Comment on the text below in a coherent essay. The following questions may help you:

1. How does the writer portray Margaret Thatcher?2. What were her major accomplishment?

Margaret Thatcher : The woman who made Britain great again

Almost 25 years have passed since Margaret Thatcher left Downing Street, and yet the full scale of her achievement is still surprisingly hard to set out. So completely has her legacy shaped modern Britain, so fully have she and her ideas been woven into its fabric, that it can be hard to appreciate the depth of our debt to this most extraordinary of individuals. For she was not one of those politicians who had the good fortune to go with the grain of her times. She was a leader who wrenched this nation from the path of demoralisation, diminishment and decline so decisively, so self-evidently successfully, that her victory seems, in hindsight, to be almost an inevitability.

First and foremost, Baroness Thatcher was Britain’s leading champion of economic and individual liberty. She preached the virtues of a state that gave people the freedom to make their own choices and prove themselves responsible. Thatcherism in its original form was a creed of thrift, of self-reliance, of aspiration, of liberty in the purest sense. It was also one of unswerving, ironclad patriotism.

 Her chief accomplishment was to free British business, not least from the control of the unions. In every part of the economy, she sought to transfer the initiative from the state to the people. Managers were given the right to manage; taxes were cut to shift the balance of spending and encourage wealth creation; the working classes were encouraged to become shareholders and homeowners; the privatization of nationalized industry opened up competition and created new avenues for investment.

Over the coming days and weeks, there will be a host of attempts to lay claim to – or simply to defame – Lady Thatcher’s legacy… Yet whatever else she was, Lady Thatcher was a nuanced and pragmatic politician, who imposed her will, but let colleagues have their heads, and who saw the virtues of incrementalism(1). Her transformation of Britain was not an overnight miracle, but the product of a grindingly difficult campaign that took impossible courage, determination and endurance – one in which she was willing to divert momentarily from her course, so long as she remained on the right road.

[…] She may have divided opinion, and occasionally even outraged it, but she lifted this nation from decline and despair, and restored it to success, influence and prosperity… If Britain is still Great, it is because of this greatest of Britons.

“Telegraph”, 08 April 2013

1. Incrementalism: a policy of political or social change by degrees.

A possible answer: ( my own work )

Introduction:

Great Nations owes a great deal of their welfare for their Emperors, Presidents and their cabinets, where the Great Britain is no exception. Contemporary Britain owes a great to its Iron Lady “Margaret Thatcher” who shaped the country with her set of policies known as ‘Thatcherism’. In this regard, the text under analysis entitled “ Margaret Thatcher: The woman who made Britain great again” is an article exerpted from The Telegraph newspaper” published in 8 April 2013 ( Thatcher’s death) . This article is an appraisal of Margaret Thatcher’s and her policies. It focuses on Thatcher’s personality and then highlights her major accomplishments.

Analysis :

1. Thatcher’s portrayal : - She was intended to revitalize the country as the Great Britain was nicknamed “the

Sick name of Europe”.- She presented a set policies to get Britain out of the economic collapse that it went

through.- These policies could not be achieved and accomplished if not giving its due time and

interest.- Thatcher’s personality, described as authoritarian, courageous owes her the

nickname of the ‘Iron Lady’. - The writer describes Thatcher’s as a ‘nuanced pragmatic politician’, this, turn to be

useful as she imposes her will and challenges the Labor Party. - She was also determined to challenge the Trade Union and make it weak through the

interference in its internal affairs and laws. ..”So long as she remained on the right road.”

Transitional sentence:

Thatcher shifted the nation from decline and despair to success, influence and prosperity through the her policies.

2. Thatcher’s accomplishments:

She was presented as a savior ( If Britain is still Great, it is because of this greatest of Britons) who:

- Encourages individual liberty: 1* privatizing previously nationalized industry2* housing Act: Right to buy Policy.

- She also encourages open-up competition and wealth creation, and- New avenues for investments.

Commentary part:

- The writer was right to say that Thatcher contributed to the state of welfare that the United kingdom is now going through and he explains that with clear examples.

- But, he was not biased, as he is a Thatcherite ( sympathizer). He felt into a long appraisal of Thatcher considering her as a savior.

- He presented the Privatization policy as the saving policy of the nation, and turned a deaf a deaf ear to the drawbacks of her policies: Privatizing the -National Health Service- (NHS): The Poll tax Abolishing free milk for school children. – she was nicknamed “the milk snatcher”. Many of her policies were meant to jeopardize the poor class.

[ making the poor poorer and the the rich richer ].

Conclusion:

Contemporary Britain’s greateness is a continuous chain that started with clement Attlee and reached its peak in Thatcher’s mandate and until now, the Great Britain reap the seeds of its successive governments and the policies presented.