A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That Social Security Should Be Privatized

From the archive

Firing Line - An Interview with Margaret Thatcher - January 29, 1996Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS, HonFRSC (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013), was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. The longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, she was the first woman to hold that office. As prime minister, she implemented policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970–1974 government. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition, the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom.On becoming prime minister after winning the 1979 general election, Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession.[nb 1] Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment, until victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike.Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge ("poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership.[nb 2] After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87.A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain, with debate over the complicated legacy attributed to Thatcherism persisting into the 21st century.Firing Line is GMA's top rating and multi-awarded News and Public Affairs program which airs..Mondays at 11:00 P.M.Since its debut on February 17, 1992, the show has had remarkable episodes featuring the country's top political leaders led by then Presidentiable and now President of the Republic, Fidel Valdez Ramos.In between hot and political issues, Firing Line never forgets to examine the human side of events. This has been demonstrated by the program's soul-moving episode which featured the love story between Don Enrique Zobel and Aida Quesdan, both paraplegics.Firing Line is world class for many reasons. One of which is its impressive list of exclusive guestings of global leaders. Bhutto, Thatcher, Schimidt are some of the luminaries who made Firing Line an exclusive and official part of their Philippine itinerary.The latest award is the gold medal from the New York International Tv Festival for the talk show in the interview category, adding to Firing Line's international acclaim. The winning entry was Teodoro Benigno's one-on-one interview with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher upon her visit in Manila last January of 1996.The award was a stunning triumph for the talk show, it being the first time that any Philippine full length TV program captured first honors in the international festival.Two years earlier, Firing Line won a bronze medal in the same category. The entry was an interview with Zbigniew Brzenzinski, a world renowned political scientist and author.Firing Line is the only Public Affairs program in Manila with a two-host format, enabling the hosts to ask the most piercing questions on many issues and disputes for which the program is now known.It is broadcast nationwide, and its episodes are seen weekly on a delayed basis via cable in over 60 cities in the United States and Canada.© 1996 Republic Broadcasting System, Inc.