Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female PM, dead at 87

[KiwiElf]

By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
April 8, 2013 -- Updated 1226 GMT (2026 HKT)

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/08/world/europe/uk-margaret-thatcher-dead/?hpt=hp_t1

London (CNN) -- Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in post-war British and world politics, and the first woman to become British prime minister, has died at the age of 87, her spokeswoman said Monday.

Thatcher served from 1979 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the "Iron Lady" for her personal and political toughness.

Thatcher retired from public life after a stroke in 2002 and suffered several strokes after that.

She made few public appearances in her final months, missing a reception marking her 85th birthday hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron in October 2010. She also skipped the July 2011 unveiling of a statue honoring her old friend Ronald Reagan in London.

In December 2012, she was hospitalized after a procedure to remove a growth in her bladder.

Thatcher made history

Thatcher won the nation's top job only six years after declaring in a television interview, "I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime."

During her time at the helm of the British government, she emphasized moral absolutism, nationalism, and the rights of the individual versus that of the state -- famously declaring, "There is no such thing as society" in 1987.

Nicknamed the "Iron Lady" by the Soviet press after a 1976 speech declaring that "the Russians are bent on world dominance," Thatcher later enjoyed a close working relationship with U.S. President Reagan, with whom she shared similar conservative views.

But the British cold warrior played a key role in ending the conflict by giving her stamp of approval to Soviet Communist reformer Mikhail Gorbachev shortly before he came to power.

"I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together," she famously declared in December 1984, three months before he became Soviet leader.

Having been right about Gorbachev, Thatcher came down on the wrong side of history after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, arguing against the reunification of East and West Germany.

Allowing the countries created in the aftermath of World II to merge would be destabilizing to the European status quo, and East Germany was not ready to become part of Western Europe, she insisted in January 1990.

"East Germany has been under Nazism or communism since 1930. You are not going to go overnight to democratic structures and a freer market economy," Thatcher insisted in a key interview, arguing that peace, security and stability "can only be achieved through our existing alliances negotiating with others internationally."

West German leader Helmut Kohl was furious about the interview, seeing Thatcher as a "protector of Gobachev," according to notes made that day by his close aide Horst Teltschik.

The two Germanies reunited by the end of that year.

Thatcher -- born in October 1925 in the small eastern England market town of Grantham -- came from a modest background, taking pride in being known as a grocer's daughter. She studied chemistry at Oxford, but was involved in politics from a young age, giving her first political speech at 20, according to her official biography.

She was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, when the party was in opposition.

She made history four years later, becoming prime minister when the Conservatives won the elections of 1979, the first of three election victories she led her party to.

As British leader, Thatcher took a firm stance with the European Community -- the forerunner of the European Union -- demanding a rebate of money London contributed to Brussels.

Her positions on other issues, both domestic and foreign, were just as firm, and in one of her most famous phrases, she declared at a Conservative party conference that she had no intention of changing her mind.

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: 'You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning,'" she declared, to cheers from party members.

The United Kingdom fought a short, sharp war against Argentina over the Falklands Islands under Thatcher in 1982, responding with force when Buenos Aires laid claim to the islands.

Announcing that Britain had recaptured South Georgia Island from Argentina, Thatcher appealed to nationalist sentiments, advising the press: "Just rejoice at the news and congratulate our forces."

A journalist shouted a question at her as she turned to go back into 10 Downing Street: "Are we going to war with Argentina, Mrs. Thatcher?"

She paused for an instant, then offered a single word: "Rejoice."

The conflict was not without controversy, even in Britain.

A British submarine sank Argentina's only cruiser, the General Belgrano, in an encounter that left 358 Argentines dead. The sinking took place outside of Britain's declared exclusion zone.

In her first term, Thatcher reduced or eliminated many government subsidies to business, a move that led to a sharp rise in unemployment. By 1986, unemployment had reached 3 million.

But Thatcher won landslide re-election in 1983 on the heels of the Falklands victory, her Conservative Party taking a majority of seats in parliament with 42% of the vote. Second-place Labour took nearly 28%, while the alliance that became the Liberal Democrats took just over 25%.

