IT HAS BEEN a good day for Margaret Thatcher’s reputation, once again dignified by her enemies. In Buenos Aires, the actor Sean Penn decried “archaic” colonialism and proclaimed the Falklands to be Argentina’s, which is probably the strongest endorsement one can imagine of British sovereignty, the he-man actor not boasting much of a record for mastering fact, argument, or Madonna (despite introducing a baseball to their relationship)
Closer to home we had our own Penn-like innocent, the ABC’s somewhat cuddlier Europe correspondent Eric Campbell, who minced about Bavaria for half an hour to explain why Germany’s economy is strong and Britain’s feeble. Yes, it is Dame Thatcher’s doing. Campbell explains why, starting at the 10:50 mark of his report:
The Mittelstand embodies the kind of Victorian values of prudence and thrift and saving that Margaret Thatcher tried to instill in Britain. But the problem of Thatcherite de-regulation was that it also led to greedy banks offering easy loans that put the whole country in debt. Here Bavarians have gone down a different path…
It is getting on for 22 years since Thatcher left Downing Street.
Before Prime Minister Abbott de-funds it, the ABC should stump up the cash to get Penn and Campbell in the same room. What a conversation that would be.
UPDATE: Foreign Correspondent's Campbell has responded in comments. It is good of him to have done so, and anyone answering his remarks is urged to do so with civility.
It would also be unfair to address his points at any length, as the host of any blog will always enjoy the last word. That said, if Margaret Thatchers eighties-era deregulation caused the GFC, what of Blair's removal from the Bank of England of the authority to set interest rates, his courting of the City and Gordon Brown's further loosening of regulation? To blame Thatcher at such a distance from the Big Bang is akin to nailing John F. Kennedy for today's US deficits. After all, JFK did slashes income tax rates, especially the top ones, as one of his first acts.
It is true, some economists do blame Thatcher, but the thing is, they are quoted almost exclusively in the Guardian, The Independent and New Statesmen. Other economists argue otherwise. As Campbell is based in Australia and must endure many long flights to his reporting destinations, he has a splendid opportunity to broaden his reading.
One last point. Campbell is probably too young ever to have seen Britain in its pre-Thatcher era. It was not a pretty sight, even allowing for the charm of someone else's short and curlies in the communal bathtub and the spectacle of milk bottles kept on window ledges because fridges were, even as late as 1976, far from ubiquitous.
UPDATE: Foreign Correspondent's Campbell has responded in comments. It is good of him to have done so, and anyone answering his remarks is urged to do so with civility.
It would also be unfair to address his points at any length, as the host of any blog will always enjoy the last word. That said, if Margaret Thatchers eighties-era deregulation caused the GFC, what of Blair's removal from the Bank of England of the authority to set interest rates, his courting of the City and Gordon Brown's further loosening of regulation? To blame Thatcher at such a distance from the Big Bang is akin to nailing John F. Kennedy for today's US deficits. After all, JFK did slashes income tax rates, especially the top ones, as one of his first acts.
It is true, some economists do blame Thatcher, but the thing is, they are quoted almost exclusively in the Guardian, The Independent and New Statesmen. Other economists argue otherwise. As Campbell is based in Australia and must endure many long flights to his reporting destinations, he has a splendid opportunity to broaden his reading.
One last point. Campbell is probably too young ever to have seen Britain in its pre-Thatcher era. It was not a pretty sight, even allowing for the charm of someone else's short and curlies in the communal bathtub and the spectacle of milk bottles kept on window ledges because fridges were, even as late as 1976, far from ubiquitous.
