Maggie is Dead.

[Talkinpeace]

at last.

[snowballschanceineaster]

I never liked the woman when she was alive. Not gonna be two faced about it now. So many people say lovely things about people after they've died. If they were old buggers, they were old buggers and she was one of the worst.

I don't think we should be paying loads of money to pay for a huge ceremonial funeral for her. Let her family and friends grieve her loss. I'll be glad when all the fuss is over and we can get back to the every day fight to survive without having this woman's 'greatness' thrust down our throats on every piece of media available. Thank God we are currently watching videos back to back.

[flatpackhamster]

Really good article on The Commentator about the myths around Maggie destroying the coal and steel industry.

There are some long words, and some facts and figures and even a graph, so Guardian readers are advised to sit down before they try to read it.

[Thewhingingdefective]

I am sickened by the number of my friends' FB statuses in support of her. I am delighted she is gone.

[sjupes]

Dp told me this 20 mins ago my first thoughts were not of yey/aw but more wondering if they ever decided she was important enough to stop programmes to announce her death like they do for major royals also whether the fancy funeral was ever granted.

I was born late 80's so missed her rule but i know that 30 years later there is still major divide over her.

[niceguy2]

She did what had to be done.

Exactly. And that's why a lot of people hated her. They didn't like the fact she did what was necessary. They'd have rather she left Britain a laughing stock of the world, winter of discontent, going cap in hand to the IMF and Falklands back to Argentina.

[niceguy2]

Good article FPH

[Talkinpeace]

Its the lost generation I can never EVER forgive her for.
And that is the part that even magazines like the Economist warn today's politicians never to repeat.

I remember the three day week. The Unions and freeing up of the UKs economy needed doing, but she was to willing to leave people on scrapheaps.

She also forgot that other working mums did not have multi-millionarire husbands and invisible nannies : hence why the Tories are yet to have strong female politicians in her wake.

[niceguy2]

As the article which FPH posted shows, the reality was that she tried for a while to improve things before bowing to the inevitable.

I think she needs to be judged on what the country was like when she became PM and what it was like when she left. And I think whether you measure that on economic output or standard of living, you cannot fail but agree that she left the UK in a much stronger position than when she arrived.

Did everyone agree with her policies? No. Of course not. But at least you knew where you stood. Nowadays you can't trust politician's at all. They say one thing and renege on it moments later. Student fees anyone? And that was just the lib dems!

[Viviennemary]

She was a formidable person. It was kind of amusing when she had grown men quivering in their boots. I bet Dennis didn't refuse to do the washing up! But I didn't agree with a lot she did. And don't agree with her having a ceremonial funeral. It's not state but much the same thing or so it said on TV.

[twofingerstoGideon]

There are some long words, and some facts and figures and even a graph, so Guardian readers are advised to sit down before they try to read it.
Patronising fuckwittery.

[Goldmandra]

And don't agree with her having a ceremonial funeral. It's not state but much the same thing or so it said on TV.

If it's virtually indistinguishable from a state funeral it is going to cost the taxpayer a huge amount of money. When one considers her attitude to the taxpayer providing for others that would seem very wrong to me.

[telsa]

Good riddance. And I am not alone. At 17:02 this was tweeted:

Tony Gallagher Daily Telegraph editor tweets: We have closed comments on every #Thatcher story today - even our address to email tributes is filled with abuse

[claig]

They should leave all the comments section open, so that the decent people of this country can see the reality of some of these hate-filled progressives.

[claig]

The Daily Mail has got an article on Galloway and some of teh left's reactions. Read it and see what lies beneath the progressive veil.

[lemonmuffin]

Good point Claig.

Is anyone else just waiting for ttosca to turn up?!

[Darkesteyes]

Im nearly 40 and i remember her minion Peter Lilley (under her leadership and bidding) making a very mysogynistic speech about single mothers only just stopping short of saying they should have kept their legs closed.
It was vile vile vile. She was NO feminist

[flatpackhamster]

twofingerstoGideon

Patronising fuckwittery.


Was some cwuel perthon nathty to der wovely weft wingers, was they?

Diddums.

[hackmum]

"It's days like this that reveal the truth about the Left and that their portrayal of themselves as lovely, decent caring people is exposed for the sham it really is."

For someone as sweet-natured, kind and caring as you, flatpack, with your thoughtful political analyses and your limitless compassion for the less fortunate, it must come as a terrible shock to have to deal with these nasty lefties. Perhaps you should have a lie down?

[2old2beamum]

Hackman beautifully put
Maggie RIP

[2old2beamum]

Sorry hackmum got your name wrong too much smirking

[flatpackhamster]

hackmum

For someone as sweet-natured, kind and caring as you, flatpack, with your thoughtful political analyses and your limitless compassion for the less fortunate, it must come as a terrible shock to have to deal with these nasty lefties. Perhaps you should have a lie down?

I don't pretend that I'm a lovely, kind caring person. That's the difference. I know I'm a mixture of bad and good and I know that the politics I espouse would make some people happy and others unhappy. Compassion never paid down the national debt.

There's a really fine article in today's Telegraph by Brendan O'Neill where he suggests that the reason the Left is so angry is that they are unable to do anything but rage, because they have no political power left. I think he's right. How many mainstream parties articulate a socialist stance? Not one.

Thatcher herself once said ?I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.? And she's right, isn't she? The torrent of hate is because the Left is destroyed. That's her legacy and one of which she can rightly be proud.

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Wandering off-topic, claig, I wonder why you use 'progressive' as an insult?

With my 'scientist' hat on, I feel progress has dealt us some pretty good shit over thhe years, from not dying of smallpox to being able to carry virtually the entire sum of human knowledge around in a small shiny thing in our pockets.

With my 'liberal' hat on, I feel that such things as inventing the NHS, not jailing gay people for having sex, using public funds to stop the disabled and unemployed from begging in the streets... all these are progress, no? Are these bad things?

Or do you feel that humanity reached its maximum possible peak on the 8th of April 2013, and no further progress can be made?

You can go ahead and use 'liberal' as an insult though, I believe it's all the rage with our our friends across the pond.