She was simply a tyrant. There are many ways to kill people, that she did it more slowly and with just as much contempt as those that kill swiftly makes her no different. Her actions affected not just Englishmen but all if us worldwide. The only reason she may be smiling is because they painted her pig’s face like that of clown. Better yet, put a Guy Fawkes mask on her that’ll make the old hag witch smile forever.
Don’t watch or listen the BBC anymore!

Posted by: Fernando | Apr 12 2013 17:22 utc | 4

http://youtu.be/E5_ISC1EbCM
PINK FLOYD
“The Post War Dream”
tell me true tell me why was Jesus crucified
is it for this that daddy died?
was it for you? was it me?
did i watch too much t.v.?
is that a hint of accusation in your eyes?
if it wasn’t for the nips
being so good at building ships
the yards would still be open on the clyde
and it can’t be much fun for them
beneath the rising sun
with all their kids committing suicide
what have we done maggie what have we done
what have we done to england
should we shout should we scream
“what happened to the post war dream?”
oh maggie maggie what have we done?

Posted by: neretva’43 | Apr 12 2013 18:14 utc | 6

From Counterpunch, today:
This interview with Tariq Ali was conducted by Die Presse in Vienna and appears in German in the paper’s Sunday edition.
“What is Mrs Thatcher’s legacy?
Her legacy is clearly visible in the state of Britain today. It is essentially a story of decay and ruin: A small, post-imperial vassal state dependent on nostalgia and, more importantly, the United States to keep itself afloat. On the economy the Thatcherite model (astonishingly, still being praised by blind politicians in denial) was effectively the deindustrialization of the country, the purchase of working-class votes by squandering the monies that accrued from North sea oil and laying the foundations for a financialised economic model that exploded with the Wall Street crash of 2008. We live in a world where it is convenient to personalize politics. Thatcher obviously pushed through the measures required by capitalism with a raw and ruthless energy that was her very own. She was a great believer in appealing to the lowest common denominator, to the animal instincts that remain present in the psychological make-up of individuals regardless of their social origins. Another politician could have done exactly the same things as she did using a less charged rhetoric. A number of old Conservatives were not shy in stating that their party had been taken over by English ‘poujadistes.’ She almost came a cropper. Had the Falklands war gone differently which it might have done if Pinochet’s dictatorship (pushed by Washington) had not backed Britain.
She outmaneuvered the once powerful Mineworker’s Union, forcing it to call a strike on her terms and then destroyed the union and in the process broke the back of a once powerful British labor movement. She had referred to the striking miners as the ‘enemy within’. Even as she neutered the unions, she effectively destroyed the old Labour Party. Thatcher’s favorite Chancellor of the Exchequer and cabinet colleague, Nigel Lawson, while reviewing a book in the Financial Times noted admiringly that the tragedy for the Tories was that Thatcher’s real heir was Leader of the Opposition. Blair’s policies were little more than a continuation of her policies with better PR and an aggressive control of the media. Blair was less lucky with his wars. Iraq finished him off. He was exposed as a simple and straightforward liar. The Scottish writer, Tom Nairn, was accurate in his assessment: “Like other flotsam on the ‘no-alternative’ wave of the nineties, they think that the essence of ‘modernization’ is adjusting society to fit economic and technological advances. Which means serving such changes, via a machinery of collusion between government public relations, a compliant legal system and a servile press.’
With Murdoch dominating the press agenda thanks to Thatcher’s ‘generosity’, she sent her tank commanders to fire a few warning shots at the BBC. A reliable and appropriately named toady, Marmaduke Hussey, was catapulted on to the BBC board as chairman. His first task was to sack director general Alasdair Milne for “leftwing bias” and ‘not being one of us.’ Thatcher was livid that the BBC had permitted her to be grilled on the Falklands war on a live programme by an ordinary woman viewer from Bristol who successfully demolished the prime minister’s arguments. Hussey appointed a pliable Director-General in the shape of John Birt, a dalek without instincts or qualities, who transformed the BBC into the top-heavy managerial monster that it has become. When New Labour won, a New BBC was already in place. Blair and his spin doctors Campbell and Mandelson turned out to be even worse control freaks than Thatcher. Together with their subordinates, they regularly harassed producers complaining about what they perceived to be anti-government bias. Radio 4′s Today programme became a favourite Blairite target. Simultaneously they were crawling to Murdoch at regular intervals, hobnobbing regularly with the editors and staff of the Sun and happily inhaling the stench of the Murdoch stables…..”
The truth is that Thatcher hated the British people, as does the current government which is carrying on her work. Interestingly, The Wizard of Oz’s author hated bankers and believed that haute finance was responsible for all that was wrong with the world. So that this particular American Song is the current hit is not inappropriate.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 12 2013 20:43 utc | 8

She was, at best, a mediocre politician and no statesman so why get upset. In the not too distant future when the British economy is well and truly fucked (it’s only well fucked by the bankers at the moment but they still have to give it a good bumming), people will begin to understand how they have been conned about her and react accordingly. That Old Etonian tosser, Boris Johnson, has suggested that a statue of her be erected in Trafalgar Square. Well, I say go ahead, let him do it. Then I can enjoy the sight of someone taking a blow torch or angle grinder to it.

