Of course, like any shrewd politician, Thatcher knew which battles were unwinnable, or had to be postponed; but she always preferred winning a fight to reaching a compromise. She won the sobriquet “Iron Lady” for her decisive leadership in the Falklands War; yet most of her battles were fought against sections of her own people – the “enemy within,” like the miners whom she crushed in the strike of 1984-1985, or Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council, which she abolished in 1986.
当然，和所有精明政治家一样，撒切尔知道不可胜之处在哪里，知道适可而止；但她永远更喜欢先获胜再谈妥协。她因在福克兰群岛战争中的果断领导而获得了“铁娘子”的绰号；但她的大部分战斗的对象是她自己的人民——“内部敌人”，比如1984—1985年粉碎矿工罢工以及1986年废除肯·利文斯顿（Ken Livingstone）的大伦敦议会（Greater London Council）。