Margaret Thatcher
I'm not in any mood to party, and the use of the word "Rejoice" is forever tainted for me, just as are the words of the prayer of St Francis, which she quoted on her entry to Downing Street before proceeding to do the exact inverse in virtually every case.
I'm old enough to be able to remember the suffering she caused, the needless wars she provoked, the mass privatisation at knockdown prices of what even a previous Tory PM called "the family silver", the changes made in her era to bank regulation and council house tenancies which kick-started the debt culture of today.
She was formidable. But so is Sauron. She knew what she wanted and believed in it passionately. So did Voldemort. She introduced despicable laws to attack GLTB people. She destroyed the manufacturing basis of my country. She wrecked communities, especially in the North.
I did my celebrating when her own party turned on her after she forced through new, unjust taxes which provoked riots not seen again until the present Tory government. I rejoiced when she wiped away a tear on leaving No 10. Now I find that I don't really care that a sick old woman died in the Ritz. I do care about the legacy of division and bitterness she left.
And that someone rich enough to live in the frigging Ritz will get a grandiose funeral at her country's expense. I say she should be accorded the cost of a pauper's funeral and the rest should be privatised. Sponsored by her rich friends or paid for by her wealthy son out of the profits he made via his mummy's connections.
I remember her as triumphant, mostly over the misery of other people. I do not party, but I certainly will not mourn.
I'm old enough to be able to remember the suffering she caused, the needless wars she provoked, the mass privatisation at knockdown prices of what even a previous Tory PM called "the family silver", the changes made in her era to bank regulation and council house tenancies which kick-started the debt culture of today.
She was formidable. But so is Sauron. She knew what she wanted and believed in it passionately. So did Voldemort. She introduced despicable laws to attack GLTB people. She destroyed the manufacturing basis of my country. She wrecked communities, especially in the North.
I did my celebrating when her own party turned on her after she forced through new, unjust taxes which provoked riots not seen again until the present Tory government. I rejoiced when she wiped away a tear on leaving No 10. Now I find that I don't really care that a sick old woman died in the Ritz. I do care about the legacy of division and bitterness she left.
And that someone rich enough to live in the frigging Ritz will get a grandiose funeral at her country's expense. I say she should be accorded the cost of a pauper's funeral and the rest should be privatised. Sponsored by her rich friends or paid for by her wealthy son out of the profits he made via his mummy's connections.
I remember her as triumphant, mostly over the misery of other people. I do not party, but I certainly will not mourn.
