Baroness Thatcher dies, reactions

This video from Britain says about itself:

April 8, 2013

Lingering resentment felt by mining communities towards Baroness Thatcher.

Street parties break out as some of those who were most opposed to her policies seek to counter those paying tribute.The death of Baroness Thatcher has been welcomed by critics of the former prime minister – who labelled her “heartless” and claimed she “destroyed” parts of the country.

Street parties broke out in several locations as those who resented her policies and their consequences celebrated the leader who was more devisive than almost any other in recent history.

As tributes to the 87-year-old flooded in from across the globe, widespread condemnation of her legacy – particularly on social media – showed her ability to polarise opinion remained.

Grievances against the former Conservative leader take in her treatment of miners in the 1980s, withdrawal of free milk for school children, her role in the response to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and the controversial Poll Tax.

Critics also pointed to her description of Nelson Mandela as a “terrorist“, her government’s support for Pol Pot, her actions in the Falklands War and her subsequent backing of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

From Firstpost:

Margaret Thatcher milk snatcher? Iron lady still divides in death

by FP Staff Apr 9, 2013

… But while US President Barack Obama spoke for many in the wider world in praising the grocer’s daughter with the eyes as steely as her resolve, the scars of bitter struggles left Britain itself as deeply divided now as under her leadership.

Tuesday’s newspapers told the story: “The Woman Who Saved Britain”, declared the Daily Mail from the right; “The Woman Who Divided A Nation”, headlined the left’s Daily Mirror, which questioned the grand, ceremonial funeral planned for next week. …

“Very few leaders get to change not only the political landscape of their country but of the world. Margaret was such a leader. Her global impact was vast,” said Tony Blair, whose term as Labour prime minister from 1997-2007 he acknowledged owed a debt to the former leader of his Conservative opponents. …

Obama led an outpouring of tributes from the United States: “America has lost a true friend,” he said.

Mourners laid roses, tulips and lilies on the doorstep of her house in Belgravia, one of London’s most exclusive areas. One note said: “The greatest British leader” while another said to “The Iron Lady”, a soubriquet bestowed by a Soviet army newspaper in the 1970s and which Thatcher loved.

But, in a mark of lingering anger at a woman who explained her belief in private endeavour by declaring “there is no such thing as society”, someone also left a bottle of milk; to many Britons, for scrapping free milk for schoolchildren as education minister in 1971, she remained “Maggie Thatcher, Milk Snatcher”.

From the Irish Times:

Mrs Thatcher’s death was a “great day” for coal miners, David Hopper, general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association said. The ex-miner, who turned 70 today, spent all of his working life at Wearmouth Colliery. He said: “It looks like one of the best birthdays I have ever had. “There’s no sympathy from me for what she did to our community. She destroyed our community, our villages and our people.”

From Reuters:

The abiding domestic images of her premiership will remain those of conflict: huge police confrontations with mass ranks of coalminers whose year-long strike failed to save their pits and communities; Thatcher riding a tank in a white headscarf; and flames rising above Trafalgar Square in the riots over the deeply unpopular “poll tax” which contributed to her downfall.

“I found her to be confrontational, dogmatic, abrasive, she attacked people in her own country and didn’t listen to people in her own party,” recalled Caspar Joseph, 51, a history teacher in Manchester. “She was destructive, nihilistic.

“I will be raising a glass. I have some 1992 Dom Perignon which I have been saving for either the birth of my first grandchild or the death of Margaret Thatcher … but actually I might drink some Argentinian wine – her attitude was contemptible over the Falklands.”

Some opponents said on social media that they would hold a party to celebrate her death while a website set up to ask if Thatcher was dead had received 180,000 likes by midday and was updated with a large block-capital “Yes.

To those who opposed her she was blunt to a degree.

“The lady’s not for turning”, she once informed members of her own Conservative Party who were urging her to moderate her policies. In power, she faced plotting inside her party from those who thought she was unreasonably divisive.

Margaret Thatcher’s death greeted with street parties in Brixton and Glasgow: here.

Hundreds gather in Glasgow, Liverpool and Brixton to ‘celebrate’ death of Margaret Thatcher: here.

Some responses by artists and performers to Margaret Thatcher, who died yesterday. here.

The dictate that one ‘not speak ill of the dead’ is (at best) appropriate for private individuals, not influential public figures: here.

MARGARET Thatcher was ignored by the bourgeoisie for 23 years after she was put out of office by the Tory leadership in 1990. This was when her disastrous attempt to bring in a Poll Tax started a revolt on the scale of the original 1381 insurrection. She has now been rediscovered after her death by the same ruling class that dumped her: here.

21 Incredibly Angry Songs About Margaret Thatcher. The former prime minister inspired bitter tunes by Elvis Costello, Morrissey, Pink Floyd, and many others. Update: She died April 8, 2013, at age 87 — though her death was celebrated by musicians years ago: here.

Related articles

• Thatcher to Mandelson: ‘You can’t trust the Irish, they are all liars’
• Ex-miners mark death of Margaret Thatcher

• Miner: Thatcher death ‘a great day’ The death of Baroness Thatcher was a “great day” for coal miners, David Hopper, general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association has said. (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Final bill for Baroness Thatcher’s funeral revealed (independent.co.uk)
• Margaret Thatcher statue could be on plinth in bid to stop vandals (telegraph.co.uk)
• Margaret Thatcher Day bill cut off after 87 seconds (metro.co.uk)