poliphilo: (corinium)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2013-04-10 10:15 am

Putting Paint And Powder On A Suppurating Wound.

Usually when a Prime Minister dies- full of years and wisdom- there are polite tributes and most people barely notice. Churchill was the exception and now Thatcher is another. With Churchill there was near universal adulation (maybe it was complete- in our household it certainly was.) With Thatcher the two halves of the nation she divided are doing their best to drive one another off the field with spitting anger on the one side and majestic contempt on the other.

Parliament has been recalled to pay tribute. Ed Miliband has instructed his lot to show deference and dignity- thereby masking and muffling what most of his natural supporters actually feel. If things go according to plan- as mandated from the top- there will be a display of unanimity that misrepresents the nation and allows Thatcher's heirs, on both sides of the House, to luxuriate in a self-basting, slow-browning glorification of the Governing Class.

[identity profile] steepholm.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 09:56 am (UTC)(link)
It's one of those rare occasions when I feel, if you can't say something nasty, don't say anything.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 12:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Very nicely put. :)

[identity profile] veronica-milvus.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 10:54 am (UTC)(link)
I really feel that parliament ought to be able to talk about the effect the woman had on our national life without some of the ad feminam personal attacks e.g. dancing on her grave etc. But it seems like this is not what our overlords want.

Although why this is so urgent that they should be recalled to do it is beyond me.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 12:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I see it as provocation. Her admirers are daring the rest of us to do something unseemly.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)
More unseemliness may well follow.

She was the most divisive figure in recent British history.

[identity profile] craftyailz.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
And we'll have to pay them for their expenses for today as they are supposed to be on a break.

- I bet we'll have to do that for her funeral as well. I notice we can afford to pay for her funeral even though we can't pay for poor people to live in London

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
The funeral is going to be hugely expensive. They'll to have to militarize central London.
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[identity profile] heleninwales.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Glenda Jackson obviously didn't get the message. Well, she was very dignified in her assault on Thatcher, but not at all deferential.

http://youtu.be/XDtClJYJBj8

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2013-04-10 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the clip.

Glenda is magnificent. And I love the way Berkow flattens the fat Tory at the end.

[identity profile] porsupah.livejournal.com 2013-04-11 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
She led the way to the current unification of the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties.

Truly, a figure worthy of commemoration.

We would not, without her, have the wonders of massively profitable corporations reaping the rewards of unpaid labour, given a fraction of minimum wage, and the proliferation of zero-hours contracts.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2013-04-11 08:48 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed. :)