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 ?

Yes Xenia how come you wernt invited.

Beardy Rowan Williams would probably not been One Of Us, as the Blessed Margaret used to say.

But then you can't trust them Church of England types. She was a bit annoyed when Archbishop Robert Runcie had the temerity to ask us to pray for all the men who'd lost their lives in the Falkland conflict, yes, those Argies too.

Didn't matter that Runcie was Establishment and a bit right wing. Also didn't matter that he'd been a soldier and chaplain in World War II, so had seen young men bleeding and dying for their country, not just sent them there.

You can't trust the Catholics either. Apparently every time Cardinal Basil Hume was driven past Downing Street on his way to his flat behind Westminster Cathedral he used to chant: 'Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Out, out, out.'

grovel...Did they go over Putney Br and then down Lower Richmond Rd or up the High St and along Upper??...I only caught up with it at the Brewery....I would have been able to watch it if I had known .

Mandela WAS a terrorist - co-founded an organisation that planted bombs that killed innocent civilians...
From his biography on Nobel Prize web site ..
After the banning of the ANC in 1960, Nelson Mandela argued for the setting up of a military wing within the ANC. In June 1961, the ANC executive considered his proposal on the use of violent tactics and agreed that those members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign would not be stopped from doing so by the ANC. This led to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Not saying Apartheid was right ...just don't think people should forget this when talking about Mandela...(heard him compared to Mother Teresa once - made my blood boil)

Lower Richmond Road through Barnes, not Sheen.

That was to Valium on previous page ...critising MT for calling Mandela a terrorist

Thanks!!...Wish I had known ..kids could have "seen" a bit of history .

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter so the saying goes.
I would put Mandela in the latter category myself.

I watched a bit of the funeral earlier, have to say i appreciated lots of men in a variety of uniforms looking all serious, & the horses were cute well-behaved horses.

Plus i liked seeing the Queen & Phil, they're looking a bit frail bless 'em.

I have nothing political to say except £10million, ouch.

I had to turn the left wing bearded clergy chap off for a good while - they can be very misguided.

They bombed civilians ...not even soldiers/police etc - normal people...(like you I'm assuming...)
Maybe the person(s) who planted the recent bombs at the Boston Marathon considered themselves a freedom fighter - does that make that right?
What about Bin Laden?
The 7/7 bombers...

unlucky83 the founders of Israel were also terrorists and they killed British soldiers to boothave a look at this

Yet Margaret Thatcher was a friend of Israel. As it happens, so am I, as well as being a friend of the ANC, which she wasn't. We teach our children that you can't pick and choose, but apparently she did. Israel's a big mate of the US. Wonder if that had anything to do with it?

But our leaders get into bed with lot of dodgy characters for reasons of defence and trade. I understand that. Mother Teresa did too, obviously not literally. Perhaps you should look her questionable friendships.

In public statements about Suharto and Pinochet Thatcher went way beyond the call of duty. Maybe you should look that up too.

Dawndonna, she is just pressing buttons

OP

Not unreasonable, but maybe slightly mad. :)

Completely over the top, 10 million out of taxpayers money in a week where many of the vulnerable start seeing cuts to their benefits. No doubt Thatcher herself would thoroughly approve.

I can hardly bear to even think of her name, and only came on this thread to say that some sort of endemic amnesia seems to have swept the country. How can no-one remember:

section 28
poll tax
privatisation of industries = destruction of communities and reduction of UK to simply service economy
dereguation of banks
massive unemployment (at one point c.1983 nearly 5m)
tripling of children living below poverty line
creation of them & us divisions - and screw you if you were "them"
flawed and false dream of everyone being able to work their way to 'success' = derision of formerly respectable working class who were suddenly undesirable chavs unless they became bankers and loadsamoney
neglect of public infrastructure, hospitals, schools, transport (except road building)
mining
right-to-buy which also included abolition of rent control and stopping new building programmes, resulting in housing crisis
and more

And those who say they're "too young to remember her and cba to find out about her objectively but she was a great leader, first woman prime minister blah blah blah". Words fail me (actually they don't but I think if I start with what I really think, I don't know when I would stop).

Why are there no threads on MN discussing her actual real legacy? I can't find any.

And £10m on her funeral. It's like a massive fucking "up yours" to the people who have had their lives devastated by recent cuts.

Oh yes forgot about refusal to apply sanctions to SA during apartheid regime.

Why are there no threads on MN discussing her actual real legacy? I can't find any

Start one B&B. I'll contribute. I can't vouch for the level of my debate but then I don't rate some other people's either

I turned on bbc radio 4 in the car, to listen to a description of the removal of the coffin from the gun carriage to the bearers. The priceless comment that the horses were going back to the stables to get a special meal of apples and carrots. I had to turn the radio off, this drivel and glorification.
Nearly ruined my day, luckily the sunshine made it better.

Bail, yours is not the memory I have of living through that time. I don't have amnesia, I was there and remember how hard the changes were but remember how a lot of our industries weren't viable unless a huge amount of government money was spent to prop them up and those of us that didn't work in coal or steel etc were fed up with paying more in our taxes to do that. I remember even people like my family who were from the welsh valleys agreed. The strikes meant we were living in ridiculous conditions being held to ransom. Part of the toughness was the change. It takes time to start new industries and a lot of areas are much better off now than they would have been. I too could go on, I think you have selective memory about life pre thatcher.

Most of the £10 million will have gone to British companies and people though eg policemen through overtime etc. In turn these companies/people will spend it on whatever and therefore share the money etc etc. It hasn't been chucked on a bonfire.

xenia - "'beardy' cleric" man is Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, I can assure you he is NOT left wing. Just so you know......

cjel those changes could have happened without Thatcher introducing bialy's list, to whit:

section 28
poll tax
privatisation of industries = destruction of communities and reduction of UK to simply service economy
dereguation of banks
massive unemployment (at one point c.1983 nearly 5m)
tripling of children living below poverty line
creation of them & us divisions - and screw you if you were "them"
flawed and false dream of everyone being able to work their way to 'success' = derision of formerly respectable working class who were suddenly undesirable chavs unless they became bankers and loadsamoney
neglect of public infrastructure, hospitals, schools, transport (except road building)
mining
right-to-buy which also included abolition of rent control and stopping new building programmes, resulting in housing crisis
and more

You don't have to be homophobic to alter the manufacturing base.

I don't agree with all the list!it is very subjective!!

littlepadbear I agree. That's the argument about how to get the economy started. Perhaps when Gideon dries his eyes he can address that.

OK, well let's just take Section 28, and abolition of rent control, cjel.