The Lady's Not Returning

For a brief moment last week statuses about Margaret Thatcher probably outnumbered kittens on my Facebook newsfeed. This Thatcher-Kitten ratio indicated just how deeply people felt about her, with those feelings ranging from to love to loathing, and from something bordering on hero worship to unadulterated joy at her demise. I was in with a client when news of her death broke, and glanced at my phone to see a text simply stating "Ding, Dong, The Witch is Dead", and I knew immeditately to whom it was referring. The somewhat tasteless website, www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk (which proudly declares "hated by the Daily Mail" as an endorsement, confirmed simply YES in huge letters across the screen (with "the lady's not returning" in smaller ones underneath, because, after all, who can resist a pun?) Arthur Scargill, presumably comfortably ensconced in his free apartment in the Barbican - one of Britain's most exclusive addresses - tweeted a jubilant "Thatcher dead; Scargill alive". Across the country champagne corks popped and in Northern towns people partied long into the night.

That a single individual could envoke such passionate hatred is extraordinary. While the television stations broadcast round-the-clock tributes and newspapers eagerly printed full colour supplements that had presumably been ready for publication for years, social networks buzzed and bubbled with vitriol. A version of "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" was released in a spirit of opportunistic entrepreneurship which the Iron Lady herself might, ironically, have admired, and quickly climbed to Number 2 in the charts. People bickered publicly and bitterly about what was and was not appropriate when it came to speaking of the dead. A few people, rather than just keeping out of it, competed for the prize of Most Sanctimonous Comment Posted on Social Media by loudly proclaiming how they were not going to celebrate anybody's death, because they were above that sort of thing, delivered in a teacherly tone of which Maggie herself would no doubt have approved. After the inevitable debates about the £10million pound cost of her funeral and all the many things it could have been spent on instead, central London temporarily became an obstacle course of metal barriers and police cordons for the day, and we said our final goodbyes via what was a state funeral in all but name.

And so, farewell, then, Baroness Thatcher. I tried to refrain from comment, but once the funeral was over I felt compelled to point out why I, though not celebrating, felt uneasy about much of her "legacy", and downright angry with a not insignificant proportion of it. As a child growing up in the 80s in the North, I would have been forgiven for thinking my dad had Tourettes, swearing every time she came on the televison. Studying for a Masters in Ethics several years ago I looked into some of her policies afresh, promising myself I would be objective: I have, after all, done well for myself; I had a good education, have a good job, have a fullfilling family life. Growing up in Thatcher's Britain certainly did ME no harm. And yet, having weighed it all up, I'm afraid I still fall firmly down on the left. I can't in all honesty see that many of the policies she gave us led to good. If anything, I blame them for some of the less commendable attitudes so many seem to have towards one another now, and a segregation of society that, whatever we might like to believe, has grown, and not decreased. In the words of a friend "We became a selfish society. I fear that's too entrenched now to ever change."

So here's what I put on Facebook. Judge for yourselves, but this is my honest, well thought-out opinion.

"I respect Margaret Thatcherand her integrity and I believe she did things for the right reasons, but at the same time I think many of her actions were detrimental to the common good, and some unforgivable. I think privatisation to the extent she took it was wrong; the sale of council houses was wrong; the vilification of the poor (read "Faith in the City") was wrong. I believe her attitude that anyone could do anything was aspirational and well meant but ultimately contributed to the creation of an underclass that is looked down upon, and has led to today's inaccurate and damaging attitude that the poor are all scroungers and that they somehow "enjoy" being poor. I think Tebbit's "get on your bike and look for work" comment was vile and provocative, not to say unworkable. I think much of what has been allowed to happen in the city and ultimately led to the current crisis resulted (partly) from a culture that she started and encouraged. I think Section 28 was a cruel and unnecessary legislation which prolonged attitudes of homophobia and stifled the acceptance of difference. I am ashamed that we were in the minority alongside countries similar to ourselves when we chose not to impose sanctions on South Africa to end Apartheid, I think the bombing of the Belgrano was a mistake (though this happened perhaps under her watch than her orders), and I sincerely hope she was not aware of the Hillsborough cover-up, though I fear that, to an extent, at least, she was. I believe she did a lot of good - especially in world politics (as long as you forget those friendly rounds of golf with General Pinochet) - but many of those who bear a grudge do so legitimately, and deserve to have a voice: to criticise and evaluate need not amount to a personal attack, and as such should not be stifled: we are, after all, a free country, and Baroness Thatcher herself would surely have defended this, at least. All that said, I'm glad her funeral was treated respectfully. May she rest in peace."