Word: thatcherism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...banquet, Chirac congratulated his host, Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov, and an unexpected guest, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, on their new policies toward political prisoners and Soviet Jews, but added, "You cannot ignore that from our point of view there is a long way to go." Like British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during her visit to Moscow six weeks earlier, Chirac applauded U.S.-Soviet arms-control negotiations but then defended nuclear deterrence as Europe's peacekeeper over the past 40 years. Ryzhkov replied with a detailed discussion of Soviet arms-reduction aims and complained about France's nuclear policy. "Unfortunately," he declared...
...pique against one of their harshest West European critics, the Soviets were careful not to celebrate Chirac's arrival with anything like the warmth that had greeted Thatcher. The next day, Pravda's front page carried a picture of Gorbachev with a Soviet artist, while the story of Chirac's arrival was consigned to the bottom of the page -- without a picture...
Good economic news also boosted Thatcher's fortunes. The unemployment rate, now 11.4%, dropped in April for the eighth straight month. The government expects the May jobless total to fall below 3 million for the first time in four years. British banks dropped interest rates from 9 1/2% to 9%, the lowest in two years. The pound sterling, currently valued at $1.68, is at its strongest since October 1982. And the Confederation of British Industry found business leaders in the "most optimistic mood in years...
Still, Labor and the Alliance are giving away nothing. Labor intends to . attack the government's record on unemployment -- which has doubled since Thatcher took office in 1979 -- and propose increased public spending. It also plans to portray the Tories as insensitive and uncaring in health, education and housing policies. The Alliance strategy is to present the centrist alternative: more liberal than the Tories on social issues but more conservative than Labor on foreign and defense policy. Recent by-election victories have shown increasing receptivity to the Alliance as an alternative to the two main parties. For their part...
...Commons four years ago. Most analysts predict that the Thatcherites will be lucky to emerge with half the 144-seat majority they won then. Even so, Tebbit, the feisty party chairman, predicts the election will be a "walk" for the Tories. That may be overly optimistic, but try telling Thatcher. "I am still bursting with energy," says the Iron Lady, who is already talking about a fourth term...