Lard Thatcher; Classic!

Why do most Daily Mail columnists always try to outdo each other on the 'rightness' scale? Do they get a cash bonus from Dacre? Or rather, the utterly impartial and hands-off Viscount Rothermere!? Much less balanced than the Guardian I'd say. Anyway.....

She cannot be blamed for all of societies ills. She is just one person. She did not act alone.

BUT she did lead (and embody) all the greedy, hateful, me me me-ness of 80's hard right Tory Party (not to mention inspiring the creation of the many-headed monster that is New Labour).

I don't wish to see anyone die. Not even Lard Thatcher.

But when she does, I will salute her with one little promise : That any chance of me EVER voting Tory was extinguished with what she and her cronies did to this great country in the 80's.

Peace.

I have to ask if you even read Quentin Letts' article. I sacrificed a few more principles and read it [online, for I wouldn't pay money for the Daily Mail] just now. Although Letts' default setting is 'snide and pompous prat', he was taking issue with the vituperative, swivel-eyed hatred displayed by some leftie commentators on the prospect of Mrs Thatcher - sorry, but I cannot call her 'Lady' or 'Baroness' - having a state funeral. Letts was not rude, other than in poking fun at the self-righteous Guardianistas, for example.

For the record, although my sympathies are slightly more right than left of centre, your tongue must have been firmly [uncomfortably] in your cheek when you called Mrs T a "sweet old lady". She failed to do what Tony Bliar was clever enough to achieve: quit after 10 years.

No, she should not have a state funeral. Churchill was exceptional. For Mrs Thatcher to have one would set a ghastly precedent for every subsequent prime minister to be accorded an honour that Churchill did deserve, Mrs Thatcher doesn't and neither Tony Bliar nor Gordon Brown will. After them, however, who knows?

I'd guess that this is a Tyson Homosexual story. Marge auto-corrects at the Mail. I liked the rest of Quentin's article.

..."so-called respectable commentator"...

That'll be the real point here and the jokey bit?...nearly missed it.

Blimey - you're almost too subtle.

First time I've ever been accused of that, Chaz.

We were poor but happy, and then Maggie came along and some were very rich and lots were very poor. Labour has continued the rich is good and the poor is bad under both Tone and Gordon. If you ain't rich you are lazy and unworthy, and you deserve the comments made by Daily Mail readers.

You lefties are a joke and, as Letts pointed out, the true nasty party.

He hit the nail on the head with your disgusting attitude to the best Prime Minister of the post-war years.

Clearly that was an error and I do wonder whether it was deliberate by someone in the Mail's staff changing lady to lard.

Have you ever noticed how all these sanctimonious right-whingers who moan about people saying nasty things about a frail old lady suddenly forget their impeccable manners when the subject is Fidel Castro?

Well I can see us "Enemy Within" welcoming a State Funeral - Mean the opportunity to que up to spit at her box, then the slow march through the streets to jeering, and resounding choruses of "Ding Dong - The *itch is Dead"

Perhaps the railway cos will see the opportunity to run cheap excursions to London when it happens.

GW

If she was such a good PM why did her own party chuck her out? Unlike Churchill she could hardly be described as being in ill health at the time. Quentin Letts is a supcercilious prat who seems to loath women Labour MPs strange he doesnt seem to have the same feelings for tory women.

Thatcher vis-a-vis Castro, is it?

One was a democratically [three times] elected PM who went more than a bit bonkers towards the end, believing her own PR, but was quietly put out of our misery after 11 years.

The other was a revolutionary who threw out a [corrupt] régime, installed himself as head of state and presided over the remorseless decline of his country, and the living standards of his countrymen, for 49 years before ill-health finally stopped him from murdering or imprisoning his opponents any more - only to be replaced by his slightly younger, and slightly less authoritarian, brother.

I appreciate that ZanuLabour feels that a Parliamentary seat is subject to a new hereditary right of succession - as we saw with the Dunwoodys, and as was threatened by the Prescotts - but I feel it to be a retrograde policy.

Perhaps my memory is rose-tinted, but I don't recall many people desperately trying to float to France on lilos, punts and rubber-rings to escape the starvation and iniquities of the incompetent and sclerotic Thatcherite régime.

Who gives a toss about a dictator like Castro.

I think the Thatcher Fan Club proves my point impeccably.

