Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TTY

Margaret Thatcher - true-to-you.net
9 April 2013

The difficulty with giving a comment on Margaret Thatcher's death to the British tabloids is that, no matter how calmly and measuredly you speak, the comment must be reported as an "outburst" or an "explosive attack" if your view is not pro-establishment. If you reference "the Malvinas", it will be switched to "the Falklands", and your "Thatcher" will be softened to a "Maggie." This is generally how things are structured in a non-democratic society. Thatcher's name must be protected not because of all the wrong that she had done, but because the people around her allowed her to do it, and therefore any criticism of Thatcher throws a dangerously absurd light on the entire machinery of British politics. Thatcher was not a strong or formidable leader. She simply did not give a shit about people, and this coarseness has been neatly transformed into bravery by the British press who are attempting to re-write history in order to protect patriotism. As a result, any opposing view is stifled or ridiculed, whereas we must all endure the obligatory praise for Thatcher from David Cameron without any suggestion from the BBC that his praise just might be an outburst of pro-Thatcher extremism from someone whose praise might possibly protect his own current interests. The fact that Thatcher ignited the British public into street-riots, violent demonstrations and a social disorder previously unseen in British history is completely ignored by David Cameron in 2013. In truth, of course, no British politician has ever been more despised by the British people than Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher's funeral on Wednesday will be heavily policed for fear that the British tax-payer will want to finally express their view of Thatcher. They are certain to be tear-gassed out of sight by the police.

United Kingdom? Syria? China? What's the difference?

Morrissey
9 April 2013

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Related items:

• Margaret Thatcher dead: Morrissey blasts former PM as "barbaric" just hours after her death is announced - Mirror Online - Apr. 8, 2013
• Margaret Thatcher dies at 87 - Apr. 8, 2013

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

These days Morrissey's mind is not so much Swift and Wilde as sluggish and broken.

Now, that is really very good! He used to do a fair impression of being slightly 'mad, bad, and dangerous to know', now, media wise & mentally, mostly he's a sad slag, boring and slow.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

there have been days, indeed.
and, it's GOT to be a reflection of where he's at, mentality-wise.
i bet he's just gotten some much needed rest, relaxation and medication after having to cancel dates due to
his health issues.
very few issues a week or so in Mexico won't fix.
i just read the Russell Brand article and, wow, what a writer he could be!
that's what Moz is for me.
i have always had him on a literary platter.
for me, you could slice the music away from him and he's still a fantastic writer.
and in my world, i give license to go mad. it's all the rage, everyone seems to be doing it.
i have found, i'm more willing than i initially thought i was going to be, to let him render in extremes and not
allow it to alienate what he is to me.
i like that he says what he has to say.
i'm glad he feels strongly about his convictions, and whatnot.
one should be deeply convicted of their own convictions.
i don't want to have to witness a decaying orbit on Morrissey.
if that were to transpire, i've already planned to look away and deny it. deeply. repeatedly.

Your comments are interesting. At least you recognise you have a 'sunk investment' in his life that you aren't prepared to face and analyse calmly. Denial is only really useful when facing extreme medical diagnosis. I thing Morrissey will crash and burn because he set a goal of achieving 'global, religious fame' and all he's achieved is 3rd Division Boomer also-ran. I see the Rolling Stones have added a second Hyde Park re-union, but it's not just a re-union, loads of young people I know want to go, folk who wouldn't waste bus-fare to see 'legend' Morrissey. He's on most people "see at a festival, maybe" list. He's barely C-list. Without Marr's musical templates, he'd have gotten nowhere. Certainly not as a writer. One can only hope his auto-hagiography has been ghost-written and proof-read by Russell Brand.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

Your comments are interesting. At least you recognise you have a 'sunk investment' in his life that you aren't prepared to face and analyse calmly. Denial is only really useful when facing extreme medical diagnosis. I thing Morrissey will crash and burn because he set a goal of achieving 'global, religious fame' and all he's achieved is 3rd Division Boomer also-ran. I see the Rolling Stones have added a second Hyde Park re-union, but it's not just a re-union, loads of young people I know want to go, folk who wouldn't waste bus-fare to see 'legend' Morrissey. He's on most people "see at a festival, maybe" list. He's barely C-list. Without Marr's musical templates, he'd have gotten nowhere. Certainly not as a writer. One can only hope his auto-hagiography has been ghost-written and proof-read by Russell Brand.

