Margaret Thatcher
Former Tory Prime Minister and Society Denier
So, farewell
Then Margaret Thatcher.
'The lady's not for turning!'
That was
Your catchphrase.
And 'There is no such thing as society.'
Keith's Dad says you invented
Mr Whippy ice cream.
And that he made
Loadsa money when you
Privatised the Gas Board.
Hopefully the current
Price of gas
Will not delay
Your departure
Via Finchley Crematorium.
E. C. Richard (29)
64 comments:
I'm perfectly comfortable with being labelled a champagne socialist when it comes to celebrating the death of the old witch, Mr C. In fact I've already glugged my way through half a case of Dom since lunchtime!
Actually I can't see any conflict between champagne and socialism. It's a bit like saying you can't be a Tory and like Scotch eggs!
You have got to feel sorry for Mark Thatcher who was rumored to have got rich on the back of a UK/Saudi Arabia aircraft deal following mummies intervention. The serious fraud squad investigation was ended on grounds of national security.
She was a looker in her day though, Peter my old son you missed a photo opportunity there!
I interviewed her once and despite the fact that I couldn't stand her politics, and despite the fact that she was in her 60s at the time, I couldn't help noticing that she still had a very passable pair of pins. Not sure if that adds much to the debate. Probably says more about my being a bit of an old lustbucket come to think of it.
Good taste and human decency seem to be in short supply around these parts. Margaret Thatcher had her supporters and those that hated her across the political divide, she was that kind of person. She did what she felt she had to do, whereas so many of our leaders do what they think is vote catching at the time.
Leadership, properly exercised, is not about hugging hoodies or pandering to the latest fad group, but about taking decisions in the majority interest. It does not always enhance popularity.
That said, the lady is dead and whether one loved or loathed her, her place in history is secure if only as the first woman PM of the UK.
I agree that much of what she did needed to be done, listening to the clips of Scargill yesterday he sounded like a right wing dictator but I can't forgive the way she divided this country and decimated communities. We are still living with the legacy of that, Scotland is going its own way partly because of what Thatcher did 30 years ago and closer to home Thanet is still living with the fallout 30 years later.
For all the media coverage you would think we had lost another Churchill but sadly when the history books are written I do not think she will be up there with the likes of him.
On the one hand, my sentiment is thank goodness she's dead. On the other, the outpouring of tributes from her supporters is so stomach-churning that I wish she could have lived on as a forgotten has-been, whose policies have, over time, been found to be wanting on so many levels. May she rot in hell (if there is one).
These sickening outpourings of the half educated left celebrating the death of Maggie will ensure that Labour lose the next election; hand the Conservatives an overall majority.
Holyer, if your Party's victory depends on the memory of a dead, pernciciously evil witch, whose policies have been discredited, who divided Britain, and turned the police on hard-working miners, then you thoroughly deserve the "Nasty Party" badge you have always had.
I guess you had the other half of the education?
I wonder if all these Tory old farts will practice self-righteous restraint when Gordon Brown snuffs it? Ha!
Anyway, loathe her or love her, as Oscar Wild said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. I'll give her that at least!
Curious that at a time of fiscal restraint, the money can be found to arrange a not-quite-a state-funeral for her. How many nurses salaries would be funded by the hire of St Pauls, the security, the troops... Perhaps her estate should cover the cost.
Always good for a laugh is John Hamilton's blog - possibly even further to the right than Biggles (who's found another local opponent to smear today, I see). He's lamenting the witch's passing, supported as ever by his side-kick, Tom Clarke, who I see has graced this blog with his slimy presence. They label anyone who doesn't share their sorrow as a "cretin".
Hmmm. I like the idea of being a left wing cretin. But then I also like the idea of them being Tory old farts.
But which one is best? There's only one way to find out....
FIGHT!
Anonymouse 10:55,
I'm busy now. Can I ignore you some other time?
I was glad to see Mike Pearce (Gazette) commenting on the clowns who insist on infesting local blog sites with their abuse and name-calling. Same old names on this site too and they can't accept that others have a different view.
Those who were living in the home-counties or the affluent South-East will inevitably, have a different view of MT than those who lived in regions which were decimated by her government's economic policies.
Perhaps, the most ludicrous decision was to get even with the miners' union by closing the coal mines. Whole communities were consigned to the scrap-heap. Many of those communities have never recovered to this day.
The decision was economic madness. Hundreds of years of coal was left underground, leaving the country dependent for energy, on imports of foreign gas; a decision which is likely to leave us facing power-cuts in the next few years.
I do not celebrate the death of a politician but don't expect me to sit quietly whilst others present a schmaltzy, parochial perspective of Thatcher's tenure. She was a divisive Prime-Minister who divided the country; divisions which remain to this day and are going to result in devolution and the break-up of the United Kingdom.
