The staff and readership of The Guardian never liked the Iron Lady, and even her eventual death won't change this. More significantly, hindsight won't change their minds, either, as you can see from the report on the government's decision ( Bold is mine):
The first since Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965, the funeral would acknowledge the exceptional impact of her 11-year premiership in reversing the decline in Britain's postwar fortunes.
As such, it would be certain to prove controversial among the many people who lost their jobs during the "Thatcher revolution" which reintroduced market forces into many fields of activity and for which she has not been forgiven by some.
Animosities are forever.
I once had the honor of meeting Lady Thatcher for an hour or so, when she visited Yad Vashem about ten years ago. In my capacity at Yad Vashem I had occasion to meet many world-famous people. Lady Thatcher was far and away the most striking of them. I've encountered charismatic people, but she had an aura of intelligence, nay: brilliance, such as I've never seen.Update: the decision has been put to poll on the Guardian's website. As I write, 81.4% of the website's voters feel such an honor for the "Iron Lady" (their formulation) is wrong. Of course, the decision has already been made, and anyway, we wish Lady Thatcher many long years; perhaps if she dies at 120 even the Guardian gang of 2045 won't remember why their grandparents were so churlish.
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Winston Churchill's. And, Lady Thatcher is no Winston.
And, what's with this "fancy funeral business," anyway? When you're dead, you're dead.
And, Churchill will remain a giant from the British Isles; doing for politics what Shakespeare did for theater.
Times, too, when they pass, when they're not interesting enough; are hardly remembered. And, when once-strong countries choose to sail towards oblivion ... it really doesn't matter much about how they intend to handle pomp and circumstance.
Meanwhile, soon up on a stage in Beirut, are the criminals Nasrallah gets to "welcome back" with a "heroes' welcome."
Talk about target rich environments! And, how easy it would be to blow up that stage, with all the hooligans on it!
And, it would end, once and for all, all this nincompoop stuff of returning living criminals. While all Israel will get back are bones.
Sure. You know this.
Diplomats are the junk system used instead of constant warfare.
But still. A few drones. And, Nasrallah's "happy time" could make it to U-Tube in a hurry.
Olmert could figure on the laughter drowning out the yelps.
So he doesn't get a British send-off, full of marching bands and gays with feathers. What's more important?
It's nice to know a lot of the news can pass you by; because you're not responsible for picking out stories.
Me? I just go with the flow.
Even when the "flow" is nothing but a sewer.