h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dammit, now I won't be able to listen to end of a Goon Show without thinking of Thatcher

Who can forget her guest appearance on Dr Who
going eyeball to eyeball with a Dalek:

http://irishroversbooks.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/m-thatcher.jpg


~jwf~

I was doing really well at not getting wound up about it all ...

... and then Sir Mark Thatcher popped up. It was the 'Sir' that really got me.

Mol

Yes, and now everyone's reminded of the inheritable baronetcy she was awarded

Jeremy Clarkson's invitation has given me a great idea for a Top Gear stunt.

Did you see what he said on Twitter about the invitation? He said that she was a huge fan of Top Gear and her favourite car was the Mercedes SLS. Yeah, I'm totally convinced that's the reason you're going

I don't follow him on Twitter. I don't need to - I follow my ten year old son, who today tweeted

'Why do car manufacturers make practical cars, they should make more fast ones.'

Of course, he could have been *quoting* Jeremy, I never thought to check.

Mol

I see the chimp has been invited too. I'm not sure why - Daddy Bush I can understand since their terms in office overlapped but I really don't know why Junior and Bill Clinton are coming.

Perhaps he's representing his father since he's been at death's door recently.
Also, like it or not, the US did *love* Thatcher and the Bushes were Reaganites of the highest order.

Waiting for a tram this morning there was a dad having a go at his teenage son. Really berating him for posting a "pissy little comment" on the dad's Facebook page.

It seems that the dad posted a long diatribe about how he was glad she was dead, about how awful she was, etc, etc.

The son then posted something on this and it seems to have really caused the dad to totally lose it.

What was it the kid posted? "It's all hype and faded memories we're getting now, possibly not the whole truth"

I know this because the dad kept saying it again and again in a mocking voice and asking "What's that pissy little comment supposed to mean?" and saying things like "You're just a kid, you weren't there"

I'm sorry, but if I had a kid who was able to see through media hype and question personal viewpoints like that, I've be *very* proud of them. Not have a go at the on the tram platform in front of total strangers.

I can only assume that the dad's not had much hand in bringing the kid up for him to turn out so well with a dad like that.

The title of the second volume of her memoires The Path to Power (1995), indicates she viewed her career as a path to power rather than a path to public service.

She probably couldn't differentiate between the two, to be fair.

Doubtless there will be wall to wall coverage of the funeral with much vom' inducing sycophantic hype

As the BBC is supposed to be fair and balanced I think they should turn one channel over to reruns of Boys from the Black Stuff and Spitting Image to keep the rest of us amused

I'll be at uni. I'm only officially in for two hours but I think I can find myself something to do...

@Pastey

Well, I can see it from both sides. A bit of youthful scepticism is fine, but to be honest, kids today don't remember what it was like, and can have no conception.

When I was young firebrand, some grown-ups would shake their heads sadly at me and say "but you don't remember what it was like under Labour". And they were right, I didn't.

But I found myself expressing similar sentiments to people much younger than me about the Tory years - you don't remember how public services were run down, how interest rates and inflation were in double figures, how crap schools were, how crap hospitals were, just how high unemployment was. I've barely got any idea of how some communities suffered under Thatcher, because I grew up in the prosperous south.

I genuinely think there are people who have no idea how bad things really were, and are probably excessively sceptical about it and so don't believe it.

It is through education (and experience) one can begin to climb above the personal perspective to an historical and socio-economical and geopolitical perspective ... or something

>> there was a dad having a go at his teenage son. Really berating him for posting a "pissy little comment" on the dad's Facebook page. <<


It sounds like an example of an inter-generational power struggle within the family

I live in the South, my kid knows exactly what is like to have a sh*t education, while it was improving under labour it just didn't filter through to their last years of seniors

So they went from 'failing' at start to doing just fine until seniors, and we were proud of that, what it took,not just us as a family, as a school, then ran out of steam at about 13 because all of that failed them at the last hurdle



And prosperous South, yes, but there are are big disparities in that. while not the same history as the North or inner cities, still within the same deprivation measures

My child, our children in this community, know what it is like to experience poverty and are going to exactly what is like to know poverty is in bad times

sorry I'm thinking I having a bit of meltdown today

I'm ging to unsub from Thatcher threads till I pull myself together

See you all later