Oh Maggie I wish I never saw your face….

Imagine if you can, a group of people, only vaguely interested in politics, that had never heard of Margaret Thatcher. What would they expect the first and only female Prime minister’s effect on women in politics and business to be?

If you told them that she had come from humble beginnings, the daughter of a green grocer, which group of people would they expect she strived to help?

Undoubtedly, one could be forgiven for hoping that the first and only woman leader of Britain would have aspirations to promote women and raise awareness of women’s issues- perhaps starting to at least chip away at the glass ceiling that has kept women below men in so many ways for so many decades.

Indeed, one could also be forgiven for thinking that the daughter of a Greengrocer, defying the class divide to reach the most powerful office in the land, might have been a ground-breaker for dragging the working class out of poverty and closer to the higher end of society.

One would of course be absolutely wrong. To start with the Myth that Thatcher came from a humble corner shop, was just that a Myth. Her Father was an Alderman, and a wealthy shop keeper that owned two shops. He went on to Mayor of the town that they lived in. Her school reports allegedly show that that her hobbies as a child were poetry and enjoying piano lessons. Hardly typical working class in 1940’s Britain.

It is the reality of her early life been constantly taught by her ambitious Father that looking after number one was much more important than looking after those less fortunate. Rather than giving the poor and the working class a hand up, improving working conditions for the employed, Thatcher set out to destroy the Trade unions, believing that the way to help the country was to help business men like her Father, that did the employing. She believed everyone could drag themselves up by the bootlaces and if they couldn’t then it was simply survival of the toughest (or richest). She carried out a plan to wipe out the unions she despised so much, wreaking havoc in doing so, not only crushing manufacturing but crushing communities up and down the country. She famously said, “there is no community”. Some argue that the mining industry might still might be flourishing today had she not set out on her campaign to dismantle one of the biggest employers in the country simply to expel the growing power of the NUM. Others of course argue that manufacturing was already dead, unable to compete with progressive world, held back by red tape and bitterness. Some also argue that the pits would be closed by now even if she hadn’t closed them when she did, as the highly dangerous, dirty old fashioned fuel has simply had its day.

All debates on these matters are of course hypothetical. We may never know the answer to any of those arguments.

What we do know is that Thatcher’s government did nothing to look after the victims of the closures. The miners, some of whom had been on strike for over a year, faced hardness never before seen in communities. Father and sons, brothers, friends found themselves at war with each other. Families found themselves hounded out of their homes because the Dad was a scab.

 Some communities still bare the scars of the vicious and violent times that Thatcher’s assault on them brought. Some are not yet even scars, just gaping wounds where a community once lived.

There was no provision for the people forced out of manufacturing and mining. There was no budget to retrain or re-educate. No assistance was given to help reduce the crime that inevitably followed the sudden mass unemployment and poverty. As those out of work reached 3million, the Government forged ahead with the 1980’s Gordon Gekko mantra, telling us that greed was good. Sod the needy, go and get it for you. To hell with looking out for each other and love thy neighbour- look after your self and love thy possessions. A mentality that some believe, may lead to the current economic crisis this country finds itself in.

As the first and only woman to ever lead the conservative party, and the only woman to be Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher deliberately ignored the plight of women because she didn’t want to be recognised as one. She had an all-male cabinet with barely any female politicians being promoted during her time in charge.

She did nothing to strengthen the rights of women at work or in the home. It was only after Thatcher was finally thrown out by her own party and they were eventually voted out of office, that women’s rights began to improve.

All these criticisms considered, it was a remarkable achievement for Margaret Thatcher to make the impression on world politics that she did. Known around the world as the Iron Lady she began to forge lasting friendships with USA, making a close ally of former Actor, President Ronald Regan and playing a lead role in ending the cold war. She stayed in office for three terms, holding the keys to number 10 from 1979 to 1990, the longest premiership of the 20^th century.

It is for these reasons that I find the protests and celebrations distasteful in the wake of her death. For a country that claims continually to be the conscience of the civilised world to have street parties and celebrate the death of an 87 year old lady is frankly obscene. I can understand the pit villages in the north of England have deep rooted hatred for what she did to their lives, their families and their communities. I can understand die hard trade unionists been inwardly pleased that she has gone. But for people to openly show joy at someone’s death does nothing to attract me to politics. It shows that some of the people in this country still are living in a third world yob pack mentality.  The current leader of the NUM appeared on TV to say “I have waited a long time for this day”. A man elected to office to represent those that voted for him, should have the self-discipline to display some humility, respect and compassion at the death of an old lady. She does after all have a grieving family.

Like-wise, the thousands of young people venting their frustration and anger for the Late Mrs T on social networking sites such as twitter and facebook when many of them have never even heard of her is just tasteless pumped up bandwagon hype.

Every news paper and every news channel has been dominated by her death, ignoring all other issues .

Thatchersteria is set to reach a  pulsating crescendo at the weekend when ding dong the witch is dead is expected to reach number one in the charts following a campaign by people who mainly weren’t born when she left office. More bad taste and not even clever. Surely Rod Stewart’s Maggie May would have been a more appropriate protest song- Maggie May have been the first woman PM but did nothing to help her sex. Maggie May have claimed to come from humble beginnings but had no understanding of working people. Maggie May have been the best thing that ever happened to her party but she caused the ultimate annihilation of the working man.

Maggie May have died just in time to save George Osborne from losing his job as public fury grew at his attacks on benefits claimants in the days after child killer Mick Philpotts conviction.

