Stop a state funeral for Mrs Thatcher
Only a few more days to go, so sign and spread the word.The petition to prevent Mrs Thatcher from getting a state funeral has over 13,000 names to it, nice to get this into the 100,000s by even a modest increase would be good.You can sign here.
There are far too many up-to-date battles with unprincipled politicians to be fought. Like Gordon “No Mandate” Brown. This constant harping on the “bad old days” of the 1980s is becoming ridiculous. Who gives a damn what they do when Thatcher dies? Whether you like it or not, she is not the cause of all modern day ills and life wasn’t a bed of roses before her either.
Having said that, I couldn’t stand the bitch, but she arouses more spite than anybody I know in political circles in the present day. Is it because she is female? Is it because it fits some kind of bizarre “socialist” mindset to pretend that the 1970s were funky happy valley?
I don’t get this at all.
Comment by Maria — 14 July, 2009 @ 11:01 pm
You didn’t live through the 1980s, did you Maria? “Is it because she is female?” Not at all, it’s because she was an evil Tory bastard.
Comment by Stockwell Pete — 14 July, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
I’d support any kind of funeral for Thatcher.
Comment by Thoughts — 14 July, 2009 @ 11:46 pm
is this really a serious proposition though? as far as I know the only prime minister who has ever had a state funeral is Churchill, for obvious reasons - who is actually seriously proposing this, and what motivation is being given? Is Thatcher herself asking for it?
Comment by our lad george — 14 July, 2009 @ 11:50 pm
No it is a real prospect:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jul/14/past.margaretthatcher
Other prime ministers have been granted them, Palmerston, Gladstone and the Duke of Wellington.
I can only think that the initiative has from Gordon Brown, which strikes me as odd, becasue it would be completely unacceptable to most labour voters.
Comment by Andy Newman — 14 July, 2009 @ 11:58 pm
F@#k I thought she had finally gone and it was party time.
Comment by anticapitalista — 15 July, 2009 @ 1:10 am
If she has a state funeral we can jeer and throw eggs at the casket. The reason Thatcher’s hated so much is because she spearheaded the attacks on workers, the miners in particular, that paved the way for neo-liberalism and New Labour. If you lived through the 80’s and you weren’t a Tory you’d know exactly why she’s still hated.
Comment by Ray — 15 July, 2009 @ 3:31 am
Anyone in a trade union should refuse to have anything to do with Thatcher’s funeral. If she gets a state funeral surely there will have to be large sectors involved. An RMT strike would be effective and the route could be blockaded.
Andy - not sure, but I think this was first mooted under Blair. I know that Brown certainly promoted it, but don’t know where the idea originated from.
Comment by Steve — 15 July, 2009 @ 7:17 am
Blockading a funeral… and yet ome here still wonder how ordinary people can despise Thatcher and the radical left in equal measure. Yes, they hate her. And they hate us as well.
Comment by Another Dave — 15 July, 2009 @ 9:02 am
I am fairly sure that hatred for Thatcher is not just confined to the radical left. Blockading a funeral for pretty much anyone else would be pretty nasty thing to do. But for her I’d make an exception. In reality the threat of a blockade and strike action could be effective in making them think again about the insult of a state funeral.
Comment by Steve — 15 July, 2009 @ 9:40 am
Well if the only source for this story of a state funeral is the Mail on Sunday I frankly wouldn’t get too worked up about it.
Comment by our lad george — 15 July, 2009 @ 9:59 am
I do hope anyone in a union has nothing to do with Mags’ funeral - don’t want tramps & alkies getting in the way of a dignified and graceful send off. Anyway - how much of my taxes am I paying for you lot to blither & whinge? You’ve just got no class, manners, etiquette or ideas. If it wasn’t for her we’d be even more screwed than we are now which is quite an alarming prospect. Get over it and do some work.
Comment by Richard — 15 July, 2009 @ 10:28 am
I would like to attend the burial, mainly so I could take a long earned piss on her grave but also to slap her racist daughter in the fecking mouth.
Comment by Red Bob — 15 July, 2009 @ 10:34 am
I think it is possible to loathe Margaret Thatcher yet not feel the compulsion to blockade her funeral or piss on her grave. Or even assault her daughter.