They just did a piece in The New Yorker on the Kill Uncle reissue. The New Yorker doesn't do "barely C-list". Nice try, though -- it was a fair amount of typing.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

You can ignore the strikingly similar character traits if you wish, but they are there for all to see.

Actually Arthur Scargill destroyed communities and threw people into poverty. Scargill, that great tactician, that logistical genius who called a miners strike, without balloting his members, as the country began to enjoy a beautiful, warm Spring.

Scargill hasn't died. His ridiculous behviour is a separate topic. As it Thatcher's help in covering up the events around Hillsboro and The Battle Of Orgreave. This is about £8 million pound to begin the hagiography of St Margaret by the Scargill in Suits who hold this country to ransom through bankster terrorism in a way that the hapless Scargill never dreamed possible:

"Mr Cable, who described bankers as "Scargills in pin-stripes" during the election campaign,"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ince-Cable-Im-not-some-kind-of-socialist.html

No, Vince, you're no socialist and you also not a Liberal in any coherent sense of the word anymore. Coalition: Dustin of History. Right here! Right now!

" Liberals are giving me a nerve itch! Liberals are giving me a nerve itch! Liberals are giving me a nerve itch! Liberals are giving me a nerve itch!"

https://soundcloud.com/theknife/full-of-fire

It's time to put The Knife to the heart of the Neoliberal Fraud that has trashed this country. And trashed the world economy..isn't it Moz? *rollseyes*

MAKE EXTREME WEALTH HISTORY!

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

They just did a piece in The New Yorker on the Kill Uncle reissue. The New Yorker doesn't do "barely C-list". Nice try, though -- it was a fair amount of typing.

Nice try. #anonymousEpicFAIL! Why on earth would you think the ultimate BrummieBoy would give a rat's arse about what a bunch of pseudy ponces in NYC think? Birmingham is the epicentre of world culture, not that silly has-been city. The New Yorker is most definitely C-List so it's doesn't surprise me at all that they'd review an ancient rubbish comical cultural artefact from a C-List never was-been. I'm a trained court stenographer, you self-fellating felching prat. Bit of RSI these days, but no problem. Why proof read or typo-correct when this is just a notepad for me? Pearls Before Swine, etc.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: Loaded interview

You're not the most hated.

no, you both are, plus your stooge wannabe, Skylarker. 3 Mental Patients: Treatment resistant..LOL!

xo! xo!

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

Shameful to see Morrissey (and so many of his countrymen) so poisoned by their ideology. The fact that after all these years he is so angy seems to prove that Thatcher accomplished what she set out to do. After watching so many people celebrating the death of another human it once again demonstrates the superiority of American society. Not once did any American publicly celebrate the death of Reagan.

Then fcuk off and leave this thread to 'angry Brits'. You may be taken in by Moz's cuppa tea Brit-lite nonsense, but few here are. His last line comparing us to China and Syria is him putting the dunce hat on once again. But for you to claim you speak on behalf of America..blow my big fat Brummie cock.

America celebrates death almost continously, and always has done since the original generosity and compassion that informs Thanksgiving Day was betrayed by genocide and slavery. If America had listened to the Shakespeare of economics after WW2 and instituted the Bancor, America might have stepped up to the plate and fulfilled it's world-historic mission, having usurped the Brits as Empire. But America has failed and there's no way back. Reagan's 'Morning In America' was the moment your country took leave of it's senses. Forever. She did set out to destroy British culture and politics with teh help of the Chicago School and the Washington Consensus, but we Brits are made of sterner stuff. Just ask Hitler. Or ask Maggie to ask Hitler as she loads another shovel of coal on that fire down there..

