I’d vote for you Fractelle. I’m sure you’re no xenophobe and know the meaning of the word. Guess I’ll look out for the spiritual party – sure to be more symbolic than Kevin07 and greener than green. What are your policies?

Thatcher? If she didn’t have them, she was injecting it.

How to get more women into state or national politics? Most seem to prefer local politics – local as in the home ;-)

Yabby: "Fractelle, the "equal" has to be based on merit, not dependant
on the owner having a pair of labias or not."

Ha! I *totally* agree, but I'd add knackers. There is plenty of dead, unintelligent, untalented wood with overgrown senses of entitlement in the upper echelons of the public sector and business. The blokes who don't get sacked despite the fact that there's a thirty-something woman with an American MBA and a lot more acumen coming up behind him because they've just been around too long for anyone to dare or even know how to sack them. They are holding back government departments all over the country. A fifty-something (male) career public servant told me that there's a generation of young women who are going to have to wait till the old blokes retire before they're really going to get assessed on merit.

I'm not arguing for affirmative action — I think it's absurd, and I'm sure there have been many cases of under-qualified women replacing far more talented men just to so someone can meet some quota — but merit cuts both ways.

Fractelle,
The slogan “if you want anything said ask a man, if you want anything done ask a woman.”, is actually a feminist slogan, that has never been proven by any type of scientific research.

I’ve never heard of any feminist research ever undertaken that was later verified as being true, unbiased or non-prejudiced.

As for Margaret Thatcher and war, she would stay up late at night drinking whisky and watching the Falklands war on TV (often becoming quite drunk by various accounts).

258 UK soldiers died in that war, together with 649 Argentineans. It was a completely needless war, as a number of countries had offered to solve the crisis diplomatically.

Fractelle I see you have discovered Margaret Thatcher. Obviously, reading my posts has produced some meritorious outcomes.

Dearest Margaret did also say

“It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.”

My reference to her having “balls” was metaphorical, alluding to tenacity to see a specific task through to the end, rather than allowing ones resources and focus to be diffused and deflected across multiple tasks.

I would also observe dearest Margaret said, over 20 years ago that “The battle for women's rights has been largely won.”

And most importantly

“Let our children grow tall, and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so.”

(Regardless of gender and without affirmative actions.)

Final quote of hers

“And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark divisive clouds of Marxist socialism.”

I am particularly pleased she saw the collapse Marxist Socialism. She and Reagan were the active catalysts, through their stalwart attitude and determination to prevail which set the seeds of communist collapse into motion.

As for “What women want is a fair go and no-one male or female is going to get 'a fair go' until there is equal representation across our society of both men and women.”

We all have the vote. There is equal opportunity for representation.

We could apply an artificial “affirmative action” strategy barring men from standing for election in some seats or forcing a division of the electorate along gender lines.

Before commenting, I would observe, neither of the suggestions (above) is ethical and both are socially divisive and thus not in the long term best interests of either gender.

Please advise how you would “Fix” the representation across gender lines without sinking to either of the two options (above)?

HRS. Your assertion Falkland War was “needless” must be based on ignorance. Thatcher had the absolute support of the British public (her authority) to ensure the Falkland islanders had the government of their choice and not that of an Argentine Dictator.

Danielle,

It would be closer to the truth to say: "Boys went to war, came back as broken men, having lost their youth, their innocence and having suffered permanent damage to their lives and to the lives of their dependents."

Regarding the second comment, whilst it is reasonable to expect that professional soldiers should be more resigned or accepting that they are required to go to war, there is no evidence to suggest that they suffer any less effects from the experience than conscripts or volunteers.

I would be very surprised if the Department of Veterans' Affairs has ever suggested that from its claims and treatment records professional soldiers have fewer health problems resulting from conflict than other recruits or that they suffer fewer long term effects, including psychiatric problems. They are not world apart, they are the same flesh and blood and suffer equally from the horrors of war.

Arguably, the history of government in accepting medical conditions suffered by Vietnam diggers was shabby, but that shabbiness was in keeping with the duplicity originally displayed by the coalition government in sending them there.

HRS;-see that?!! Not impossible-we are in total agreement!

"Dearest Margaret"________(takes time out to barff)______.

No TB., she did NOT have the full support of the British. And the sinking of the General Belgrano will go down in maritime military history as a shameful act by the RN under Thatcher.

I hope that given time, long retired naval personnel will speak out about what they were ordered to do.

She was/is a vile creature, and no amount of spin will make her anything else.