Richard, I would not cheer the death of Gordon Brown or any other person. As Peter said in the first comment, Margaret Thatcher was but a frail old woman when she died, so you have to be pretty cretinous to cheer that.
I did not agree with all her actions and I think she stayed a bit too long as PM instead of going out on a high of her own choosing. However, what all these people who claim she wrecked the country forget is, she won three consecutive elections. Some people must have liked her.
Tom, I'm generally not a dead-old-person-cheerer either. But I think you'll find that what people are cheering is the marking of a line under what she did and stood for, rather than the passing of a frail old lady.
Many people (more or less rightly) cheered the passing of Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. I don't recall too many sobs of 'poor old them' at the time. The whole of Thanet cheered when Jimmy Godden died.
To many people, Thatcher was just as bad, and I therefore strongly believe that they have the right to an outpouring of relief that she's gone.
I wonder what the national statistics are for the amount of people ringing in to work sick this morning because they have a hangover. Got to be pretty high.
That's the interesting thing with elections in this country - the majority of people don't vote for the winners!
Someone liked her, but I'm sure Robert Mugabe has his supporters.
Ill always remember the hatred my auntie, a retired nun then a schoolteacher, who hated nobody ( well, maybe Anglicans) and the poison she spouted at MT as she lived it in Yorkshire. My dad, a working class Tory boy from the estuary didn't get it. She created a divide that's going to take generations to fix.
Probably one of the worst offenders around the blogs for boring repetition and name calling is that well known anonymous from over Birchington Way. Confining his interest, whatever the topic or thread, to sexuality issues and heaping bile on a couple of Tories by name, everyone he disagrees with becomes a bigot or a homophobe.
He is on record as claiming the Tories outside of Thanet are enlightened and progressive so I wonder how he views MT's passing.
Scottish devolution, incidentally, will not happen because it would cost Labour 50 seats in Westminster and we can't have that, can we?
It's ironic that most of the illustrious Thatchers supporters wear rose tinted glasses! The economic miracle was a myth GDP through the Thatcher years was poor! Then there were the wars, the strikes, the riots " You knew where you were with Thatcher " basically in real trouble. Murdock gained most of his power through her decision to back him...........that worked out well didn't it!! Privatisation of the Utilities ummmmmmmmmm!! Could say more & if you are Under 30 years old you can't say what she was because you never had to live through the division & misery that she caused!!
You're behind the times, Anon (1:01). The new Biggles-fuelled and inspired smear campaign is against his fellow Ward Councillor Tom King, not John Worrow (doesn't take much to work out that's who you mean). Really, do keep up! You need to show your support for he-who-spins-like-a-top by jumping on his bandwagon and finding dirt to throw at the NEW target.
As for Holyer, aww, bless. Are you lonely in your corner of the playground with your finger stick in your...mouth. Now step out of your puddle, come on...
Anon 1:50, you are entirely on the wrong tack. I was referring to Mike Pearce's article about the people that infest the blogs. Nothing to do with what is happening (or not) on Thanet Life.
Glad you recognise the description 0f the anonymous blogger though. Proves I am not alone in spotting his style and subject matter.
Being a Ramsgate person, I do not know Tom King or anything about him, but even this far south on the isle we have heard of the diversity champion.
I recognised John Worrow from your description, Anon of 2.40, simply because so many of his critics have used the same terminology over many weeks and months. Some have - usually wrongly - tried to suggest that anyone offering similar thoughts to his (ie John Worrow's) must be the man himself. Some of his views are shared by others, even if that makes for uncomfortable reading on the part of his detractors.
I agree he, and the current local administration, have overplayed the equality and diversity card, but there IS an undoubted need for more awareness in these areas given the disgusting behaviour of certain Tory Councillors and many right-wing local commentators. There's none so blind, as the saying goes.
Anon 1:01, interesting you raised Mugabe for an old mate in Harare tells me that the chap is absolutely revered in the gay community. Least, I think he said revered.
Not just right wing, 2:58, Mike Harrison was hardly complimentary on his blog and, as he himself said, he was only using the language and terminology of the factory floor. Wonder how many right wingers there are in the average factory.
What were you saying about there's none so blind?
Labour Cllr Harrison, like the Youth Commissioner actually apologised, in part because Cllr Hart and Commissioner Barnes insisted. However, this was not the case with Cllr Ken Gregory who outraged the community and those living with HIV-AIDS because he showed no remorse. Unlike Hart and Barnes, Thanet Conservative leader Bob Bayford just said it was a mistake just as he did with Ezekiel. Instead thousands of pounds of taxpayers money was used making bogus standdards complaints against the victim.
Well I think Maggie was a sad personality. As a child anxious to impress her father. Then as a politician anxious to be a good puppet of the new paternal figures in her life.
Probably the only time in her life she was a little girl is when she sobbed in self pity as she left Downing Street.
