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I found an old newspaper from a few months before the conflict that said that General Galtieri was planning to invade the Falklands [oh how I wish I’d kept it ] so it was no great surprise when it happened. We only went to war over it because it was a strategic base in the area, and didn’t the Americans end up helping us as well? I was terrified at the time thinking that the whole thing would escalate…remember hearing on the news that they were using exocet [?] missiles..the very word missile terrified me..I can still remember going to bed that night and lying there shaking with fear. And if she was so good, why did her own party kick her out? In my book Barbara Castle should have been the first woman prime minister of this country, but whats so special about it anyway…India were way ahead of us in that department….
And if she was so good, why did her own party kick her out?
because there is very little loyalty in politics – in any party there are always others looking to stab the leader in the back for their own ends.
Also the longer a leader is in situ the more enemies they make in their own party – although the knives seem to be sharpening for Gordon in very short order.
but whats so special about it anyway…India were way ahead of us in that department….
Precisely…and in addition to Mrs Gandhi, both Israel’s Golda Meir and Ceylon’s Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (great name) pre-date Thatcher
and Ceylon’s Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (great name)
i instantly thought of the ‘oatibix’ advert
Rudolph Giuliani’s words after 9/11 were amazing..but that wouldn’t justify him having a state funerall; I’m still confused as to why we had live coverage of Ronald Reagans funeral a few years back….if there is a truly ‘good’ person in politics that would have to have been Michael Foot; lousy leader of course but, as a person a good, kind, honest, highly intelligent and most importantly genuine man. I agree that if anyone deserves a state funeral it would have to be the last serviceman from the first world war, because we must never ever forget that war; the war to end all wars [if only]. Tony Benn told me that he and Thatcher had huge respect for each other, which surpried me..’don’t be cynical be critical’ he told me.
Tony Benn told me that he and Thatcher had huge respect for each other, which surpried me..’don’t be cynical be critical’ he told me.
It shouldn’t be a surprise Mo – they are both conviction politicians. You will be surprised at the amount of cross party respect there can be in Parilament – indeed I would go as far as to suggest there are many MP’s who respect more of their opponents than they respect on their own side.
As I have previously said I may not agree with all he stands for but I have as much respect for Tony Benn as I do for Mrs T – because he stands by what he believes in.
I make no secret that my leanings are towards the Conservative Party (although I threw away my card when Michael Howard became the leader) – however if I had to choose between David Cameron or Tony Benn as a Prime Minister I would go for Benn any day. Agree or not you know where you are with him.
"I have no time for the old witch – she deserves a watery grave, not a state funeral."
I agree with George Galloway.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
As I have previously said I may not agree with all he stands for but I have as much respect for Tony Benn
Conviction isnt enough. Hitler had it too. Benn descibed Mao as the greatest leader of the 20th century.. For that alone, zero respect from me
seem to remember Margaret being quite fond of Pinochet….a role model if ever there was one……
small beer, if hitler were still alive i should imagine george galloway and ken livingstone would’ve both had him over for tea and electioneering
which is wild speculation and digression
wikipedia says ‘a state funeral is a public funeral ceremony held to honour heads of state or other important people of national significance’
as she is a person who people either hate or don’t, only those who hate her could say she does not fall into this category ?
then why don’t we have state funerals for all dead ex pm’s? or is it only ones who win wars which may or may not have been prevented? and is winning wars the most important thing that a leader can do for their people….I prefer a leader who prevents war which is why I would be equally incensed if Blair had a state funeral also. What makes her different to all the other pm’s that we’ve had other than the fact that she was a woman….I just don’t get it….
yes, all dead PMs who serve as PM longer than anyone else for 150 years or so and win a war – not just the women who do that – equality is all
Wikipedia’s definition barely applies to the UK. Only two or three PM’s have ever had a State Funeral.
And if we’re going to accord credit to serving PM’s for ‘winning wars’, Churchill not only saved every UK citizen from a jackboot across the neck, he was also responsible for liberating countless hundreds of thousands – millions even – from tryanny in continental Europe and beyond.
Thatcher, in comparison, liberated hundereds of thousands – millions even – of penguins from the evil machinations of the Argie Junta. And she was partly responsible for placing their pointy, fish-necking beaks in peril in the first place.
Compare and contrast.
If Thatcher does get a State Funeral, it makes a fecking mockery of the one accorded to Churchill, whose achievements drawf Thatcher’s by a factor that is quite impossible to count.
We only went to war over it because it was a strategic base in the area, and didn’t the Americans end up helping us as well? I was terrified at the time thinking that the whole thing would escalate…remember hearing on the news that they were using exocet [?]
The Falkland Islands was surveyed for oil way back in the late forties and early 50s (I read the book about Blair Mayne and amongst his many other exploits he was part of the team that went there), it is very naive to suspect that we didnt know that there was oil there before the war. The falklands is no strategic base either geographically what is it near? Argentina, Chile and the antarctic? And wasnt the Falklands conflict known as Operation Corporate?
The Americans may have been in support of us in certain aspects and did welcome us to use ascension island as a staging post but they kitted the argies out with technology and equipment that was far beyond what we had at the time and some of the captured equipment was reverse engineered here. The exorcept missiles, fitted to their fighter jets were supplied to them by the french. It was the mistake of the argies powers that were, underestimated the weather and that they sent their troops to a place that was regularly into figures like -25 degrees equipped with ponchos, rain macs etc that the yanks had used in vietnam.
People have been very quick to forget that despite plenty of notice that the gulf war (part deux) was coming (and that whole period of Tony Blair’s yes we are, no we’re not, maybe we are), a huge amount of british troops were covering a fire fighters strike in the green goddesses whilst the rest went out to iraq (most in "green issue" camoflage clothing with no body armour, amongst a whole load of other equally ridiculous cock ups). We can talk about PTSD etc from the falklands but we havent seen half of the horror shows that will probably emerge in the limelight when the conflict in the middle east is dead and buried. I saw a report last year about a Sgt who (in afghan) had lost an arm, both legs and was brain damaged for the rest of his life, being awarded £130,000 because the current government judged that his injuries did not entitle him to the higher level of compensation. What do you have to get for that then, the other arm?
If Thatcher does get a State Funeral, it makes a fecking mockery of the one accorded to Churchill, whose achievements drawf Thatcher’s by a factor that is quite impossible to count.
Did princess di’s not make a bit of a mockery of churchills a bit? There will be few ever leaders that will ever compare to churchill, but thatcher was probably the biggest prime minister since churchill. Through the mixed feelings that she stirs up amongst people her state funeral will never be on the same scale as churchills, but I still think she deserves one. One cannot ignore the impact that she made whilst in power, and to ignore thatcher as a pm is to ignore that period in british history, and for all those that would rather forget that period, there are still those who will wish to remember aspects of that era that her death would bring back to the surface.
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