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…….