UberIguana
Well-known member
Bear in mind a lot of the criticism the Thatcher government gets is because they were performing triage on the absolute shitshow that was the aftermath of the 1970s British economy.
When they entered government inflation was around 15% (it had recently gone as high as 27%), public services didn't work (in some places rubbish wasn't collected for months at a time and people pretty much had to wade through it, it took as long as a year to get a phone installed, etc), and most of Britain's major industries were nationalised moneypits that were far behind international competition in terms of efficiency. The only reason they hadn't gone bust is because the government propped them up with taxpayer money, grossly distorting the market. On top of this, the unions had everyone they could get on strike the instant they caught a whiff of something they didn't like. In many cases they tried to outdo each other for higher raises for their members (Steelworkers got a 10% raise? We want 15%), which helped contribute to the rate of inflation that was starting to look like a death-spiral. The government didn't really have a choice but to cut loose the more screwed up bits of industry, which naturally couldn't compete when faced with foreign imports that actually worked and weren't running short because the people who made them were on strike.
There are valid criticisms to be made that more should have been done to help maintain key industries and help soften the blow on local communities, but the idea that Thatcher actively damaged Britain is outright false. The rot had firmly set in by that point and it was going to be a mess to fix no matter the solution.
On topic regarding 3% defence?
I haven't looked up the numbers, but I'd go for increasing the size of the navy by at least 50%. An island nations needs a solid navy.
Increase R&D so we don't rely on other nations for key systems (fighter jets, radar and sonar systems, SLBMs, PGMs, etc).
Increase pay and training so units are at their nominal strength.
The rest can go on more fighters for the RAF and more artillery and logistics for the army (because you can't go wrong with more artillery and logistics).
When they entered government inflation was around 15% (it had recently gone as high as 27%), public services didn't work (in some places rubbish wasn't collected for months at a time and people pretty much had to wade through it, it took as long as a year to get a phone installed, etc), and most of Britain's major industries were nationalised moneypits that were far behind international competition in terms of efficiency. The only reason they hadn't gone bust is because the government propped them up with taxpayer money, grossly distorting the market. On top of this, the unions had everyone they could get on strike the instant they caught a whiff of something they didn't like. In many cases they tried to outdo each other for higher raises for their members (Steelworkers got a 10% raise? We want 15%), which helped contribute to the rate of inflation that was starting to look like a death-spiral. The government didn't really have a choice but to cut loose the more screwed up bits of industry, which naturally couldn't compete when faced with foreign imports that actually worked and weren't running short because the people who made them were on strike.
There are valid criticisms to be made that more should have been done to help maintain key industries and help soften the blow on local communities, but the idea that Thatcher actively damaged Britain is outright false. The rot had firmly set in by that point and it was going to be a mess to fix no matter the solution.
On topic regarding 3% defence?
I haven't looked up the numbers, but I'd go for increasing the size of the navy by at least 50%. An island nations needs a solid navy.
Increase R&D so we don't rely on other nations for key systems (fighter jets, radar and sonar systems, SLBMs, PGMs, etc).
Increase pay and training so units are at their nominal strength.
The rest can go on more fighters for the RAF and more artillery and logistics for the army (because you can't go wrong with more artillery and logistics).
