RIP Monty

Scumbag England

Maggie and Me

The inspiration for writing the blog is the new film Iron Lady about, well The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher. There's not a lot to say about the film really. It's a mess. It spends too long lingering on her dementia and completely ignores all the politics that she was involved in. Its a a film for Americans who want to know about her but don't want to get bogged down in all the boring trivia of British politics.Mark Kermode was right when he said that by all means show her human side but you can't ignore the politics completely.

Anyway all this lead to me examining what exactly I thought about Maggie. I had said previously on this blog that I would raise a glass when she died. I would like to make clear that this film did nothing to change that. it was a few months ago when I repeated this line to a friend confident he would slap my back (metaphorically, me and my friends aren't they type) and say me to. But he suggested this was a pretty uncharitable thought about a dementia ridden old lady and it was a Damascus moment which made me feel, bless my soul you're absolutely right.

So how do I feel about her. Well I'm not sure. She is certainly worthy of a degree of respect. She came from humble(ish) beginnings. Rose through her party riven with snobbery and chauvanism. Became our longest serving prime minister and did it all while remaining true to her principles. She didn't submit when faced with the IRA or international pressure to fold and compromise on the Falklands.

I don't entirely agree with those who would declare her  the antichrist. Take Thatcher out of the picture and I still think that we would have had the same kind of social revolution with yuppies and the catastrophic end of manafacturing. It was just the graceless way that she carried these policies through.

She was clearly a politician who did what she believed was right. And when faced with the knee jerk politicians we have today who seem to be led by the press rather than actually leading, its difficult not to have a degree of nostalgia . But then again was she all but a dictator ?

She's one of the mostimportant figures of my lifetime and I'm still struggling to get a handle on what i think about her. What fun !