Margaret Thatcher (or Britain?) R.I.P.

There has been much lionising of the late Baroness Thatcher. Many have suddenly discovered their love of the Iron-Lady icon viewed through the rose-tinted spectacles of revisionist histories. Whilst I have a modicum of respect for a woman who succeeded in the male hegemonies of power, I have no love for her, her memory nor her legacy.

Glenda Jackson's speech (video below) brought back memories of just how awful life was in 1980's Britain for one who was all too aware of the amorality &/or immorality poisoning British culture and society, then and now: dilapidated public buildings, including schools; hyper-inflation; no pay increases; no overtime; mass unemployment, much of it hidden in incapacity figures and useless training schemes equivalent to today's Workfare; years-long hospital waiting-lists; Section 28 - the notorious anti-homosexuality law; riots and civil unrest; avariciousness; selfishness; egoism as a good; demise of whole communities, indeed regions & countries; and so on...

I do not hate Mrs. Thatcher - and I am certainly not going to gloat over her death - but whilst she did some good for the State, she did little for the Nation. Only my rich fellow countrymen prospered then and have continued to do so ever since under the neo-Thatcherite/neo-liberal governments that followed to this very day.

I shall not mourn Mrs. Thatcher's passing; I shall however continue to lament the great harms done in the name of Thatcherism/neo-liberalism to individuals, families, communities, regions and countries.