I had a wee look at your online biography and I see you were born in 1980, which means you are too young to have endured (or enjoyed) the full effect of Thatcherism, since she was gone by the time you were 10.
It's also doubtful if the constituency you serve - East Dunbarton - is the kind of place where you would see the full effect of Thatcher's policies either. For that, you would have to take a wee road trip. Maybe to Motherwell to see what happened to the iron and steel trade there. or to Govan where you can play the 'spot-the-waste-ground-that-used-to-be-a-shipyard'. Or Linwood for a similar game but with old car factories. Then there's Fife and Ayrshire where you can see the coal mining communities abandoned by Thatcher's ideologically-driven purge. And then there's fun to be had in places like Kilmarnock trying to find all the engineering works and carpet factories replaced by brownfield sites.
All of these places were meant to go out and get replacement jobs in the 'service' economy. And it would have gone fine if only we hadn't had a major economic crisis caused by the part of the service economy that Thatcher - and later, Blair - were most proud of: banking and financial services. Their shenanigans were, of course, signalled early on to the Westminster government which chose to ignore them, believing as they did in an unregulated banking service. So come 2008 and the 'banking crisis' is was left to us, the tax payers, to pick up the bill. And when the Tories got back into power, they came up with another jolly wheeze: to squeeze public sector wages, and social security payments to the poorest, sickest people in the community. They call it austerity. People don't like it and they got the chance to register their protest by blaming the EU. Now we're leaving that too in an absolute shambles of a Brexit.
So that's how we got to where we are today.
There's one way in which I agree with you, Jo: if we have to have statues, they should be of women. But you must have realised inside your wee Westminster bubble that politicians are not looked on with affection right now, and suggesting a statue of Thatcher is not going to meet with any favour.
Still, there are other women who deserve our thanks. In Govan, this Thursday, International Women's Day, they're unveiling a statue of an amazing woman: Mary Barbour, a true public servant.
The statue's been paid for by public subscription.
Back in 1915, with menfolk off at the Front, and
the city's factories working all the hours to feed the war effort, the city saw
a huge influx of new workers. With decent housing already in short supply, the
landlords decided to up their rents, and evict any tenants who couldn't, or
wouldn't pay the increased rate.
Mrs Barbour was having none of that; she knew the only way to beat bullies was to stand up to them, and so formed the South Govan Women’s Housing Association.
From protesting and postering, they soon began protecting their fellow citizens; blockading close mouths against sheriff officers sent to enforce evictions. Rent collectors were also targeted, pelted with flour bombs (and worse), with some even being debagged by gangs of angry women.
At the first sight of the rent man in a street, pots and pans would be banged, and he'd soon find himself facing an immovable force - the working women and housewives of Glasgow.
In November 1915, when a group of landlords took some tenants to court to force their eviction, Barbour organised one of the biggest marches ever seen in Glasgow, as thousands of women headed for the sheriff court, joined by the men pouring out of the shipyards and munitions works.
By the time they reached Jail Square (now Jocelyn Square) outside the court, the crowd was estimated at 20,000-strong
Outside the court trade unionist and Red Clydesider Willie Gallacher, teacher and radical John MacLean and Independent Labour Party (ILP) leaders addressed the crowds.
Inside the court there was such alarm that a phone call was made to Lloyd George, at that time the munitions minister in the wartime coalition government.
He instructed them to let the tenants go and said he would deal with it.
Outside a massive cheer went up. The celebrations went on for hours.
In a matter of days, Lloyd George pushed a Bill through Parliament restricting rents for the duration of the war and six months after. This was the first rent protection legislation of its kind anywhere in Europe.
And Mrs Barbour wasn't done battling. She joined the Co-op Women’s Guild and the ILP. She campaigned against the war. In 1920 she became the first female Labour councillor in Glasgow, only having won the right to vote two years before.
Then she got to work. She fought for baths and wash houses, child welfare centres and play parks. Better housing was a key demand.
She was the first to organise a family planning centre in the city, facing down opposition from the church.
She fought for home helps and free, pure milk for schoolchildren. She proposed having municipal banks that could lend at lower rates and build funds for the city’s needs.
And, if all that doesn't deserve a statue, I don't know what does.
Mrs Barbour was having none of that; she knew the only way to beat bullies was to stand up to them, and so formed the South Govan Women’s Housing Association.
From protesting and postering, they soon began protecting their fellow citizens; blockading close mouths against sheriff officers sent to enforce evictions. Rent collectors were also targeted, pelted with flour bombs (and worse), with some even being debagged by gangs of angry women.
At the first sight of the rent man in a street, pots and pans would be banged, and he'd soon find himself facing an immovable force - the working women and housewives of Glasgow.
In November 1915, when a group of landlords took some tenants to court to force their eviction, Barbour organised one of the biggest marches ever seen in Glasgow, as thousands of women headed for the sheriff court, joined by the men pouring out of the shipyards and munitions works.
By the time they reached Jail Square (now Jocelyn Square) outside the court, the crowd was estimated at 20,000-strong
Outside the court trade unionist and Red Clydesider Willie Gallacher, teacher and radical John MacLean and Independent Labour Party (ILP) leaders addressed the crowds.
Inside the court there was such alarm that a phone call was made to Lloyd George, at that time the munitions minister in the wartime coalition government.
He instructed them to let the tenants go and said he would deal with it.
Outside a massive cheer went up. The celebrations went on for hours.
In a matter of days, Lloyd George pushed a Bill through Parliament restricting rents for the duration of the war and six months after. This was the first rent protection legislation of its kind anywhere in Europe.
And Mrs Barbour wasn't done battling. She joined the Co-op Women’s Guild and the ILP. She campaigned against the war. In 1920 she became the first female Labour councillor in Glasgow, only having won the right to vote two years before.
Then she got to work. She fought for baths and wash houses, child welfare centres and play parks. Better housing was a key demand.
She was the first to organise a family planning centre in the city, facing down opposition from the church.
She fought for home helps and free, pure milk for schoolchildren. She proposed having municipal banks that could lend at lower rates and build funds for the city’s needs.
And, if all that doesn't deserve a statue, I don't know what does.
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