A year later, she escaped at IRA terrorist bombing at her hotel at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton.

She was re-elected in 1987 with a slightly reduced majority.

She was ultimately brought down, not by British voters, but by her own Conservative party.

She was forced to resign in 1990 during an internal leadership struggle after she introduced a poll tax levied on community residents rather than property.

The unpopular tax led to rioting in the streets.

She married her husband, Denis Thatcher, a local businessman who ran his family's firm before becoming an executive in the oil industry, in 1951 -- a year after an unsuccessful run for Parliament. The couple had twins, Mark and Carol, in 1953.

She was elected to Parliament in 1959 and served various positions, including education secretary, until her terms as prime minister.

Thatcher was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, a year after she stepped down as prime minister. She was named Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven after leaving office.

She retired from public life after a stroke in 2002 and suffered several smaller strokes after that. Her husband died in June 2003.

Though her doctors advised against public speaking, a frail Thatcher attended Reagan's 2004 funeral, saying in a pre-recorded video that Reagan was "a great president, a great American, and a great man."

"And I have lost a dear friend," she said.

In the years that followed she encountered additional turmoil -- namely in 2004, when her son, Mark Thatcher, was arrested in an investigation of an alleged plot by mercenaries to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea in west Africa. He pleaded guilty in a South African court in 2005 to unwittingly bankrolling the plot.

CNN's Laura Perez Maestro contributed to this report.

[ulli]

My last neighbor in London was Diana Neave, later Lady Airy of Abingdon.
Her husband Airy Neave was killed by an IRA bomb, three weeks before Thatcher had her first election win,
and thus his death acted as the final push, to get the marginals, the undecided voters, to give Thatcher their vote.
He and his wife had been Thatcher's closest friends, all lived at one time on the seventh floor at Westminster Gardens in Marsham Street, near the Houses of Parliament. He was the mastermind behind her rise to power. A few months before I left England in 1982 to move to Barbados my neighbor Lady Airy (by then Thatcher had seen to it that as Airy Neave's widow she should become a Baroness) told me that she was reading the biography of Queen Elizabeth I, and had become convinced that Margaret Thatcher was her reincarnation. That was before the Falkland crisis, which when it happened made me wonder ...
Maybe there was something there...the reliving of the Spanish Armada thingy....
Anyway, those events back then gave me tons of material for dinner conversations later in my life, both in Barbados and the island of Mustique. Maybe I will share some more, some time...
Like how to raise twins while driven by a vision to become PM one day.....

[araucaria]

My last neighbor in London was Diana Neave, later Lady Airy of Abingdon.
Her husband Airy Neave was killed by an IRA bomb, three weeks before Thatcher had her first election win,
and thus his death acted as the final push, to get the marginals, the undecided voters, to give Thatcher their vote.
He and his wife had been Thatcher's closest friends, all lived at one time on the seventh floor at Westminster Gardens in Marsham Street, near the Houses of Parliament. He was the mastermind behind her rise to power. A few months before I left England in 1982 to move to Barbados my neighbor Lady Airy (by then Thatcher had seen to it that as Airy Neave's widow she should become a Baroness) told me that she was reading the biography of Queen Elizabeth I, and had become convinced that Margaret Thatcher was her reincarnation. That was before the Falkland crisis, which when it happened made me wonder ...
Maybe there was something there...the reliving of the Spanish Armada thingy....
Anyway, those events back then gave me tons of material for dinner conversations later in my life, both in Barbados and the island of Mustique. Maybe I will share some more, some time...
Like how to raise twins while driven by a vision to become PM one day.....

Told like that, Airy Neave's death sounds suspiciously suspicious...

PS I thought Elizabeth I was a man (makes no difference I know).

