Tuesday 15 July 2008

Suppose You Gave A Funeral & Nobody Came

Margaret Thatcher isn't even dead yet, they are only planning her funeral and already there are so many people queueing up to dance on her grave that to keep up with demand they will have to build a disco on it.
Buckingham Palace are apparently mulling over granting the former Prime Minister the honour of a state funeral to 'acknowledge the exceptional impact of her 11-year premiership' although this kind of funeral is only usually reserved for the head of state.
There has been a few exceptions to this rule with Horatio Nelson granted one for his naval adventures which saw his body returned to England in a whiskey barrel and Winston Churchill who lived most of his adult-life in a whiskey barrel but does Maggie Thatcher the milk snatcher deserve such an honour?
I would guess if you were a miner you would disagree as she attempted to close the pits at a cost of tens of thousands of jobs. A year long strike by miners later and the NUM conceded defeat and she proceeded to close all but 15 of the country's pits, which were then privatised.
The woman privatised everything she could get her grubby little hands on, selling off most of the large utilities once they had been made profitable enough for the City to be interested in them and sold off Council homes to tenants which would ensure a housing crisis that is still reverberating today.
Her high water mark was the Falklands War and the victory over the military junta in Argentina that invaded the Falklands Islands and often repeated clip of her losing her temper with a member of the public who had the temerity to refuse her explanation of the sinking of the Argentine General Belgrano.
She will be remembered primarily for the Falklands Islands and miners strike but two other events stick firmly in peoples minds. The decision to stop free milk for school aged children and the poll tax which was a form of local government taxation which led to riots in the streets and her being bundled out of Downing Street and whisked out of power in a taxi.
She is 82 now and seems in fine health for a woman of her age so they may have to wait a while before putting in that graveside dance floor but when she does finally curl up her toes it will be like the Glastonbury Festival in that cemetery.

12 comments:

The Fez Monkey said...

I already did all my dancing and whooping and hollering when Ronnie kicked the bucket. I was celebrating for about three weeks, and I still have a little chuckle of glee on the anniversary.

So, I'll leave the real happy-happy joy-joy to you Poms when the Iron Crotch finally goes. But I will have a drink to wash away her bad taste.

Ook ook

Anne said...

ronnie's pal, margaret. good riddance to the likes of her, in advance.

Falling on a bruise said...

I am impressed the nasty cow managed to tick off the non-British as well.
The Conservative guy who is looking increasingly likey to be the next leader said he is inspired by her, just how stupid can we be?

Cheezy said...

Gordon Brown is a fan too... Didn't he invite her round to Number 10 for tea and scones a while ago?

All of your naughty comments remind me of Elvis Costello's ode to Thatcher, 'Tramp the Dirt Down':

"Well I hope I don't die too soon
I pray the Lord my soul to save
Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live
long enough to savour
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down"


A bit harsh, surely. I wasn't a big fan of Ronnie or Maggie, but they both had their own truth... so I think I'll save my dancing and partying for when someone of pure evil kicks the bucket... Dick Cheney springs to mind.

Anne said...

i LOVE that e.c. song. gives you chills.

Falling on a bruise said...

I wouldn't say she was evil, just a right winger which is sort of the same thing so i am saying she was evil afterall. How about that.

Anonymous said...

Good point Lucy,

Far left are far right are so evil. One of the few things they have in common...

Q

Falling on a bruise said...

I see it like a circle Q where both the extreme left or right go so far away from centre that they both end up in the same place down the bottom.

Anonymous said...

Lucy,

Nice description. Easy to visualize.

Q

Anonymous said...

Apart from the Falklands the poll tax got huge publicity here - that is what springs to mind the most. I presume it hasn't been revoked.

Cheezy said...

Ruth: John Major's government replaced the incredibly unpopular Poll Tax with Council Tax, which we still have today... The Council Tax isn't particularly popular itself (being a tax and all) but at least it went back to being based on property values (like the old 'rates'), rather than pinging everyone - prince and pauper - with precisely the same charge. I'm proud to say that my old uncle was one of the millions who marched against the Poll Tax. Sometimes people power does work.

Anonymous said...

And as is by magic, the witch is dead