Oft-repeated mantra by
Margaret Thatcher to explain the need to implement
neo-liberalist economic policies, such as
monetarism,
privatisation and
deregulation, during her tenure. In hindsight her policies are regarded by many as the nasty but necessary measures that were needed to get Britain out of its
winter of discontent and
socialist mindset, although the three million
unemployed under her regime would probably have a less
charitable view. She used this riposte so often it got shortened to
TINA.
In South Africa recently, a counterslogan was coined in the campaign to get the debt burden canceled: THEMBA stands for There Must Be an Alternative. In Zulu, the word 'themba' means hope.