 

[Girl-Afraid]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

I don't understand why people are shocked and disgusted by Morrissey's use of hyperbole. He has used it throughout his career in his songs and so on.
Hyperbole is so often used to create imagery and comparison in literature.
I believe Morrissey's final sentence was a little tongue in cheek and in this way trying to illustrate that although we have freedom of free speech, we are so often be-littled and made to feel that our opinion, especially regarding politics is entirely unimportant.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

She was so despised she won three General Elections

 

[King Leer]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

"Felching" -- haven't seen that term in a really long time. Thanks for the laugh, back to your regularly scheduled program.

Nice try. #anonymousEpicFAIL! Why on earth would you think the ultimate BrummieBoy would give a rat's arse about what a bunch of pseudy ponces in NYC think? Birmingham is the epicentre of world culture, not that silly has-been city. The New Yorker is most definitely C-List so it's doesn't surprise me at all that they'd review an ancient rubbish comical cultural artefact from a C-List never was-been. I'm a trained court stenographer, you self-fellating felching prat. Bit of RSI these days, but no problem. Why proof read or typo-correct when this is just a notepad for me? Pearls Before Swine, etc.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

"Felching" -- haven't seen that term in a really long time. Thanks for the laugh, back to your regularly scheduled program.

We aim to please. Now back to the 'madness' as "the revolution will not be a comment thread online"

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

Scargill hasn't died. His ridiculous behviour is a separate topic. As it Thatcher's help in covering up the events around Hillsboro and The Battle Of Orgreave. This is about £8 million pound to begin the hagiography of St Margaret by the Scargill in Suits who hold this country to ransom through bankster terrorism in a way that the hapless Scargill never dreamed possible:

I'm not convinced Scargill is a separate issue, BB. I think it is cause and effect. I think the far left are more responsible for her rise and what followed, including Blair, than they are comfortable admitting.

The average person in the street is not of either the extreme left or right. They hover at the centre and tip across that median point depending on the prevailing state of the nation at election times.

Every time the lights went out, every time another wildcat strike was called, every time Hatton or Scargill ranted, every time Galloway shook hands with another Arab despot, every time the fascist left flexed its "mighty" muscles they drove people away from Labour. That same situation is reflected today every time a woman is raped by a senior SWP members (nine times and counting) and it is dealt with by a committee of the bastard's mates and they are deemed innocent without recourse to the bourgeois police and judiciary.

Even Kinnock knew it when he expelled Militant at the Labour conference in 1985. That whole speech was impressive, but because of Militant is only remembered for a single paragraph. "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, mis-placed, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers." Kinnock knew that if Militant infiltrated the national executive Labour would be finished as a mainstream party and his hand was forced. In doing so he left his only legacy.

The electorate decided they had to be dealt with too, and elected Thatcher three times, and her bastard child Tony Blair three times too, firstly to deal with that threat, and then to cement it. Only the hubris of Blair over Iraq has given the extreme left a hook to hang its hat on once more. We were without its pernicious effect on the day to day running of this country for much of the last generation and very nice it was too.

Now, I agree regarding Hillsborough. Disgusting, and not just the Thatcher government, but subsequent ones too.

As for Orgreave, like the IRA hunger strikes, what you are saying in effect is it was her fault for not giving into blackmail. As she was the leader of the democratically elected government what else could she do? Allow communists to dictate policy? Allow Sands and his terrorists their demands? Of course not.

