Idiotic thickos. Yes, another thread!!!

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

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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).

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

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.

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

WHAT !!!!

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]

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.

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.

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.

They are going to have the SAS and the SBS out. #suckitup

Belated reply to Eloethan and Night owl. The haters are usually noisier. The Queen is a human being in her own right. You can't own another person (stating the obvious here #needsmust )

Getting back to the OP, I watched a 'protest' on the news last night and don't think any of the 'protestors' were older than about 20. As others have said it is just an excuse.

We don't know that the police and others have not made contingency plans, we have to wait and see.

HMQ is, imo, strong enough to resist pressure if she thinks it necessary and there is still time to change her mind if she is advised it would be the wrong thing to do.

The statement "she never united the country and only ever served the interests of certain groups" makes me ask 'and', don't they all?

I'm not standing up for her, just trying to give a balanced viewpoint. There is no evidence that everything she did was wrong and all the vitriol is just fuelling the trouble some are determined. All those who bought their council houses are grateful to her to cause. Those who were able to start their own businesses because of enterprise grants are happy. Those of us who had to cope with mortgage interest rates of 17% are glad that they were reduced and the national debt is a lot higher now than it was then. Just trying to redress the balance.

Couldn't agree more, absent. I imagine there will be a great deal of dreary repetition if all the Tory members exercise their right to speak. Unless there's a three-line whip on today's session, I assume MPs have the option not to attend. It will be interesting to see who isn't there. Any bets on Denis Skinner?

I have now gone into full Victor Meldrew mode as I have learned that MPs will be returning to Westminster on Monday anyway and could perfectly well do their tributes then instead of David Cameron recalling them early. Any MP who is returning from abroad for this talkathon can claim nearly £4,000 in expenses. What the hell are they going to be saying for seven and half hours when parliamentary tributes to every other dead PM (or other major figures) have never taken more than about 1 hour? This is OTT in every way.

My parents and grandparents are staunch labour supporters stemming back from generations of coal mining here in the NE. Visiting my mum and dad last night with my daughter I was quite shocked to see the level of hatred my
Mum and dad still harbour for Mrs T. My daughter said that she thought the parties and the celebrations were totally out of order and quite disrespectful after someone had died. My mum said that it was only to be expected given the way the people of the NE were treat by her government.

I still say the queen is attending the funeral because she wants to ( after all if the queen was allowed a public political opinion I very much doubt she would be a socialist) so probably privately agreed with everything the woman said and did.

Sending "Airmiles Andy" would be a good excuse for him to helicopter himself in (with a group of friends) travel via somewhere a touch more exotic and grab a game of golf.

Discussing the difference between a state funeral and a ceremonial funeral with full military honours is as useful as counting the angels on the head of a pin. The Thatcher family is, apparently, paying something towards the cost of the funeral although what proportion has not been specified. The newspapers this morning are bandying the figure of £10 million for security. David Cameron has recalled both commoners and peers from their prolonged Easter holiday to pay tribute to Baroness Thatcher. He's allowing seven and a half hours. When did paying tribute to a past PM who, of course, was the leader of only one of several parties, become compulsory for MPs?

The suggestion that Prince Andrew should represent the Queen is a very sensible one. It would be courteous without being controversial.

The newspapers are also reporting that the police are monitoring Twitter and other social networking sites to gather information about potential protests. In the circumstances, I think even peaceful protest/demonstration is a bit tacky; anything along the lines reported in the link is disgraceful.

What happened when Macmillan, Heath, Douglas-Home, Wilson, Callaghan, etc., died - can anyone remember: was there this big ceremonial hoo ha? The only one I remember is Churchill.

It does feel very much like the establishment is making a very political statement. From what I've read, it seems like it's going to be on the scale of a state funeral even though it hasn't been designated as one.

The queen was obviously very uncomfortable at Diana's funeral, but she was advised by Blair that the nation expected her to go. I am sure she has been advised that it would be good Royal PR to attend Thatcher's funeral, but it may be misjudged. Why just for this PM and not all the other peacetime PMs? It is akin to canonising Thatcher.

Eloethan very true.

I think we do 'own' the queen j08. She is a figurehead who does not do exactly what she wants but is guided by her advisors. She is not supposed to be a political figure - which makes this decision to attend Mrs T's funeral all the more mystifying. I wonder, is it meant to be provocative? Because it certainly feels that way to me.

j08 I don't get your reasoning. Surely, those who are great admirers of Mrs T - and you say there are many - would be just as keen to voice that admiration, as you have done?

And we don't actually own the queen. She, like the rest of us, belongs to herself. And can make her own decisions.