tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6247050185364541007.post8556945689618012859..comments2024-03-21T18:02:46.110+00:00Comments on PORTSMOUTH POINT: Why A 'Ceremonial' Funeral For Margaret Thatcher Is A Dangerous IdeaJ. Burkinshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07521961323780567072noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6247050185364541007.post-64498653952248630422013-04-15T12:41:23.392+01:002013-04-15T12:41:23.392+01:00Thanks, Simon. I think your contrast of this occas...Thanks, Simon. I think your contrast of this occasion (which is causing such division and recrimination between people of differing political beliefs) with the unifying and revivifying Olympics and Diamond Jubilee makes it clear why state funerals for Prime Ministers (who are partisan politicians not "mothers/fathers of the nation") are so ill-advised. Any conservative (with a small or large c), in particular, should surely be wary of mixing up long-standing traditions of state occasions and ephemeral, divisive party politics in this way. <br /><br />And, as you say, it makes a mockery of the refrain "we can't afford it" or "we're broke" when it comes to other areas of public finance. I like your idea of an event modelled on Margaret's self-image of thriftiness.J. Burkinshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07521961323780567072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6247050185364541007.post-52341880524200786472013-04-14T21:18:40.970+01:002013-04-14T21:18:40.970+01:00Dear Will
It appears you have stated that you wou...Dear Will<br /><br />It appears you have stated that you would '..... hate to come to Thatcher's defense' but earlier you posted 'RIP to the country's greatest leader of men since Churchill. ' Would you not agree that this is a conflicting position.William Bateshttp://ww.w.gameox.yolasite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6247050185364541007.post-46912526815558252432013-04-14T20:04:47.456+01:002013-04-14T20:04:47.456+01:00James,
Very good points – well said; I have to agr...James,<br />Very good points – well said; I have to agree with you that on this occasion a publicly funded ceremonial funeral is not a wise idea. In this age of austerity with welfare benefits being cut, public sector pay frozen etc, the political class and genuine defenders of her legacy have missed a trick here I believe. How much better and clever it would have been to have either a privately/family funded event, or even better given her public persona as the thrifty housewife, to lay it to one side altogether and have a suitable, largely private funeral followed as you suggest by a much larger memorial service. What would be of better service to the country currently? Unlike other ‘unnecessary’ recent publically funded extravaganzas think Olympics and Diamond Jubilee, there will be no sense of bringing the nation together here or that 'feel good' factor we witnessed so widely in the summer of 2012. It will simply open up old wounds and politicise what should be a dignified send off. Still I guess few politicians past or present ever had/havemuch sense of humility. And they wonder why the public at large are disenchanted with politics and politicians generally….<br /><br />Simon LemieuxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6247050185364541007.post-6651373994620003192013-04-13T19:06:19.455+01:002013-04-13T19:06:19.455+01:00Thanks for your comment, Will.
I would simply sa...Thanks for your comment, Will. <br /><br />I would simply say that my article doesn't question Margaret Thatcher's significance. It makes a very conservative* argument against any Prime Minister receiving a state funeral (with the exception of Churchill -- see below). I am not arguing that Attlee and Lloyd George (or Wilson, as you suggest) deserved a state funeral, but that, like them, Thatcher is not entitled to one, regardless of how significant Thatcher, Attlee and Lloyd George were (I am not sure I would agree Wilson was).<br /><br />Churchill indisutably saved the nation in the sense that he led a government of all major political parties that brought the nation together and directed the war effort that defeated an existential threat. Thatcher faced some tough economic problems that some of her policies ameliorated and others exacerbated. To say she "saved" the nation is highly debatable to say the very least, certainly it was not comparable to the situation faced by the country during the Second World War. <br /><br />Finally, a state event should be something that brings the nation together. As opinion polls show, there is a very divided response both to the legacy of the Thatcher years and the appropriateness of a state funeral (rather than a Memorial Service like that provided for other Prime Ministers, including Attlee and Lloyd George). No one ideology (Conservative, Labour or Liberal) should be given that kind of official imprimatur over competing ideologies in a democracy such as ours. <br /><br />*The article by the (very) conservative journalist Peter Oborne in 'The Daily Telegraph'(which I have linked to at the end of my piece)takes a similarly Burkean line.<br /><br /> J. Burkinshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07521961323780567072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6247050185364541007.post-46565482432945826552013-04-13T10:43:27.217+01:002013-04-13T10:43:27.217+01:00I hate to come to Thatcher's defense, but you ...I hate to come to Thatcher's defense, but you shouldn't forget that she completely shifted our economy to become more competitive and free. I fail to see how we could've recovered - not just from the Winter of Discontent - but also from the fact that Britain was sliding off the world stage. <br /><br />Although I'd argue that there were many things that she got wrong, we wouldn't have the developed economy that we've had, had Thatcher not become PM in '79. I think, therefore, that Cameron was right to say that she 'saved' our nation. And therefore she deserves to be recognised with a ceremonial funeral. I personally think Atlee and Wilson deserved one too, for their social reforms, but there isn't a great deal we can do about that..Will Wallacenoreply@blogger.com