Baroness Thatcher’s political legacy

Doubtless Mrs Thatcher got it wrong with the poll tax, where her dogmatism proved a costly bridge too far. However, we should not forget the positive. She brought democracy to the shop-floor and the trades’ unions with one-man-one-vote, and opened them to women in what had been a closed, male-dominated shop. And three decisive general-election wins showed Mrs Thatcher certainly enjoyed wide support.

Presently, we can only dream of new radical, political leaders of conviction emerging rather than the present bunch of opportunistic, small-minded grey men if we are to achieve the green economic reforms we all need, whether or not within the UK.

There is a saying that a country gets the politicians it deserves, but after 13 years of the failed New Labour experiment, which has left five million UK citizens on benefits, monumental debts, and banks out of control, we need leaders with the courage to stand up to the established order and get stuck in. Can we hope such leaders could come from Scotland? On the present showing in the Scottish Parliament, the jury can only remain out.

Elizabeth Marshall

Western Harbour Midway

Edinburgh

IT WAS Baroness Thatcher’s family and the Conservatives in government who decided to have her funeral on the same day as the pre-arranged Green Party debate in the Scottish Parliament, not the other way round.

We should, therefore, support the Green Party’s effort to build a Scotland that is fairer, more equal and less greedy and selfish, a policy now abandoned by the Labour Party in its one-nation move to the centre in order to win the Tory marginals in South-east England.

More importantly, the poor in northern England and Scotland are made to think that they are personally to blame for their misery, crying in despair “What have we done to deserve this?”, while the wealthy enjoy tax cuts.

The difference now is that in Scotland we can vote Yes to independence next year and build a society with the humane values of caring and sharing Thatcherism sought to demolish.

Ray Newton

Buckstone Way

Edinburgh

WITNESSING the outpourings of bile, blame, envy, recriminations, myths and fables with which Labour supporters and their fellow travellers have flooded the media for more than a week now, rather highlights why a party with such base motivation has been such a financial disaster for the UK every time it has been elected to power.

Irvine Inglis

Reston

Berwickshire

I THOUGHT hysterical national grief only happened in places like Argentina or North Korea but then the celebrity shopping-princess Diana Spencer died on yet another holiday.

Most people cringe when recalling that moment of collective madness when tear-stained hordes attacked those who failed to show the proper amount of mawkish grief.

Yet today I have the same disconnected feeling when I see people dancing in our public squares at the news of the death of a geriatric woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. Whatever they may think of Lady Thatcher, she is entitled to a dignified send-off. What kind of idiot travels to central London to start a rammy at a funeral?

And only a body as inconsequential and ridiculous as the Scottish Parliament would consider having a “debate” on that day to denounce words Lady Thatcher did not even say.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews

WITH Lady Thatcher’s death we see the establishment raise its head as the rich and powerful show us that North Korea is not the only place with a state controlled by a self-chosen few. The sycophants are just the fleas. The real beast is feeding us propaganda, telling us what to think, say and do. The Tories tell us most people want Lady Thatcher to have a funeral at our expense.

As opinion polls show, this is a lie and she herself never won a majority of the popular vote and, indeed, received the lowest poll rating for a serving PM in modern history. They had Westminster recalled to praise her when it could have waited until this week and now they want to cancel Prime Minister’s Question Time. Big Ben is to be silenced. They are even trying to tell the Scottish Parliament what to do.

Tory democracy: individual freedom, they claim, but within Tory boundaries as if we are sheep in a field.

The police, a successful Thatcherite bludgeon against the miners, are to pre-emptively detain people they think might cause trouble. A demo is supposed to be allowed, but it will be well “kettled”.

Already, the BBC has all but banned a pop song against Lady Thatcher, yet allowed one in her support, proving itself once again an instrument of the establishment.

Lady Thatcher and her pals appear to have planned her funeral then ordered Buckingham Palace to fall in line, none of this nonsense about the Queen deciding to grant her a ceremonial send-off after her death. Even the monarchy has been subverted. Instead of bankers waving cheques, the streets are to be lined with the Queen’s soldiers.

The Dean of St Paul’s tells us that the ceremony is a simple one following the Book of Common Prayer and that Mrs Thatcher’s children should be allowed to grieve.

Here we have the Church of England (posh division), another branch of the establishment, speaking down to the urban peasantry.

When her son Mark Thatcher financed a mercenary force to overthrow an African state, did he worry about those who would be grieving?

The funeral cost is estimated at £10 million, and here the establishment’s commando unit has gone underground. Where are the usual protests from the Taxpayers’ Alliance? Instead, we are hearing Tories telling us how few strikes there have been since the Thatcher era. There are very few strikes in North Korea too.

Various mega-mouths have been telling protesters to shut up and let the carnival roll on. If the establishment doesn’t want millions of people injured by that woman to rage against her, it should not be shoving her funeral in their faces.

Thomas R Burgess

St Catherine’s Square

Perth

I HOPE a look at the facts of the 1970s and 1980s will show people what a dump Britain was under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan until Margaret Thatcher put her steely will to fixing things.

The anti-Thatcher ranting of today’s youth is a joke. To understand what was happening in Britain in 1979 – such as 28 per cent inflation – you would have to have been in business, or in non-union, unprotected employment, probably in middle management, and you would have been about 30 years of age.

So today, you would need to be about 64 to really understand the incompetence of socialism, and what Thatcher rescued us from.

Malcolm Parkin

Gamekeepers Road

Kinnesswood

Kinross

HOW many of those who speak ill of Lady Thatcher will have anything at all spoken of them when they pass on?

Russell Cowe

Newton

West Lothian