Speaking ill of the dead

So, Maggie is dead. RIP or RIH, Rest in Peace or Rot in Hell? Sheltered by childhood and a relatively comfortable life in the affluent south-east, I’ve been somewhat reliant on the obituaries today to provide a balanced summary of her achievements and failings as the first and so far only female British Prime Minister. (I do remember getting school milk in about 1980, although presumably someone was having to pay for it.) It’s clear some of her economic policies, whilst arguably vital for the country as a whole, were hugely damaging to regions that were heavily dependent on traditional industries. I was born in Chatham which is still recovering, a whole generation later, from the closure of its dockyard by Thatcher’s government; how much worse it must have been for the pit villages of the north and Wales, where the entire local economy was reliant on a single employer.

The sinking of the General Belgrano was not her finest hour, nor her support for apartheid and Pinochet. On the other hand she appears to have been a key player in building a relationship with Gorbachev that eventually led to the demise of the oppressive Communist regime in the USSR. That’s without the many battles fought on domestic matters, with considerable success, at considerable cost and with considerable collateral damage. In short her policies and achievements were divisive.

Past colleagues and opponents were quick to pay tribute, in the manner we have come to expect, highlighting the good and downplaying the bad. She was a woman of strong convictions and high achievement, was the gist (even though we may have disagreed with her).

But a predictable few ignored the convention of not speaking ill of the dead, and the sage advice that if you can think of nothing nice to say, stay silent…

George Galloway, renowned friend of Saddam, tweeted a reference to Elvis Costello’s anti-Thatcher song "Tramp the dirt down". 

Frankie Boyle, bastion of high morals standards, posted a link to a cheery video clip.

Multi-millionaire socialist rebel Ken Livingstone blamed his old foe for just about everything that’s wrong with modern Britain, as if his own views were moderate, coherent and reasonable. Ken, here’s a clue: if the people of London thought you were anything other than a self-serving sleazebag they wouldn’t have chosen a devious buffoon as mayor ahead of you – twice.

Perhaps worst of all, I’ve just stumbled across a quote from a leading figure in the Durham Miners’ Association. He turned 70 today and said: "It looks like one of the best birthdays I have ever had… For the union this could not come soon enough and I'm pleased that I have outlived her. It's a great day for all the miners…" Seriously? You’ve waited 30 years for the opportunity to claim some kind of revenge, and when it came it was in the form of not dying first? No wonder Maggie had little respect for the unions.

I’m fully aware "Our children have got no jobs and the community is full of problems. There's no work and no money and it's very sad the legacy she has left behind… She destroyed our community, our villages and our people." But this was also someone’s mother, grandmother, maybe someone out there even considered her a friend. I’m not sure why anyone’s death would be a cause of celebration. Maybe her opponents will claim that’s a sign of a broken society and thus, a legacy of her government too. There may be no such thing as society, but there should still be room for humanity.