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margaret-hilda-thatcher · 2 months

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🎙Today I figured I’d compile a Top 10 of my favourite Margaret interviews, with a bit (or a lot) on what I loved about each of them 🫶

Let me know whether you have any favourites that weren’t included!

1. TV Interview for Yorkshire Television Woman to Woman (02/10/85)

https(:)//youtu.be/Bzof-se9VKo?feature=shared

No notes, 10/10, golden buzzer, etc. For starters, I love love love Miriam Stoppard. The two were already acquainted due to Margaret being friends with Miriam’s husband, so that must’ve contributed to this absolute banger of an interview. She has a lovely voice, is very respectful, and extremely skilled at making Margaret open up without being intrusive. This felt less like a series of questions and more like a heart-to-heart. It chronicles her childhood, university years, marriage, and early political career, whilst providing loads of insight into the circumstances which have shaped her into who she is (the frugality of her upbringing being one of them). It’s really rare to get an extended and candid recollection of her personal life directly from the source (she herself has said that she was neither introspective nor retrospective, yet here she manages to be both) so if you don’t know much about her or have only ever consumed a one-sided narrative, I’d 100% recommend watching this.

Favourite quote: “Women always somehow, if they are left to cope, can cope. The whole world can be falling around your ears and someone will get up and carry on.”

2. TV Interview for ITN (28/06/91)

https(:)//youtu.be/L9H5nGDVfQ8?feature=shared

This was her first time opening up about her resignation - which had occurred eight months earlier over the course of a week - and I thought it was very interesting to hear her perspective on how things went down. I can't think of another occasion when she went into this much detail about it apart from the DSY memoir and the 1993 Breakfast with Frost segment. I generally like Michael Brunson and he’s one of her recurring interviewers so she must like him too. I don’t love how eager and pushy he came across at certain times here (eg: asking her to elaborate further on situations when she wanted to move on) but I think he did a solid job overall. If you're unfamiliar with the events, I'd advise you to first go watch the statement she made in Paris upon finding out she hadn't received enough votes to avoid a second ballot, then the confidence motion in the House of Commons, then her last speech outside of Downing Street, and THEN watch this interview. You'll not only have a lot more context but it also goes to show how much strain and internal struggle she was enduring, all the while appearing composed in public.

Favourite quote: “What you've done well, you're relieved about. It's a matter for relief, not for crowing."

3. TV Interview for ABC News This Week with David Brinkley (1983)

https(:)//youtu.be/wPUMEn9gJBs?feature=shared

This is literally a masterclass on how to quietly dominate and lead an interrogation while being outnumbered by your interviewers. She was being questioned about the Middle East conflicts by three men who were clearly hoping to disarm her, but she was so self-assured and unbothered that it made their sternness look silly. There's another iconic interview in the same style from her first visit to the Soviet Union but I cannot for the life of me find it without the Russian dubbing. Whoever DM's me the original version will be named in my will.

On a superficial note, I'm obsessed with how she looked in 1983 specifically. While my favourite era for her fashion is the '90s, her hair and face in 1983 were - in my opinion - at their most stunning, and this interview is the best example of that.

Favourite quote: "I'm not quite sure about the significance of your second question. It seems strangely put."

4. Life & Career of Margaret Thatcher (09/03/91)

https(:)//www.c-span.org/video/?17011-1/life-career-margaret-thatcher

This one took place during her visit to the US for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I love Brian Lamb’s style of asking intentionally broad questions and diminishing his own presence in order to let his guests shine, something many interviewers lack the humility to do. There's a quote of his that says: "Too many interviewers try to make us think they're smarter than the person they're interviewing. I assume I'm not smarter, and if I am smarter, I don't want the audience to find out." The complete interview is 30+ minutes and he maybe talks for a total of three - as is his habit. In turn, it gives her room to speak at length with no pressure. Considering she had a reputation amongst media members for being a feisty interviewee, it's nice to see how relaxed she is when she's not feeling like she's about to be interrupted or challenged in bad faith. I imagine this would be particularly interesting to watch if you’re American because she touches on the differences between the UK and US system (in terms of the role of the monarchy, the parliamentary debates, the government's accountability to the public, etc.) If you're someone who feels strongly about her privatisation policy, I'd also advise watching this because she does go into detail as to why it was needed, especially regarding the broadcasting industry.