Albert... throwing out a corrupt regime - you don't have to put it in brackets, they were proud of it - and giving all your children a decent education and health service is certainly something Fidel can claim the credit for. No, Cuba isn't a 'socialist paradise' but neither is it a home for capitalist parasites either. It was a poor country to begin with, but Hugo has more resources and he can perhaps show us what can be done when the US are not standing on your gonads.

But in any event, my point was that tories get all weepy if you saying anything about the Thatch, and then revert to type if you mention Fidel... not about irrelevancies like Prescott or all the other drivel you came out with.

I think not. I was very sad when Jim Callaghan died as he was a decent sort despite his politics. I likewise admire Dennis Healey for standing up to the lunatics in his party.
Your choice of Castro says a lot about you.

No, actually... it says a lot about you.

err no, it says alot about you.

Drivel, eh?

Do you canvass along the same lines, by carefully alienating and insulting people who agree with you only 99%, and not the full 100%? The [corrupt], in brackets, was to acknowledge the moral outrage and justification for Castro's action, and the principles behind his revolution. Had I put "corrupt", it would indeed have been to trivialise the extent of the Mafia's control of Batista. Trouble is, Castro corrupted the revolution as soon as he got his hands on the levers.

To excuse Castro because of the excellent health service and almost 100% literacy is as contemptible as excusing Hitler because of the autobahns. When I was in Cuba, the kids were desperate for such luxuries as pencils. That was after 40 years of communist rule.

May I commend to you the work of Amartya Sen, specifically his contention that famine is impossible in a democracy because the leadership must be more responsive, than a dictator, to the demands of the citizens.

By Hugo, I assume that you mean Raul. Unless, that is, you have shifted [what passes for] your attention from Cuba to the other questionable paradise of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela where, despite the vast oil wealth, some 40% of the population live below the poverty line.

So where was the 'drivel', Bob? Perhaps the reference to 'ZanuLabour' was unnecessarily provocative, but understandable in the light of the Labour Party's frenetic attempts to control and colonise every aspect of public life, while maintaining with a straight face in the chaos that everything is wonderful. Thatcher was elected, and she did ultimately go bonkers. Castro was not elected, and did cling to power for 49 years. Castro did imprison and murder his political opponents. I have the abiding impression that Thatcher didn't. Gwyneth Dunwoody's daughter was imposed on the voters of Cheshire, with comical consequences. John Prescott was angling for his son to 'inherit' his safe seat.
Come on, where's the drivel? You never know; I just might be a constituent. You can see I'm not over-impressed with the Tories. Impress me.

This may seem jolly amusing now but I'm sure that the day when Mrs Thatcher will seem like a sweet old lady in comparison to the follies of Blair and Brown; from the decades of anarchy in Mesopotamia to the financial bankruptcy of Britain.

You have yet to learn the extent of what Chancellor Brown has done to all our futures.

I suspect it's simply that gleeful anticipation of someone's death is both tasteless and strangely puerile.

I think the fact that, even now, Mrs Thatcher can reduce her ideogical opponents to scatological tantrums is evidence of why she kept on winning - she diminished her opponents into ranting idiots.

Albert, your comparison with Hitler proves what I suspected all along. You're a timewaster.

Go and waste someone else's... try Guido, his comment boxes are full of that sort of stuff.

PS I've read Sen, and the critiques, thank you. The over 50% of Indian children malnourished after 50 years of democracy and independence?

Wolfie, if we cannot know, then it follows, neither can you. Very valuable contribution, I must say.

TimJ... I think you will find we were having fun... the tantrum noises you can hear are the sound of right-wing rattles being thrown out of prams.

Same old same old. You can't or won't answer the question, so you resort to cheap invective. This is, of course, precisely what our current Prime Minister does at noon on Wednesdays, so you are in 'exalted' company. And yes, in this instance the inverted commas are there to denote sarcasm.

Bob, you clearly forget that you originally sought to deflect any criticism of Castro by pointing to healthcare and literacy. I was simply highlighting the absurdity of your contention. By the way, did you confuse Raul/Hugo, or did you mean to refer to Chavez?

PS Oh, of course you've read Amartya Sen. Of course I believe you. We all believe you. No, really, we do ...

You really do make a mistake if you think I care what you believe or think. As the US are still standing on Raul's gonads, I didn't think I'd have to spell it for you. My mistake.

"The US is still standing on Raul's gonads". Is that supposed to be cutting-edge geo-political analysis? No offence intended, but why not play to your strengths and stick to the geo-politics of Warley Woods.

