People either have very short memories or simply weren't around pre-Thatcher to appreciate just how bad things had got. Despite a Labour government that was more left-leaning than today, the UK was a complete mess. The unions had become detached from reality resulting in unsustainable wage increases, sizable unemployment and runaway inflation.
The consequence of this was the UK under Callaghan having to be bailed out by the IMF. The UK had quite rightly become the sick-man of Europe and the entire economy came to a halt. The period was marked by more people leaving the country than entering it.
If an IMF bailout doesn't demonstrate to people just how bad things had descended, I suggest people read up about the Winter of Discontent. When dustmen went on such a prolonged strike (
http://www.businessinsider.com/thatcher-and-the-winter-of-discontent-2013-4?IR=T) that parks, squares and roads had to be closed to enable rubbish to pile up. Even dead bodies began to pile up when the gravediggers stopped working.
There was even a long period where due to rationing of electricity, people worked three-day weeks and the BBC and ITV alternated who went off air early in the evening.
In summary, I think a lot of people on this forum would be deceiving themselves if they thought that pre-Thatcher UK was working.
That isn't to say that Thatcher was some untouchable messiah. The poll tax was fudged, and she failed to follow-up with certain policies such as house-building and re-education schemes.
May in contrast is simply incomparable to Thatcher; leaderless, clueless and bereft of ideas and policies.
