Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013

[GroobySteven]

She's only been in Hell for a few hours and she's already closed down seven furnaces.

[Castor_Troy05]

Good riddance, just a shame it didn't happen 40 years ago

[Prospero]

Mr Stavros and i disagree on many things. His summation of Mrs T's impact is pretty much on the money. Hugely divisive. I hated her. She damaged the country. But her one shining and exceptional achievement was to be the first woman to reach the zenith of British politics.

Margaret Thatcher, who with Lloyd George and Attlee was one of the most influential Prime Ministers in British history, has died at the age of 87.

I acknowledge the profound impact that she had on British politics, even though I was actively engaged at the time in the prevention of everything that she represented. It is brutally simple: she won, and the Labour movement I was part of, lost.

She had an ability to reduce complex problems to simple ideas and convey them with 'conviction' even when, as was the case in the Falklands crisis, she was actually unsure of herself, and lacked backing amongst her closest colleagues. She was part of the intellectual trend that demolished the post-war consensus on the mixed economy, to the extent that few people now believe government should own industrial businesses. But the price was the loss of 25% of Britain's manufacturing base, and Mrs T was the most divisive PM of the last century, leaving behind a legacy of admiration and bitterness.

On a personal level, someone I once knew briefly knew someone who worked at No 10 Downing St, and confirmed that Mrs Thatcher was a sensitive person who knew everyone's name, remembered birthdays and was much loved by her staff. I have no problem with the woman, but I cannot endorse the political legacy, hugely important though it has been.

Are we better of in the UK because of all those changes? In parts, maybe, on the whole, no, but the legacy will now be a matter of intense scrutiny again.

I walked into a pub at Soho at lunchtime today having just seen the news on twitter and pronounced this to my assembled friends... and I'm afraid could not resist the temptation to post this here.

[flabbybody]

She's quite admired in the states. I'm surprised at the negativity expressed

[GroobySteven]

But her one shining and exceptional achievement was to be the first woman to reach the zenith of British politics.

... and then put woman's rights back 20 yrs.

[GroobySteven]

She's quite admired in the states. I'm surprised at the negativity expressed

She was sucking Reagan's black jizz filled cock. It's little wonder she was admired in the US.

[Saint_Frankenstein]

She's quite admired in the states. I'm surprised at the negativity expressed

I can't speak for other Americans but I'm personally a socialist and she was a right-wing capitalist pig who shat on the poor and working class, just like her Alzheimers-ridden imperialist buddy in crime, Reagan.

[Merkurie]

I admire her accomplishment in rising to lead a major western nation as a female.

Whatever her politics, she certainly seemed to have woken Britain up, sometimes your worst enemy can be just what you need. She left a mark.

[GroobySteven]

I admire her accomplishment in rising to lead a major western nation as a female.

Whatever her politics, she certainly seemed to have woken Britain up, sometimes your worst enemy can be just what you need. She left a mark.

There is truth in that.

[Prospero]

Tramp the dirt down
By Elvis Costello

Elvis wrote this for Mrs T about 20 years ago.

I saw a newspaper picture from the political campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young child's
Face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice
Coming down on that child's lips

Well I hope I don't die too soon
I pray the lord my soul to save
Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live
Long enough to savor
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down

When England was the whore of the world
Margaret was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as
The black tarmacadam
Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't
Haunted by every tiny detail
'Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands
All she thought of was betrayal

And now the cynical ones say that it all ends the same in the long run
Try telling that to the desperate father who just squeezed the life from his only son
And how it's only voices in your head and dreams you never dreamt
Try telling him the subtle difference between justice and contempt
Try telling me she isn't angry with this pitiful discontent
When they flaunt it in your face as you line up for punishment
And then expect you to say thank you straighten up, look proud and pleased
Because you've only got the symptoms, you haven't got the whole disease
Just like a schoolboy, whose head's like a tin-can
Filled up with dreams then poured down the drain
Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being blown to bits or beaten and maimed
Who takes all the glory and none of the shame

Well I hope you live long now, I pray the lord your soul to keep
I think I'll be going before we fold our arms and start to weep
I never thought for a moment that human life could be so cheap
'Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down