To spend my morning watching the funeral of Maggie Thatcher (on BBC) ?

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

She was our first woman prime-minister - a significant personal achievement, especially for the daughter of a grocer from Grantham, born in 1925

Also I agree with those that say these ceremonial occasions are something we do really well in Britain.

So AIBU to be watching this morning - in spite of disagreeing with many of her policies ? Will you be watching ?
And what do you make of both her personal achievement and her legacy ?

Don't be so utterly ridiculous missbopeep - of course it's not "low" to be talking about money!!

It's taxpayers money!

We have every right to be up in arms about it being spent on an utterly over the top funeral at a time when many thousands of desperately vulnerable people are having their lives made many times harder because apparently "we're broke".

Lol twat

I think it is completely missing the point to discuss money and costs- how low can you get?

No, that is the point, I wouldn't really give two hoots if the funeral was funded from her estate, but to come from government money? In a recession?

And please don't start that "you're too young to comment" thing .

It's very tired.

I was born in '72. I remember Thatcherism well.

Is it all over? I think I might have to keep the telly turned off until tomorrow as no doubt they will be showing endless highlights on the news tonight. Afaik I was a wilful waste of money, especially during this period of austerity. Funerasl should be private and dignified (for everyone) not a bloody spectacle.

Ooo actually, I`ll turn it on later for Masterchef.

It is hardly a family quibbling over how many cars to have at Aunt Mabel's funeral missbopeep - it is 10 million pounds being spent in the same month as the welfare cuts are kicking in. It is disgusting in its extravagance.

I admire Maggie for helping to bring and end to the cold war and bringing down the iron curtain. Domestically she made mistakes and its understandable why she is unpopular with some people. There were winners and losers with her policies.

She was the first woman prime minster and over came a lot of sexism to become PM.

I am not sure whether 10 million should have been spent on her funeral, but in someways its preferable giving a state funeral to an ex PM than a member of the Royal family.

missbopeep I was an adult then, working when she was in government.

You need to check your history - the three day week, plus the first miners' strike since 1926 and the first postal workers' strike ever, was under Ted Heath, who was, you may recollect a Conservative.

God, not the were you even born shit, yes I was, but even if I wasnt I have ever bloody right to comment.

I don't think ANY politician should have a boatload of money spent on a funeral for them (or many other things that they actually claim form the coffers whilst they're alive) - they did a job (well, or not so well depending on point of view), and they were well paid for that job - but that's about it.

I do think though, that it's pretty pointless arguing about it after the fact and getting nasty with each other hardly does anything about it really does it?

I am 56 and lived through the 3 day week missbopeep.
My memories of Thatcher are still worse.
And did Prescott really spend millions on wallpaper ?
He must have bought it from Gideon at that price.

missbopeep yes I remember, I was an adult.

I was a young adult who watched my dad despair because he was in his 50s and couldn't get a job. I struggled to get a job myself, and when I did and bought a house, I remember the interest rates out of control.

I remember massive waiting lists in the hospitals. I remember the many homeless on the streets.

I remember the riots in Liverpool, my home city, brought about by young lads being victimised by the police, and a general, awful hopelessness about the future.

I remember feeling a sadness that the city wasn't getting heard or believed over Hillsborough.

I remember wondering what she had in for Liverpool, and not being surprised when I read years later about the 'managed decline' of the city that was being planned.

Yes, it is all quite hard to forget, although many speaking on the telly seemed to have managed to over the last week and a half.

I think politicians as a whole have a jumped up sense of their own importance. I understand MT did not want a state funeral. It is parliament who insisted on all this.

I do enjoy a bit of pomp though and to whoever said Disney do it better -Jeez!

Funny how the 'were you even born?' comment is never thrown at young people who want to eulogise her or those claiming to be older who get muddled over the correct sequence of events and governments in the '70s.

Yes, I think it was all hand-made stuff LadyBeagle iirc

Exit - I don't think it was actually a state funeral? But she did plan a lot of it and made the guest list...so she may well have had an idea how much it would cost. My understanding is that for several years at the end of her life she wouldn't have been mentally capable of deciding any further measures for her funeral. I don't know a lot about the woman, but do wonder if she hadn't had such a mental decline if she would have changed her mind about the scale of the funeral or not, given the UK's economic climate?

I'd just started High School in 1970. Got sent home more than once because of a lack of heating. Later on because of the three day week.
I was at 21 when Thatcher got elected.
As I said the other day, I discuss Cromwell quite often, funnily enough I wasn't around in the 17th Century!

I was half listening on the radio at work and, while no fan of The Lady, found the service itself quite moving. I thought her granddaughter did a splendid job of her reading, that must have been pretty nerve-wracking and she's only 17, and the Bishop of London even told joke 'don't touch the duck pate'). I didn't pick up much about demonstrators, etc. Was there much of that in evidence?

Not watching it - neither mourning her nor celebrating her demise - but irritated by friends on Facebook who have said they are having a "media blackout" today. Yes, heaven forbid you should not watch any news of any sort, in case you encounter any opinions which don't match your own.

Glad it will all be over soon. Both the eulogising and the hatred - and both sides accusing the media of being biased in favour of the other - have got really tiresome now.

It was actually Lord Irvine who spent £59k on wallpaper, as part of a £650k state-sponsored refurbishment of his apartment.

And did Prescott really spend millions on wallpaper hmm ?
He must have bought it from Gideon at that price

This has made me laugh a lot.

Well there's a news blackout here DadonIce.
Precisely because of the sycophancy on all the tv networks, I gave up as I didn't hear many views matching my own at all.
I expected to hear far more from my POV but the Establishment won in all it's glory.

Well, I want to question whether fascinators are appropriate for a funeral? Fine for Ascot or weddings but they seem somewhat flippant to me.

I'd add that the granddaughter read her lesson well. What an ordeal for a 19 year old.

In the circumstances I think the Bish of London got his address about right.

The St Paul's choir was outstanding. I know cathedral choirs are almost univerally sensational but this lot seemed extra good. It may down to the recording?

Well as I recall Irvine may not have had much choice: the interior of his grace and favour Pugin flat was listed, so he had to replace the wallpaper with the right stuff.

I was at secondary school when MrsT became prime-minister .... little did I think she'd still be there 11 years later when I'd been to Uni and qualified as a nurse. So, she was PM for quite an influential part of my life I guess - through most of my teens and twenties. But that didn't mean I ever voted for her !