then she'll steal headlines from the publication of the Public Spending Review result and she will have had one last evil laugh.

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/political-threads

This is not the place for such bile, vitriol and nastiness.
Shame on you.

I am trying really hard to be fair lately, against the instincts of a lifetime. My very bones know the jokes, a la Stalin, about going to her funeral just to make damned sure she is dead, and when Costello wrote his song, I thought it bang on the money. A great part of me still does. However the implication from so many press reports is that she is already gaga, and now I find that sad, even for someone I have hated, loathed and detested with a passion all my adult life.

On the other hand, I read today that Thatcher to be be portrayed on film by Meryl Streep and that the portrayal will be "sympathetic".

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hXBzxWvwBf5jB6K33...

Not that is still worth taking fierce exception to, not least because we have seen even shallow movies for the international market have a habit of cementing the narrative about a public figure. A sycophantic portrait of Thatcher released to coincide with her demise would be toxic, in my view.

"Forgive" is the wrong word. Thatcher in her person is long gone.
However her heirs are in power and in their pomp, and the real battle now is with them about her legacy and whether what we need is more of the same. I will argue with anyone who claims her legacy has worth and honour. But as for the person of Thatcher herself, I am trying to let it go.

But that's about it.

I can see a version of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch developing here with people out-trumping each other with increasingly creative ways of showing disprespect.

we had to go to pit at 4 in morning. Til she closed it down so I made a mint with me own taxi firm thru t' enterprise allowance scheme

Bugger....

I shall be playing Ghost Town in her honour.

Is it now OK to celebrate the deaths of our chosen hate figures?

I for one intend to get pissed as a fart when Brother Scargill pops his clogs. In the nicest possible way, of course.

Back in the late eighties, I had stocked up on Lambrusco, peanuts and light ale with a view to celebrate the impending doom of a particularly nasty singer-songwriter who was, at the time, losing his (totally unpublicised) battle with substance addiction.

Unfortunately he survived and went on to make even more useless records. Oh how I wept.

.....the day she dies.
Avoid the high street, avoid newspapers, tune all radios to BBC 7, have all CD players and vinyl turntables at the ready with rock 'n' roll (something her and Jackson know nothing about) and keep yer head down for a month or two.
It'll soon pass.

fuck her, I've got the champagne on ice.

song on here in response to Murdoch's recent tribute to Thatcher. It's a brilliant slice of vitriol, spot on for its time, but the time has passed. As Doods says, she's just a frail old woman now, and there are new battles to fight. I celebrated when she was ousted from office, that was good enough for me. The rest is silence.

I will at least make a case for some respect by saying, 'she is someone's mother you know.'
But look at the offspring.
Case closed, bring on the gags.

cannot be expressed briefly in words,so to save you all from an extended and abusive rant I'll simply say that the real pity is not that the creature is dying but that IT was ever born in the first place.

have an up arrow

Presumably some of the 'destroyed lives' referred to in these kinds of comments include those of the miners, following the 1984-85 dispute?

As I did not set the vitriolic tone of this debate, I make no apology for pointing out the rich irony in many of the most vehement defenders of the strike now wanting every coal fired power station shut down by yesterday if not sooner in the name of saving the planet / enriching Sam Cam's dad and other aristocrats with space for a wind turbine or 100 (delete as appropriate).

Seriously, you'd think by some of the comments here and elsewhere that we were discussing the imminent demise of Josef Mengele. Embarrassing, tbh.

I'm far from a fan of the woman, but I don't think I could ever celebrate or gain any happiness from the death of a fellow human being.

I have the same contempt for Gordon Brown and Tony Blair that many posters on this blog have for Margaret Thatcher. However, never ever would I celebrate their death.

We are better than this.

...she showed total disregard for so many but as many have said It is never nice to see the decline of anyone going "gaga". Its the symbolism of what she and her like stand for that we should look forward to the death of.
As for the miners - I for one would never have gone down the pits but they served the communities that were decimated when nothing was put in their place.
If you want vitriol this is really up there!!

Thanks to many of you for reinforcing my decision to avoid the internet for a fortnight in the aftermath of her death.

And she's 85 and in poor health. I don't see any distaste in discussing her impending demise. As there was talk of a state funeral a while back, frankly I don't see how it can be avoided.

...if the same extent of vitriol would be evident were we talking about the potential demise of 'Lord' Thatcher, i.e. if the same policies had been carried out by a man. Is part of the unique reaction that she elicits because we find it unsettling that a woman should 'snatch' milk from children, initiate (and see through) her economic policies, make the decision to retake the Falklands, sink the Belgrano etc?

