Tom Barry  wrote:

>Tony Polson wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> She was given a load of duff information by the then Foreign
>> Secretary, Lord Carrington, whose grave misjudgment of the Argentines'
>> aspirations, frustrations and intentions led directly to the invasion
>> of, first, South Georgia, then the Falkland Islands themselves.
>> 
>
>Hmm, interesting.  Was it Carrington who approved the swingeing Navy 
>cuts and the sale of Invincible to the Aussies?  Just while we're 
>assigning him all the blame.


I don't know who approved them.  It could not have been Carrington as
he was the Foreign Secretary.  The approval would have come from
whoever was Minister of Defence.  Different Department.


>Also, my memory may be deceiving me but I seem to remember hearing some 
>naval chap with gold all over him telling us that Mrs. Thatcher wanted 
>to send HMS Eagle to the South Atlantic.  Some Jolly Jack Tar in a big 
>hat had the duty to inform her that this would require the collection 
>and reassembly of a lot of razor blades, and there the matter rested.


Oops!


>As an aside, sometimes the mark of a leader is not in what talents they 
>have but who they appoint.  In British politics (and management 
>generally) leadership is overestimated, efficient delegation 
>underestimated, generally to the detriment of things.


True.  Over the years, Thatcher sacked all her best people, presumably
because they disagreed with her on one issue or another.  By the time
Heseltine challenged her, she had no friends left.  Then John Major
took over and had very few people of talent to choose from.  They had
all either retired from politics or, having been banished to the back
benches, vowed never to return to the Cabinet and front bench.

Time is a great healer, though, and there are now some very capable
people on the Tory front benches.  Meanwhile, Blair and Brown have got
rid of most of their talented people just as Thatcher did with hers,
and we are left with a bunch of useless deadbeats.  Time for a change?