Favourite quote: “Some of the press who opposed me most vigorously would never have existed but for my policies of increasing liberty and getting rid of restrictive practices and enabling them to start up. But they then opposed me. So what? That's life.”

5. TV Interview for Thames TV Afternoon Plus (01/06/81)

https(:)//youtu.be/CFY6e2r2_hA?feature=shared

This was an interview that employed three different formats: the typical face-to-face questioning by the main journalist, then a pre-recorded vox pop of working-class people talking about their situation with Margaret having to comment on them, and then a live studio audience of career women there to debate her about various issues. I love this system because it showed how skilled she was at spontaneously handling any question/complaint. I think it was probably also beneficial for her to see and hear about the tangible effects of her policies in a context other than getting yelled at by protestors on the street. It was a much more productive way of connecting her with everyday people and letting their voices be heard. I also like that she talked about how difficult the task of cabinet reshuffling was (contrary to the common belief that she was sacking her ministers for sport).

Favourite quote: “If you put yourself in the front line you must expect to be shot at.”

6. TV Interview for Channel 4 A plus 4 (15/10/84)

https(:)//youtu.be/saA-gfBqpqw?feature=shared

This was her first official interview after the Brighton Bombing and I’m so admirative of her for doing this despite how traumatic it must’ve been to revisit the events. She seems eerily calm here and I don't know how much of it is shock and how much is genuine serenity but either way, she spoke very well as per usual. The interviewer seemed sweet and well suited to cover such a sensitive topic in my opinion. She also did a great job at bouncing back on replies and making the conversation flow seamlessly. They got the stuff about terrorism out of the way pretty quickly and then moved on to usual topics (mostly unemployment, and the role of business owners in creating jobs), which I felt was the best way to handle it as opposed to dragging it on for the full 30 minutes. Then she answered questions sent in from members of the public, which covered a range of stuff from her scientific background to capital punishment. Overall I like that she got to have a talk that wasn't wholly focused on the attack but also got to say what she wanted to say on it.

Favourite quote: “The sun was just coming through the stained glass windows and falling on some flowers right across the church and it just occurred to me that this was the day I was meant not to see."

7. TV Interview for BBC1 Val meets the VIPs (05/03/73)

https(:)//www.margaretthatcher.org/document/208941

This one merges two of my favourite things: her interacting with a live audience, and her interacting with children. A lot of politicians (and adults in general) tend to take a patronising approach when talking to kids but I loved how she treated them with the same seriousness as any other interviewer, and made sure to give heartfelt, detailed replies. While the questions are naturally more basic than the likes of which she would normally receive, she does a great job at elaborating on each, and therefore I found this interview as interesting and revealing as any other. The fluidity and eloquence with which she speaks is also absolutely lovely to listen to, as is the case for all of her 1970s appearances.

Favourite quote: “Some women are very argumentative, you know, and might even win.”

8. TV Interview for Canadian TV (CBC TV) The Journal (27/09/83)

https(:)//www.cbc.ca/player/play/1662159934

Once again... 1983 my beloved. I remember being obsessed with this interview a few years ago largely because of her smudged eye makeup (intentional or not). The main theme here was national defence, and I loved her comments on why nuclear weapons were a necessary evil (she talked about that in much more detail with Robin Day in 1987 if it's something you're into). They also talked about trade unions and her attitude towards strikes. I actually quite enjoyed how argumentative the interviewer was, just enough to counter Margaret's points without coming across as stubborn. It's interesting to me that this interview is apparently iconic in Canada for being "explosive" and for the two "clearly hating each other" because I didn't get that impression at all? They obviously disagreed fundamentally but I've seen interviews where both Margaret and the journalist were much more aggressive (the Brian Walden fiasco, hello???) This one felt cold at most, but not *that* combative. Years later Barbara Amiel described the whole exchange as "rather like watching a pretty lizard mistakenly programmed to kill a mongoose" which I admit is a pretty funny way to put it, and also applicable to anyone who tries to confront Margaret 😭 (While we're here, daily mantra that Barbara Amiel is a disgrace to both journalism and womankind 🫶)

Favourite quote: “The day when this country, or any country, departs from old nostrums it will first have to decide what it’s going to put in their place.”

9. TV Interview for BBC1 My Favourite Things (07/01/87)

https(:)//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeU_H6prrF8

This is truly such a wholesome one, and I find the concept so unique. Basically what it says on the tin, the interview is structured around her favourite things. She'll have objects or people that she picked beforehand, and then explain why she loves them, like a little show-and-tell 🥹 It's everything from sculptures to poems to paintings, and she will tell a story about the influence that it has had on her life, and then the journalist will ask related questions to keep the interview moving. It's one of the longer ones, which is great because I love to hear her expand on topics that she personally loves. She doesn't talk about herself very often so it's so nice to hear about small things like her nightly routine or how happy doing wallpaper makes her. It's also educational to watch even if you don't particularly love or know her because she knows a lot of historical facts about people like Michael Faraday, so you'll definitely still learn things!

Favourite quote: “The Good Lord is no respecter of backgrounds. Never has been. He plants genius the world over. It is up to us to find it.”

10. KERA, a conversation with Margaret Thatcher (1991)

https(:)//youtu.be/Gbiohe_Baks?feature=shared

Finishing off with this purely for my own nostalgia because it was one of the first (if not the first) interviews of hers that I ever watched. It's not particularly special or different from the ones mentioned above but she talks a bit about the importance of a classical education (learning Latin and Greek, as well as memorising poetry) which I found pretty interesting. The interviewer was well-versed about her subject and had clearly prepared very thoroughly, which Margaret pointed out, and they seemed to get along really well.

Favourite quote: “In my case, you just had to have a star to steer by.”

#margaret thatcher #historical figures #history #uk politics #politics #interviews #ranking #journalism #top 10

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acrobattack · 2 months

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genuinely where the fawk do people get that the boys are related to the pp/g

#not even like. as a headcanon for their dynamic #i mean just outright stating that they’re canonically blood related ‘if you think about it’#in what fucking universe!!! where are you getting this information!!!!!!!!#they don’t even share a single ingredient in common! the boys got their chemical x from a rank toilet!!!!!!#how are they going to be related with NOTHING connecting their genetic makeup im gonna lose it #bubble journal #i know i made a similar post to this already but i deleted that one because it was incoherent

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cognitosclowns · 2 years

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Can I request a fake-dating thing with Gigi? Maybe she needs a date for some big event and asks Reader to be her fake date, but ends up really liking their company? Thanks!!

OH FUCK IM GONNA EXPLODE. LIKE ACTUALLY START RICOCHETING OFF THE WALLS. THIS IS THE BEST TROPE TYSM

sfw!! just cuteness. It got long im sorry MSNDMSND

Ok usually she has a System (tm) for events, because when your schedule is as tight as hers, you need to have all your ducks in a row.

Usually she has a Shortlist of people she can ask in case she needs a Plus One!!

Andre, Brett, Glenn, Myc (if she can convince him not to be too much fo a brat smdns) It's all platonic, usually one of those four can be bribed into an event with the promise of Alcohol and Free Food (and Brett does it Just To Be Helpful,, because,, it's Brett MSNDMS)

and yet, somehow, all four of these ungrateful little bastards can't pull through on this night.

And she can't go alone, for several reasons. In the circles she frequents (read : rich and judgemental) its essential to bring a Plus One, because everyone else is gonna have one, and if she doesn't she's gonna stick out.

Keeping up appearances is essential in her line of work, and she really doesn't need ppl starting a gossip train right now.

(and aside from that, it dissuades creeps so that's a plus)

AND THAT'S WHERE YOU COME IN BABEY!!!

you are her last hope lmao.

SHE SPOTS YOU FROM HER OFFICE AS SHE'S PACING AND IS LIKE 'you're my date now :)’

AND I MEAN,,, DID YOU REALLY HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO? NO OFC NOT

She only vaguely knows you, but tbh she just needs someone to fill the slot. A beach-ball with a smiley face drawn on it ANYONE.

She even offers you 400$ to sweeten the pot!! Plus the usual promise of free food and rich people to laugh at.

Don't worry about getting an outfit, she works in media. She IS media lmao I have no doubt she's has plenty of experience in fashion, she can absolutely help you throw together an outfit and be out the door in like,, 10 minutes flat.

She isn't expecting much but?? It actually goes way smoother than planned??

It surprises her that you treat it like,, an actual date.