[Vitalux]

I have a spiritual calling from Margaret ....that if Margaret Thatcher wished to give the world a message from beyond this dimension, she would wish for me to share this video with my fellow mates here at Avalon



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1jY5fYjV-U

enjoy

[ulli]

My last neighbor in London was Diana Neave, later Lady Airy of Abingdon.
Her husband Airy Neave was killed by an IRA bomb, three weeks before Thatcher had her first election win,
and thus his death acted as the final push, to get the marginals, the undecided voters, to give Thatcher their vote.
He and his wife had been Thatcher's closest friends, all lived at one time on the seventh floor at Westminster Gardens in Marsham Street, near the Houses of Parliament. He was the mastermind behind her rise to power. A few months before I left England in 1982 to move to Barbados my neighbor Lady Airy (by then Thatcher had seen to it that as Airy Neave's widow she should become a Baroness) told me that she was reading the biography of Queen Elizabeth I, and had become convinced that Margaret Thatcher was her reincarnation. That was before the Falkland crisis, which when it happened made me wonder ...
Maybe there was something there...the reliving of the Spanish Armada thingy....
Anyway, those events back then gave me tons of material for dinner conversations later in my life, both in Barbados and the island of Mustique. Maybe I will share some more, some time...
Like how to raise twins while driven by a vision to become PM one day.....

Told like that, Airy Neave's death sounds suspiciously suspicious...

PS I thought Elizabeth I was a man (makes no difference I know).

...I used to hear M T's voice for hours coming through the walls of our flat in Westminster Gardens.
one of our parliamentarian neighbors who was nearly deaf had to crank up the volume while listening to tapes of parliamentary sessions....
And her voice was really like the voice of two different people...one moment a deep thundering bass, more like a man's voice, and the next moment there would be this much sweeter sound, like a flute...I can still hear her say the British People" in both high and low octaves. Her vocal spectrum went way down into the lower frequencies of masculinity, it surprised and sometimes amused me.

[mahalall]

Initial thoughts of joy, are with those who will be celebrating, but a heavy heart emerges from the lives her policies destroyed.

[sheme]

I think you will find Mgt Thatcher is well respected by many Brits, I for one mourn her passing , but I am happy for her release, basically a good woman. Mrgt Thatcher had Alzheimer's.

She wouldn't have allowed chem trails for a start.

[Corncrake]

I have a spiritual calling from Margaret ....that if Margaret Thatcher wished to give the world a message from beyond this dimension, she would wish for me to share this video with my fellow mates here at Avalon.

Thanks for posting Vitalux - a timely reminder for those eulogising her passing.

A lot of people did very well out of the Thatcher years but on the other hand she closed the mines, she wasted the revenue from North Sea oil in tax breaks to the middle classes, she privatised our energy supply much of which is now owned by Germany and France, she as good as gave away social housing and her economic policy spawned the 'me me me' culture.

[mahalall]

I think you will find Mgt Thatcher is well respected by many Brits, I for one mourn her passing , but I am happy for her release, basically a good woman. Mrgt Thatcher had Alzheimer's. She wouldn't have allowed chem trails for a start.

Many might disagree with you, but was that not the nature of the lady, she roused passion!

[ulli]

"I have a spiritual calling from Margaret ....that if Margaret Thatcher wished to give the world a message from beyond this dimension, she would wish for me to share this video with my fellow mates here at Avalon"

Thanks for posting Vitalux - a timely reminder for those eulogising her passing.

A lot of people did very well out of the Thatcher years but on the other hand she closed the mines, she wasted the revenue from North Sea oil in tax breaks to the middle classes, she privatised our energy supply much of which is now owned by Germany and France, she as good as gave away social housing and her economic policy spawned the 'me me me' culture.


She gave away social housing to show that people would maintain property they owned, rather than destroy it.
The Me generation only happened because people went too far into greed and selfishness,
so she can't be held accountable for that behavior.

She knew a country's spine was it's middle class, and that needed strengthening then
as much as it does now. Anyway, those were her good policies, very down to earth, which I agreed with.

But maybe she was not quite prepared for being put on the world stage...
and especially playing the "Gorby (Gorbachev) is our man" game with Ronald Reagan
I believe those complexities eroded her earlier ideals over the years.
Foreign policy has that tendency to take people's attention away from what is under their noses.

