Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, is one of the most divisive figures in British Political history.

Ever wondered why she is so hated by some and loved by others?

Unquestionably strong and successful in her political career, she has garnered love and hate in near equal measure, though some say she merely highlighted the divisions already present in society at the time.

Thatcher – Why is she hated?

I can’t hope to cover all of the reasons people hate Thatcher. I couldn't even hope to cover all the reasons why people don't hate her, and there are seemingly considerably fewer of those!

What I can do though is highlight some of the main reasons why Thatcher was hated, so below I've selected the ten main reasons most often cited. These 10 reasons go a long way to explaining the strength of feeling her legacy has left.

Jump to a reason…

Looking for a specific reason why people hate Thatcher? Click on a link below to jump directly to the relevant section…

1. She supported the retention of Capital Punishment
2. She destroyed Britain’s manufacturing industry and her policies led to mass unemployment
3. She presided over interest rates of 15%
4. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
5. She abolished free milk for School Children
6. She precipitated a Social Housing crisis still being felt today
7. The Poll Tax
8. She sowed the seeds of NHS Privatisation
9. Section 28 – Thatchers quiet homophobia?
10. The Irish Hunger Strikes

For a list of further reason, check out this post by Mike Harding on Facebook.

Thanks to Netflix I recently stumbled across the "Manhunt: Unabomber" series. I found the story fascinating, especially it's protagonist. Not because he killed people, but because he was certifiably a genius and he had much to say about modern industrial-technological society.

I don't seek to approve of his actions (they were abhorrent) but nor do I think that a mans actions necessarily disqualify his ideas from the potential of being insightful, worthy of thought and analysis - or even of being correct.

Is the Unibomber manifesto worth reading?

It's always best if one can make one's own mind up about something. The unique thing about this TV show was the possibility of going beyond the dramatisation (which certainly stood out as being overdone in many areas) and reading Kaczynski's 'Industrial Society and Its Future' firsthand.

To that end, you can find a copy of the manifesto in full at the link below:

Industrial Society and Its Future - Ted Kaczynski (PDF)

You can also cross reference this document with the original text published by The Washington Post, found at the following link:

Industrial Society and Its Future - original publication text - The Washington Post

Further, should the above links 'rot' (be removed from their original locations), the two are replicated below:

PDF | Text

This post is an attempt to cut through the rhetoric and vitriol concerning UK immigration and the upcoming Brexit/EU referendum. Using data from the ONS quarterly migration report I have extracted just the actual figures for you to use as you see fit. This is a 'best effort' undertaking and I may have made mistakes - notify me in the comments. Comments politicising this data will not be approved, save such things for your Facebook timelines or whatever.

More is better. That's what the modern world teaches us. More TV channels, more websites, more apps for your phone, more consumer goods for you to buy, more more more. More choice could certainly be seen as a good thing. More choice generally equals greater 'freedom' of choice which is often seen as a positive; but at what cost to quality of choice? In my experience, quality and quantity are most often mutually exclusive, you can have one or the other, not both.