Goodbye to Merry England

...To bring about this transformation, she needs the assistance, or at least the acquiescence, of the trade unions...

...Some observers have suggested that if the Prime Minister is still very far from achieving a modus vivendi with the unions, this may indeed be part of her strategy...

...The Prime Minister's current plans call instead for North Sea profits to be channeled into restructuring British industry...

...Some exporters are on the verge of going under...

...All this has changed...

...Thatcher's economic policies for the pound to be weakened enough to make British exports competitive again -And to lure back the tourists...

...The oil revenue will also help offset any financial losses to the economy that might result from a possible knock-down-drag-out confrontation with the unions...

...The accents of Little Rock rang out across the Scottish Highlands...

...It ain't the same any more," he complained...

...Norman Gelb reports from London for the Mutual Broadcasting System...

...THATCHER'S STERN ECONOMICS Goodbye to Merry England by Norman Gelb It ain't the same," a visit-I ing American moaned as he M set off, by subway, for London's Heathrow Airport and his flight home...

...The pound sterling was a frail, feeble thing and people from abroad, with hard currencies to exchange at friendly banks on the High Street, could enjoy the kind of life in London that would have scorched their wallets in Paris, Amsterdam or San Francisco...

...She wasn't alone...

...Thatcher will either beef up government spending, which she has been methodically trimming, or make massive tax cuts (though she will probably indulge in some traditional manipulation of the economy as election day approaches...

...At the end of his previous visit here two years ago, he had ridden to Heathrow in a comfortable, not overly expensive taxi, and had taken back more substantial mementoes of the mother country: a cashmere sweater, a Wedgwood dish, and an 18th-century volume of Hogarth plates picked up for peanuts on Charing Cross Road...

...They were particularly incensed when Industry Secretary Sir Keith Joseph suggested that unemployed workers might price themselves back into jobs by taking pay cuts...

...To skim the fat off the economy, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government committed itself to maintaining comparatively high interest rates soon after it came to power last year...

...Thatcher's long-term aim is to rebuild British industry so that it will be able to support the nation when the North Sea oil runs out in roughly 30 years time...

...That inevitably attracted a flood of foreign assets to Britain, particularly from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, and the hot money added to the buoyancy of the pound...

...Piccadilly Circus...

...Rampant inflation and a strong pound have put an end to the cheap sojourn in Britain...

...This has bolstered the pound, which continues to mock those sages who have insisted that it is grossly overvalued...

...The Prime Minister shows no signs of such an undertaking...

...To begin with, the once-sickly pound is now a petro-currency...

...Whether or not such a conflict takes place, the pound is unlikely to lose much ground in the foreseeable future...

...But it would require a fundamental revision of Mrs...

...Trafalgar Square...

...In his luggage he carried a canister of Earl Grey tea, a print of the London skyline and a Union .lack T-shin-Gifts for the family...

...Differences in prices were dazzling...

...With hefty pay and price rises already in the pipeline, and with pressure on her to further lower the interest rates, she will be lucky if the inflation rate-now hovering around the 20 per cent mark-can be reduced to 15 per cent by this time next year...

...At 1.9 million in July, unemployment has reached its highest level since World War II...

...The daily front page headlines of layoffs here, cutbacks there and bankruptcies somewhere else have compelled Mrs...

...Folks from Tucson gloried in the delights of afternoon cream teas in quaint Cornish farmhouses...

...On a London bus, where fares are calculated by the distance a passenger travels, a bus conductor asked a young lady who had boarded earlier and wanted to go to the Tate Gallery, "Where from...

...Meanwhile, oil revenues are expected to be enormous, particularly if the oil price continues to float upward...

...Sir Keith's unshakable adherence to monetarist policies has earned him the title of "the mad monk" among his critics...

...Thatcher to modify her anti-inflation policy and order a slight reduction in interest rates in the hope of easing the effects of the slump...

...It remains her first priority to slay the dragon of inflation...

...special buses at the Dover and Folkestone ferry terminals whisked bargain-seekers straight to the supermarkets' doors...

...Minneopolitans haunted the lush Dorset landscapes where Thomas Hardy had once wandered...

...A chorus of demands has already risen from the Left that the oil money be used to increase, rather than decrease, subsidies to failing nationalized industries and to extend social welfare payments...

...She is convinced that industry must reduce production costs substantially and generally become more efficient...

...Philadelphians ambled through Constable country...

...Mrs...

...But it is unlikely that Mrs...

...But visitors who are staggered by their British hotel and restaurant bills generally do not see the underlying causes of the radical price hikes, or feel their harsher consequences...

...In 1978, the tourist trade earned three times as much as British car exports, and equaled in value 6 per cent of total exports...

...Visitors from abroad will have to reconcile themselves to the fact that this country, once near the bottom of the costs table for world travelers, is now near the top...

...Moreover, union leaders have become increasingly bitter and frustrated in recent months as they have watched the ranks of the jobless grow, without any expression of concern from the Thatcher government...

...Although much of the economy shows signs of fragility, the country is pumping enough oil out of the North Sea to qualify for opec membership...

...Britain's pleasures remain abundant, but "It ain't the same any more...

...It's a common refrain in London these days...

...Once upon a time foreigners arrived in Britain confident of finding the good life on the cheap...

...She may feel that an embittered union movement, expecting little of her, leaves her free to pursue her short-term economic goals...

...The consequences for the country are not merely anecdotal, for the revenues from foreign tourists were essential to the well-being of British hotels, restaurants, theaters, stores, and the British economy in general...

...There is more to the story, though, than the impact of black gold...

...Not for nothing is the British Tourist Authority drawing up lists pinpointing inexpensive hotel accommodations (they can be found), cheap restaurants and cost-cutting tours of Britain's green and pleasant land...

...But because of sterling's strength, Britain's exports, amounting to 30 per cent of its gross domestic product, have grown more expensive and less competitive...

...Prestige firms like Rolls Royce and giants like Imperial Chemical Industries are hurting badly on world markets...

...Shown how by-Sir Freddie Laker, enterprising airlines scheduled direct, cut-rate flights from New York, Dallas, Atlanta and other stateside centers...

...They have been singing that song for more than a year now and are beginning to sound like nags...

...Continental day-trippers zipped over from France and Belgium just to shop for inexpensive groceries in British port-cities...

...But the recent 30 per cent pay increase awarded to National Health Service doctors has not encouraged industrial workers to settle for the ceiling of 14 per cent they are being urged to accept in the national interest...

...They began scheduling play openings for May, figuring that even if they had dud shows on their hands, enough theater-hungry Americans would be in town to keep the box offices busy at least through the summer...

...New Orleans," she replied prettily...

...More poignant still is the plight of the many tens of thousands of workers who are being added to the unemployment rolls as the recession hits harder and company closure announcements pour in from all over the country...

...It was a golden time for London theater impressarios, too...

...For Americans, the enduring British attractions-pageantry, fairy-tale coun-tryside and all that history-became accessible as never before...

...In a conservative estimate, that income should be great enough by 1984 (probably an election year) to permit the government to cut taxes in half...