Maggie May have died just in time to take the sting out of the growing campaign against the bedroom tax.

On Wednesday, millions of pounds will be spent laying the former leader to rest. Hopefully then we can put her and the cynical garbage been spouted by all parties about her behind us and get back to real life.

Oh Maggie I wish I never saw your face…….

Vile product of privileged middle England:

Child killer, Mick Philpott was an unemployed, benefits claiming, abusive ex- convict, living a life of a celebrity, enjoying a reputation created in reality TV offices. After several appearances on programmes such as Jeremy Kyle, Philpott 56, enjoyed a reputation of a bit of rogue, living his sordid fantasy with a wife his mistress and many of his 17 children in a council house. He was thought to be claiming up to £60,000 a year in benefits.

Is it the fault of TV executives who chose to put him on screen despite it been clear that he was completely devoid of any morals or is it the fault of the benefits system that allowed him the luxuries he enjoyed without forcing him to work?  Or is it simply nobody’s fault but Mick Philpott’s?

Yesterday, the Daily Mail bigots declared in its obscene headline that Philpott was a product of the welfare state – implying that the actions of an evil man who killed 6 of his own children was typical of people on benefits.

For decades the rich, privileged, middle class, well bred, privately educated journalists have tried to paint a picture of working class Britain, that bares absolutely no resemblance to anything few actual working class people have ever seen.

Multi- millionaire Chancellor George Osbourne could barely conceal his glee when appearing on TV to state that Mick Philpotts’ conviction justifies changes to the welfare system.

   I have lived on council estates for 42 years. I have never met anyone who has burned down their house. I have never met anyone who has 17 children. I, have never met anyone who lives with his wife and mistress nor have I ever met anyone that has appeared on Jeremy Kyle. Mick Philpott was not the norm. Mick Philpott was, thankfully, an exception – a very bad exception.

Last year when heavy snow made the steep road on which I live, impassible, it was not the council that came to clear it, it was the residents. Young, old, employed and unemployed, whoever was able, did what they could. Men and women together shovelled the ice and snow until road was clear and passable so that the elderly and the vulnerable could get about safely, so that the children could get to school. While the able shovelled the unable brought out cups of tea (and cigarettes for those that smoked) and sandwiches and biscuits. It took a couple of hours of hard work in freezing cold temperatures but we came together as a community to help each other achieve a common goal. It made me proud to belong to such a community. Neighbouring private estates were left untouched for days but on my council estate the working class men and women had joined forces and to completely clear all traces before the gritters even arrived.

That community spirit which made feel proud to be a part of, did not represent the picture that the Daily Mail journalists and deluded politicians want us to believe in. The benefits culture where shirkers are laying in bed watching their plasmas is simply not what is happening. The workers leaving home in a morning are not passing the closed curtains of people better off without a job. They are usually passing curtains that are closed because the unfortunate souls living behind them cannot afford to put on the heating, and have no reason to get out of bed because there are no jobs. Many of the scroungers living a life of luxury on benefits that the Daily Mail describes as scum, are recently unemployed  as a result of bad Government policy. Many more are employed but claiming benefits because they do not earn sufficient money to pay extortionate fuel bills and put food on the table for their families. Many of these low paid, forced to claim hand outs, workers will be even worse off if Tory plans to reduce minimum wage and do away with workers rights are pushed through.

Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith says the poor are over exaggerating their plight and that he knows because he has lived on the breadline, being unemployed twice. Living on benefits for a couple weeks after years serving in the military earning a decent living, and being the son of a Navy captain, is not the same as living in absolute poverty because you don’t have any friends or relatives who are well off enough to bail you out. His ludicrous claims are yet another example of just how far out of touch with the lower classes the middle classes and political classes are.

A survey on the BBC website, this week claimed to be able to judge your class with 5 simple questions based on whether you own your house, if you have a job and if you go to the theatre. Absolute nonsense! If I work 70 hours a week as a security guard on minimum wage and my wife works part time in a chip shop giving us a combined income of about £26,000 allowing us to visit an art gallery once every three years does not make me middle class. The media and the politicians of all parties have sought for decades to make working class a dirty tag to be ashamed of, telling us all that we should aspire to be middle class. If being a judgemental, bigoted fool that discriminates and looks down his nose at people worse off than himself, that points the finger of accusation at the decent majority when the bastard minority act appallingly, is what being middle class means than I don’t want to be it.

I will take the security of a council estate where jobless neighbours knock on your door at midnight to ask you if you realised that you’ve left a window open. Where elderly people and fit and able people do as much as they can to help make each other’s existence a better experience. I will continue to work while ever I am able and pay my way honestly and decently while striving to provide financial security for my family and I will gladly continue to be working class. The outrageous sewing's of hatred and conceit from the middle classes this week should make decent people sick. Tarring all people on benefits with the same brush as Philpott or trying to justify benefits reform because of him is akin to saying all Italian footballers must be fascists. Owen Jones, the baby faced (working class) author of the best- selling book “Chavs” used the comparison of Dr Harold Shipman being held up as a benchmark for the middle classes.. It is of course a ridiculous idea. The fact is that some wealthy, well educated people with good jobs will commit awful crimes. There will be middle classed monsters and there will be poor, unemployed benefits claiming monsters. There is no connection between a man’s class and a man’s ability to be a monster. Likewise, there is no link to a man’s class and a man’s ability to be an honest decent compassionate human being.