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THE FORMER BRITISH Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has undergone surgery to remove a growth from her bladder and is now recovering in hospital.
A spokeswoman for the former Conservative Party leader said that she was doing “absolutely fine” following the operation which came after she was admitted to hospital on Thursday.
Thatcher, 87, has suffered from poor health in recent years including a series of minor strokes in 2002 which led to medical advice that she no longer make public speeches.
She is also believed to be suffering from dementia with her daughter Carol once revealing that the former premier had to be repeatedly reminded that her husband Denis had died in 2003.
Thatcher, nicknamed the Iron Lady, was Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990 making her the longest continuous occupant of 10 Downing Street in the last century.
She is expected to remain in hospital overnight with BBC News quoting a number of her friends as saying they expect her to remain in hospital for the next number of days.
- with reporting from AFP
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I still get the shivers when I see her name mentioned anywhere, what a heartless women in the way she dealt with the Hunger strikers…
Thats about the only thing she got right
Ye good man johnny, second name Evans is it? Gimp.
The only thing she got right was her stance with the unions, basically telling them to f..k off. Unions in uk still not recovered after her.
And that’s good is it?
Among her modern peers as a British Prime Minister she was the only real Leader and had the toughness and decisiveness to allow her country remain a dominant force in the world. Her dementia is a bittersweet way for her to meet the end.
Michael some people would call that war crimes
The earth is a better place without her I hope humans have moved on from the intelligence of this cont
best prime minister the brits ever had , including churchill. she put manners on the argies, the provos, the unions, the eu etc.
Hope she recovers,she has to face justice before she burns! #jft96
And don’t forget the General Belgrano!
You need to do some reading about the General Belgrano. Whatever else about Thatcher (and I certainly have no time for her) the sinking of the GB as a warship steaming towards a conflict zone was a legitimate act under international law. The Argentinians have even acknowledged this themselves.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_General_Belgrano
Belgrana was outside the british imposed exclusion zone in international waters.It was a war crime.
Anyone who wishes her well should remember she hated the Irish. F**K her
Doesn’t everyone hate the Irish then?
Give the miners back their shovels and they’ll dig a hole deep enough to personally hand her over to the devil.
Was it Frankie Boyle who was asked if she should receive a state funeral and said he didn’t give a f*** as long as she’s dead.!!
Maggie can’t die. You can’t kill that which is undead.
its just a matter of time before she is 6ft under and I wont shed a tear. Evil Woman.
Hopefully she gets well soon , greatest prime minister the UK ever had (except for her views on ireland, but economically brilliant)
Interest rates hit 16% and the UK experienced the biggest property crash in its history. Don’t even mention having to withdraw from the ERM. Have I missed something?
She is lucky it wasn’t heart surgery or they might be there a while- trying to find one!
Um, I think you’ll find that was John Major and Norman Lamont.
I judge her economic legacy on how the country is a few years after she leaves power. Otherwise we have Bertie Ahern isms. ‘Everything was fine when I left it’.
Tell that to the families of the soldiers on killed on the Belgrano..
Economically brilliant???
Britain is still paying for this womens horrendous policies. Anyone suggesting this women was great needs to do some reading.
@ Gis… I know.. That was a funny comment!!
How spiteful and nasty @Paul. She is a very old lady that did her job to the best of her ability. Just because we may not agree with her policies does not warrant such a lack of charity.
Economically brilliant? Youre kidding…..right? She gave birth to the era of greed and unfettered free market philosophy…just like Bertie. And lets not forget her war crimes! She may be old and dying but I cant find am ounce of pity in my heart for her.
The free market is the reason Britain bounced back, she stood up to the bully unions and knocked them back to their place , between her and Ronald Reagan , they laid the groundwork for the rapid success we had since the early 90s , the free market brought Ireland an every other country out of the dark aes
Stephen,Your having a laugh.
@ kitty and she showed a lot of charity to people
You need to do some reading. It was those two evil bastards that have us where we are today.
Stephen the “free” market is the reason we are in our current mess. This woman and her kind are the root of all evil in my opinion. The less of them the better.
Stephen the north of engerland may disagree with everything you wrote
Kitty
Your Gavin’s laugh, right
You can say what you like about her , evil/ anti-irish/ anti union. But she never robbed the country
Are you a troll or just a miserable fascist. She took heartless monetarism to new heights and engaged in an open class warfare. Her policy ensured the rich got richer and the poor were ground into the floor.
The millions we spent on security don’t be naive
Tick tock tick tock
I love the really dignified statements people can make sometimes.
You might like her politics but she was elected three times as PM – but I suppose being the first female PM and helping end the cold war don’t really count for much.
Her politics wasn’t always great but I always feel its benign sexism that fuels the hatred for her – a female politician that didnt allow her sex or feminity to stop being a strong leader.
migh not*
Sexism? Don’t be bloody ridiculous. If you knew the first thing about her policies you’d be quite clear that the hatred she arouses has absolutely nothing to do with sexism.