Posted by: blowback | Apr 12 2013 21:27 utc | 10

Out with the old, in with the new… criminals all.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 13 2013 1:34 utc | 12

I think it was she, more than anyone else, who bears responsibility for turning this country into what it is now: The City of London with a theme park attached to it. Trying to survive by becoming a stop-off point for capital on its way to Wall Street is bound to end in disaster sooner or later. As others have pointed out, it was North Sea oil and financialisation that ‘rescued’ the economy and since the oil will all be gone in the next few years, when The City finally goes, there goes the nation. Handing over the reins of the country to banks and hedge funds to do with as they please is the action of a fucking traitor. And btw, not everyone in the BBC agrees with the way this death has been covered 😉

Posted by: Carpworld | Apr 13 2013 8:26 utc | 14

“It was risky, militarily speaking.”
It was risky politically. As soon as everyone knew Thatcher had US support, the military outcome in the UK’s favo(u)r was inevitable.

Posted by: ruralito | Apr 13 2013 14:11 utc | 16

@ ruralito
The Argentinians had state-of-the-art anti ship missiles that were very effective (seven ships sunk). I understand that if one of the two UK aircraft carriers had been lost the mission would have become untenable. I call that risky.
US support (eventually) was very “backroom” (no ships, troops etc) and so didn’t substantially mitigate that risk.

Posted by: maff | Apr 13 2013 18:20 utc | 18

…and the jet fuel and the intelligence

Extensive satellite recon intelligence was provided by the Americans – they had satellites from a number of systems including the high-definition Keyhole series, in orbit at those latitudes.

Posted by: ruralito | Apr 13 2013 19:18 utc | 20

…as if there were not a lot of families out there who had more than their feelings hurt by Margaret Thatcher
yah but apparently she was upfront in your face about it and that apparently makes it all ok, apparently, and so, apparently, we got to give her that, apparently.

Posted by: yah . . .But | Apr 13 2013 22:15 utc | 22

Glenda Jackson (ex-actress, MP labour) heckled in the chamber during her ‘tribute’ speech, in itself rather mild and careful, housewifely, on the surface, several mentions of Sellotape!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8
Michael Hudson on Thatcher, via Jesse’s Café Americain:
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.ch/2013/04/michael-hudson-on-thatcher-legacy.html
As for pop music, Abba have always been great on money and finance. See the famous, Money, Money, Money. And this:
Abba, “Knowing me, Knowing You.” 1978.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrfY7RNaBjw

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 14 2013 12:49 utc | 24

Bevin 8, the same thing (as what happened at the BBC) appears to have happened at NPR during the last Bush regime. Real dissent could be heard, but no longer. Everyone on NPR now has been vetted and approved by one of the big think tanks. Never are we told who funds the think tanks that call the tune these “experts” play. I really think the rot of NPR is the most worrisome even in the American process–that and the co-opting of the Democrats. I don’t begrudge the GOP for supporting big business, banks and the big defense–some one’s gonna do it, and they’re fairly honest about who’s water they’re toting. But, the Dems are the real liars, the real wolves in sheep’s clothing. Obama’s budget cuts entitlements more than any GOP budget on offer, yet the GOP wails that it’s not enough; and the Dems don’t openly call them to the floor for being more miserly. Just as the auto bailout was Bush’s program, yet Obama took the credit and the GOP was happy to give it too him. Kabuki theater and betrayal is all our political process is anymore. Given the tangential nature of political debate and all the betrayal and deception, we certainly can’t call ourselves a democracy.
At least with professional sports, when a free agent leaves for another team, we can still appreciate his game. But, generally we’re just rooting for laundry and labels. And, unlike sports, where great news IS available, where even loyalists are critical of their own team; where the teams are privately owned, these privately owned sports teams are more democratic than our politics. It’s because the news coverage is better. We’re informed sports fans, but not informed voters.

Posted by: scottindallas | Apr 14 2013 16:04 utc | 26

b, I posted a long reply to carpworld, perhaps it got kicked to the cue. I wanted to post that in the open thread (was gonna copy it) as I’d like to get some response to it. If you want to repost it in any way please do, give me a h/t for my vanity, other than that use it.

Posted by: scottindallas | Apr 14 2013 16:33 utc | 28

might show up in a few minutes Scott – one of mine went missing for about 10 mins then suddenly popped up again

Posted by: yah . . . But | Apr 14 2013 16:39 utc | 30

Pithy comment from above link, had to share…

The I-Ching says: Kleptocracy above. Lootarchy below.
The reason the parasites must be funneled through the medical cartel, is the same reason why EBT is funneled through JPMorgan.

As above, so below, as abroad so at home…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 15 2013 0:15 utc | 32

Irony, she was elected by the people, more than once and stabbed by her peers. Those protesting in the streets recently, many were not even born, the majority students; they should think, it was Thatcher that drove educational reforms, drove ‘Entrepreneurship’.
All I see is many people putting a dig in without knowing why (Fully), even on this ‘lil’ chat room, and likewise were not effected, just jumping on a bandwagon and spouting about ‘coal miners’, when the industry was failing and mines were not economical, at all! The same people complain about pollution and hug tree’s (Metaphorically) and want to keep coal mines running? Others complaining about bigger Government, yet she privatized, one cant bitch on both – Get over it, she made the right move; it cleaned the North, communities evolved and no one son need to follow ‘his’ father footstep of being a proud Coal miner living with siliceous.
Now little Johnny can go to collage, possibly university, relocate, do a job that is outside the expected black stuff, or; he can still hang out on the street corner wearing a shell suit, waiting for his mate with the pit-bull called Scargill – but he has choice.

Posted by: Kev | Apr 15 2013 23:37 utc | 34