Margaret Thatcher dies

I thought this deserved a thread.

I was never a fan of "the Milk Snatcher" or the whole wake of politicians that followed in her footsteps, but there's no denying her influence on British, European, and World politics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-dies-aged-87

Just in case there's someone out there who doesn't know about Thatcher, could you add a brief summary of her career in the OP?

I'm sure a paragraph or so would do.

"I don't think there will be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime." Yes, she said that.

I agree. Say what you want about her politics, but she was the epitome of Badass in a way it's hard not to admire.

I admire her resolve.

She was a horrid harpy at her peak, but it's still quite sad, as it's very likely the only people who will sincerely mourn her are her imediate family.

For those who don't know I'm gona go ahead an quote our Thatch page.

She broke the unions but also effectively destroyed many small towns and villages, as she shut down much of the British Industry, which meant that the miners lost their jobs and this devastated entire communities. She's the reason that Scotland has more Pandas then Conservative M Ps, she did so much damage to Scotland, Wales and the north of England with her policies that most of those areas are solidly anti Conservative, even this far one.

She also was massively certain of her rightness and incredibly strong willed.

Edit: Fun trivia fact, the last 4 British P Ms to die have died in pairs, with two dying in 2005 and two in 1995. So the 3 other former P Ms should watch out.

edited 8th Apr '13 4:50:31 PM by Silasw

So much so that people are composing folk songs about how harmful she was.

edited 8th Apr '13 4:48:36 PM by Achaemenid

After doing some reading on her policies, I can see why people in UK hated her. BUT while I disagree with what she did I think I still admire her revolve and her strength of character and I mourn that passing.

Boy, do we need a politician of her resolve and character nowadays, on any (reasonable) side of the political spectrum.

Ding dong, the witch is dead! Which old witch? The rich old witch. Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead.

Maggie was both evil and glorious. Ever since, her minions Kinnock, Blair, Cameron etc. have continued to be evil, but none have ever dared to be glorious.

She sang the Grantham anthem as she built the Universe.

Well, it's nice to see Never Speak Ill of the Dead went out the window.

edited 8th Apr '13 5:37:23 PM by Deadbeatloser22

It is, isn't it. Never Speak Ill of the Dead is for private individuals, not for people whose decisions affected millions of lives.

Yay for pointless double standards.

Not really. Thatcher's policies put thousands out of work, hundreds on the street, and contributed to much suffering (as many political policies do). Her legacy and the ideologies she left behind have the capacity to do so again. Why should we let people craft an image of her off the back of emotions? Why should those whose lives she ruined be denied their chance to express themselves?

I would modify my original statement - Never Speak Ill of the Dead does not apply to individuals whom the departed held power over. An honest critique of how they exercised that power is vital.

edited 8th Apr '13 5:51:25 PM by Achaemenid

If it's a choice, it shouldn't exist at all. She was a horrible bitch yesterday and the day before that, her being dead doesn't change it. Same with anyone else. There's a difference between showing respect and whitewashing a person's sins, and particularly with the famous, the latter is what happens.

That said, grave dancing doesn't sit well with me. Ultimately she was an 87 year old woman who had dementia for the last 8 years of her life. Her death doesn't make the world a better place. One could argue that the world may have been a better place if the Brighton boming actually got her, but that's not the point. She survived that and everything else, until such time as she became politically irrelevant. At least, in the sense that she doesn't decide the policies of the Cameron government.

Her legacy is atrocious. Falklands aside, she was awful for the country, and her utter disregard for Scotland and Northern Ireland...in fact most places north of the Watford gap mean there is little love lost for her here. Still, I can't condone the street party that Glasgow actually did end up holding today, after years of promises. I think that Frankie Boyle may not quite have been right though in his suggestion that hers would be the first funeral at which the 21 gun salute aims at the coffin.

edited 8th Apr '13 5:52:00 PM by CaissasDeathAngel

Disagree with her? Sure. Sigh of relief? Perhaps.

Celebrating someone's death? I don't like it.

So you're telling me I am required to hate someone who ceased to be able to do any more damage long before I was even conceived?

Get out, this isn't Nineteen Eighty Four.

Frankie Boyle was, in fairness, repeating a joke he's already made (as in, when she was alive). I don't condone the street parties either, but I can't bring myself to condemn them, especially as me and my mates named our pub quiz team "The National Union of Mineworkers" down the local tonight.

That's a feeble straw man and you know it. I "require" no emotions from you whatsoever. What I am saying is that those who had ample reason to dislike her are not required to stay silent out of some misguided convention that serves only to prevent honest critique of their legacy. Oh, and bringing up Nineteen Eighty Four cheapens both that work and your argument.

edited 8th Apr '13 5:56:14 PM by Achaemenid

Do you really think Death will stop her?

Cameron will privatize the brains of all UK citizens and Maggie will feast on our succulent brains.

Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but it's definitely the impression I'm getting from some corners of the internet.

Not to mention that some people like specific policies she enacted, and those party groups should not act like they speak for the whole populace or jump at those people when they feel credit is due to her.

I wasn't really discussing that, simply the more general peculiar convention that we must set aside our grievances over those who wield power over us when they die.

That too. Seriously, Deadbeat, you moderate a wiki. You probably know what kind of twattery the internet has to offer better than anyone. Politics + simmering hatred + GIFT...you get the idea.

edited 8th Apr '13 6:00:49 PM by Achaemenid

That's because you're letting the dark corner of the internets speak for an entire section of the population. Which is just silly.

edited 8th Apr '13 5:58:27 PM by Silasw

Depending on where you are, opinions of Thatcher on social networking will be greatly varied. I'm against Never Speak Ill of the Dead, but I'm certainly not against people's right to like her or say good things about her. The bad deeds don't cancel out the good, nor the good deeds cancel out the bad. People should have a right to acknowledge both without being crucified for it.

I certainly don't insist you say bad things about her and don't appreciate the suggestion that I did.

I'm sticking with my fully acknowledged lukewarm position of blatant blandness and fence-sitting. It takes more than one woman to draw up and enact a whole party's policies, you know. <_<

She was a big part, true: but, she was not alone in drawing up both the good and the bad of what happened (and, if Scargill et al hadn't been such twats and even managed to be remotely media savvy, things might have gone differently in a number of ways*

Like it or lump it, the Labour movement did an awful lot to scupper themselves. Amongst which was fracturing like cheap bed-slats facing a set of 6-year old twins bouncing on them.

edited 8th Apr '13 6:33:50 PM by Euodiachloris

She hasn't been in power since before most of us were born. I didn't like her policy either, but let's be honest here: there's little this thread could accomplish other than tasteless gravedancing.

edited 8th Apr '13 6:14:14 PM by Pykrete