[selinam]

I think you will find Mgt Thatcher is well respected by many Brits, I for one mourn her passing , but I am happy for her release, basically a good woman. Mrgt Thatcher had Alzheimer's.

She wouldn't have allowed chem trails for a start.

Sorry can't agree with you there. Not one person I know of liked Thatcher and I grew up in England. She was, as with all Prime Ministers, Presidents etc. put in positions of power to do the bidding of the elite.

[Earth Angel]

I think you will find Mgt Thatcher is well respected by many Brits, I for one mourn her passing , but I am happy for her release, basically a good woman. Mrgt Thatcher had Alzheimer's.

She wouldn't have allowed chem trails for a start.

You have got to be kidding me........a good woman?? really ??? :rofl:

[mahalall]

She gave away social housing to show that people would maintain property they owned, rather than destroy it.
The Me generation only happened because people went too far into greed and selfishness,
so she can't be held accountable for that behavior
2XcseI91kmc

Growing up in this culture and watching nightly the state sponsored police assaulting another minority group does not bring back warm memories. A whole generation grew up watching Thatchers intolerant violence.

[Lisab]

Thatcher liked? With a welsh dad and English mum, I've never met any fans of hers. The villages here in South Wales are still trying to recover from the pit closures. People who went from two holidays a year to stealing from their own kids to fund their heroin addiction. When asked what was her greatest achievement, she smirked and replied "New Labour". Says it all.

[Camilo]

May she rest in peace.

[awarenessuk2013]

Someone I know once referred to her as "pure genius - sold the public the things they already owned" He was of course, being satirical. However she did sell off a lot of our public assets to the private sector. Gave council house tenants the right to buy their own homes at a hugely discounted prices - more public assets sold. She revolutionized the credit system, allowing people to borrow more money than they could afford to repay. Completely out of touch with the real world. Shut the coal mines and killed off a lot of other British industries too - cars, ships, manufacturing. Loved a banker though, they did fine, naturally!

Sent 28,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors to The Falklands to have 255 British killed and 649 Argentines and lots more wounded and left severely disabled. After she managed to get out of the Union Jack that she had wrapped round herself so tight during this war, she did go on to win the next election - funny that. Some crocodile tears helped.

Then there was the Poll tax, a well thought out idea that ended in mass riots.

The list is endless.

However:-

And lets not forget this! She was a BILDERBERGER

She'll be in a better place now.

[araucaria]

And she was a good friend of Jimmy Savile's...

[mahalall]

"The list is endless" awarenessuk2013

one for the endless list, Operation Solstice: Battle for the beanfield!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHyDaAXw8Ck

[learninglight]

This is how i will remember Maggie, spitting image style

WrRgmRk7Gh0

sharon

[sheme]

I think I will not try to justify my appreciation of the woman who was good- I stand by that.

I suppose we all have friends with similar views as our own, I judge by what I have personally observed, not what other peoples prejudices dictate.

This lady's not for turning either.

Mob thinking is often a result of the vociferous minority intimidating the quiet, wasn't that how Hitler did it?

Look at your facts and think for yourself, then you may be sure you are correct, so take no heed of dissenters just do your own thing.

First be true to yourself.

You think what you think- that is right and proper.

I think what I think that is just as it should be.

[araucaria]

She described Nelson Mandela as a terrorist

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette

[ulli]

So here is what was circulating a few years ago:

Nelson Mandela's wife Winnie was seated next to Margaret Thatcher at a political function.
She leant over and said in a lowered voice:
"You know, in my country they also call me "the Iron Lady",
to which Margaret Thatcher replied:
Oh REALLY!!! And who's clothes do YOU iron?"

[ulli]

And she was a good friend of Jimmy Savile's...

It does appear like it. She must have lost her mind and judgment early on in her career.

[sheme]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22069896

It is easy to take stuff out of the context of the day.

