Whether you're on the right, the left, or the muddling middle of British politics, today marks the passing of something. Quite what that was will not be decided today, or tomorrow, or indeed for many years to come. Nearly a quarter of a century after she left office, Margaret Thatcher continues to divide us like no other figures in public life. As both Boudica Reborn and the Wicked Witch of the West, angel and demon.
As much as I'm itching to, as a history graduate who's deeply interested in politics, and has in fact researched the 1970s and 1980s, I'm not going to pass judgement on Mrs Thatcher. I feel that, being born a mere four months before her Cabinet threw her out of office, I'm not best qualified. Reading government papers from the 70s and 80s doesn't compensate in the least for having been there and seen it for myself. However, I don't feel I can let her passing go unmarked. So here is a link to an extract from a superb book, Rejoice, Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s by Alwyn Turner. I think, as summaries of the Thatcher period go, it's fair, and brilliantly written:
http://www.sabotagetimes.com/people/the-iron-lady-what-we-learned-from-thatchers-decade/
But the final words must come from the Lady herself. "It's a funny old world."
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