neilh
@HuwMatthews2 My comment was not that the cold war itself was a myth. It was a response to your comment about "Victory" and Reagan and Maggie being the victors - those are both an Orwellian myth. The cold war ended, there were no battles, there was a new leader in Russia (Gorbachev) with a vision for a different Russia - perestroika. Without him there would have been no end to the silent ...
Churchill wrote a superb personal history of the second world war. I can't compete with that but over the next seven days leading up to her funeral I shall post a view of her history/legacy. Here's part 1 - the gathering storm. It's obviously a personal view so please feel free to add comments and balance if that's possible. If you can do it in verse that would be great! The Iron Lady ...
@HuwMatthews2 There's a difference between decency and truth. The problem is that Thatcher is being eulogised in the tory press as the greatest peace-time prime minister of all time and is being accorded a state funeral. You can either sit back, keep stumm and accept that or say that this isn't a time for arrant hypocrisy and expose the propaganda for what it is. Thatcher was an assertive ...
She will have (as she wanted) a "ceremonial" funeral (same as Queen Mother and Princess Di apparently). To all intents and purposes it's the same as a state funeral but is technically one-step down because it doesn't require an Act of Parliament to enact. Still a waste of money which the country doesn't apparently have and which could be better spent on those who need to survive the benefits ...
Polls on whether she should have a "ceremonial" (state) funeral: Guardian readers - 83% NO Daily Mail readers - 67% YES
Human being v. politician - exploring the ethics of how to respond to someone's death http://historyschipwrapper.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/ethics-are-thatcher-death-parties-ok/
@michaelclayson . yes, she is a human being who has died but unfortunately the politics is never going to be left out of this - as you see from cameron's remark and from the announcement of a state funeral. personally i don't believe she deserves that - a simple family funeral, paid for by the family, would suffice with a subsequent remembrance service to acknowledge that she was a leader (one ...
Possibly to be admired as a strong female character with her own assertive style in leading a motley band but single-handedly she has also probably done the most to destroy so much of the industrial infrastructure of the country and the compassion in society in the single-minded pursuit of market forces.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/03/dont-get-mad-about-use-of-philpotts-tarnish-poor Superb article in Guardian by Zoe Williams about the right-wing vitriol of the Daily Mail against those on benefits. I see that Osborne today is jumping on the Tory band-wagon of tarring people on benefits with the same brush as Philpott.
Re-signed and posted to Teignmouth Oracle.
