Interesting to see how many people outside of the UK think Thatcher was a great person, and the best thing to happen to us.

Kev, Sheffield, UK

Thatcher brought this country to its knees, that she is not remembered as such is down to the US/EU economic boom that was the 1980s. Under her rule, public services were either sold off or reduced to a shell. The rich got richer, and the poor poorer. Her legacy is a dysfunctional & unhappy country.

John Buckeridge, Harrow, EU

I'm astonished at the number of people who criticise Mrs.Thatcher and whose outstanding example of her wrong doings is "stopping school milk". If that's the worst thing they can think of of her 11 years of Prime Ministership, I think it shows what a shining example of good leadership she was.

Richard, Alicante, Spain

"Why is it that those that hated Thatcher at the time very obviously never understood what she was about?"

That's a bit rude isn't it? What makes you think they (we) don't understand? It's BECAUSE we understand that we detest her and her policies.

Liz, Inverness, UK

Our "Richard, southend, UK" comment says, she did what parents do because she cared.....ask yourself what she did for the kids when she was Education minister and campaigned to stop school milk for children.....why.....yes because she cared !!

PR, Manchester,

I've wished we had a Thatcher in Canada for decades! Instead we got saddled with a socialist Liberal Party that bankrupted and corrupted all that Canada stood for, sold out our hard-working Judeo Christian values for votes, bribed illegal immigrants to come for 'work' and gave them 'welfare forever' and a 'Canadian Of Convenience' citizenship - all for the price of a vote for the Liberal Party.

We have become a nation of irrelevancy, decadence, false wealth, unending taxes - and an economy on par with Marxist Russia.

Tom, Newmarket, Canada

While you were at Uni (on a grant - that this Scottish Labour government have abolished, in England) I was driving a van and getting on with making money and buying a house without some trade union "leader" telling me what to do and when. ZaNuLabour have destroyed the economic legacy of Thatcher.

Stephen, London, England

Why is it that those that hated Thatcher at the time very obviously never understood what she was about? She made the changes she did because she cared. It's what parents used to do when they took responsibility for their children, make unpopular decisions for them.

Richard, Southend, UK

I remember the days pre-Thatcher when it took four men to dig a hole. One to do the work and three to watch, then the Thatcher era made us responsible for our own actions. It's just a shame that now with all these EU directives we've gone back and it now takes five men to dig a hole - four asessors!

Tom, Lichfield,

"It is hard to recall, 18 years on, the hatred that we felt for Margaret Thatcher."......speak for yourself!! I thought she was great, the last true leader this countries had.

sedgwick, London, UK

Marx’s ideology came to grim fruition in Russia. Mrs. Thatcher’s detractors continue unfazed to pine for the socialist utopia. If Janice Turner is still haunted by Mrs. Thatcher’s vanquishing of collectivism, then she and her champagne cronies deserve another Winter of Discontent. Cheers, Janice!

G. Peterson, British Columbia, Canada

The truth is that, like every Prime Minister and Governent in the UK, the overwhelming majority of the population rejected Thatcher at every General Election she called. Her deeply devisive legacy is with us still. She was elected because of Britain's flawed, early 19th century electoral system.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

Is it in exaggerating, confused journalists who think that we lead a better life today or live in a better society? Labour continued beautifully where Thatcher left off....I think you forgot to say that.

judy, liverpool, England

Margaret Thatcher saved Great Britain. Many people have no idea how close Britain came to becoming a socialist republic under Soviet rule. Very close. Margaret Thatcher prevented that imminent disaster and pointed the way to prosperity. You just had to work for it.

Tom, Layton, Utah, USA,

I have not seen any messages of support from the north-east,only from people from traditional tory areas and from people who no longer live or pay taxes here.Thatcher fans a bit thin on the ground up here,and wont be missed.

martin, darlington, england

Perhaps you should leave judgements of Mrs Thatcher to those of us who were actually hurt by her policies, rather than those who hated her to simply pass the time or have delusions of rightiousness.

My dad used to say the only thing he disliked more than a Thatcherite was a champagne-socialist.

James, Sunderland, UK

Margaret Thatcher was the best thing that happened to post-war Britain.

JP Harrison, Saratoga, CA, USA

This article seems to sugest that Mrs Thatcher encouraged high spenders to pull in their horns. Hardly - it was under her that the credit boom started.

