Thatcher’s Dead, So What?
Limp, black graffiti on a red brick wall, “Rot In Hell Maggie Thatcher”. So what? After her death last week, the former Conservative party leader Margaret Thatcher has once again caused the country to come to a clash. Tributes have been covering the front pages from her supporters whilst those that opposed her greeted the news with smiles and flag waving hate parties. This is the end of an era and time for a reflection, but one thing both sides seem to agree on is, if you didn’t witness her tyranny first hand, then you have no reason to complain. They all seem to have forgotten, history sticks to your feet.
As a child of nineties I wasn’t even around to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall and all I know of Thatcher is what I learned at school in history. She snatched away milk cartons from the hands of school kids, showed them all who was boss in the Faulklands War and kicked a bunch of rioting coal miners out onto the petrol bombed streets of the early eighties. And had massive hair. Fair enough, she does sound like a bit of a cow, but I don’t see any reason to crack open the party poppers just yet. I mean what do we really have to celebrate? Whilst bombs were being dropped on kids my own age, in Iraq, an invasion that was against our will, I grew up in Britain behind Blair’s rose-tinted lenses. At that time, us cotton wool kids were being raised on Disney movies and wishful thinking, apparently all we had to do was dream.
So what went wrong? Suicide rates have rocketed and are at the highest for males since 2002, the rate for females increasing since 2007 and suicide is now the biggest cause of death among 15-19 year olds, world wide. Is it really surprising that so many young people are being put on prescription pick-me ups, going on coma inducing benders and generally embarrassing our parents. We were told it was going to be easy! The hurts of the past reflect on the youth of today and is a matter of true importance as we blunder on through the housing crisis, the banking crisis, the benefits crisis. And the words on our lips, “its not fair,”, and you are right, it isn’t, but we need to stop being pissed off and start getting proactive, putting aside all the fun of hating something and instead coming together for positive change.
It is the double standards and hypocrisy of political leaders past and present that tremor down the wires of time and going over and over whether the decisions Thatcher made were immoral or unethical, is just old news, these philosophies are as out-of-date as her twin-set and pearls. Right now, what matters to you is what is important, whether that is a sustainable economy, free higher education, secure jobs, equality and gay rights, the conservation of our planet, maybe even a leaderless movement. It is time to use our ability to dream big and bury the bias opinions and past bitterness that pollute the leading political parties in this country. As Russell Brand wrote in his article for the Guardian, “we are free to choose our own ethical codes and the leaders that reflect them.” We all want to put the Great back into Britain, but it is up to us to choice how we go about achieving that. Whether or not you agree with what Margaret Thatcher stood for, one remark that she often used still remains true, “you make up your own mind.”
Lizzy.
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