Famously her immediate Tory predecessor Heath when faced with a similar situation with the NUM went to the country to ask them who is in charge of the country. Unsurprisingly, the public view was that if the Prime Minister had to ask it obviously wasn't him, and rightly threw him out. Simply put, the public didn't want the National Union of Mineworkers running the country, and it was that, and the strength and similar behaviour of other unions that laid the way for Thatcher.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Poll tax. 2 family anecdotes: 1]"The Battle of Trafalgar" -the copper on the front page of an Establishment paper of note, with the woman in a headlock was my brother. Can't find it online in the archive, but will. We're estranged now, but as you're obviously reading these 'diatribes': Dad was very proud of you. I wasn't. I did, however, accept you were just doing your job, like all the other wankers at the time. However, you refused to testify to protect your blood brother. In the family tribe on both sides of the Irish Sea, that's the ultimate crime. 2] One of my sisters has MHI after various catastrophes in her life. When Thatcher brought in the Poll Tax, my sister sent the whole lot in cash to 10 Downing Street. But WAIT! there's a punch-line: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent her the most beautiful letter when she returned the £400 by private courier. And she sent a bouquet of flowers. It was then I realised she was just a troubled soul acting out a role she thought was needed. No-one knew us, no-one would ever know about it, as it was obvious that my father (who'd found out and rang the Police) would never allow publicity. It was genuinely moving. I'm trying to find the letter from her which, like a lot of stuff, went missing when my father died. It's very sad when families implode upon a parent's death. If I can ever find it or the person who stole it returns it: I'll post it online. People are rarely caricatures, so human to human: rest in peace, Margaret. I think the £8 million planned expenditure on her 'ceremonial funeral' is a catastrophic error of judgement and I hope there is mass peaceful 'art installation' protest. I intend to protest to help send a very clear signal that there are limits to the level of neoliberal arrogance which will be tolerated. This isn't 1984, you're all in enough trouble over Savile, Hillsboro, Orgreave and the Belgrano: don't think you can suppress the hive mind online or IRL. Please keep it peaceful, mocking and satirical. I respect her passing as a human being, but I loathe and abominate this use of her death to transform her into a religious neoliberal icon whose 'achievements' will today be used by the excecrable Cameron to justify his capitulation to international bankster 'Scargills In Suits' in the City of London. The police stopped me twice yesterday, breathalyzer both times, went over my car with a microscope, only found a tail-light but as I'd had it serviced a week ago, decided not to get into a years long fight over the legal and insurance responsibilities of potholes. It's funny how sharpish the police back off once they realise you mean business and they face a blizzard of red tape, complaints, appeals and protest which will only make their budget woes worse. Another 'policeman' rang my house to ask about a fictitious relative, ["hello, P.C 'Derbyshire'" *rollseyes*] As if he couldn't find the details of that fiction by checking police records. It wasn't a 'policeman'. It was MI5 at GCHQ. The point was to record my voice and analyse it with a spectrum filter to see if there was any trepidation or anxiety within it. As you've discovered, my 'spook' friends: I am fearless. We are fearless. I recovered, finally, from the tortures inflicted in May 1985. I intend to bring it all crashing down, the entire British Establishment. And the Irish, American and Australian ones too. Think you can stop me? How? I'm so high-profile now, I'm visible from Andromeda. One false move and I launch the ICBMs, ending the peace process in Ulster....it's not just Pyongyang that could be vapourised. You're running out of time to respond to the IPCC-deal with it. I've pre-emptively written to the various agencies of the state who are cooking up their Kafka re-runs. Please realise that nothing happens without my being notified of your banal plans to frame me for some nonsense. You tried before and totally failed, so expect the same #MI5epicFAIL! this time. We're ready. If necessary, " Aung San Suu Kyi, Mandela and Me" will be the first 45rpm produced by Jerry Dammers, instead of "Give Us Back The Beautiful Game". And 2 years in Winson Green will bring out the whole Genet, de Sade Memes just 4 teh lulz. Plus, there's be lots of sex, even if not with Fr XXX aka "Dear Hero Imprisoned" *wink* You can kill a person, but you cannot kill an idea. We are Legion 4 We Are Many. We do [not] forget. We do [not] forgive. [Do not] Expect us! Amnesia served us well whilst the mind healed from the grievous wounds of torture. No-one would believe such things happened in England, only in Argentina -type regimes. When the truth about the British Police and MI5 is revealed in relation to Hillsboro, Orgreave, Poll Tax and the Belgrano, this country will be in absolute uproar. Oh, and the minor details of the Birmingham Pub Bombings and Birmingham Six. It served me well to play out a one-trick pony 'victim script'. As you now realise, too late: Stanislavsky. It ain't over till the BrummieBoy sings, metaphorically and actually- then things really kick off. Double, triple agents. Dr Who x "Spooks" x 007. 2012-2021-"The Next Episode". These servers are based in the US, did you really think I'd be so banal as to have a blog that no-one reads on a British ISP you could erase at will? Good luck with getting Homeland Security's help in having it taken down without a Wikileak. 'Cardinal Assange' and 'Monsignore Manning' aren't just in Rome! We're watching you, watching me, watching you. Paranoid? I bet you are...I bet you fcukin well are now! Tables turn, facial, does the spunk in your eyes burn?
Given the situation unfolding, I am asking folk not to use TOR to contact me as it justs adds to the nonsense as well, like with the viviscection/paedo operations. and it's a paedo tool as well as a Tahir Square thing so I don't use it. I am a man of peace, I believe we have the right to protest on the streets against this decadent 'bread and cirucs' Zeitgeist funeral costing the disenfranchised £8 million: without being kettled, harassed or blacklisted in employment as a result. Keep it mocking, satirical and party mix. No weapons, drinking, no riots, that is what they want: don't provide it by dial a cliche. My cover was blown in Operation Calton Hill, so I'm soon to walk the talk on stage, in the spotlight rather than plan and orchestrate from the shadows. Any futher attempts to label me a terrorists, pimp, paedophile, drug-dealer rather than a British citizen who has been a political prisoner, prisoner-of-conscience, victim of police torture will only make the denouement even more incandescent and explosive. The events of November 21 1974 woke us up, we know the truth, the conspiracy has been mapped, as has the future evolution of that algorithm that sought to reduce Britain to a quasi-fascist State. The conspiracy continues...and we continue to resist....The Battle of Trafalgar...redux?

