RIP 'Mrs T' ... or, more correctly - and more formally - Rest in Peace, Mrs Thatcher.
RIP? Did I just write 'Rest in Peace' for... ... *Mrs Thatcher* ???!!!
Well, the years roll by, and the heat of one's more youthful, and passionate, political views mellows with age, doesn't it?
In 1979, when 'Mrs T' (though we hadn't started calling her that 'till many years later), with a Conservative government, got voted in, I was a Labour Party voter in 'Conservative clothing'; because my (then) wife and her family, were all Tory, and I *had* to fall in line or risk the wrath of "She Who must Be Obeyed!"
But by the mid 1980's, with *that* wife out of the way, (divorced, dear boy, not murdered!), I was able to be the political person I'd always been "underneath", but never able to give voice to, as my parents were Tories, my brother's a Tory, and my (now ex) wife was a rank-Tory! However, by 1986, I was re-married to the most wonderful person ever - my lovely wife, Ann - and, thankfully, she is also a Labour Party voter, so we "suffered" together the final years of Thatcher's Reign!
So, although I'm a fan of women getting any job going, from a caterer to a Prime Minister, I'm afraid the legacy of the "Thatcher Years" will, for me, forever be one of deregulated this, that, and the other, which have all proven to be total failures (for most people) in their respective spheres. BT replaced the General Post Office, and Royal Mail was cut out from the Post Office, and now both are ailing. Umpteen railway privatised train companies have replaced British Railways, and STILL we don't get trains which run on time or commuter rail fares people can afford! I could go on... but I can see your eyes are glossing over, so I'll just end as I began, and respectfully say Rest in Peace, 'Mrs T'... ... but actually, I'm not that sorry you're now fully consigned to history!
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