Skipper

My reading of Simon Jenkins today was preceded last night by a viewing (thanks to Sky+)of The Long Walk to Finchley, the dramatisation of the Iron Lady's early life and entry into Parliament. Jenkins lambasts those Guardianistas who spit hate at her memory and at the very contemplation of the idea of a state funeral. Allowing for the fact that it is a bit distasteful to talk about someone's funeral while they are still alive, the topic is now 'out there' and being discussed, so here goes.

My own attitudes to Thatcher, as a Labour supporting public sector employed person during the 1980s were almost manically hate-filled. I could not bear to see her picture in the papers or her face on the television. I was furious at her divisive style and imperious belief that she alone had the answers. That small, town precious conformity to the values of the fifties also made my blood boil even more ferociously, as did her condescending preachy voice. And don't ask me to recall my lunges for the sick bag, when I heard some senior Tories had taken to calling her 'Mother'. She got me out there leafleting and letter stuffing for Labour at local and Westminster levels. Oh boy, I hated her.

I daresay the above paragraph would describe the feelings of a pretty broad band of voters. But how do we feel now? Well, I can only speak for myself but I have mellowed quite a bit.

i)Even as a Labour supporter I was not at all happy about the unions who strutted though the seventies far too destructively for the health of our economy or our political system. Thatcher took them on and, even though her methods were brutally uncaring and her tone nauseatingly triumphalist, she did correct an imbalance from which the economy and millions of ordinary folk have benefitted. Maybe, in retrospect, we needed that harsh, ice-cold shower and it has to be said, she delivered.

ii)One has also to grudgingly admit also that, allowing for policy mistakes and some apalling fatcattery, privatisation, on balance has done more good than harm, given the corrupt inefficiency of the nationalised industries at the end of the 1970s.

iii) It also has to be said that the Falklands War was, on balance, a just war and she did prosecute it with a resolution which one cannot imagine being matched by Labour's then leader, Michael Foot.

iv) Finally, life is just too short to cling on to one's hatreds. My feelings towards her are still far from warm, but seeing Andrea Riseborough's inspired depiction of Maggie in trhat TV drama, one could only admire in retrospect her fight against the bitter, crushing misogyny within her own party. Her main failing has been, perhaps, a complete lack of empathy with people outside her own narrow social orbit. But as a politician fighting against cruel odds, she proved a superb performer; just as a cricket fan, Ricky Ponting arouses feelings in me of great negativity, I have to admit in all honesty: 'What a player!'

Jenkins is right that a state funeral should be kept for the likes of Churchill:

Her mark on history is great and merits due celebration, but it should honour a revolutionary political leader, not a figure of state. Thatcher's legacy deserves an oration, not a gun carriage.