Baroness Thatcher

So my parents (yeah, I still live at home) have been watching Baroness Thatcher's funeral. Mainly, we've been worrying about the strain on the pallbearer third on the right because he looked like he was about to cry/drop the coffin going up the steps of St Pauls.

I haven't really said much about her going, except to ask my brother not to repeat the crass jokes he's heard in front of me. I think it's really disrespectful and if he doesn't want people to make fat/lazy/smelly/arsehole jokes about him at his untimely demise, he'd do well to stop that shit.

Anyway, I never really got the whole 'lets hate Thatcher' bit (cue my friend Sammie commenting because she's my favourite Midlander and therefore the only person I know in any way affected by Thatcher's policies) even though when I was born, she had a good 5 years left in office, so my earliest 'memories' are of Thatcher Britian. I think she came into an undesirable role at a difficult time and made the best decisions she could for the majority of her constituents. She was never going to please everyone. Fuck, she was barely ever going to please anyone. But she never answered to yes-men, or tried to be everyone's friend, and yeah sometimes she had to be strict but my favourite teachers were always strict but understanding.

She had a lot of admirable qualities you know. Screw the politics, or her opinions, I'm not discussing those, but she was firm as I said, both in what she said and how she saw the world, and in standing by her  decisions. She went head-to-head with people who thought they knew better and never backed down and you know what? A lot of that time she was right. She could think her way logically through a problem and take in as many aspects as could be foreseen and made educated decisions. In her private life, she was very much in love with one man, though her way of showing that was discreet and private and didn't come into her work.

I think she was pretty kick-ass, as a person. More people need those qualities. Did you see the Iron Lady with Meryl Streep? That is what a role model looks like. Not Jordan, or EL James, or Justin Beiber. Baroness Thatcher would kick all their asses.

And for the record, I tend to vote Lib Dem.