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.