annanotbob2's Diaryland Diary

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Had to come back to say, for the record, that I hated Thatcher with a passion and cannot let her pass into history as a 'great leader' without voicing this. I don't respond to her death with any sense of celebration - I did all that when she got booted out of power - taken down by her own team when even they could not bear her any more. I remember exactly where I was, walking along a street in the city when a woman I'd only met a few times came along with a beaming smile: "Have you heard? Thatcher's out!" and we laughed and were happy and thought the world would be a better place, but it fucking wasn't because Blair came along, in the LABOUR party - the one that represents working people (the clue's in the name) - and continued her work.

Here's a brief list of what I consider to be her crimes:

1. Calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist and supporting the apartheid government of South Africa - remember this in particular when they call her a champion of freedom. Her freedom was from the rules that had been fought for over decades to stop owners squeezing every last drop out of their workers whilst paying them peanuts.
2. She sold off the utilities, which are now mostly foreign owned and absurdly expensive. They were a shambles, but state provision of basic services (gas, electric, water, transport, telephone) was one of the foundations of decency to me (and many others). These are the basic requirements of life in the modern world - we all need and use them so let's have them as cheap as possible by not having any of the price going in 'profit'. They needed sorting out, not selling off.
3. She scorned people who were not using every available opportunity to do a bit of business. I can remember the first time I was given a Dr's appointment card which had doubles in size to allow for adverts for the chemists in town.
4. Miner's strike - breaking the unions using a series of dirty tricks which the main media failed to report at the time, yet it all turned out to be true, twenty five years later
5. Befriending fucking Pinochet and being the single person stopping him getting tried
6. The Faulklands/Malvinas - don't get me started on that
7. Buddying up with Murdoch

There's loads more, I've probably forgotten the worst thing but I am very stoned and am going off to watch Mad Men and you can't stop me.

11:07 p.m. - 08.04.13

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