Matthew Thomas, Bristol,

'her Victorian judgment on single mothers'

Even though I wasn't a Thatcher fan in those days, I always thought she had the right in idea about single motherhood. Looking at the state of a society where the welfare system has encouraged it for so long, would you not consider she was right?

Janet Davis, Sydney, Australia

1979: Britain bankrupt, economy controlled by IMF, winter of discontent, 3 day week etc etc.

1997: Fourth largest economy in world, massive surplus, citizens richer than ever before.

2008: Not enought space to list but refer to 1979 for general jist.

We need another Thatcher and soon...

Anthony, Brum,

It was this woman that started the big social experiment that has ruined our country now, i voted against her.
I hated her then and i still hate her now, [or what she stood for ... ].

Anyway, it's all over bar the shouting now ....

tomireland, Caernarfon, Wales

She saved England from the unions, and today she would save us from the Scots - she did more to help the ordinary people of England "get on" than anyone else has done in the last 100 years - I would vote for her again today - but Cameron never - (from an ex print union member)

Marty, London,

'She now has the embattled sturdy-heeled durability of the Queen.'? The queen still has her marbles, Thatcher lost hers in the early eighties and didn't get found out until Heseltine and Howe found her out. Too late after Scotland and Northern England got screwed. To hell with her and her supporters

McGinty, Glasgow, UK

Miss Turner is evidently old enough to remember Mrs Thatcher, but not old enough to remember what came before her. The country was bankrupt and bitter medicine was necessary. We were fortunate that the right person was there to administer that medicine. An unpleasant job but someone had to do it.

Martin, Newmarket, Suffolk

She had twice as much vision, courage and integrity than all subsequent PMs put together. The poor will always do better under a wealth-creating Thatcher, than under a poverty-creating Brown (or Callaghan, or Wilson, or Blair, or ... ).

Steve, Cambridge,

A great woman who had the balls to make decisions, however unpopular. She saved this Country from the Socialist mess it was in. Now, history has repeated itself and we need another Mrs. Thatcher to get us out of it. Unfortunately, they broke the mould.

Richard, Alicante, Spain

If the US could have a Maggie clone instead of a Clinton! I'd vote for her in a second.

Mike, Austin, USA

Thank God for Thatcher.

She laid the foundation for 30 years of relative stability and changed the perceptions people had to unions and socialism. She left an immutable legacy despite New Labour.

Even all the polls have shown that Thatcher is viewed as the best post War PM even more than Atlee.

Doug, Aberdeen, UK

Thatcher can cope !!!!

ian payne, walsall,

Before the certain flood of anti MT comments arrive let me put in a word of support. She did a tough job at a tough time. Mistakes were made and jobs were lost, but it was all the harder because such decisions had been avoided in the past. We ended up in better shape as a result of her premiership.

John M, Birmingham, UK

"This woman destroyed the hopes of my generation"

What were you hoping for then? An East Germany lookalike?

Alex Swanson, Milton Keynes, UK

We did'nt learn the lessons of Thatcherism, the left has
regained control and the country continues on it's downwards
course of lawlessness, laziness and chaos. The new Tory
government will have it's work cut out.

Jeremy, Somerset, UK

I have always loathed the Thatcher government's ideals.
But I loathe far more New Labour; who by totally betraying it's traditions and values, have perpetuated the evils of unconstrained free market capitalism.
While the government grovels to the super rich, Thatcher has had last laugh.

Norman, Udine , Italy

Anyone wishing to understand the emptyness of thatcherism ought to read Dancing with dogma by her Cabinet Minister Sir Ian Gilmour - an insiders account of what reallly happened

Tom, Aldershot,

"It is hard to recall, 18 years on, the hatred that we felt for Margaret Thatcher."

I don't find it hard at all. This woman destroyed the hopes of my generation and for that I will never forgive her.

Liz, Inverness, UK

Thatcher was a monster who ploughed through this country like an unstoppable tank dragging the poor, vunerable and different with her. I remember during a general election, which I had stayed up to watch, my cousin phoning me at 3am crying because she had won a 3rd term. We were both inconsolable.

Kim, London,

By any standards Mrs Thatcher was a great Prime Minister. As a student at the same time as Janice Turner we Tories fought for the amazingly impressive legacy that she gave the country, via economic rebirth. Quite simply that she settled about whether Britain could be governed. And so socialism died.

