To the editor:
Re: "Olson wrong on Thatcher," Letters, April 26.
I read George Vysatek's perspective on Geoff Olson's piece and wondered if we had read the same column. From 1985 to 1990, I lived and worked in various parts of Thatcher's England and either personally witnessed and experienced every historical point Olson recounted, or saw them reported widely in the national media.
Thatcher's government was roundly despised by millions upon millions of voters, and with good reason. Even in the traditionally Tory belt of Berkshire where my elderly grandmother and great aunt lived, they and many of their generation were appalled at the way that Conservative government was stripping civility, compassion and community from the nation.
I'm sure some voters liked Thatcher. But like Canada, under the first-past-the-post system, they were far from a majority.
That nation may never recover from the particularly brutal brand of Tory social havoc they wove.
Kari Hewett, Vancouver