[Cidersomerset]

I have been pottering around the house listening to book three of Games of
Thrones,most appropriate as I look at the thread and seen the news of MRS T
passing !!.Anyway though not a fan, she did have a couple of achievements
by becoming leader of the conservative party & PM,and a sort of role model for
woman . Though she certainly divided the country.I thought I'd have a look what
David had to say......

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The leader of one of the most paedophile-infested governments in modern times (so much competition) and close friend of Jimmy Savile has died
Monday, 08 April 2013 14:29
Posted by David Icke


http://www.davidicke.com/images/stories/thatcher_savile_together.jpg

Savile and Thatcher: now they are together again.

'Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died "peacefully" at the age of 87
after suffering a stroke, her family has announced. Successor David Cameron called
her a "great Briton" and the Queen [another friend of Jimmy Savile] spoke of her
sadness at the death.

Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the
first woman to hold the role. She will not have a state funeral but will be accorded
the same status as Princess Diana and the Queen Mother.'

What bull**** while children go on being abused without a second thought.

Read more ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAEDOPHILE RINGS ...

http://www.davidicke.com/images/stories/November20129/00034.png

... AND 10 DOWNING STREET

Read more ...

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/82506-the-leader-of-one-of-the-most-paedophile-infested-governments-in-modern-times-so-much-competition-and-close-friend-of-jimmy-savile-has-died

[Tesseract]

21089

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-09/neighbourhoods-throw-parties-over-thatchers-death/4617348


They say it was a stroke, I suspect someone actually dropped a house on her.

[albativo]

Good riddance!

[mosquito]

It's easy to be vindictive when someone's dead, isn't it ?

I have mixed feelings, she did a lot of harm, but there were also some achievements. I can't believe anyone would want to go back to the Britian of the 70s !!

Whatever her faults and failings, you knew where you were with Maggie, she was 500% more sincere and honest than Blair and his clone Blairmeron.

We all of us make mistakes on our path through life, some bigger than others admitedly. So now she's gone back to source, the same source as you and I will one day return to.

[gripreaper]

This image is taken from street parties in celebration, in Glasgow and Brixton.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/8/1365449047393/Thatcher-death-party-008.jpg

[araucaria]

It's easy to be vindictive when someone's dead, isn't it ?

I have mixed feelings, she did a lot of harm, but there were also some achievements. I can't believe anyone would want to go back to the Britian of the 70s !!

Whatever her faults and failings, you knew where you were with Maggie, she was 500% more sincere and honest than Blair and his clone Blairmeron.

We all of us make mistakes on our path through life, some bigger than others admitedly. So now she's gone back to source, the same source as you and I will one day return to.

You're right Mariposafe, in the overall scheme of things she was likely just doing what she had to do, and we do not have access to all of that. But hypocritical hagiography is not really an option, is it? It is a useful control tool to suspend criticism of the dead, seeing how they are in the vast majority. No one is saying anything this week that they weren't saying last week.

[Corncrake]

Margaret Thatcher - as divisive in death as she was in life. However, she was an extraordinarily powerful public figure so I feel justified in expressing an opinion. I fully understand the desire not to speak ill of the dead but all points of view should be put forward otherwise you start white washing history. This was not an ad hominem attack but with regard to her policies. This article expresses it much better than I can.

Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette

The dictate that one 'not speak ill of the dead' is (at best) appropriate for private individuals, not influential public figures

"... those who admire the deceased public figure (and their politics) aren't silent at all. They are aggressively exploiting the emotions generated by the person's death to create hagiography."

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette

[sheme]

I recall being in an operating Theatre (just a gofer )when the lights died the surgeon said I hope this ladies husband is a bloody miner and this is his child I am trying to save..... he was in the middle of an emergency section.

I remember the rats and rubbish on the streets uncollected for weeks.

I remember the Fire Brigade forced to go on strike- because the unions dictated it Brother!

I remember the whole country being blackmailed by the trade unions -give us what we want or we will strike!!

I lived in a democracy, the Tory government was elected- the unions (Labour) where out -but that wasn't good enough, It was a democracy only when they held power . Mob rule when they didn't get what they wanted then they held the country to ransom.

