Dear Thatcher era,
Of course it’s sad that someone has died.
I was sad when my Grandmother died but I didn’t expect the rest of the country to burst into tears.
We are not here to celebrate anyone’s death. Even when we disagree with most things they did.
If only we could celebrate the death of the ‘ideals’ instead but they are very much alive in the current government with the likes of Ian Duncan Smith making the ‘iron lady’ seem rather cuddly in comparison.
The death of the former Prime Minister has split the country into two- in one half there are tears in the other there are cheers- but no-one is cheering the death of a person but they are hoping upon hope the death of those ideas- ideas that made some people very rich and lots of other people very poor, ideas that put the blame on the people that couldn’t fight back.
In pop culture terms you split the music world as much as the country, your favourite song was Telstar, an oddly great moment of taste until we are reminded that the other favourite song was ‘How much Was That Doggie in The Window’, that must be an urban myth, surely.
It’s hard to think of the eighties pop culture without thinking of Margaret Thatcher. She was the annual effigy on the local bonfire, the bogie woman of British politics who tore communities apart, the lady was not for turning who got credit for her single mindedness like a Kim Yon Chi, Adolf Hitler or ironically the ‘communist’ dictators.
The TV has gone a bit mad now with all manners of credit being given to the ‘iron lady’- with world peace and all manner of things been credited to you and lots of stuff about ‘strength of personality’ and ‘no turning back’.
The TV has been a freak show today with all manner of strange people dragging through studios with very enthusiastic tributes to her- with friends like Kelvin Mackenzie and Anne Widdecombe and their ilk and, I’m sure if Jimmy Savile was still alive he would be on there as well.
All I can remember from the eighties is a time when everyone got meaner and more selfish and we got set on a road when the world seemed to get greedier and worse- is that a good thing? I’m not so sure. We have ended up with billionaire bankers fiddling whilst Rome burns and greed is good is the mantra. Some legacy.
When you lived through those times, the times of the English civil war, she seemed rather strange, rather remote- she was the ice queen, the person who defined popular culture with Stock Aitkin And Waterman on one side and the punk rock underground on the other.
Iron lady, you once said there is no such thing as society and sadly that seems to be your lasting legacy and the true epitaph of your decade.
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