Like others, I'm no fan, but I think that wishing someone dead says as much about me as the object of my wrath.

...has resulted in the towns in the area where I was brought up ending up as desolate as they are now I'd say yes. Definately.

And in twenty years time, I'd suggest that Dave and Gid will most likely occupy exactly the same place in many people's hearts. Depends on the desolation which will result from today though. I have low hopes.

*huge Bagpuss-style yawn*

there would be some merit in this vitriol. Lord knows, for personal reasons, I could very easily justify such a response, but the lady is very old, frail and, judging from news reports, confused. Surely, this response is just undignified and below us? Surely, to quote the metaphysical poet George Herbert (and REM) "Living well is the best revenge"

;-)

really ?

and understand the bile people feel towards her, though the irony of rich musicians and comedians manning the barricades never fails to amuse (The Specials and The Beat are excused for the brilliance of their tunes though). It wasn't them that suffered, they actually did rather well and the communities that did suffer from her harshness haven't exactly thrived under subsequent governments, have they ?

on possibly the best music forum in the land.

It's official: Punk really is dead :-(

it shouldn't be forgotten that said phenomenon (such as it was) occurred during a time of now unimaginable state generosity towards the lazy and feckless / economically disenfranchised (again, delete according to taste). Not quite suggesting that the Lydons and Strummers et al were ungrateful bastards...well alright I am suggesting just that ;-)

Celebrating death (in this way) = bad karma. Surely?

Then again, perhaps you should never trust a hippy.

One gets to feel the warm glow of righteousness that comes from Thatcher-bashing, while simultaneously enjoying the lifestyle that her policies helped to bring about. Nice one. The Red Wedge fraternity exhibit this tendency as much as anyone.

Lest my comments may be misconstrued as me trying to hold on to my privileged lifestyle, let me state for the record that I'm from a very ordinary council house upbringing in West Central Scotland. Worked for many years in low-ish paid jobs and have now attained the dizzy heights of bang on the average wage. Willing to bet that more than a few Thatch-bashers are 'considerably richer than me'. Just saying.

“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Even he may have thought twice about that tyrant lover Maggie though.

... is not morally or intellectualy indefensible at all. Before the Spectator turned into a lifestyle accessory for thick nasty Sloane Londoners I used to really enjoy reading it. Ditto the 'old' Telegraph.

I do think that there is a difference though in dressing up massive wholesale theft with talk of 'honest working folk who just want to be left to get on with their lives'. Thatcher & co did precisely that.

The banks have driven up in pantechnicons and are expecting us to pay the meter, hold the door for them and applaud them as they drive off with our stuff. She set it all in motion. But like the man said a few posts up, living well is probably the best revenge -

Your generalisations are ludicrous.
It's so black and white
Working class = good
Middle class = evil

FFS

These are the 1983 election results:

So the Dark Lady of the Sith's votes must be those little pockets of red, right?

if folks feel so horrid about Thatch, they must really be batey about Blair. And as for Mugabe, the leaders of China of North Korea - crikey, they are in for a hard time from cross lefties given how those leftish leaders hurt their people.

Thatch liberated many working class Brits. What the left passionately hate about her is that she pulled the carpet from their complacent certainties about who 'their' people were, and cracked much of the previous tribalism of politics, Union bombast, etc.

the vitriol.

'Thatcher' died on the ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead night that she was driven out of Downing Street.

There's something sad about celebrating the death of the old, ailing granny she is now.

I'm directing my negative thoughts at the 6th form debating society that's currently in charge.

We used to be an Empire & we had an Emporour

Then we were a kingdom, & we had a king,

Then we were a country..... & we had Thatcher

I was a student in Belfast during the early 1980s, probably the last generation to enjoy free third level education, and for a while I suppose I could gladly have seen her swinging from a lamp post. Certainly I collected money for the miners, filled my student flat with CND posters and decried the siting of US nuclear weapons in the UK, but even at the time those things all happened somewhere else.

In Northern Ireland Thatcher was and remains a contentious figure for different reasons. She was a hate figure for the nationalist / republican students on campus because of her handling of the hunger strike. Later she became the bete noir of the unionists as she side-lined them and pressed on with the Anglo-Irish Agreement despite massive popular opposition.

