The Political Thread

[Spikes]

While I'm quite enjoying the hysteria and vitriol and appalled at the lionisation from some quarters, Billy Bragg sums it up nicely

From Billy Bragg, Calgary, AB, Canada, on the death of Margaret Thatcher:

This is not a time for celebration. The death of Margaret Thatcher is nothing more than a salient reminder of how Britain got into the mess that we are in today. Of why ordinary working people are no longer able to earn enough from one job to support a family; of why there is a shortage of decent affordable housing; of why domestic growth is driven by credit, not by real incomes; of why tax-payers are forced to top up wages; of why a spiteful government seeks to penalise the poor for having an extra bedroom; of why Rupert Murdoch became so powerful; of why cynicism and greed became the hallmarks of our society.

Raising a glass to the death of an infirm old lady changes none of this. The only real antidote to cynicism is activism. Don't celebrate - organise!

^ This.

[Pete Wells]

Ah, good old Billy Bragg, Morrissey and Elvis Costello are getting lots of column inches today, s'nice! Being old, a bit drunk and waaaaay out of touch I wanna ask, do the yoof of today have decent protest bands/singers? All I see are One Direction dancing with David Cameron and rappers babbling about how many Rolexes and bitches they have.

I know this ain't particularly political (I'd hate our young people to get all their views from popular music) but are there bands with a bit of a message kicking around? Ha, I realise just how old and wrinkly this post makes me sound!

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Pink did a good one ripping into the president!

[Silent_Bomber]

Being that I was born in the early 80s I'm not really in much of a position to comment, but I must say that every time I see videos, or pictures of 70s Britain before Thatcher it looks like a miserable, disheveled craphole and I get the feeling I should be thankful for growing up in the 80s (except for the music). 

If Thatcher did so much bad for Britain then why does it seem to look so much worse before she came to power? or do they just handpick bad photos whenever they do anything on the 70s or something?

Also Carry On at your Own Convenience didn't paint a very good picture of the Trade Unions, maybe that's not the best source for evidence but its the only one which comes to mind at the moment 

[judgefloyd]

things look worse in the 70s because they're older and daggier and a lot of the good things are intangible and can't be photographed.  Unions, like governments, can be lazy and corrupt as well as useful.  Attacking the unions very existence is as sensible as saying we shouldn't have government because Kim Jung Un runs one or that we should do without music because One Direction are musical.  It's more fun to read about silly demarcation rules (like the argument in the BBC about whether the clock on Playschool was covered by the Electrical or Carpenters union) than it is to read about increased workplace safety.
  Thatcher's love of freedom seems to have been limited along tribal lines - she was into it for the Eastern Bloc, not so much so for the South Africans and Chileans.  She didn't just abstain from any boycots, but positively encouraged Pinochet.
  I love 80s music but I would - I was 17 in 1980.

yours, stillintoHeaven17,

Floyd

[darnmarr]

Also Carry On at your Own Convenience didn't paint a very good picture of the Trade Unions.

Never a truer word said:
'Carry On at your Own Convenience' did not paint a very good picture of the Trade Unions.
I agree. It didn't. If anything 'Carry On at your Own Convenience'  painted a very bad picture of the Trade Unions. A very bad picture indeed.

alright, a caveat... I too have been drinkinage

She wasn't my prime minister and whether you think she saved Britain or destroyed Britain she's certainly a big factor in the Britain you have now. The whole tone of the galaxy's greatest comic owes something to her. She had a democratically elected MP from Northern Ireland starve himself to death rather than acknowledge his status as a poliitical prisoner, and if your ball landed in her garden, she wouldn't give it back. But she also was an old woman suffering from a horrific illness who just recently died. My sympathies go those who respect and revere her, my sympathies go to those who think she ruined it all. But Maggies gone a long time now so if this is a political thread,- lets talk politics and not history. I was happy to bury my head in the progs when all that 'up the IRA ' crap was happening around me because I reckoned the future was way more important than the past and I still think that's true.

Also 'the heaven seventeen' rock.

[Stan]

Being that I was born in the early 80s I'm not really in much of a position to comment, but I must say that every time I see videos, or pictures of 70s Britain before Thatcher it looks like a miserable, disheveled craphole and I get the feeling I should be thankful for growing up in the 80s (except for the music). 

If Thatcher did so much bad for Britain then why does it seem to look so much worse before she came to power? or do they just handpick bad photos whenever they do anything on the 70s or something?

Because it was a complete shithole. If it wasn't for the fact that we had nukes the US probably would've invaded to protect our oil and bring us democracy.

[Stan]

I was sitting in front of a couple of women on the bus earlier (Liverpool) and they were very loudly relaying a stream of extremely crass jokes to the everyone on board. I'm hardly the most sociable person on earth but I don't recall ever feeling that uncomfortable in public before.

Though of all the horrible things I've heard today that dig at 80's music was easily the most shocking and reprehensible. 

[darnmarr]

'Temptation' is a great song.

[The Legendary Shark]

A rich white woman died at the age of eightysomething. To some she was a hero and to others a villain. To me she was just an old lady due the same level of respect as any old lady.

3,500 children under the age of five die every day due in large part to the policies applied by that rich white lady when she was our leader - policies followed by every leader we've had since.

That's why we don't need leaders or heroes to follow.  Lead yourself - it's your life, after all.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

[Mikey]

Thatcher's dead, but Thatcherism is still thriving. I wonder did she need to be sure that her heirs in government had fully cheesed the I-pod before shuffling off?

M.

[Dandontdare]

she was just an old lady due the same level of respect as any old lady.

Couldn't disagree more. Nobody is automatically deserving of respect, certainly not for just being old or for being female - respect is earned, it's a reflection of how people regard you based on your words and actions.

I have no respect at all for the evil old witch, and have actually just arranged to meet a friend tomorrow night to split a bottle of bubbly, fulfilling a vow I made to myself over 20 years ago.

[I, Cosh]

Ah, good old Billy Bragg, Morrissey and Elvis Costello are getting lots of column inches today, s'nice! Being old, a bit drunk and waaaaay out of touch I wanna ask, do the yoof of today have decent protest bands/singers? All I see are One Direction dancing with David Cameron and rappers babbling about how many Rolexes and bitches they have.

I know this ain't particularly political (I'd hate our young people to get all their views from popular music) but are there bands with a bit of a message kicking around? Ha, I realise just how old and wrinkly this post makes me sound!

Get with the programme, grandad! While the early 80s were clearly the heyday of political pop, there's always room for some social commentary in the life of a disaffected youth. Here's Frank Turner, formerly of shouty types Million Dead, with a number perfectly in tune  that picture of Mrs T posing alongside Saville which was doing the rounds yesterday. Thatcher Fucked the Kids.

Why should the youngsters know about Thatcher. They have their own ogres like war criminal Blair and economy smashing Brown.

Bit of basic general knowledge. Fairly certain I knew who Churchill was when I was 14.

[radiator]

Best reaction I've seen so far has been Irvine Welsh, who said that the private sector should pay for Thatcher's state funeral.

[Mabs]

she was just an old lady due the same level of respect as any old lady.

Couldn't disagree more. Nobody is automatically deserving of respect, certainly not for just being old or for being female - respect is earned, it's a reflection of how people regard you based on your words and actions.

I have no respect at all for the evil old witch, and have actually just arranged to meet a friend tomorrow night to split a bottle of bubbly, fulfilling a vow I made to myself over 20 years ago.

This. Wholeheartedly.