What a load of self indulgent, guilty middle class bull has been posted on this subject.
Comment by Graham — 15 July, 2009 @ 10:41 am
Whats the point of even debating this who cares whether they give her a state funeral or put her in a wheeley bin it’s over and thats that!!!!
Comment by charles biswell — 15 July, 2009 @ 10:59 am
I’ll sign the petition later.
Even if there is a move for a state funeral the row this generates will partly be overshadowed by the spontaneous bonfires and street parties which are certain to attend her demise.
And even if the ‘dignified’ media choose not to report this, they will find it more difficult to explain ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!’ leaping to the top of the downloads chart…
Comment by RobM — 15 July, 2009 @ 11:14 am
Hmm… on the one hand it was a long time ago and I’m not generally one to bear grudges. And then I remember being assaulted by her police at Wapping, locked up in a cell for the weekend without a lawyer, and then fitted up for a crime I hadn’t committed. I spent an entire decade fighting these bastards in the High Court, and when I finally won, damages were doubled because the head of the Met refused to apologise.
But just when my heart is beginning to soften, I remember what Thatcher did to the miners and their families. Where was her compassion for the lives she destroyed? For the kids that weren’t getting fed, for the wives who scarificed their homes to back their husbands and their community?
So fuck honouring her with a state funeral.
Elvis Costello had it about right.
TRAMP THE DIRT DOWN (lyrics)
When England was the whore of the world, Margaret was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as the black tarmacadam
And if she seemed bulletproof I put it down to black magic
Every day now we’re invited to pity the tragic
Forlorn faded figure whose story’s on sale
As she finally swallows the fine bitter flavour that she likes to think is betrayal
While I pity those who forgot and forgave
I believe she should be hounded down into her grave
Along with the glove puppet that they put in her place
The simpering chump with the whimpering face
And whose classless society we all might applaud
On the day he gets round to shutting down the House of Lords
And kicking the royal cuckoos out of the nest
And placing the Queen Mother under arrest
Comment by Calvin — 15 July, 2009 @ 11:25 am
“the row this generates will partly be overshadowed by the spontaneous bonfires and street parties which are certain to attend her demise.”
Yes, with that kind of optimism would I be wrong to have you down as an SWP supporter? The vast majority of people will react with utter apathy to Thatcher’s death, I fear.
Comment by our lad george — 15 July, 2009 @ 11:45 am
Yes, you would be wrong.
Comment by RobM — 15 July, 2009 @ 12:06 pm
Sorry, Well perhaps with your visions of spontaneous bonfires and street parties engulfing Britain you might be appearing as an extra in a production of Mary Poppins.
Comment by our lad george — 15 July, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
I am in favour of a state funeral for Mrs Thatcher providing it meets anyone of the following conditions:
1. The funeral include a 21 gun salute - all cannons to be loaded with live ammo and aimed directly at the coffin.
2. The funeral to be the same as that accorded by the state to paupers.
3. Mrs Thatcher is still alive when put in the coffin.
Comment by rivington — 15 July, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
Excellent, Rivington- or perhaps just burn her on the Pike.
R.
Comment by RobM — 15 July, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
So what if she’s buried and placed in a state grave, when she does eventually pop’s her clogs, we’ll not hear the end of it. The way I see it, once she’s dead she’s dead…THE END. And good riddance to old shit!
I’m more concerned with the scenes of young solderers, travailing along Wootton Basset Hight Street in a procession of boxes.
Comment by Jim Lawrie — 15 July, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
we should never let her rest in peace
yes I hold a grudge
and proud to do so
we failed badly in standing up to her, either through lack of action or WW1 all over the top strikes (even if we had no other options)
so lets make sure history reports at the point of her death their was still opposition to her attempt to kill “society”
Comment by Tim — 15 July, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
Hold a grudge if have too Tim, if it makes you feel proud! But remember this she is only but one of her kind, there are many more who gave her support and many more like Tony, Gordon and David only too willing to slip into her stiletto’s, the small dagger with the tapered blade that’s used to slit the throats of workers!