Quite agree.
Let’s see.. who was running our country at the time? Haughey? yeh, we were far more enlightened…
being elected three times does not a great leader make, but it means she was like by many of her own electorate and that’s worthy of note.
As an aside, I liked her because she was wonderful. And probably just a little bit because she p*ssed off so, so many left-wing types. Sure, she made mistakes but overall was a great PM.
So your only conceivable answer to extreme left is extreme right?
That’s imaginative.
Yea…you forgot to mention her warmth, compassion, tolerance, forgiving nature. Lets face it….as soon as she dies its the fast track to sainthood for Maggie! Move aside Mother Teresa!
Were gonna have a party were gonna have a party were gonna have a party when
No – they were in prison for engaging in a war against an oppressive regime that supressed civil rights, colluded at the very highest levels with loyalist terrorists, and refused to hold their soldiers accountable for their odious acts against civilians.
There’s a reason why the hunger strikers are painted on walls all across the north – it’s out of respect from their communities, who looked up to them and admired their courage in the face of certain death. They were principled men, and had incomparable conviction for their beliefs.
I certainly don’t wish her ill. She gets the same sympathy from me that anyone would get. She won’t make me a worse person by hating her. She single-handedly destroyed the following industries in the UK; coal, steel, car making, ship building. She sent millions onto the dole, created a huge economic crash and turned half the country into economic wasteland from which it still hasn’t recovered. She was the worst PM the UK ever had.
this could be the best Christmas present ever. I really despise that woman for what she did in the name of my country.
I’d say she might be turning now!
They’ll be banging the dustbin lids on the street in Belfast when she pops her clogs.
Dave they weren’t terrorists, they were freedom fighters & remember Bobby Sands was an MP
A little sicken by the comments here, like or loath her the British people elected her. What would the reaction be to an English website with lets say an Irish leader dying?
Cop on
@Pierce2020…they’d be out in their Celtic tops throwing rocks, petrol bombs etc at ordinary working people (Gardai and PSNI)
I think half of England would rejoice if she died before we even look at this country.
I agree entirely. The comments were disabled on the stories about an Irish politician who sadly passed away but people are allowed to post highly offensive comments here. Whatever your opinions on Mgt Thatcher there is no place for some of the highly offensive comments here and I think the Journal must bear some responsibility.
well it’s not exactly covering itself in glory here, but the hateful words are the genuine feelings of readers and it’s good to air them – even though a few may just be losers who weren’t really around in the 80s, mostly, and for whom the Cold War is at best a distant memory but have heard third or fourth hand that Mrs.T was the devil and unquestioningly believe it.
It is to her credit that she still elicits such rage and bitterness thirty years after she really made an impact. The level of hate towards her is completely unsurprising in an environment when anything to do with the free market, or backtracking social democratic policies, is seen as the height of evil. But also I can see how anyone with a Nationalist bent still has problems with her. Much better to avoid censorship.
Calling people who disagree with her politics, losers, shows you up badly. There are a few unhinged comments about Margaret Thatcher milk snatcher(taking milk from school children was a poor public health decision) but most just show aspects of her mixed record. She is responsible for a British economy dependent on shopping and selling houses to one another. Contrary to some she did devote a lot of effort to saving British Leyland. That a part if it as Rover Group met its nemesis in the dodgy John Towers is not her fault. However, with the north of Ireland, coal miners and other areas, she was cruel and vindictive.
history will judge her as a tyrant
she hated the irish but damaged her own country more by destroying working class britain. deregulated the banks with regan and is responsible for the economic crisis in the world today
Ah another Thatcher is in hospital story is cue for the left’s useless keyboard idiots to display their invective and inhumanity. It’s not as macho as you think to wish harm on an elderly lady.
She destroyed the coal industry and so many livelihoods. Arthur Scargill did not help his cause, but she wanted to defeat the miners. It is predicted that coal will again become a leading fuel, and all Britain are some open cast operations to take advantage of the Renaissance of coal. She destroyed many lives with only an insecure boom fuelled by ill advised financial deregulation and Scottish oil as weak compensation.
Yay :D not long now folks!
Personally I hope she recovers so she can watch the truth unraveling with regard to the Hillsborough disaster
She doesn’t even know her name not alone remember Hillsborough.
Hahaha. Fair point. She is a million years old.
Well…this is nice. And by “nice”, I mean sickening and somewhat embarressing.
Use the f-word, and your comment disappears-but you can say what you like about a divisive yet successful (in many respects, not all) British PM..
This comment thread is even more bile inducing than the usual uninformed whining and sabre ratling that has infested many of the threads here, of late.
Gillian you are totally right. I don’t like the woman but some of these comments are out of order.
Yes they were left with no option but to go on hunger strike to force political status read your history
And they were in prison for what exactly? Not paying the TV licence?