Like you ask questions? good questions?? Not just boring Rich People 'I-Don't-Actually-Care-I-Just-Need-To-Pretend-I'm-A-Person-And-Not-A-Walking-Bank-Account' questions??

You ask her about her ambitions? What was her favorite childhood memory? You two get into a 40 minute conversation about a bakery she misses from her hometown that closed down before she could get their cheesecake recipe??

and FUCK IF THAT ISN'T A BREATH OF FRESH AIR SMDNS

Like oh god you cannot imagine how mind numbing rich people are. Harder than the conspiracies and media scandals and weird social rules is trying to pretend to give a shit about Rich Boy #307's New Golf Course MSNDMS

She literally forgets to mingle.

You mention something about the Gardens and before she can even remember that yes, there was a goal behind her coming to this event, you two are giggling like teenagers running along the pavillion <33

YOU TWO BOLT THROUGH THE SPRINKLERS ITS SUPER FUN.

Occasionally it’ll strike her that she’s supposed to be inside, shmoozing, but she just convinces herself that oh well, she can just do that later.

It doesn't even strike her until her alarm goes off that she's spent the entire night just,, talking with you.

(the ringtone, ofc, being the sound of someone calling her, so that she has a convenient excuse to get out of whatever she's doing and go home)

She decides Fuck It. You two talk for another forty minutes, laying back on the freshly-trimmed grass before a butler eventually comes out to shoo you off the property MNSDMSN

She drives you home!! Well, her chauffeur drives you home, but she sits with you in the back!!

(She specifically asks her chauffeur to take a slightly longer route, so you two can finish your convo about the musical conventions in Sweeney Todd, because she hasn’t gotten to talk about that shit in YEARS SHES NOT PASSING UP THIS OPPORTUNITY)

She still offers you that 400$, because it's the least she could do for you helping her out w/ something so last minute, not to mention having you stay way later than expected, but you turn it down.

You said something about how ‘getting to get to know a woman as sweet as her was payment enough <3′ and just. left.

it leaves her so completely stunned that she doesn’t hear her driver when they ask if she’d like to be dropped off at home.

She literally just sits there staring at the spot where you were sitting, holding 400$, feeling absolutely dazed. She’s smiling like an idiot and she doesn’t even CARE THAT WAS SO CUTE OF YOU-

She calls you two weeks later for another event, and you say yes without hesitation <3

#gigi thompson #gigi thompson x reader #x reader #inside job x reader #sfw #WAS THIS TOO OOC LMK SMDNSMD #it was super cute to write. gigi gigi gigi i love you i love you I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU #THIS IS THE DREAM <333333333333 #I like to think she didn't grow up in the .00001% of people she just. rose up through the ranks from her journalism + media work #so she just. kinda hates rich people. MSNDMSND LIKE THEY FEEL SO PLASTIC AND FAKE. SHE KINDA HATES HAVING TO MINGLE WITH THESE #OUT OF TOUCH WEIRDOS #and. most of her job is dealing with said out-of-touch weirdos.#SO YEAH when you two go to the party she's kinda thrown for a loop about how. wow you're a PERSON you're TALKING WITH HER you arent talking #about Stocks thank FUCK SMDNSMD #also she's a film bro (affectionate) she works in media theres. no way she isn't a huge film buff #im sorry i have so many. thoughts about gigi. i love her your honor i need more gigi content #THERES SO MUCH FUN STUFF IN HER CHARACTER. KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KIS #'they're the prada of secret societies and you all ignore me' HAS SO MUCH. THERES SO MUCH.#EEEEHEHE >:)))) outis is queueing up some posts. look at me getting in the GROOVE

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liu-yu-xin · 1 year

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Carly rae jepsen shouldnt have to open for fucking ANYBODY. who the hell is boygenius anyway. Not to be like a kpop fan who only talks about numbers and charts but anyone who has over a billion spotify streams and 1.5 billion views on youtube shouldnt be opening for anyone. Not to mention she released the aoty and soty last year with the loneliest time

#opening for Phoebe Bridger and her friends . they should be opening for carly rae jepsen #btw phoebe bridger whose last album got a 4/10 on the sidney bullet journal ranking btw. one of the lowest of the year.#anyway whatever. idc #sidney talks shit

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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When voters cast their ballots in the upcoming April election, they will, in nearly all Illinois communities, select one candidate per race. That could change under legislation proposed in the Illinois General Assembly.

