid outcomes and measures for state capacity, amount of austerity, etc. There is no simple answer.

https://twitter.com/MrRBourne/status/1311714781452283909

So some people would have us believe. Better that than admit that there's anything wrong with British society.

She encouraged a "me me" and "I'm all right Jack" society that has continued to become more and more acceptable  today.

Yes, I found that bit sad as well, but rationalised that they had to cultivate the electoral middle ground.  Even more sad that they actually did some good work in terms of reducing child poverty, enabled building lots of public facilities like health centres, hospitals and colleges.  I just wish they had tried to make a consistent argument for a collective society built upon principles of fairness and equality.

I am currently reading 'The nanny state made me' by Stuart Maconie and it makes excellent reading about this topic.

Thatcher was fundamental in introducing the monetary policies that returned the country partially to the laissez-faire policies of the 18th century. An affirmation of selfish ends over co-operative ends. Not a change in human nature just an excuse for certain traits. To give her her due Thatcher was the last idealistic prime minister we've had.

I'd argue that monetary and fiscal policies for the 18th, 20th and 21st centuries are very different in terms of globalisation and trade regulation and in the UKs influence in the world.

What I don't understand is that if the capitalist approach advocated by Thatcher and other world leaders is so abhorrent, why haven't we done anything to change it in the last 40 years ? 

Blaming Thatcher for the voting habits of the current generation is too simplistic.

One might argue that if killing people is so abhorrent why do we still make weapons and sell them to people? If it works for enough people with the influence to keep it going then why would it change? For me it is neo-libralism that is the spanner in the works rather than capitalism per se. The obsession with growth is enevitably going to come a cropper at some point.

I wouldn't say that Thatcher is soley to blame. Blair took Thatcher's policies and ran with them. One could also argue that Thatcher was a symptom of her age or that Attlee's government had a far greater effect through the introduction of the NHS

Here’s an article by Jonathan Freedland that also explores the contradictions displayed by this government

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/02/incompetence:-brexit-...

‘“At the heart of the project,” says one Conservative former minister, “is this insurgent, anti-government, anti-establishment zeal, but guess what: you can’t govern if you don’t believe in government.”’