The target of hatred that would be more rightly directed at her puppet masters.
If there is a God then perhaps he will be the first true father figure she knows. RIP
Mike Pearce may vilify bloggers but his Gazette Letters Page was worse.
League of St George chap calling Iris Johnson "True pornography".
Wasn't that at a time Labour lady cllrs found their mail had been accessed and porno cartoons placed in it at TDC ?
When Kent Police made a warrant raid at Southwood and seized weapons didn't Pearce publish the explanations of the targets of the raid in a prejudicial fashion without identifying his sources or denying they were his favoured League of St George letters page contributors ?
When Searchlight ran a series of reports alleging throughporting of mercenaries at Ramsgate didn't Mr Pearce once again publish the explanation of his League of St George contacts.
Mike Pearce ? Pots and kettles.
Harry Sporborg who told her
what to think and do
Now she dead and no one's heard of you.
10:43
What mercenaries through the port of Ramsgate and to where? Interested because I was what you would term a mercenary and never heard of any such activity. Normally we travelled on scheduled airlines like any other passenger.
Farewell Satan's sister her ashes should be scatered on the colliery slag heaps so all the miner's dogs can piss on her.
Stargazer.
Hear, hear. To all those who talk of respecting the dead, what respect dud the evil witch show fot working people in Britain? Perhaps a small redress would be to scrap her grand funeral and use the proceeds to set up a health or education foundation. And MPs could cover thecost of today's wasteful and pointless recall of Parliament out of their own pockets. The proceeds could also go into the Foundation.
And I always thought the Tories were the nasty party. For real spiteful bile they cannot hold a candle to the left.
I think harsh words about the dead Thatcher are a very small candle, Anon - to continue your analogy - against her contempt for the British worker, her deployment of the police and security services against the miners, her friendship with despots like Pinochet, her labelling of Nelson Mandela, even in the 80s, as a terrorist, and her division of the country. And this is only a small selection of her "achievements".
Anon 7:06, police have often been used to deal with strike action, Mandela, like Adams and McGuiness, was a terrorist or do you believe that the ANC, who mainly murdered innocents, were freedom fighters, Pinochet helped this country during the Falklands War, as in WWII Stalin was an ally, and most prime ministers divide the country into left and right.
I thought Brown was an appalling PM, but I would not wish death upon him or rejolice in it. Clearly, you and I have been brought up with very different standards of decency and respect.
We also seem to have very different perspectives on history, Anon. Just picking up on one of your points, I don't believe that Stalin was feted in the UK after the war, when the truth about him became known. Far from it in fact. But Thatcher feted Pinochet very personally years after his history was proven. It is her disregard for decency and respect that is perhaps at issue here.
Just browsing around the Thanet blogs and found the best laugh yet on Thanet Watch. In a similar debate on the merits or otherwise of Margaret Thatcher, some expert, posting under the name of Paul Frew, claims that because he has, wait for it, an O level, an A Level and a degree in history, he is better qualified to interpret the Thatcher years and have an opinion than others. What a supercilious dick-head he must be.
Anon 8.05pm, I'm inclined to share your distaste for those who find it necessary to promote their personal qualifications and achievements so pointedly. I have often commented on Tory Councillor Moores's obsession with doing so for himself. It often says something very significant about the individual!
To be slightly fair to "Paul Frew", he was, I think, responding to the challenge from a number of Thatcher-admirers, led by Holyer, that most people have no right to comment on the dead Thatcher because either they are too young, or they do not have their (self-claimed) knowledge of history, or they are from the political left and should not say anything about her odious record. Frew was simply offering his credentials.
The best advice to all is go buy "Ding, dong the witch is dead". A great tribute song.
Anon @ 8.05 pm
Your post has pompous tone.
I will reply in full in the unlikely event that you ever summon up the courage to reveal your identity.
Though you are easily recognisable as a frequent poster under various thinly veiled guises.
John, for once you are utterly and completely wrong. I am not one of your usual anonymous trolls, but, in this instance at 8:05, felt it best not to use my usual handle, being invariably dismissed as a right wing bigot.
I would, however, suggest you go to Thanet Watch and read the exchange there between Paul Frew and Cllr William Epps. You can then decide which one is the academic snob and total dick-head.
10:33, I think the difference with Cllr Moores is that he gives a resume of his experience and qualifications on his own blogsite write up, something it is a pity more councillors do not do.
Paul Frew, on the other hand, is putting down the comment of another named contributor on the basis that a progression of student level qualifications gives his argument more credibility. I would tend to favour that of the guy who was in Africa and saw the atrocities committed by the ANC first hand rather than read it in books.
I wonder, do Holyer, Clarke, Hamilton and their associates (including those who post on Thanet Watch under different names) wander the corridors of local blogs in a seething, drooling pack, ready to pounce on any comment that cuts across their own right-wing take on life?