Now, let's consider the scorecard of today's exchanges; not solely with me, but with others also as well as your silly point of departure. You try to score childish points off those who are not at fault. You answer courtesy with insult. You don't answer simple questions. You bluster. You misinterpret what people write. You are incapable of constructing coherent sentences in English. You confuse the names of people to whom you are referring. You lash out at people who dare to take gentle issue with you. I was clearly quite wrong to compare your debating and people skills with those of Gordon Brown. You're really John Prescott's long-lost twin.

As a humanist myself it would be morally untenable for me to derive any pleasure from the death of a fellow human being - and this would apply equally to Margaret Thatcher, were she but human. But given the circumstances I'd gladly drive a stake through her shrivelled old heart.

P.S. And her scum. Sorry, son.
P.P.S. I think it was entirely right that Churchill was afforded a state funeral, not so much for himself but for the cause he came to represent

I dont think anyone gives a monkeys what you think either. I only posted on this blog because you were rude about Mrs Thatcher, but then I am beginning to see from other comments what your modus operandi is.

I'll stick to my strengths, Albert, you stick to yours. i.e. Try to include references you think make you look intelligent, and then when you are challenged on them you come back with intellectually stunning ripostes such as... Oh, of course you've read Amartya Sen. Of course I believe you. We all believe you. No, really, we do ... Albert, have you got an identity crisis or are you suffering from a dual personality syndrome which makes you think you are more than one person? Grow up son.

Maggie Thatcher Fan... well, now you know and you can go elsewhere for your stimulation. Are you sure you're not Albert in disguise?

The one thing you know about posting something about Thatcher is that all the right-whingers come out to play.

The one thing about Mrs Thatcher was that she saved the nation from Union domination and thats why left wingers hate her so much. Every time a left winger mentions Mrs Thatcher (disparagingly), you know its hurting.

"Grow up son". Does your patronising tone come naturally to you, or do you attend evening classes in disdain?

I'm not sure that I can keep up [or possibly down] with this quite Prescottian level of inspired repartee and persiflage.

Y'know, I started out being somewhat in sympathy with your principles, but you have quite brilliantly managed to kill that respect stone dead. You are simply incapable of engaging in debate. Well done, Bob. Carry on with using your blog as a medium for your pontification. It is assuredly a medium, for [as they say] it is neither rare nor well done.

Under the infamous Enver Hodge Islington actually flew a red flag and had a bust of Lenin in the Town Hall , Highbury Corner was to be renamed Lenin Square ( I kid you not and don't say it was a Mail story I know the person who was planning it ). Perhaps you should have sort of memorial to Fidel Castro , you could have an enormous statue and call it ' The Dictator of the Midlands '
I think perhaps a dissident crushed under a nonchalantly dropped boot might be a nice touch.
Do you also think Mugabe also had to break a few eggs to make an omelette ? Another socialist triumph in the bank

We know of course why the left hate Thatcher , because she showed that everything they had ever said was wrong . I `m afraid it stings to this day think of all; those puce lefty Dons ,who had been teaching Marxism to hairy bespectacled Public schoolboys ,were in agony. As Labour desperately tries to copy Conservative policies on welfare , following the catch-up IHT and the hastily flung together Border Hit Squad it seems once again we are the teachers they the supplicant imploring wisdom.

Not to worry Bob the Unions are asking for secondary picketing back , NI higher up the scale and ...all sorts . As they are 90% of the money should Labour ever be in government again you will probably get your 'socialist paradise'(aka cannage smelling hell hole ) here .

I am hoping to write a brilliant novel during my stay at the Hebridean Gulag

That's better, a good dose of newmanian lunacy. Far preferable to those humourless oiks above.

Perhaps he has spending time in your company, Mr. Piper. After all, it was you who, on 14th July, described Lady Thatcher as "the Old Witch of Grantham".

Is this your way of demonstrating that Labour is the natural party of government ?

What can I say, Mr Phillips. You've truly found me out there. How very forgetful of me. Thank you so much for your reminder and kind reprimand.

Of course the thought of Thatcher hurts me. But not as much as the years of unemployment, wondering if I'd ever get a job and having to walk three miles to sign on because at the end of every fortnight I'd got no dole money left hurt me.

I suggest anyone who thinks the witch was anything other than a vicious, evil piece of filth who deserves a long life and suffering for every day of it tries just a few weeks in the same circumstances I and many others endured while she was working her economic 'miracle'.