I also remember Labour orchestrating riots when everyone in the country was asked to pay a share of the rates, this the mob deemed unfair and finally due to her Lilly livered cabinet... Thatcher was ousted -and the rest is history .

Mrs Thatcher was an honorable principled woman who served us all very well and gave us back our democracy.

The romantics will realize the industries she is blamed for ending were doomed with progressive obsolescence being the cause
she just happened to be the person to see the writing on the wall.

It's not easy at the top especially if you have principles. I thank her.

May she rest in peace.

[THE MAD HATTER]

LEST WE FORGET


Since stepping down from power in 1990, Pinochet was an annual visitor to Thatcher’s home in London. The BBC reported the former dictator would always send flowers and chocolates to the “Iron Lady” upon his arrival in Britain.

When Pinochet was arrested in London in October 1998, Thatcher was an outspoken supporter of the former dictator, who was being indicted for numerous human rights violations. She campaigned for Pinochet’s release, calling his detention “callous and unjust.” — Pinochet has a 17-year reign of terror included thousands of deaths and numerous human rights abuses

She deliberately put people on the scrapheap as an economic tool to lower inflation. Millions of lives ruined, not as a side-effect, but on purpose. She also called Nelson Mandela a terrorist whilst defending Pinochet.

She institutionalised greed with her belief that money was the only thing that motivated people. Sadly, politicians who have come after her have been equally in thrall to greed and big business, to the exclusion of concern about social justice.

She made it not-respectable to think of others and of the community. She did HUGE damage to this country. She enabled the banks to behave in a way that led to the present crises. She was divisive.

It is surely evil to destroy whole communities so that profit can be made for the few. It is surely evil to support and harbour war criminals, it was surely evil to order the attack on the belgrano, it was surely evil to give cops a free reign to batter and bruise ordinary people ... with hired thugs in uniform protected by a corrupt legal system ... who were just trying to save their jobs and their communities.

Her policies have led us directly into the current climate of fear, greed and a lack of community spirit ... the ''COMMON PURPOSE'' of the political elite. She destroyed hope for several generations and her ideology of wealth = good, poor = bad has left the environment in a terribly precarious state.

Her best friend was Jimmy Savile ( FAMOUS PAEDOPHILE AND NECROPHILIAC) … They both ‘’fixed it’’ for UK ... DOMESTIC TERRORISTS

She supported the Apartheid regime in South Africa, she allowed hunger strikers to starve to death in Ireland and went to war so she could win an election.

Margaret Thatcher's final wish was to be cremated. Unfortunately, we've no coal left

[mosquito]

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette

A good article, thanks.

Interesting to note that everything everyone has said, whether positive or negative, is true !! It all depends on one's perspective of life during the Thatcher years. I suppose people who are as influential as Thatcher will always cause division.

[huyi82]

heres my "tribute" to the great iron lady

YJLpXVcEHp0

[StephenW11UK]

And she was a good friend of Jimmy Savile's...

Pity Jimmy Savile died before she did. He would have had a prime seat at her funeral. And what an honour that would have been for her, both Jimmy Savile and the queen bidding her fare well.

[karamba]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8&feature=player_embedded


Margaret Thatcher 'Not A Woman On My Terms', Says Labour MP Glenda Jackson (VIDEO)
great said!

[Spiral]

I recall being in an operating Theatre (just a gofer )when the lights died the surgeon said I hope this ladies husband is a bloody miner and this is his child I am trying to save..... he was in the middle of an emergency section.

I remember the rats and rubbish on the streets uncollected for weeks.

I remember the Fire Brigade forced to go on strike- because the unions dictated it Brother!

I remember the whole country being blackmailed by the trade unions -give us what we want or we will strike!!

I lived in a democracy, the Tory government was elected- the unions (Labour) where out -but that wasn't good enough, It was a democracy only when they held power . Mob rule when they didn't get what they wanted then they held the country to ransom.

I also remember Labour orchestrating riots when everyone in the country was asked to pay a share of the rates, this the mob deemed unfair and finally due to her Lilly livered cabinet... Thatcher was ousted -and the rest is history .

