She's Gone But Never Forgotten

I adhere to the maxim never to speak ill of the dead. To this end I've refrained from saying anything about the passing of Baroness Thatcher. I thought some of the more celebratory reactions to her passing were unseemly, unkind and immature. I would imagine though that if you or your family had been directly affected by her politics then the scars would still be raw and the memories not at all happy ones. Time marches on though and hopefully many, if not most, of the people went on to have good lives in fulfilling jobs and were great parents, siblings and friends to those who mattered.

Some of my previous posts have talked about my feelings towards the divisive and cruel politics of the only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

I have seen London in the Thatcher days and watched sadly over the years as that unravelled from great hope to enormous despair. It ended up being a vicious, cold hearted and nasty time. In 1979 (a year before my first visit to Britain), Hilda Margaret Thatcher quoted St Francis of Assisi, telling reporters and the nation: “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope”. Almost immediately she set off on a course which brought disharmony to many and took hope away from almost anyone who fell below the line of achievement she and her government deemed worth worrying about.

I watched in horror as the Docklands area was cleared to make way for Mammon sweeping away history and the poor who got in the way of progress. Many years later I actually like that area but the world and history is littered with perfectly pleasant, even spectacular places that are there at the expense of others. Visit Shanghai sometime and you’ll see what I mean.

While I admire the woman’s leadership and determination I despise her politics and the unflinching dedication to crushing so much that was good about the country. Her single-mindedness was breathtaking; you only have to reflect on the shocking Falklands War and her determination to produce not just a definitive result but a crushing victory to avenge British deaths. The Belgrano incident was an indictment on anyone who claimed to be a person of peace and who valued human life. In 74 days she ruled and commanded while just over 900 people died (that’s a better kill rate than most wars). The Lady may not have been for turning but her legacy is definitely one for mourning.