At a House Ethics and Elections Committee hearing this week, two bills were discussed that would bring ranked choice voting to the state. The format, where voters select a first, second, third, and so forth candidate, has gained traction recently in states such as Alaska.

Evanston, home to Northwestern University, became the first city in the state to adopt RCV. A November referendum passed overwhelmingly and would apply to municipal races.

The bills - House Bill 2807 from state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, and House Bill 3749 from state Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago - focus on presidential primaries, and municipal and township office races respectively.

Former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll, now a senior fellow at FairVote, a national nonprofit promoting RCV and election reform, told lawmakers the system would benefit voters in Illinois and nationwide.

Carroll promoted RCV as a way to move past personal attacks commonplace in political campaigns and instead focus on the issues. He said assertions that the elderly and people of color would not understand the process were false and offensive.

"For someone who has been involved in party politics, probably far longer than I should have been in my life, it also helps promote more viable candidates who are running for office," he said, serving as the first Black House Speaker in Colorado from 2003 through 2011. "So, it tends to mitigate against the most extreme candidates in both parties."

Opponents have submitted more witness slips than proponents on both bills as of Wednesday. Among them is Andy Bakker, representing the Illinois Opportunity Project and Stop Rank Choice Voting Coalition in Illinois, who spoke to the committee on Tuesday.

RCV would be a "radical change" to the way Illinoisans vote, and he questioned the benefits Carroll mentioned.

"At the end of the day, rank choice voting is a scheme to disconnect elections from issues and allows candidates with marginal support to win," Bakker said. "It obscures true debate and issue-driven dialogues among candidates and eliminates genuine, true binary choices."

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Instead of one choice, voters in a ranked-choice system select their first choice among a list of candidates and then choose their subsequent second, third, and potentially fourth options.

Under RCV, a candidate automatically wins if they receive a plurality of votes as a first choice. However, in cases such as the recent Chicago mayoral race where no candidate secured a majority, an elimination process would begin.

The candidate with the lowest number of votes would be eliminated and each of their votes reallocated to their supporters’ second choice candidate. The process would repeat until one candidate secured more than 50% of the votes.

Amber McReynolds, a senior political strategist with Issue One, said that based on RCV data from states such as Alaska, New York, and California that already use RCV, voter turnout has improved while helping to manage a large field of candidates.

"This is a better voting model to ensure all voices and choices are reflected in the election results," she said, an Illinois native also visiting from Colorado.

WHAT COUNTIES ARE PREPARED TO IMPLEMENT?

Neither HB 2807 nor HB 3749 have effective dates nor have been moved out of committee, but McReynolds thinks if passed, the legislation could be quickly implemented.

More than 80% of Illinois voters live within a jurisdiction that has the systems and software to use RCV, she said. But more than a third of counties would require updates.

State Rep. Dennis Tipsword Jr., R-Metamora, raised concern about the expense of updating election systems for rural counties.

Julie Bliss, county clerk in Boone County, told committee members part of the increased expense is that ballots will be larger. It also depends on what voting software is used. Bliss added every Illinois county has a separate contract with voting companies.

States such as Vermont, Georgia and Rhode Island that have statewide contracts reduce costs and give voters a more uniform experience regardless of county, she said.

The expense estimated for Boone County, home to about 53,000 residents, ranges from $35,000 to $45,000 to purchase the needed software upgrade, she said.

Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray confirmed an upgrade to the county's Election Systems and Software would cost about $1.8 million. However, a system upgrade only would be part of the expenses, he said. Sangamon County also would need to account for increased printing costs due to larger ballots, certification with state and federal election authorities, a software update, and educating the public on what RCV means.

Aggregating election software at the state level could help with costs, but Gray said he would like to know what that means for security measures. He also noted that counties such as Cook which uses Dominion Voting Services for its tabulation, have different needs and financial abilities when it comes to elections.

"The decentralized factor of how we operate today is a great security feature, especially in the age of cybersecurity."

"Our opponents that would like to be nefarious to the system ... have to access multiple points instead of a single, universal centralized system."

With limited data on the expense, state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, urged more research be conducted before the legislature moves forward with RCV statewide. Like Bliss, she also supported a statewide voting system.

"I understand the idea, I understand it works in other places, but I understand our process does not collect the proper data for us to analyze," she said.

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