Margaret Thatcher

I was driving up to Glasgow on Monday afternoon, and hadn’t caught the news in the morning. So when I turned on my radio and heard her voice, I assumed it was a news item or programme about her, and immediately switched to CD. 20 minutes later, I switched back, and she was still being broadcast, so I continued with my CD.

An hour or so into the journey, I was amazed to switch back to radio 4 and find that they were still broadcasting Margaret Thatcher. Yelling at the radio, “Why is that woman still on????”, it was about then that I realised that something had happened.

I was then away for a few days, and have been either busy since, or catching up on sleep. I have noticed various discussions going on about what is appropriate to say or not say after someone dies, but didn’t have the energy to post.

I was becoming politically aware as Thatcher came to power, and had a dislike of her for many reasons, too numerous to go into here. Even so, I do not see any reason to celebrate her death.

At the same time, I do appreciate that, for many directly affected by her policies, to a life-changing degree, they may have good cause to be glad she has gone, and unless one has gone through the things these communities have, then it is difficult to criticise them. I certainly won’t

On the other hand, those young people I’ve seen waving banners, singing “the witch is dead”, and generally having a good time, and yet who weren’t even born when she was in power; well, in my opinion they are just showing their stupidity.

As for those on the right, who are taking great unbrage at anything they deem insensitive or disrespectful, I didn’t see them being particularly respectful when Michael Foot died.

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