Thatcher dead

[EvilBastard]

18th September 2014 is Scotland's chance to get rid of the Tories for ever, some say.

I reckon that the 2014 budget will slash the tax on Bucky to keep the electorate at home and hungover on the day of the referendum

[Pista]

Run out of champagne here.
Someone please send some more over

[EvilBastard]

However, just before the next UK election all the documents relating to the Miners' Strike will come into the public domain under the 30 year rule which will help to remind people why they didn't feel able to trust the Tories again.

A nice thought, but do you really think it will happen? Half the people who bother voting don't remember what a mine looks like, half of the rest are glad that they're gone, and the remainder will succumb to pneumoconiosis before the election, thanks to the lack of NHS facilities to treat them.

Successive administrations have done a marvelous job of turning people off politics, which is why we get the same puffed-up windbags running and winning, and why people with novel ideas (or who are prepared to tell the truth about what it's going to take to get Britain out of its current predicament - like paying higher taxes) consistently come a distant 3rd.

The Tories were discredited from the outset, New Variant Labour sounds more and more like Tory Lite, the Lib Dems have skillfully shot themselves in the foot as a result of the ConLib Alliance - the next government is likely to be a UKIP/NF coalition.

Dictatorship looks more and more appealing. Seems to work quite well in Brunei.

[blackandgold65]

@EvilBastard - just wanted to say I think you have articulated some points really very well here today, and I agree with your last comments about successive administrations and the limp-wristed alternatives which foist themselves upon us currently. Whatever the personal view on Thatcher and her politics, she was a formidable 'statesmen' if you like, and that is sincerely lacking these days. Unfortunately her fiercely patriotic Bulldog spirit was tainted and verged on megalomania IMO and her heavy-handed approach ripped the very soul out of many parts of this country, so I for one will not be tuning in to watch the full military honours funeral bestowed upon her, I can see why this has been done but it angers me nevertheless, and no doubt that dreadful Nicholas Witchell the Royal/Diplomatic BBC journo will be narrating over the thing aswell

[EvilBastard]

Sent someone an email today - subject line: Thatcher's Dead.

Reply: "That's a shame, I really liked her in The Witches of Eastwick, and some of her albums were quite good."

[stufarq]

anyone for a street party?

Now, now. When I said that about Teddy Kennedy, may God rot him, I got a slap on the wrist.

Yeah. Sorry about that. I was wrong to give you that "slap".

We went through all this with the Amy Winehouse thing. No matter what you thought of a person when they were alive - and yes, you should still think exactly the same of them when they're gone - gloating over someone's death - anyone's death - says more about you than it does about them. I'm not going to say anything nice about Thatcher cos that would be hypocritical but I'm certainly not going to lower myself to the level of crowing about it and the street party today in Glasgow makes me embarrassed to be a Scot.

The most interesting take I read (not sure who wrote it cos I was only skimming but it was linked on Julianne Regan's page) said something to the effect that the Iron Lady, who broke the miners and stood defiant after surviving an IRA bomb, ended her life as a frail old lady and that should be a lesson to us all.

I'd agree with you Blasty-poo that there was a momentary nip when I heard that she was gone. I remember where I was when I heard that she'd been booted in 1990, and I naively believed that things would change after her departure. Yes, she helped put the population in hock, ran down heavy industry, sold off national assets, and turned Britain into an offshore European manufacturing facility for every company that was prepared to line the tory party coffers.
Then again, she also effectively neutered the unions and stopped them holding the country to ransom every time they were unhappy. Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan of trades unions and believe that the working man needs to have a say in the way his company is run. But unions in Britain never seemed to cotton on to the idea that their members' interests were best served when they were working, rather than on strike. Consensus was never high on their agenda, and everyone paid the price for it - ultimately the unions bear as much responsibility for the destruction of Britain's industrial base as Thatcher does.
Thatcher was a reaction to the Labour party's inability to hold unions accountable, and the pendulum swung from one extreme to the other. Once it got moving there was no stopping it - it was hang-on and try to get rich, or fall off and drop through the safety net. The tories saw that we were weak and wanted levis and raybans, cheap glitz, jam today and tomorrow, and they dazzled us with their baubles. Who cared that they sold off everything that belonged to us for a fast buck? There were 18-year olds in the City making more money in a year than their parents saw in a lifetime, Golf GTis and black 501s, Duran Duran, Siouxsie, Adam Ant - who could blame us for being dazzled after the years of austerity and disco?
She never did anything we didn't let her do, or in our hearts want her to. Can we really, hand on heart, say that we'd have voted for higher taxes? Less fun? Less freedom? More responsibility? Really? Maybe if we'd seen the price tag of what we wanted then we would have - but at 2 minutes to midnight who cares about the cost? It's not as if we were ever going to have to pay the tab.

And I'm all for fighting for apathy - not sure if I can be bothered dying for it, though

[nowayjose]

The woman left office 22 years ago, surely the time to dance was then. Anyone who's celebrating now has missed an opportunity to remain silent, imho.

[Bartek]

I don't think that the formal funeral procession is appropriate for Thatcher, after all Heath, Wilson and McMillan all had small scale funerals more appropriate for what is effectively public service.
.

if family will not say "no", then i would expect turning funeral procession into big torries event. almost like people used to do it with 'saints'.

[lazarus corporation]

Just made a donation to one of the organisations listed on http://donthatedonate.com/.

I think that those of you that can afford it should do so too.

"Be the society Thatcher said didn't exist"

[markfiend]

Just made a donation to one of the organisations listed on http://donthatedonate.com/.

I think that those of you that can afford it should do so too.

"Be the society Thatcher said didn't exist"

Good idea. Yeah, make something positive of it.

[lazarus corporation]

Just made a donation to one of the organisations listed on http://donthatedonate.com/.

I think that those of you that can afford it should do so too.

"Be the society Thatcher said didn't exist"

Good idea. Yeah, make something positive of it.

And prove her wrong, and help to undo some of her damage all at the same time.

[markfiend]

I'll certainly donate.

[Pista]

Saw the tweet earlier & gave some dosh to Shelter

[XidiouX]

Q. What do you call an overly complementary obituary of Margaret Thatcher?

A. A hagiography.


XidiouX

[markfiend]

Very thoughtful piece in t'grauniad by (of all people) Russell Brand: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013 ... t-thatcher

[splintered thing]

Very thoughtful piece in t'grauniad by (of all people) Russell Brand: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013 ... t-thatcher

Yes! I was just about to post this - I was genuinely impressed. Thank you Mr Brand

[Silver_Owl]

Very thoughtful piece in t'grauniad by (of all people) Russell Brand: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013 ... t-thatcher

Yes! I was just about to post this - I was genuinely impressed. Thank you Mr Brand

Yeah, interesting.

[emilystrange]

yes, indeed. i normally can't stand the prat.

glenda jackson is my new heroine

[Purple Light]

My boss tried to explain to me today why Poll Tax was a great idea. He just about convinced me.

[emilystrange]

before or after he died?

[Pista]

My boss tried to explain to me today why Poll Tax was a great idea. He just about convinced me.

I'm not sure her cabinet actually understood poll tax.
That was about the time they started turning against her wasn't it?

[markfiend]

The Poll Tax a good idea? Pull the other one.

I sent back all the forms with "can't pay won't pay" scrawled across them and I'd do the same again.

(Glenda Jackson is a fu-cking legend.)

[emilystrange]

she is, i just saw your tweetlet.

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

The Poll Tax was the most unfair UK tax for centuries and reinforced the belief that Thatcher basically didn't care. The difference this time was that many of her own voters were affected. I have to confess that I did pay it though, largely because I didn't want local vital services to suffer.

[markfiend]

I like the smackdown the Speaker gives the Tory fatso at the end of the youtube clip

I would never condemn anyone for paying the poll tax. Like you say the local services need paying for.

When the poll tax came in though I was proper skint and genuinely couldn't pay. So I didn't.