Comment by Jim Lawrie — 15 July, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
My condition for supporting a state funeral for Thatch? Only if they promise to bury Blair on the same day!
On demands over funerals, back in the day I was on a anti-racist demo up north when I noticed the banner that said “Bury Socialist Workers Party”. I saw perhaps a more reasonable demand on a banner during the anti-iraq War protests. it Read “Bath CND”
Anyway, i’ve digressed, forget the argument over a state funeral or not just bury her now!
Comment by David Rosenberg — 15 July, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
-23. I soldering really that dangerous?
Comment by Graham — 15 July, 2009 @ 7:14 pm
So many of our comrades, friends and family have got pencilled in a big house party for when Thatcher dies.
No justice, no peace is the watchword I think.
Many have laid up specific bottles of alcohol.
We don’t do pissing on graves but we do do dancing.
To quote Declan MacManus
Well I hope I don’t die too soon
I pray the lord my soul to save
Oh I’ll be a good boy, I’m trying so hard to behave
Because there’s one thing I know, I’d like to live
Long enough to savour
That’s when they finally put you in the ground
I’ll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down
Comment by Eddie Truman — 15 July, 2009 @ 8:16 pm
Have you really got nothing better to do with your time than try and stop a state funeral for a former Prime Minister? And it’s Baroness Thatcher, not Mrs.
Comment by wonkotsane — 15 July, 2009 @ 9:10 pm
#29, Thatcher gave the order that killed 323 Argentinian sailors.
She deserves to rot in hell for that alone.
We can gain some recompense that the balance sheet was addressed from the other side.
The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma for starters.
Comment by Eddie Truman — 15 July, 2009 @ 9:26 pm
I have some bully beef tomatoes ripening on my allotment -I hope they become nice and ripe for the event!
Comment by Nick Long — 15 July, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
“We can gain some recompense that the balance sheet was addressed from the other side.
The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma for starters.”
What on earth does this mean? What has the IRA to do with the Argentinian navy? Mountbatten was killed 3 years before the sinking of the Belgrano and his death had no connection to it whatsoever. Nor did the deaths of the two children blown up in the boat, who were as innocent as any Argentinian sailors. What conceivable recompense did ths act represent for any rational person?
Comment by our lad george — 15 July, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
I have a feeling that Thatcher would like her coffin to be carried by eight trade unionists.
Trade unionists felt her weight on their shoulders when she was alive, so according to her, why should it stop just because she dies.
When she does croak, I’m gonna organize an f’in big party
But at least with Thatcher you knew she was the class enemy, and she knew it.
Not like the Labor party who pretend to be the friend of the working class then shaft them when they get into power and become the same old war mongers Thatcher was.
So the question is ’should Bliar have a twenty one gun salute or be shot with one?’
Comment by Peter Hine — 16 July, 2009 @ 5:30 am
Fuck her, she was and still hate by a great deal of working people .it just so like new labour to flag up a state funeral for a person who kick the shit of the working class and still is .
Comment by steelcityred — 16 July, 2009 @ 7:52 am
26, David, a welcome digression. I remember once being told by a leading member of the CPGB that, in his younger days, he was a member of the Crawley Friends of Moses Mayakiso… I don’t know quite how obsequious they got.
Comment by RobM — 16 July, 2009 @ 8:15 am
im with robm. a national day of celebration when she dies.
lets all sing ding dong the witch is dead.
i know ill be spinning that tune when i dj at that party lol.
not the same graham as #14.
Comment by graham — 16 July, 2009 @ 10:38 am
‘I think it is possible to loathe Margaret Thatcher yet not feel the compulsion to blockade her funeral or piss on her grave.’ No its not, not if you lived through it.
Comment by Christy — 18 July, 2009 @ 1:30 am
I think a state funeral is appropriate. Right now. I don’t think she has to shuffle off her mortal coil to be buried amid solemn pomp and circumstance. The loud funeral music will drown out the pounding from inside the coffin and the desperate cries of “I’m not dead!”
Comment by Faust — 19 July, 2009 @ 8:36 pm
GOD SAVE HER A TRUE LEADER THE BEST IN MY
LIFE TIME
Comment by hawkins — 26 July, 2009 @ 11:04 pm