Margaret Thatcher, R.I.P.?

[Worthy4England]

I'm quite frankly mystified by why people think it's strange, that there's a significant negative reaction to her.

Or that they can't comprehend the depth of feeling against her.

[Il Pirate]

Well, well, well. She divided a nation when alive and now splits a football forum asunder when dead. To clarify my feelings; I am not happy she died. I am unhappy that someone who, in my opinion, led a regime (and that's what it was); which ruined whole communities & the lives of many good hard working people of this country, in pursuit of personal ambition is no longer around to be made accountable for the mess or 'legacy' we now face.
I don't want one penny of my hard earned, going towards paying for her funeral. I also think that if everyone imagines it's going to be a 'Diana' type affair with an outpouring of national grief, they could be in for a bit of a shock, but the army, err.... I mean the military style police force she helped create, will make sure that a protest of any kind is met with the full force of the baton.
And Hobo; they are not 'bud swilling'. It was Red Stripe. Viva la Revolution...............

[BWFC_Insane]

Horrible, disgusting, disgraceful front page from today's Socialist Worker.

http://sandsmediaservices.blogspot.co.u ... um=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bloody hell.

Hardly a shock is it?

I think all the mock outrage is getting tiresome. She was hated by many.

This reaction was always going to happen. In fact it's milder in some ways than I expected.

I'd rather that front page than some of the disgraceful Phillpott stuff the right wing gutter media have subjected us to. In fact that is a million, gazillion times worse.

[thebish]

heard David blunkett on a phone-in this morning - he was following on from someone whose name I forget who was suggesting that Thatcher invented the idea of dignity in hard work - and the idea that hard work should be rewarded.

he made the point that on the estates where he grew up, that was precisely the working class ethos - and they worked bloody hard - and wouldn't have expected otherwise...

thatcher didn't invent this - but the mass unemployment that accompanied her policies and the wholesale destruction that ensued in towns and villages that depended on heavy manufacturing industry dealt a huge blow to that ethos... in many ways they were desperate to work hard and find dignity in employment - but it was taken away (for whatever reason and regardless of arguments for and against her economic strategy) - and that dealt a hammer-blow in many communities to the idea that hard work pays... in their experience - it didn't - it landed you on the scrap heap.

the awful irony of hearing her successors castigate the workshy poor for being unwilling to work rings quite loud in my ears this week...

[mrkint]

Horrible, disgusting, disgraceful front page from today's Socialist Worker.

http://sandsmediaservices.blogspot.co.u ... um=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bloody hell.

Hardly a shock is it?

I think all the mock outrage is getting tiresome. She was hated by many.

This reaction was always going to happen. In fact it's milder in some ways than I expected.

I'd rather that front page than some of the disgraceful Phillpott stuff the right wing gutter media have subjected us to. In fact that is a million, gazillion times worse.

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page. Though the extent to which the SW is a 'newspaper' is debatable.

Agreed that the Philpott headlines were horrible. But that isn't relevant here.

[Worthy4England]

Horrible, disgusting, disgraceful front page from today's Socialist Worker.

http://sandsmediaservices.blogspot.co.u ... um=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bloody hell.

Hardly a shock is it?

I think all the mock outrage is getting tiresome. She was hated by many.

This reaction was always going to happen. In fact it's milder in some ways than I expected.

I'd rather that front page than some of the disgraceful Phillpott stuff the right wing gutter media have subjected us to. In fact that is a million, gazillion times worse.

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page. Though the extent to which the SW is a 'newspaper' is debatable.

Agreed that the Philpott headlines were horrible. But that isn't relevant here.

I think they're both equally relevant (or not) depending on your viewpoint.

They're both fairly extreme viewpoint from different ends of the political spectrum.

You could choose to get all Eastender's about it, or ignore it.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page.

Nor me.

Obviously I expected quite a lot of poor taste behaviour (mainly by people who are too young to have been politically conscious when she was in power), but I have to admit I was quite shocked by that image. It reminds of the very very sinister underbelly of Italian politics that sees this sort of thing happen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1882368.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We like to think we're miles away from that sort of political culture, but...

[Enoch]

Each newspaper will carry a front page aimed at it's target audience; prior to the internet, I doubt many would have seen today's Socialist Worker.

[Worthy4England]

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page.

Nor me.

Obviously I expected quite a lot of poor taste behaviour (mainly by people who are too young to have been politically conscious when she was in power), but I have to admit I was quite shocked by that image. It reminds of the very very sinister underbelly of Italian politics that sees this sort of thing happen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1882368.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We like to think we're miles away from that sort of political culture, but...

You seem to have little problem expressing your opinion mummy, even though you would have been too young to be politically conscious when she was in power. But I guess that's ok, because you agree with your opinion?

[thebish]

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page.

Nor me.

Obviously I expected quite a lot of poor taste behaviour (mainly by people who are too young to have been politically conscious when she was in power), but I have to admit I was quite shocked by that image. It reminds of the very very sinister underbelly of Italian politics that sees this sort of thing happen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1882368.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We like to think we're miles away from that sort of political culture, but...

there are things closer to home it reminds me of.. I don't remember you being shocked or outraged at the time...

http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article ... 033180.jpg

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page.

Nor me.

Obviously I expected quite a lot of poor taste behaviour (mainly by people who are too young to have been politically conscious when she was in power), but I have to admit I was quite shocked by that image. It reminds of the very very sinister underbelly of Italian politics that sees this sort of thing happen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1882368.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We like to think we're miles away from that sort of political culture, but...