What should not be overlooked is that that latter act - which I suspect was entirely contrary to her instincts in that it gave another state a nominal role in internal UK affairs - was an early and necessary first step towards the peace settlement that now exists here. Ironically it is perhaps the one thing that in my eyes should be entered in the plus column. Either way, it all seems a very long time ago.

As for her broader, longer term legacy, well ... all grown up and sitting in my own house with broadband, Sky+, and the various other trappings of the early 21st century I am not sure I am either qualified or objective enough to judge.

I have nothing to add to the thread, but I just wanted to type that.

that once Thatcher became 'Lady Thatcher', she couldn't be taken seriously because she sounded like a device for removing unwanted pubic hair.

And also a lot of very bad ones. A great deal of the bad ones came about because she didn't know when to stop with one of the good things and sacked anyone who disagreed with her.

She also seemed to be completely lacking in empathy. For anyone.

A strange, strange lady.

it was always left on the window sill in the sun and got hot. She got rid of that milk therefore she's a saint in my eyes, I really, really hated that milk.
Dave Amitri
Political Correspondent
The Word

little 1\3 pint glass bottles in my day. Eee, it were grand, rowing boat cross lake etc

smiles and a baby dies in a box on Beasley Street....

she was a Odious old hag with equally obnoxious offspring. I recall the interview that Carol Thatcher had with the mothers of the Argentinian sailors lost when the Belgrano was sunk. Yes we can all justify actions in war but her disdain for these people several years after the event was mind boggling. So, yes I can easily understand the rejoicing at her passing when it occurs although I equally understand these emotions are neither clever nor commendable. The one i really felt sorry for was Denis - fancy being married to that old cow.

When I say that ghastly woman, i don't call her ghastly just cos she's a woman, and I don't call her a woman, just because she is ghastly. But she IS a woman and she IS ghastly

Whatever you think of her politics, the main reason so many people despise is that she came over as such a horrible person; intolerant and contemptuous of anybody who didn't agree with her, and always looking to demonise any group of people she believed were not 'One of us'.

It's fair enough to argue with those who worship her, but I'm inclined to say that we shouldn't gloat over her demise, as it's in bad taste.

That being said, I remember when Robert Maxwell - another thoroughly odious megalomaniac - fell of his yacht, and 99% of the country didn't stop laughing for a week.

like to keep their finger on the pulse (so to speak):

http://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/

...David Baerwald's dedication on Triage (I think it was) "to Reagan, Thatcher [and the rest], in the sincere hope there is a god, and He is vengeful beyond all comprehension".

For me, she's just a cipher of a mind-set that is still there, and the world seems to lurch to ever more Murdoch-inspired extremes. Him and those tea party-funding drongos.

The Daily Mash etc.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/thatcher-gaining-strength-from-nation's-misery-201010223185/

claims Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323596/Margaret-Thatcher-death-...

I know I will offend some, but here goes. Mrs Thatcher, bless her, was a great Prime Minister who saved the UK from itself after the two governments preceding her failed in their attempts to govern in the teeth of union opposition. I do not agree with all things Thatcher and will happily admit that she became a bit batty by the end, but she did us all a great service and deserves our gratitude and respect. Even socialist commentators like Andrew Marr rate her as an outstanding prime minister. To all those who deride her, please ask themselves what great service they have done for their country and whether it compares to hers!

Happy Days

She created an economy where there was a lack of investment in the people of this country. A difficulty that is still so prevalent today in our education and health services - without mentioning our road networks.
She did create a safe economy for the financial institutions though as communities were destroyed in one fell swoop. Then that which she was responsible for such as the mis- selling of endowment mortgages and disrupting of Company Pension schemes were all found to be in need of correction several years later. Meanwhile, certain financial institution heads were able to leave their posts on the back of the newly accrued wealth. All of this without mentioning the privatisation programmes that have been shown to create short term wealth on only an initial scale to those in the know.
The classic weapon to the working class was the sale of council houses. In one fell swoop those very people who could take the bulk of industrial action were committed to their mortgage providers that were always ready to kick you out of your home when payments were missed. Something that local councils were more flexible in their attitude to.
She also invested heavily in the Territorial Army in case they were needed to supplement Police Forces as they suppressed potential strikers. Great that would have been the working class versus working class.
Her attitude for government spread through industry and where there had previously been constructive negotiation and consultation with the trade unions, this was replaced by management structures based on exclusion. This ultimately led to a lack of productivity issues that were never resolved resulting in many firms 'going to the wall'.
All of this and no mention of the Poll Tax. Just remember it wasn't the voters who got rid of her, but her own political party.

a rubbish defender who was never worth 5mil.