http://vod.journeyman.tv/store?p=4565&s=Ba

I'm sure Morrissey will be there with us, protesting from the balcony of some conveniently placed 5 Star Hotel, in 'solidarity' *sigh*

 

[Rowntree]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

She was so despised she won three General Elections

She was only elected by around 40% of the registered electorate, those 40% loved her, much of the rest saw her as a tyrant. This first past the post thing is very democratic.

 

[Rowntree]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

I'm not convinced Scargill is a separate issue, BB. I think it is cause and effect. I think the far left are more responsible for her rise and what followed, including Blair, than they are comfortable admitting.

The average person in the street is not of either the extreme left or right. They hover at the centre and tip across that median point depending on the prevailing state of the nation at election times.

Every time the lights went out, every time another wildcat strike was called, every time Hatton or Scargill ranted, every time Galloway shook hands with another Arab despot, every time the fascist left flexed its "mighty" muscles they drove people away from Labour. That same situation is reflected today every time a woman is raped by a senior SWP members (nine times and counting) and it is dealt with by a committee of the bastard's mates and they are deemed innocent without recourse to the bourgeois police and judiciary.

Even Kinnock knew it when he expelled Militant at the Labour conference in 1985. That whole speech was impressive, but because of Militant is only remembered for a single paragraph. "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, mis-placed, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers." Kinnock knew that if Militant infiltrated the national executive Labour would be finished as a mainstream party and his hand was forced. In doing so he left his only legacy.

The electorate decided they had to be dealt with too, and elected Thatcher three times, and her bastard child Tony Blair three times too, firstly to deal with that threat, and then to cement it. Only the hubris of Blair over Iraq has given the extreme left a hook to hang its hat on once more. We were without its pernicious effect on the day to day running of this country for much of the last generation and very nice it was too.

Now, I agree regarding Hillsborough. Disgusting, and not just the Thatcher government, but subsequent ones too.

As for Orgreave, like the IRA hunger strikes, what you are saying in effect is it was her fault for not giving into blackmail. As she was the leader of the democratically elected government what else could she do? Allow communists to dictate policy? Allow Sands and his terrorists their demands? Of course not.

Famously her immediate Tory predecessor Heath when faced with a similar situation with the NUM went to the country to ask them who is in charge of the country. Unsurprisingly, the public view was that if the Prime Minister had to ask it obviously wasn't him, and rightly threw him out. Simply put, the public didn't want the National Union of Mineworkers running the country, and it was that, and the strength and similar behaviour of other unions that laid the way for Thatcher.

