Margaret Thatcher is a British politician and the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position she held from 1979 to 1990. She is a member of the Conservative Party and the figurehead of a political ideology known as Thatcherism. Even before coming to power she was nicknamed The Iron Lady in Soviet propaganda, an appellation which stuck. The changes she set in motion between coming to power and 1985 were profound, and altered much of the economic, cultural and commercial landscape of Britain and, by example, the world as a whole. Along the way she also aimed to roll back the welfare state, or "nanny state", as she termed it. Her popularity finally declined when she replaced the unpopular local government Rates tax with the even less popular Community Charge. At the same time the Conservative Party began to split over her sceptical approach to European Economic and Monetary Union. Her leadership was challenged from within and she was forced to resign in 1990, her loss at least partly due to inadequate advice and campaigning.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1268: Baibars and his Mamluk forces captured Antioch, capital of the crusader state, the Principality of Antioch. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baibars)

1896: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson, upholding the legality of racial segregation in public transportation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson)

1944: World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino ended with a German evacuation of Monte Cassino. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino)

1958: A supersonic interceptor aircraft, F-104 Starfighter, set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-104_Starfighter)

1980: Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, killing 57 people and causing US$3 billion in damages. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead." -- Bertrand Russell (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell)