# When Margaret Thatcher dies, will you... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 16, 2009, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925 "2009-06-16T10:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/181 "2009-06-22T01:57:26Z")
Well, it was mooted at one time, but the sheep kept drowning. Turns out that Jonah thing was allegorical. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/182 "2009-06-22T11:12:56Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Saying you will do X when Y happens is not even close to the same thing as actually doing X when Y happens. It’s a bloody message board. If you aren’t allowed to assume people mean what they say, what the hell’s the point? I mean here you are, taking **Hyperelastic** ’s words at face value, when for all you know he could really be a Red Flag-singing socialist, face still black with coal dust from his days down t’ mine. Preposterous. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/183 "2009-06-22T11:48:53Z")
I’ll celebrate. Nothing too outrageous - just a glass of malt whiskey and a few songs\* on the MP3 - ‘Waves of Tory’ - Red Shift ‘Walking in a Wasted Land’ ‘Can’t Win’ ‘Mother Knows Best’ - Richard Thompson ‘Sorrow/Babylon is Fallen’ - The Home Service ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/184 "2009-06-23T12:00:15Z")
My former psychiatrist had some interesting British connections. I couldn’t very well question him about them, but he did have interesting photos around and a story or two to tell from time to time. So I assume that when he talked of Margaret Thatcher, he had some first hand knowledge of her. He said that she was an incredibly strong-willed person and almost always got her way. If she was told “no” about something, she might seem to accept that, but in a short time she would have managed to turn that round and twisted that into a “perhaps” and then a “yes, of course.” (I’m paraphrasing his words.) And she managed to accomplish this almost without the other person being aware of what she was doing. She simply willed it to be so and thus made it so. I’m sure that you’ve read novels or seen movies where the words “It is written” take on a great significance. I’ve long imagined that Margaret Thatcher was the one who actually wrote those things into law – or carved them in stone. I haven’t addressed her politics at all. I wouldn’t have liked them. But I find her strength and character fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/185 "2009-06-23T12:34:06Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > You are being obtuse. > Carry on. Any odds at all that you could take your hijack in the general direction of another thread? I mean, you still won’t get any satisfaction (as there’s precisely cock all chance of the inhabitants deciding they want to be Argentinian citizens) but at least there you can rant and rail on about it to your hearts content without mugging someone else’s thread? Apologies if that’s junior modding, been away for a while so can’t remember the guidelines. With regards to the OP > [@Gyrate](#): > > a) mourn? > b) celebrate? > c) care? Mourn is the wrong word, but closer to that than either apathy or rejoicing. She was a political colossus, and however you view her policies she was at least honest in her beliefs. I have to compare that favourably to the recent procession of dishonest incompetent wankwits endured since. She did much I disagree with, but at least she didn’t pretend she was helping you out when she was fucking you over (per Bush & Blair’s “Bringing peace to the world through the invasion of another country” or “restricting your freedom to protect your way of life from the terrorists”) ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/186 "2009-06-24T13:35:32Z")
Don’t forget the [ice cream!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream) > [@](#): > > One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of soft ice cream. A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member)[17][18] discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream, which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, thereby reducing costs. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/187 "2009-06-24T13:58:00Z")
I’ve not check this for a few days. So I guess we never did find out under what rules/laws/whatever the waters all the way out to the Falkland Islands have “always been Argentinean”. My guess it was either the rule of “nationalism is always right” or “pulleth outeth my arseth”. ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/188 "2009-06-24T15:01:03Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > Don’t forget the [ice cream!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream) That’s… pretty awful actually. That might be worse than all the political stuff she’s done. I mean, citizens are pretty much bound to be screwed over by the government, one way or another, but reducing one of life’s simple pleasures to increase the bottom line? That’s just vile. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/189 "2009-06-24T15:04:08Z")
> [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](#): > > That’s… pretty awful actually. That might be worse than all the political stuff she’s done. I mean, citizens are pretty much bound to be screwed over by the government, one way or another, but reducing one of life’s simple pleasures to increase the bottom line? That’s just vile. It certainly fits her philosophy, though… ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/190 "2009-06-25T01:24:04Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I’ve not check this for a few days. > > So I guess we never did find out under what rules/laws/whatever the waters all the way out to the Falkland Islands have “always been Argentinean”. My guess it was either the rule of “nationalism is always right” or “pulleth outeth my arseth”. I like your style. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/191 "2009-06-29T02:59:07Z")
Another song for the playlist: [http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/lyrics/vivahate/margaret.htm](http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/lyrics/vivahate/margaret.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/192 "2012-03-25T21:21:02Z")
Sorry to dredge up an old thread of mine but I was rereading it because I saw a picture of Lady T in the paper recently, a portrait of a puffy-faced old woman sitting on a park bench. She totters on in her dotage, a figure of decreasing faculties and increasing irrelevance (as I suppose we all become at that stage). Do those who hated her still feel the same three years on? There’s also this prescient tidbit: > [@yojimbo](#): > > One thing I heard that did pluck my empathy string quite hard was that apparently due to dementia she finds out her husband is dead every day as she forgets that he is. That is very sad. > [@Stephe96](#): > > Yikes. You know, there’s a movie in there somewhere. Not necessarily about Thatcher, but I could see that as a hell of a premise for some aspiring writer out there. I haven’t seen _The Iron Lady_ but I understand that it was indeed a hell of a premise for some aspiring writer. And finally it’s also interesting to read this thread in light of the new burblings about the Falklands, which is of particular concern when one considers that the Royal Navy has been seriously gutted over the intervening years including the loss IIRC of all aircraft carriers. It’d be a very different war this time around - the US would have to step in, but one wonders if the UK would have any better luck persuading them to now than they did then. ---
**Author:** ![Beery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beery/32/18349_2.png) [@Beery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beery)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/193 "2012-03-25T21:34:54Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > One thing I heard that did pluck my empathy string quite hard was that apparently due to dementia she finds out her husband is dead every day as she forgets that he is. That is very sad. No. Not sad. Some level of justice for what she did to Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/194 "2012-03-25T21:38:48Z")
Raise your hand if you thought the thread resurrection meant she passed. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/195 "2012-03-25T21:46:20Z")
> [@Beery](#): > > No. Not sad. Some level of justice for what she did to Britain. Go {redacted owing to forum rules}. ---
**Author:** ![Beery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beery/32/18349_2.png) [@Beery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beery)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/196 "2012-03-25T21:53:27Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Raise your hand if you thought the thread resurrection meant she passed. I have a google alert set so that I get notices every time certain words come up, in this case ‘Thatcher dead or dies’, so that I can spend the rest of the day with copious quantities of alcohol, celebrating. Unfortunately, there’s a play based on the premise and lots of forum threads and blogs devoted to the subject, so I’ve become a little jaded. So no, I didn’t think she was dead. But one of these times, she will be. That will be a day to remember. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/197 "2012-03-25T21:58:24Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Raise your hand if you thought the thread resurrection meant she passed. I was about to open the champagne :(. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/198 "2012-03-25T22:13:24Z")
Yeah, sorry to get your hopes up. [Here’s the picture I mentioned.](http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article766472.ece/BINARY/The+%22Iron+Lady%22+Ex+British+Prime+Minister+Margaret+Thatcher) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/199 "2012-03-25T22:22:21Z")
Thatcher’s Britain was further to the left than Carter’s America. Or Obama’s for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925/200 "2012-03-25T22:24:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Moreover, a service economy is inevitable when you have a large pool of educated citizens and competing with countries that can manufacture a product for a tenth of the cost that you can. Comparative advantage. > [@](#): > > Thatcher’s Britain was further to the left than Carter’s America. Or Obama’s for that matter. I’m by no means defending Obama, but in the UK, the party or coalition that controls parliament selects the head of government. So the head of government will always (bar lunacy that ensures even the whips will give up) get their reforms through. She managed to drag both the country as a whole and Labour (per their revoking section 4) rightwards. Obama on the other hand presided for half of his term over a legislature of his political opponents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-margaret-thatcher-dies-will-you/499925.md?page=11)