Very best “wishes” from the Maguire Family, the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six, the families of the Hunger Strikers, widows and widowers of the Shoot-To-Kill, “residents” of Castlereagh Torture Centre and internees at Long Kesh, relatives of those murdered in the Belgrano war crime, British mining communities, anti-apartheid supporters in SA, opponents of dictator Gen. Pinochet, victims of economic deregulation….. Beelzebub will be keeping the Iron Lady nicely warmed for eternity in Hades….. If my aethiest beliefs prove untrue.
Jelly and Icecream!
Probably. Being a catholic with a motoring offence probably would be enough to get you locked up.
I remember one guy got 15 yrs for shop lifting. He lifted Harrods 15 feet off the ground.
100% agree with you on that, she was the British pm when I was born. There is no need to talk trash about her now though. To do do is to show yourselves up IMHO.
For those who think she did a lot of good, what about what she did to the Welsh economy. She shut all the mines in hundreds of small towns and villages without thinking of putting any other source of employment there. Good plan Maggie!To this day some of these towns are still ranked highest in the Welsh deprivation index. I remember during the 80′s having free meals in the soup kitchens during the miners strike as my Dad was on strike money was very tight for my parents, sorry but they had just right to strike for their cause.
I do have a clue Chris actually, I had no time for her either but the comments on here are sickening….if Muslims were posting the same type of invective on here about Christianity or vice versa there’d be uproar, or if right wing British people were spouting similar about mc Guinness or Gerry ‘I never ordered anyone’s abduction’ Adams there’d be whining and whining aplenty, let her die and leave it at that…
And there was s I thinking I was getting nothing gorgeous Christmas.
Did she force them to go on hunger strike? What were they in prison for, motoring offences?
Her absolute rejection that the Nationalist People of Northern Ireland could possible have any rights under her leadership will forever mark her as the primary reason that the troubles were prolonged. Besides the fact that she was another disciple of Milton Freeman who believe that the root of all our problems is that the rich are not rich enough !!
And I quote
“The President of the Commission, Mr. Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No.”
She was the only one who saw all of this euro superstate coming and stood up to it. She and Major kept the UK out of the Eurozone, she predicted that it wouldn’t work without political union. If we’d only all listened to her back then
I’m Irish and proud. But this country is full of hate.
Pity she does not have to rely on the HSE to provide her medical treatment
*dies dies dies that was meant to be
The idea its only Irish Nationalists that dislike the former PM in such strong terms is not true – I’ve lived in the North East of England for over 10 years and they hate her as much up here if not more than we apparently do. If she dies, she dies, it still won’t change anything, people need to move on an quit moaning about the past.
South hate…. Time for the people of Ireland to move on. Seriously, bitterness is gonna eat ye up! Thankfully a lot of nice comments too.
Know my history, your history would be far from objective I’d say! Funny how people spout such hatred on here from behind the anonymous profile…cowardly!
Only on this site late at night, 3 nights before Christmas would an article on Margaret Thatcher having a sore bladder garner over 100 comment’s on much they don’t like her……Don’t get me, I think she was an awful woman, seen and did some truly terrible things during her time in power but really lads, really?
Maggie Maggie Maggie
Out out out.
Terence
Did she jail people without trial
Did she care about the north of England
Did she care about the people in Argentina
Did she support regimes in Central America that were mass murderers
Did she sanction state sponsored death squads
Did she treat her biggest trade partner with contempt
Dud she sanction more nuclear facilities facing Ireland
Did she reduce people’s freedom in the uk
Was the world a safer place with her as prime minister
There’s no excuse for her or what she made if her decisions
Thatcher in the Uk done more damage to Britain’s ability to produce goods & manufacturing than Hitler and the IRA could ever hoped to achieve.In Ireland’s kindred spirit to Maggie Thatcher in creating division and poverty and screwing up so many parts of the Irish economy version of Maggie Thatcher is Mary Harney. 2 pieces of excrement who haves created problems for generations to come.
it’s mostly just the trolls and those hiding behind pseudonyms.
Oh here we go, the abuse, what’s the story with people being allowed a different opinion?
More detail Johnny ??
Terence you really have no clue the comments may be somewhat “honest” to say the least but that reflects the anger and distain felt for her by so many people so cop on
That bottle of Jameson i was gonna have on New Years can wait a few morw weeks..
She’s the splitting image of her image on “splitting image” in that picture,mmmmm
I would not wish her ill either. She was a politician who divided society and caused great hardship for many. History won’t be kind to her.
Just to point out, Downing Street wasn’t always the house of the PM, not until the late 1800s as far as I know. I presume that the author meant longest continuously serving PM in the last century, as she could actually be the longest staying resident in number 10 of all time.
I wonder will Michael D go to her funeral.
Unlucky Maggy, unlucky… ;)
Just taking the piss
have your say