FACTS? I JUST MAKE THEM UP!

It was heaven on earth for the British people under the 'guardianship' of Margaret Thatcher, according to Gerry Brownlee.

According to Gerry Brownlee, Margaret Thatcher improved the lives of the British people, raising many out of poverty.

But the facts don't back his  hymn of praise for his neoliberal heroine.  Poverty in fact skyrocketed during  Thatcher's reign, as this chart from The Guardian shows.  In 1979, 13.4% of Britons  lived below 60% of median incomes before housing costs. By 1990, it had gone up to 22.2%, or 12.2m people, with substantial  rises in the mid-1980s.

As well  unemployment rose to levels not seen since the Great Depression.

Brownlee has been clearly getting his  'facts'  from publications like The Economist. Of course Gerry is wrong about a lot of things most of the time  - like his repeated claims that there is no housing crisis in Christchurch and that the rebuild is going swimmingly well.

What a guy...