A couple of more points for anyone who is 'outraged' that some people, myself included are not lauding the memory of Margaret Thatcher. There is the saying do not speak ill of the dead. Well unfortunately, in the case of Margaret Thatcher, elevating her funeral to a 'state' occasion and with the majority of the media painting her as the 'Saviour of Britain', some are compelled to right these wrongs. So they should be allowed to be heard as well IMO.
Does this make me respectful of her passing? I never respected her whilst she was alive and I won't respect her now she is dead. I believe the fact that when someone dies that their memory should not be tarnished, but I am afraid if our government and our press is hell bent on making her out to the best thing since Churchill ( Which is a disservice and insult to Churchill ), then this needs to be tackled head on.
Again, I state, if they just gave her a private burial instead of a big state occasion costing millions, in addition to the costs of recalling parliament yesterday, then I am sure the reaction to her passing from those that opposed her and her policies would be far more muted.
How about before condemning and labeling those like myself who dare criticise Margaret Thatcher's record now she is dead, you pause and think of the parents and families of the 96 people who died at Hillsborough in 1989, where justice as of yet has still not been served. Thanks largely in part to Thatcher covering up what actually happened that day.
As for attacking Morrisey whose blog post I quoted above. Those of you that are friends with me on Facebook, will see that even my own brother cannot believe I have quoted 'Mozza'. By all means, degenerate the author of those points that I agree with, it doesn't however lessen their very strong convincing reasoning.
Margaret Thatcher was the most divisive and polarising politic leader of the last century. This is an incomplete list of why many of us fall on the side that does not regard her with anything other than odium…
1. She supported the retention of capital punishment
2. She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
3. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
4. She abolished free milk for schoolchildren ("Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher")
5. She supported more freedom for business (and look how that turned out)
6. She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
7. She gerrymandered local authorities by forcing through council house sales, at the same time preventing councils from spending the money they got for selling houses on building new houses (spending on social housing dropped by 67% in her premiership)
8. She was responsible for 3.6 million unemployed - the highest figure and the highest proportion of the workforce in history and three times the previous government. Massaging of the figures means that the figure was closer to 5 million
9. She ignored intelligence about Argentinian preparations for the invasion of the Falkland Islands and scrapped the only Royal Navy presence in the islands
10. The poll tax
11. She presided over the closure of 150 coal mines; we are now crippled by the cost of energy, having to import expensive coal from abroad
12. She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War
13. She privatised state monopolies and created the corporate greed culture that we've been railing against for the last 5 years
14. She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS
15. She introduced financial deregulation in a way that turned city institutions into avaricious money pits
16. She pioneered the unfailing adoration and unquestioning support of the USA
17. She allowed the US to place nuclear missiles on UK soil, under US control
18. Section 28
19. She opposed anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as "that grubby little terrorist"
20. She support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and sent the SAS to train their soldiers
21. She allowed the US to bomb Libya in 1986, against the wishes of more than 2/3 of the population
22. She opposed the reunification of Germany
23. She invented Quangos
24. She increased VAT from 8% to 17.5%
25. She had the lowest approval rating of any post-war Prime Minister
26. Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
27. The Al Yamamah contract
28. She opposed the indictment of Chile's General Pinochet
29. Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
30. She presided over interest rates increasing to 15%
31. BSE
32. She presided over 2 million manufacturing job losses in the 79-81 recession
33. She opposed the inclusion of Eire in the Northern Ireland peace process
34. She supported sanctions-busting arms deals with South Africa
35. Cecil Parkinson, Alan Clark, David Mellor, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitkin
36. Crime rates doubled under Thatcher
37. Black Wednesday – Britain withdraws from the ERM and the pound is devalued. Cost to Britain - £3.5 billion; profit for George Soros - £1 billion
38. Poverty doubled while she opposed a minimum wage
39. She privatised public services, claiming at the time it would increase public ownership. Most are now owned either by foreign governments (EDF) or major investment houses. The profits don’t now accrue to the taxpayer, but to foreign or institutional shareholders.
40. She cut 75% of funding to museums, galleries and other sources of education
41. In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions
42. 21.9% inflation
. We are talking about ONE woman who was very very wealthy and aint it funny how we can suddenly find the money to bury her when we are so readily tol there is no money.