Do they have a system whereby a leftist comment on any local blog rings an alarm bell in their cave and they rush out, coming (if that's the right spelling) as one - always nice! - to set out their stall?
Do they live all together, or are they linked by some strange supernatural phenomenon? Are they a modern day version of the Boys from Brazil?
Interested in your comment about those posting on Thanet Watch under different names. It is a site I often look at, but never post on as, those of us on the right, simply set ourselves up as Aunty Sallies by so doing.
I have seen John Holyer on there, but none of the others that we would normally associate in your so called right wing fringe group.
So just who are these different names?
anon 11.43,
The answer to your rather excited questions is, "No"
Your speculation that we are a, "seething, drooling pack, ready to pounce on any comment that cuts across their own right-wing take on life?" is rather quaint.
There is more, but I'm busy right now. Can I come back and ignore you later?
Holyer, ignore me any time you like. I set my standards way above nasty pieces of work like you. Clarke, stop obsessing about the identities of anonymous or adopted- name contributors. And stop asking questions when you have absolutely no interest in the answers you are given. You old tease. Now back to the cave with you both.
Far from obsessing, 2:55, I was responding to the previous Anon who suggested I and others posted on Thanet Watch under different names. I repeat, I do not post on Thanet Watch under any guise and I do not really care too much about who else does. In any case, according to one Paul Frew, you have to have a degree in history to offer an opinion on that site. I am a maths person so not qualified.
Clarke and Holyer used to waffle on about Manston and RAF Manston but seem to have given up the ghost on that and just post rather pointlessly, nastily and endlessly now.
anonymouse aka Manston Aquifer Man @ 8.16
The only skill you have ever developed is the art of being obnoxious
Don't hold back on your usual self-proclaimed superiority, Holyer. You're best at being obnoxious, too. Quite the ****, in fact.
You buffoon. You would be out of your depth in a puddle.
You know, Holyer, you add nothing to local blogging bar your rudeness and rather puerile insults. You are not even very inventive or imaginative, because you usually recycle bits of what others post or repeat yourself. Not a very distinctive record, eh?
Why not just ignore people? Oh no, that means that you won't get off from seeing your name on the screen. I know, why not focus on your Springate project and blog, where you can record or make up - who knows or cares - your family background.
Anonymouse 7:36 am,
Having failed to disturb me in any other way, you now you ooze yourself into the slimy pit of the craven inadequate by seeking to attack my family. This does not trouble me. Your opinion is worthless. You have descended to a new low.
Should you ever summon up the courage to reveal your identity then we can have a proper discussion. But that is not the point, is it. Anonymity is the point. For in this way you can sling ordure and excite yourself in the process. The internet is a better tool for this than the public toilet wall from which you graduated.
You are the kind of person who would stab his best friend for the sake of writing something vile on his tombstone.
You are lonely, I know and I pity you.
Anon 8:16, there is no need to go on about Manston for with the new S & R helicopters being based there, the KLM service and the fact it is now the major cargo airport in the UK, for the moment it has a future.
Neither you or I know the longer term prospect and to waste our time trying to guess is fruitless.
Save your pity for yourself, Holyer. Your need is greater. You post insults and rude remarks all over the blogs about various different commentators and are completely offensive. In schoolboy fashion you point a quivering finger at others and accuse them of your own faults and behaviour. No-one is convinced.
And you lie. I have said nothing about your family whatsoever. I have commented on your writing about them. Again, you convince - and con - no-one.
Anon 10.44
I know you well. You always purport to be a member of a group; but in truth you are a lonely, mendacious and sad old man. In truth I really do pity you, you in your desolate world.
Well that is enough excitement for you today. I'm busy now. Can I come back and ignore you later?
Thank you for, once again, demonstrating what so many commentators say about you, Holyer. A thoroughly nasty piece of work. I'm glad you're busy, but you can type with one hand, you know.
anonymouse 11.07,
I truly pity you.
You really shouldn't be so quick to offer pity to others, Holyer, when your own need for it is so great. Almost as great as your obvious need to have the last word in every thread, even when, as with most of your contributions, your comment is so pointless.
Interesting, 2:01, but what exactly is the point of yours?
anonymous 2.01,
OK,OK - so you've got the last word.
Wrong. The only person who gets the last word on my blog is me. Ha!
So, I shall sum up by saying the level of debate here on the Ile de Thanet shows very little sign of improving beyond the level of the playground.
That said, at least no-one has yet descended to those age-old epithets 'Nazi' and 'Paedo', which is why this thread is now closed for further comment, as it's only a matter of time.
To return to the original theme of my post, it's somehow fitting to see that the late Margaret Thatcher has caused so many grown men to whip out their prized YSLs and handbag each other. She would have been rather pleased with that, methinks!
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