Bruce Finch, Portsmouth, UK

A great lady who made it possible for me through hard work to achieve much from a poor, council estate origin.

This current lot of corrupt New Labour power maniacs have ruined the UK. Causing many like me to permanently leave the country of my birth for a peaceful life elsewhere.

God bless her.

John Moore, Paphos, Cyprus

Can you imagine what this country would be like if we had not had Thatcher? We would probably be another ' peoples socialist republic' paradise. For all her faults at least she destroyed the power of the unions who managed to destroy a great deal of our industry.

Chris, Camberley, UK

I was out of the country for all of Thatcher's years in No. 10 (but not by choice). The view from outside was of an PM who was elitist in a good sense, who understood that "the people" includes the worst as well as the best of citizenry. You can't always give them what they want. Am I elitist?

brian t, Dublin, Ireland

Oh, not again! 'She tamed the Unions'! It''s all you ever hear about her political activity.

Add her years in office to those of the current lot and British history is beginning to look like 'The Decline and Fall' except that it won't take as long as the Romans did to bite the dust.

john problem, winchester, uk

At least she was a leader, what we have now is smug cringing politicians not worthy of our trust, especially this government, who has practically bankrupted us all. She gave us worldwide respect.

Graham, Foston, E Yorks

It is easy to forget how desperately skewed left wing politics were when Mrs T came to power. (Look up 'Loony Left' in Wikipedia for some fine examples). I lionise her because she had the courage to stand up for common sense and prudence which Labour have yet to show.

C Harris, Cape Town, RSA

it does not say anything really about new labour, except that they were toothless! Thatcher brought the world of 'me and my money first' to the forfront and look at us now. Labour allowed this debt to spirral even furthereven after the collapse of the eighties and ninties, shocking!!

andrew , edinburgh, scotland

"And who, even of her old enemies, cannot pity the lioness in winter...?" Not me, Janice, not me.

If all we owe the Iron Maiden, if anything, is the "attitude" that hoists individual concerns over those of society, a desirable legacy hers is not.

Rob Steen, Lewes, England

Who's the screaming banshee Janice? You're peas in a pod

At least you admit you were a student when you celebrated her demise

Now you've grown up, go and read a history of Britain of the time to understand why she had to do what she did

Mark Smith, London, England

the legacy of Thatcher- the collapse of our manufacturing base. A service economy that needs people to spend money they simply don't have. Huge amounts of credit that needs to be repaid. Our airports (BAA) are owned by the Spanish. The remnants of our Steel Industry by India. rule Britannia!!

gareth, london,

The reason so many people hated Mrs Thatcher was simple. She told the stark, honest truth, instead of coddling the nation's illusions. We all know, deep down, that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that every safety net is easily converted into a hammock for millions. Unpopular, but true.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

You were silly to hate her in your youth, and off the mark in your summary of her achievements now. Remember that in 1979 we booted out a failed and bankrupt socialist administration. The 30-year parallels are eerie. Darling, like Healey, will probably have to beg for a bail-out from the IMF.

Neil, Galloway, Scotland

Thatcher's era was in bold strokes compared to today. She singlehandedly contained the unions that were suffocating the UK. Its revitalising effect was felt here in Australia too.
Her conduct of the Falklands war was far less impressive - especially the sinking of the Belgrano - what a blot.

Dennis, Sydney, Australia

Lordy! Bitter or what? And reading the article, it seems this self-confessed champagne socialist personally had very little to be bitter about. It does explain though how the fallacy of NuLabour gained such a stronghold over the past ten years.

John Tomlinson, Brentwood, Essex

Could do with her now.

albert hall, hove, england

Margaret Thatcher was the slap in the face that your country needed. England is still too steeped in the socialist Utopian dream.

After all these years of NuLab, you should be worshiping Thatcher.

You need another slap in the face and a kick up the arse.

EmmaExpat, NY, USA

I guess the process by which Reagan and Nixon were sanitised is alive and well! A long term look at Thatcher's TINA policies does not support the thesis that they were economic panaceas.

stuart-munro, Seoul, Korea

Great Lady, God bless her.

Mike, Sydney,

Your student memories deceive you. Mrs T was in no as censorious as you seem to think. Look up the reasons behind the introduction of Section 28. Remind yourself of how long it took for Labour to get rid of it.
She ran the country like many, many hardpressed working class women ran their households.

J H Holloway, London,