You seem to have little problem expressing your opinion mummy, even though you would have been too young to be politically conscious when she was in power. But I guess that's ok, because you agree with your opinion?

Expressing an opinion is one thing...

[Worthy4England]

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page.

Nor me.

Obviously I expected quite a lot of poor taste behaviour (mainly by people who are too young to have been politically conscious when she was in power), but I have to admit I was quite shocked by that image. It reminds of the very very sinister underbelly of Italian politics that sees this sort of thing happen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1882368.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We like to think we're miles away from that sort of political culture, but...

You seem to have little problem expressing your opinion mummy, even though you would have been too young to be politically conscious when she was in power. But I guess that's ok, because you agree with your opinion?

Expressing an opinion is one thing...

So yours is fine, others aren't because they fundamentally disagree with yours?

[thebish]

A photo for Hobo's collection!

Maggie - Europhile...

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

So yours is fine, others aren't because they fundamentally disagree with yours?

I'm not angling for a shut down of debate and discussion, but I don't think the classless and poor taste behaviour such as celebrating in the street and knocking up pictures of gravestones spattered with blood is part of that.

However, for those people who lived through 'it', whatever their view of 'it' is, I can at least understand the strength of feeling that gives rise to this stuff. But for people around my age? I just find it a bit odd.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Well I can't say I was exactly expecting a blood-spattered tombstone on the front page.

Nor me.

Obviously I expected quite a lot of poor taste behaviour (mainly by people who are too young to have been politically conscious when she was in power), but I have to admit I was quite shocked by that image. It reminds of the very very sinister underbelly of Italian politics that sees this sort of thing happen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1882368.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

We like to think we're miles away from that sort of political culture, but...

there are things closer to home it reminds me of.. I don't remember you being shocked or outraged at the time...

http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article ... 033180.jpg

I don't remember seeing it at the time, but I don't think that's appropriate for the front page of a newspaper, no.

But there is at least the slight mitigation that that is a journalistic photograph of an actual event, and not some perverse, horror film style graphic.

[bwfcdan94]

Well, well, well. She divided a nation when alive and now splits a football forum asunder when dead. To clarify my feelings; I am not happy she died. I am unhappy that someone who, in my opinion, led a regime (and that's what it was); which ruined whole communities & the lives of many good hard working people of this country, in pursuit of personal ambition is no longer around to be made accountable for the mess or 'legacy' we now face.
I don't want one penny of my hard earned, going towards paying for her funeral. I also think that if everyone imagines it's going to be a 'Diana' type affair with an outpouring of national grief, they could be in for a bit of a shock, but the army, err.... I mean the military style police force she helped create, will make sure that a protest of any kind is met with the full force of the baton.
And Hobo; they are not 'bud swilling'. It was Red Stripe. Viva la Revolution...............

They only good thing she did was stand up for us in the Falklands but as far as I can see she labelled all football fans as hooligans and as you say put two or even three generations of males in families out of work. There will be parties across England particularly in Yorkshire given the way she destroyed all of their industry (and she certainly damaged the economy in the north west as well). Despite living in an area where the majority of voters of conservative as a football fan and somebody who believes in our traditional industry I am not unhappy in the slightest to see her go and you are right Pirate the tax payers should pay no part in paying for her funeral. She did a lot more bad that good for this country and can even be seen as a major reason why we have such a ethic or "not bothered" among far to many youths today. She took away are industry without realising that that was what made people proud and gave men pride, as a result we now have a generation of people with little pride and while some youngsters like myself will look to work hard and do their best I see everywhere young people with this can't be bothered attitude which is caused by a lack of pride and self respect, would they have these problems if they had a job in primary or secondary industry, I think you will find the answer is no.

[bobo the clown]

Well, until that interjection I was on the fence.

Now my mind it made up.

[Worthy4England]

So yours is fine, others aren't because they fundamentally disagree with yours?

I'm not angling for a shut down of debate and discussion, but I don't think the classless and poor taste behaviour such as celebrating in the street and knocking up pictures of gravestones spattered with blood is part of that.

However, for those people who lived through 'it', whatever their view of 'it' is, I can at least understand the strength of feeling that gives rise to this stuff. But for people around my age? I just find it a bit odd.

It's difficult to understand the half of it, if you weren't on the receiving end. Many weren't and saw her as taking the right line - often when it didn't impact them personally, which is where the notion of "I'm alright Jack" came from in this context. She did necessary things "to someone else" - which made it fine and dandy. I can recall one person I worked with, who was an ardent supporter, at the time saying she'd never vote for them again (after the first two elections) when the mortgage rate went through the roof and she couldn't afford the huge mortgage that was many times her salary. Different when it impacts "me" as opposed to "them" - all of a sudden it isn't a necessary evil anymore.

I'm sure there's some younger people that will have had varying levels of love, like, dislike, loathing, out and out hatred passed down to them by their parents and have made their own mind up on that basis.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Can only speak for myself....but I'm not arsed......

[TANGODANCER]

I'm sure there's some younger people that will have had varying levels of love, like, dislike, loathing, out and out hatred passed down to them by their parents and have made their own mind up on that basis.

Eminently true statement. Depends whether they've watched The Iron Lady, or Brassed Off and Billy Elliot.