40% of the voting public. Again, you seem so obsessed with Scargill that you're willing to overlook her many, many faults. Next time somebody you hear somebody on the right attacking people on benefits be sure to remember who put millions on them, something as a nation we've never recovered from. Remember the person who would rather see her people earning less than a pound an hour than have a minimum wage that they could live on - really, what kind of human being would take that kind of stance? This is the woman who greeted the illegal sinking of a war ship and murder of its crew with a thumbs up. You can go through her leadership and pick hundreds of things which cement her as an animal and all people can do is say, well she beat Scargill. It's completely mental.

I agree with Morrissey's statement, sure he's overblown it with the China comment but he makes some valid points.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

Shameful to see Morrissey (and so many of his countrymen) so poisoned by their ideology. The fact that after all these years he is so angy seems to prove that Thatcher accomplished what she set out to do. After watching so many people celebrating the death of another human it once again demonstrates the superiority of American society. Not once did any American publicly celebrate the death of Reagan.

I did.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: From the Horse's mouth - TTY - Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the p

Nice try. #anonymousEpicFAIL! Why on earth would you think the ultimate BrummieBoy would give a rat's arse about what a bunch of pseudy ponces in NYC think? Birmingham is the epicentre of world culture, not that silly has-been city. The New Yorker is most definitely C-List so it's doesn't surprise me at all that they'd review an ancient rubbish comical cultural artefact from a C-List never was-been. I'm a trained court stenographer, you self-fellating felching prat. Bit of RSI these days, but no problem. Why proof read or typo-correct when this is just a notepad for me? Pearls Before Swine, etc.

I didn't say you cared what they thought. I said you were wrong -- which still stands.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

She was only elected by around 40% of the registered electorate, those 40% loved her, much of the rest saw her as a tyrant. This first past the post thing is very democratic.

Yes, over 40% voted for for Thatcher in three successive General Elections, despite her being a 'tyrant'. The elctorate had three opportunities to vote her out but chose not to. Pesky old democracy!

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

She was only elected by around 40% of the registered electorate, those 40% loved her, much of the rest saw her as a tyrant. This first past the post thing is very democratic.

Well that's called democracy. "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, 11th of November, 1947)

Thatcher's electoral record:

1979 - 43.9%

1983 - 42.4%

1987 - 42.2%

I doubt the lions share of those people loved her as much as saw her as a necessary evil, and this at a time Labour were unelectable for many of the reasons I outlined previously. It was certainly hard to find anyone at the time who admitted to have voted for her.

Blair's figures aren't that much different, until 2005, at least.

1997 - 42.3%

2001 - 40.7%

2005 - 35.2% (!)

Obama (in essentially a two horse race) won with 50.95% in 2008, and exactly the same percentage in 2012. Only nuts would deny his legitimacy to hold office. Similarly with Thatcher. The rules is the rules, and they are known before the game begins.

 

[Bluebirds]

Re: Article: Morrissey on the death of Margaret Thatcher, the press - statement at TT

Well that's called democracy. "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, 11th of November, 1947)

Thatcher's electoral record:

1979 - 43.9%

1983 - 42.4%

1987 - 42.2%

I doubt the lions share of those people loved her as much as saw her as a necessary evil, and this at a time Labour were unelectable for many of the reasons I outlined previously. It was certainly hard to find anyone at the time who admitted to have voted for her.

Blair's figures aren't that much different, until 2005, at least.

1997 - 42.3%

2001 - 40.7%

2005 - 35.2% (!)

Obama (in essentially a two horse race) won with 50.95% in 2008, and exactly the same percentage in 2012. Only nuts would deny his legitimacy to hold office. Similarly with Thatcher. The rules is the rules, and they are known before the game begins.

Very true but it still means 60% of those who voted didn't vote for her or her policies. And this was when people were still under the misapprehension that their vote was actually meaningful, hence higher turnouts. (Of course you can twist that both ways.)

Still the Great British public had a chance to reform the electoral system in 2011 and out of those who could be bothered to vote it was a resounding 'No'.

It remains highly bemusing that noone would admit to voting for her, yet millions obviously did. One colossal dirty big secret.

I think we can all agree that in death she remains as divisive as she was in life.

MPs can claim up to 3.75k to return to Parliament today to pay tribute to her is a f***ing disgrace, especially when they go back on Monday anyway.