Idiotic thickos. Yes, another thread!!!

j08 I don't think the posters on GN are representational of the public - obviously there must be many who read but never post so maybe you're right. The haters are noisier. At a guess I would think the split on GN is about 80/20 left/right with some quite extreme. Not sure I've heard much 'hang 'em, flog 'em and snatch the bread from their mouths if we've paid for it' type of views but who knows.

I'm quite astounded that maturity, in some cases, doesn't bring wisdom or an ability to open one's mind.

I agree with you Sel. I had a PM from somone yesterday who disagreed with all the nastiness and said she preferred to keep a "dignified silence". I suspect she is not alone.

Quite, Moved. Anyone expressing more tolerant views towards Mrs T is not going to have an easy time of it during the current hate-fest, so it's no wonder those members and others who are generally more peace-loving are keeping out of it.

Disgusting behaviour! Marelli [Twinkle Toes] your words ring true. It's just an excuse for people without common sense to have a rip roaring riot. sad]

Thought it quite amusing they were drinking Champagne !!!!

WHAT !!!!

There is a lot of talk re the cost of the funeral and todays tribute in Parliamnet.

The PM does not recall Parliament, He has to obtain permission from the Speaker Of The House and this was given by John Bercow.

It is not 'compulsory' for any MP to attend.

M.P's can claim upto £3. 750.00 from IPSA, obviously those who are abroad can reclaim higher travel expenses. I believe the last time Parliament was recalled in 2011? the cost of the recall was estimated as £43.866.75P. I would personally like to see those attending today pay their expenses out of their pocket, remember it is not only Conservatives who will be there today so I doubt that will happen. Perhaps the Conservatives could do so to mark the reason why they are there and show their respect in a manner that would be very acceptable.

I don't think the Labour MP's who are not attending will miss out much as they are getting their reasons out very well on t.v. without costing anything to the taxpayer.

I was not going to post but having just heard the point raised I couldn't resist. Baroness Thatcher got an EU rebate which has saved this country so far an estimated £75 BILLION. Not like some who are challenging the cost who would and have given away BILLIONS of taxpayers money.

Just heard on The World at One that "The country has always borne the cost of the funerals of ex-Prime Ministers"

There was a prog on radio 4, very balanced. Many people, indeed whole villages/towns in some cases, seem to have a hatred for Margaret Thatcher, holding her responsible for the destruction of their livelihoods/communities.

On the other hand, people who benefitted from her politics, being able to buy their council properties for example, remember her fondly.

It's not unusual to have celebrations/dancing in the streets and so on when a hated leader dies (Sadam Hussein for example).

j08 I don't understand your comment 'the haters are noisier' as addressed to Eloethan and me. I have stated my deeply held views about how Mrs Thatcher affected my family and my community. I have tried to be respectful in my comments. If, like me, you grew up and lived during her time in an industrial area, where you saw men work in filthy and dangerous industries for inadequate reward, only to have their livelihoods taken from them and our communities destroyed at a stroke, then you might understand that it is impossible to feel neutral towards her. That does not excuse rioting on the street or celebrating her death in the way we have seen. At the same time, I think we should all be courteous to one another on here and agree to disagree on certain fundamental issues.

I will say again, I do not believe the queen should attend the funeral. We may not own her as a person but she is our figurehead and has a duty to appear politically neutral. As far as I am concerned she is making a big mistake and her actions will be deeply offensive to many in industrial areas who still bear the legacy of those times.

nightowl Sorry. That bit of my reply was addressed to Eleothan. (should have made that clearer (lazy)) My bit about the queen not being 'owned' was to you.

It probably isn't all that helpful to dismiss those who feel they suffered under Thatcher and want to express their feelings now she has died as 'idiotic thickos'.

I have every sympathy with people living in industrialised areas whose lives fell apart during those years. But wasn't a lot of it down to the strikers?

I still think the queen has the right to choose whose funeral she attends. She probably did respect Mrs Thatcher.

petallus! I was referring to people wrecking a charity shop and wounding police officers! They are idiot thickos in my opinion!

I had just read about all this cruel "celebrating" when I started this thread. And I was very angry.

nightowl I understand the points you are making and I have posted several times about my thoughts which are economically driven and why I, for one, think it is wrong to blame MT for the destruction of industrial areas. I would place much of the blame on the unions, the fact the country was close to bankruptcy and the fact that the world was changing, markets were opening globally and we were not competitive.

Having said that, it is a cold assessment not coloured by the emotion which you feel and I can understand that.

I think j0's comment about 'the haters are nosier' refers to the fact that those who hated MT outnumber those who didn't, at least amongst those posting on Gransnet.

Yes. People who admired her don't seem so vocal. Some people must have liked her to have voted her in three times. Some of those people must be on Gransnet.

Aye to that, jings

nightowl I take your point about HMQ being politically neutral but surely that would also apply if she didn't go to the funeral?

I think Sel that it has been assessed that slightly more people were in favour of Mrs T than against, although not on GN.

It is always more newsworthy to comment on the 'antis' than the 'fors'

Margaret Thatcher more popular than Churchill in YouGov poll

Thank you j08 for that clarification. I'm not sure what Eloethan said to inspire your comment and don't have time to go back through the whole thread as I am at work.

Sel I appreciate your comments, thank you. I obviously cannot agree with yours analysis of who was to blame for the destruction of those communities. We could debate it all day and as you say, it is not a dispassionate argument for me. I believe those industries were doomed from the moment Mrs Thatcher came into power and the strikes made no difference either way. Look at the Nottinghamshire miners who worked and still lost their mines.

Suffice it to say, my dad was a striker, and a shop steward in the ill-fated steel strike. He was not a loony leftie or a communist or a trouble maker, but a dignified hard working man who looked after his family and did what he felt he had to do when his livelihood was threatened. He was not unique. I will not have those men vilified by anyone. I would ask anyone, how much would you need to be paid to work in a blast furnace, or go down a mine? I know my own answer to that - nothing would induce me to do either. These men were heroes.

Sorry to have strayed so far from the thread. I don't think I can say any more on this subject now. It is too painful and too close to home. I am shocked to find how deeply I have been affected by this woman's death. Now I must get back to work.

Sel, I would be interested to hear what data you used to arrive at an 80/20 split in members, considering we have some 15,000, the huge majority of whom have never posted anything.
You mention the word 'extreme' -could you tell us what you mean by that? For example, would you say BNP or UKIP would be at one end of the spectrum, and Socialist Workers at the other? Just asking, as jingle would say, but I am really interested.

nightowl . I feel for you.

I expect Sel is talking about the gransnetters who have posted. No one can tell what the silent ones think. (more's the pity)

Interesting poll*Ana*. You wouldn't believe it from reading the posts on GN.

You wouldn't, would you? Interesting, too, that only in Scotland did more people consider her to be a bad PM than a good one.