Mrs Thatcher was an honorable principled woman who served us all very well and gave us back our democracy.

The romantics will realize the industries she is blamed for ending were doomed with progressive obsolescence being the cause
she just happened to be the person to see the writing on the wall.

It's not easy at the top especially if you have principles. I thank her.

May she rest in peace.

I so want to reply to this, but on second reading its clear that nothing would get through.

*sigh*

[Bryston]

I am really having trouble giving two S**ts about this. Not because I hate Mrs T, believe me. I can remember the days before too, and they were equally tragic. What with insane social values, corrupt socialism roaming the land, and a "Know yeh place son! We Fought a war for you and don't you forget it! Salute the Queen, and God Save her" theme to the whole shebang. Next thing the message is Free markets, buy your own home, and become a stake holder, and so we did. GLADLY, and well done to all of us who made it. Were we made it to is another conversation.

What I'm trying to say is it holds no emotion for me that this person has died. Not because of what she believed in, or what she is supposed to have done. Quite simply because even before she walked through the door the policies we are choosing to put her face on were already in the pipe line at the time. She was just the one who wanted to appear as the instigator.

Fundamentally, any of these people who take the royal or popular seal of leadership are doing so sometimes with, and sometimes without the complete understanding that they are doing this in context of larger concerns. Larger concerns such as the criminals, the saints, the kind, the corrupt, the hopefully idealistic, and the soulless b**tards. All of which inhabit every level of any institution you care to scrutinize. It just all strikes of a bi-polar version of the queen of hearts Diana public debate for me. The simple repetitive mechanism of the cult of personality.

She was what she was. Just one in a long line of faces to blame. I'm not saying RISE UP! TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! Polish yeh hopes and follow me onto the UFO! I'm just saying we have a seeming endless supply of people ready to take on the role she did. Are we not seeing the pattern yet? Shouldn't we focus on what we as individuals want, and makes us happy, and then surely with the right intent the faces at the top will change, and be more representative.

Either that or the Lizard Queen will definately come once she sees so many happy campers on Airstip 1. Lets all crack a smile before the Liquorish Latex Nazis come and clean my toilet seat in he name of progress.

We leave the Political Obituary Hour now on Radio 4. Here is a small musical interlude before the Weather Forecast.;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xET4_Ss3Zs

[Nick Matkin]

Er... how do we know she's dead? Just because it was reported in MSM?

[mosquito]

I am really having trouble ...........


Well said, all of it !

[araucaria]

Er... how do we know she's dead? Just because it was reported in MSM?

Answer, you're right, we don't :)
If "the lady's not for turning" (in her grave) and this is based on "the lady's not for burning" (no coal for cremation!), then in a sense she ain't dead at all

But you see, what makes this unimportant is this great collective sigh of relief in realization that something nasty is to some extent a thing of the past. That is the fact of the current situation.

[The Truth Is In There]

me tel u now so u belive me 15 may
many things go wrong 15 may because door opens with portal to dark matters not undestanding earth beings
sharon will dimise be4 15 may
mandela will dimise be4 15 may
thatcher will stroke be4 15 may [check]
japan warring thing will commencecing before 15 may secretely
oil gets very big sickness no use anymore after 15 may
old bush will very sick be4 15 may
cheney will dimise be4 15 june
obama accident before 27 aperil
big sickeness be4 15 may
very moving earth on 17 aperils
oceone not sleeping when heaven things beware many waters to come drown
brown cheat be4 15 may
putin missing after 15 may many worry poeple do crazy things

now let's wait for "17 aperils"...

[GarethBKK]

Mrs Thatcher was an honorable principled woman who served us all very well and gave us back our democracy.

I ask those in support of Baroness Thatcher to consider the truth of 'the end justifies the means'. Upon careful consideration, one ought to deduce that rarely does it do so. A belief that it does leads not to democracy but to despotism.

[mahalall]

The specials banshee,

lets hope we can unify to prevent the ghost from returning

1WhhSBgd3KI